Jim Manzi writes an interesting
article for
City Journal entitled "What Social Science Does - and Doesn't - Know." He makes several points that those readers who haven't spent their lives in the social sciences, as I have, may find useful. One of my favorites is this one about the recent economic stimulus program:
Prior to the launch of the stimulus program, the only thing that anyone could conclude with high confidence was that several Nobelists would be wrong about it.
Go see his article to see why this was true. Finally, his conclusion about the current "state of play" is correct:
At the moment, it is certain that we do not have anything remotely approaching a scientific understanding of human society. And the methods of experimental social science are not close to providing one within the foreseeable future.
