Is science a democracy? In other words, is controversial theory validated by how many scientists vote for it?
In a sense, yes. Science is a democratic enterprise. If a large number of scientists say X and a small number say not X, it is more likely that the large number will be right. This is for the same reason that, like in any other field, when an overwhelming majority of experts have an opinion, that opinion is more likely to be correct than an opposing opinion held by a minority. It is much more likely that a minority of experts make mistakes than that a majority does. This of course doesn’t always mean that the majority is right; that is obviously not true. For nonexperts, we have to rely on the testimony of experts. Most people reading that article, especially me, would not be able to evaluate the arguments of the two sides and arrive at an educated conclusion. Unless there are fairly obvious errors being made by one side or the other, we are unable to be good judges. So we rely on the experts. When there is disagreement among the experts (as there almost always is) we side with whichev
