Coffee With Scott Adams — Knowledge Archive August 22, 2026
Scott Adams Philosophy Archive
Search ideas

Context —

a rescue operation for canceled people. But I feel like the argument that she was canceled still feels true enough. Right? It's still true enough. Anyway that was funny. So Ivor Cummins. Do you all know Ivor Cummins? You've probably seen him on Twitter. And I guess you could call him a skeptic of the scientific consensus about a number of coronavirus things. Now apparently we are on each other's…

← Previous segment →

something so he's a lot closer to having a STEM-like mind frame than I do. But we're not really scientists in this field. Why the hell would you want to see him talk to me? What possible good could that do?

Let me tell you how that conversation goes. Look at my study. Look at it. Look at my study that says whatever, masks don't work or whatever it is. And then I'll say all right, where do I take that? Do I look at the study and with my non-scientific knowledge I say well based on my non-scientific knowledge the person who does have scientific knowledge is all wrong. What the hell good would that do? Like I would know what I'm talking about? Now suppose Ivor comes on, says look at my data, comes from this good source. Do you think that I couldn't find a piece of paper to hold in my hand that says the opposite of what his piece of paper says? You know I could. You know I could. Do you think I could Google in one minute a whole bunch of sources that say masks work? Of course I could. Do you think I could Google sources that say masks don't work? Of course I could. How do I know the difference? How do I know?

So everybody who's asking me to talk to Ivor, you don't understand what that would do. What that would do would elevate his opinion to a greater level of worthiness because it was being discussed in an organized way. Should his opinion be elevated? No more than mine. And mine shouldn't be elevated because again, not a scientist. Now I do make opinions on the science all the time because I'm pro-mask for example. But my decision is not always based on science. My decision is based on risk management. And risk management will sometimes make a different decision than science will. So if he wants to talk risk management with me I could talk that all day long. That's something I could speak to with some authority. But j

Context —

udging the science, neither of us could do that because the scientists can't do it themselves. Now here's the thing that Ivor has to explain. Why is it that he's got this one doctor — there'll be more, right? You wouldn't be the only doctor — but why is it that these doctors who are contrarians can't convince the other doctors? What's up with that? Because you think that if the contrarians have g…

Next segment → →