Public trust in scientists is vital. It can help us with personal decisions on matters like health and provide evidence-based policymaking to assist governments with crises such as the COVID pandemic or climate change.
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20250120201850/https://www.rawstory.com/most-of-us-trust-scientists-shows-a-survey-of-nearly-72000-people-worldwide/
Why would you trust anybody intrinsically? Scientists are people, too, and are just as corruptible as any of us. And since so many people do trust them intrinsically, when they are influenced by moneyed interests, the negative impact they can make is amplified. After all, who are you more likely to believe - a random billionaire or a random scientist?
I’m not saying no scientist should be trusted, and in fact I do believe that scientific research as a profession is more noble and tends to attract more honest people than most. I just think that anybody attempting to influence the public - through policy or the research behind it - should be met with skepticism.