The art of publicly changing your mind on GMOs
It’s hard to change your views when you are passionate about something. Indeed some cognitive scientists think that holding onto persistent, even if untrue, ideas may have been evolutionarily selected for in the distant past. For scientists working on climate change, vaccines, evolution, and GMOs, this tendency of significant sections of the public to resist facts that run counter to their existing beliefs can be extremely frustrating. This is why environmentalist Mark Lynas’ new book, Seeds of Science: Why we got it so wrong on GMOs, is such a welcome read : it gives us a peek into the process of changing one’s dearly held opinions, from someone who did so very publicly.