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If their assertions fall apart under scrutiny then that is a misplaced fear because nobody will take it seriously.

If not, and other researchers can back it up - then you don't have to be afraid of an existential threat! win-win

Being a scientist means you have to adopt a mentality of passive observation and openness to being wrong, otherwise you'll just fall into the trap of confirmation bias which necessarily results in bad science.

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That's a wonderfully optimistic view to take, unfortunately most of the population of America doesn't subject information placed in front of them to close scrutiny, in part because we're all bombarded with some much information that we simply can't try and make expert assessments on it.

Additionally, click-bait is a thing, just pushing a headline with "based on a scientific paper" out there can be dangerous - there is the old adage that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

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