Why everyone in Scotland needs to think more like a scientist – Gwilym Gibbons
At a time when democracy itself is under threat from a barrage of falsehoods on social media, scientific thinking can be Scotland’s superpower
In an era defined by an overwhelming flood of digital content, misinformation has evolved from a minor nuisance to a critical threat to public health, democracy, and social cohesion.
Traditional fact-checking, while useful, is reactive and perpetually outpaced by viral falsehoods. The most effective, proactive shield we possess isn’t a piece of software or government regulation; it’s the universal cultivation of scientific thinking.
Andy Burnham’s recent announcement at the UN General Assembly on plans for a new National Centre for Information Defence marks a step-change in the UK’s efforts to combat disinformation and misinformation, including international AI-enabled campaigns.
This move shows how seriously we, as a nation, need to tackle this and focus on scientific and critical thinking.
A willingness to change your mind
Scientific thinking is our society’s most powerful tool for navigating uncertainty, evaluating claims, challenging assumptions, and distinguishing evidence from opinion. It encourages curiosity, scepticism, openness to new evidence, and a willingness to change our minds when the facts demand. Indeed, science-led innovation has been our nation's superpower from the Enlightenment through to today.
In order to successfully navigate the 21st century, we must ensure that investment in science engagement and education infrastructure remains a key priority, so we have the skills and attributes to guide us out of, and into, our emerging future.
Science plays a central role in building climate resilience, accelerating adaptation, restoring degraded ecosystems and supporting biodiversity recovery during a period of profound environmental change. As we confront climate change, evidence-led approaches will allow us to weed out truth from fiction, understand complex systems, identify effective solutions, and measure the impact of our actions.
A national priority
At Dynamic Earth, we welcome more than 30,000 school pupils each year and encourage them to do just that, allowing them to encounter science not as a textbook subject but as a living, creative and practical way of understanding the world. We see first-hand how real-world experiences spark curiosity, encourage critical thinking and inspire young people to ask questions about the future they will inherit.
Access to science and the resources and role models that facilitate the development of scientific literacy and critical analysis must be available to all. Widening this access should be viewed as a national priority, because the more broadly these capabilities are embedded across society, the greater our collective ability to make informed decisions, navigate an increasingly complex world, and determine accurate information will be.
We need to ensure science centres remain equitable spaces of immersive, awe-inspiring learning, and keep reinforcing the importance of scientific thinking to future generations.
Therefore, we need to build on the strong partnerships which already exist between government, education, industry and the science engagement sector, to formally recognise science centres – at a national level – as crucial spaces for the development of critical thinking.
In doing so, I strongly believe that we can ensure future generations are more resilient. Our young people need to have the ability to question the world around them to make them less vulnerable to misinformation. Scotland’s future success depends on us coming together as a nation to nurture evidence-based thinking.
Science is part of our cultural identity and heritage; and with the necessary support and integration in education outside and inside the classroom, it can become Scotland’s superpower.
Gwilym Gibbons is chief executive of Dynamic Earth
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