Take nobody's word for it – evidence and authority in a world of propaganda

'Nullius in verba' is a fine ideal, but science is a little bit more complicated than that, as is the world in general

'Nullius in verba' - roughly, 'Take nobody's word for it' - is the motto of one of the world's oldest scientific societies, the Royal Society. It neatly expresses the ideal that the credibility of information derives from evidence, observational or experimental, and not from the innate authority of the source. An important principle, for a Society with a royal patron, in a country which was still in the process evolving away from absolute monarchy.

Despite instances of fraud, undue influence and genuine mistakes, good science still accumulates knowledge this way. Scientists can be just as venal, egotistical or biased as anyone else, and can argue indefinitely about the interpretation of data. (I have experienced this personally.) But arguments about the data themselves are finite. The experiment or observation can be checked and repeated, if there is the will. This usually settles matters.