David Allison

When you look at the arc of history of much of human endeavor, at least from my point of view and the point of view of I think people like Stephen Levitt and so on, you look over the long haul, things are always getting better.

You smooth the function a little bit.

Murder rates are way down.

Violence rates are way down.

Education rates are way up.

Lifespan is up, et cetera, et cetera.

Freedom is up.

But there are lots of ebb and flow.

So we may be in a little bit of an ebb and flow now.

But I do hope that things will get better, as they always have, and some more and more rationality.

And that's something that, as a scientist, I feel very strongly about.

As scientists, we focus too much on immediate trust in science and saying, we need to get more trust in science and on immediate issues.

How do we get trust in this issue about vaccines or drugs or what have you, instead of saying, how do we get trust in the scientific process?

How do we maybe risk losing a battle?

Maybe I'm not going to convince people today that what I think about food additives or vaccines or protein or something is, quote unquote, the right answer.

And I'll have to live with that.

But if I can convince them that I'm an honest broker and here's how science works and we can work together through science, in the long run, I think that's better.

And I think that's coming and something we need to focus on.

In terms of the nutrition per se, we have so many challenges.

But