I became an unofficial expert in this field, after an intensive study of the history of Western philosophy.
Because every philosopher offered a wide-ranging hypothesis that “explained the observable facts of reality.”
And there was no rational way to choose one explanation over another.
I then learned that the scientific method demanded explanations from which useful, specific, and verifiable PREDICTIONS could be made.
So, for example, explaining many cases of respiratory disease by invoking a new virus, SARS-Cov-2, led to what useful predictions?
False Answer: “Healing and prevention through lockdowns, masks, vaccines, mandates, medical drugs, and ventilator treatments—”
Real Answer: All this “healing and prevention” was useless, harmful, and destructive.
Therefore, the virus explanation was, to say the least, unscientific. End of story.
Except for one thing.