Scientism: When Science Goes too Far

In the final Round 8 of Wrestling with Economics, Matt Kibbe and Glenn Jacobs — Knox County Mayor and former WWE wrestler — tackle the dangers of “scientism,” the belief that society can be planned along scientific lines. Just as an engineer might construct a finely tuned engine, technocrats believe that they can build a finely tuned society. Early socialist thinkers embraced this idea, and it remains alive today in the “trust the science” mentality. But as F. A. Hayek warned in The Counterrevolution in Science, human beings aren’t cogs in a machine. They have unique goals, dreams, and values that no formula can capture. The Covid-19 pandemic offered a stark reminder of the failures of top-down, expert-driven control. Austrian economists understand that no central planner’s knowledge can match the collective wisdom of millions of individuals freely cooperating, trading, and building a dynamic, thriving economy.