To mistrust science and deny the validity of scientific method is

Hear the sharp and satirical voice of P. J. O’Rourke, who spoke with biting clarity: “To mistrust science and deny the validity of the scientific method is to resign your job as a human. You’d better go look for work as a plant or wild animal.” Though wrapped in humor, these words strike with the force of a moral command. For O’Rourke reminds us that reason, inquiry, and discovery are not luxuries but the very essence of what it means to be human. To abandon them is to descend, willingly, back into the shadows of ignorance.

The meaning is fierce yet plain. The scientific method—to observe, to test, to question, to prove—is humanity’s greatest tool in the pursuit of truth. To mistrust science entirely, to deny its validity, is not merely to reject a theory or a fact, but to reject the very discipline of thought that has lifted humanity from caves to cities, from darkness to light. To do so is, in O’Rourke’s words, to resign one’s “job as a human,” for thought, curiosity, and progress are our truest labors. Without them, we are no different from the plant rooted in soil or the wild animal that lives only by instinct.

The origin of this saying lies in O’Rourke’s wit as a political satirist and commentator. Living in an age of growing skepticism, when voices rose to dismiss climate science, medicine, and evidence-based truth, he wielded irony as his sword. By comparing deniers of science to plants and beasts, he stripped their stance of dignity, reminding his audience that humanity’s nobility rests upon its willingness to learn, adapt, and refine knowledge through reason.

History confirms his wisdom. Think of the plague doctors of medieval Europe, guided more by superstition than by method. They wore masks filled with herbs, trusting not in experimentation but in ritual, and countless lives perished as a result. Contrast this with the age of Pasteur and Jenner, when vaccines were born through scientific observation and testing. Where ignorance brought death, science brought life. To deny science is to reject such progress, to risk returning to the cruelty of plagues unchecked and diseases unconquered.

Or consider the story of Galileo Galilei, who peered through his telescope and revealed truths that frightened his age. The powers of his time sought to silence him, to preserve ignorance over evidence. Yet the cosmos did not bend to their denial, and in time, humanity accepted the truth of his discoveries. Those who rejected science clung to comfort, but they ceased to grow. Galileo, though punished, carried forward the torch of reason that lit the way for generations. His life proves O’Rourke’s point: to deny the scientific method is to renounce one’s role as a thinking being.

The danger today is subtle but great. When people dismiss the evidence of climate change, when they mistrust vaccines, when they abandon reason for conspiracy, they step away from the long journey of human progress. They return, as O’Rourke warns, to the level of plants and wild animals, creatures that survive only by chance, not by knowledge. To forget the discipline of science is to risk all that civilization has built.

The lesson for us is powerful: honor the gift of reason. Do not reject questions, evidence, and discovery out of fear or pride. To be human is to wrestle with mystery through the light of inquiry. The scientific method is not infallible, but it is the best path we possess toward truth. Trust it, refine it, and support those who labor with it, for they are carrying forward the sacred work of humanity itself.

Practical action flows from this wisdom. Read with discernment, question with sincerity, and do not fall prey to those who profit from ignorance. Teach children to think critically, to test ideas, to love truth more than comfort. Support institutions of learning and defend them against the erosion of falsehood. For to stand with science is to stand with the nobility of the human race.

Take this as a guiding flame: “To deny the scientific method is to resign as a human.” Therefore, live not as a plant rooted blindly in the soil, nor as a beast led only by instinct. Live as a seeker, a thinker, a builder of knowledge. For in science, tempered by wisdom, lies the path by which humanity rises toward its highest destiny.