Rick Yancey Quotes

All policies should be guided by science, not just whose voice is the loudest.

I'm a bit of a freak for evidence-based analysis. I strongly believe in data.

Anecdotal thinking comes naturally; science requires training.

If you're a scientist, and you have to have an answer, even in the absence of data, you're not going to be a good scientist.

Science is the refusal to believe on the basis of hope.

I take what I see work. I'm a strict believer in the scientific principle of believing nothing, only taking the best evidence available at the present time, interpreting it as best you can, and leaving your mind open to the fact that new evidence will appear tomorrow.

Let us unite on the safe and sure ground of fact and experiment, and we can never err; yet better, we can never differ.

If the facts change, I’ll change my opinion. What do you do, Sir?

What we can do is provide the tools, through our educational system, for people to be able to tell sense from nonsense. These tools include the scientific method, skeptical questioning, empirical evidence, verifying sources, etc.

Generally, TED speakers are believers in the scientific method.

Disregard belief systems that aren't based on empirical studies.

All I am saying is that if you want to answer a question, then we need to examine and weigh up the evidence. To me, that's not dogmatic that's just... what else would you do?

You cannot build public policies on sentiment, on panic and fear.

If there is any consistent enemy of science, it is not religion, but irrationalism.

One of the reasons for its success is that science has a built-in, error-correcting machinery at its very heart. Some may consider this an overbroad characterization, but to me every time we exercise self-criticism, every time we test our ideas against the outside world, we are doing science. When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition.

Science is the only true guide in life.

Unscientific man is beset by a deplorable desire to have been right. The scientist is distinguished by a desire to be right.

Practically, Science is true; and Faith is foolish.

I believe that through its rational evaluation of truth and indifference to personal belief, science transcends religious and political divisions and so does bind us into a greater, more resilient whole.

Decisions should be based on facts, objectively considered what I call the fact-founded, thought-through approach to decision making.

Rationalism doesn't require "belief," only observation. The real, measurable world doesn't care what you believe.

Science is better than sympathy, if only it is science.

Scientific research can reduce superstition by encouraging people to think and view things in terms of cause and effect.

The really important thing is learning how to sceptically question and rely on empirical evidence.

I believe science has a wonderful ability, in an unbiased way, to offer hope to many people who are confused, but it's not the only way to find hope.