Accountability is a way to determine truth

Imagine your car won’t start. Your mechanic has a theory: “The battery is dead.” Now, they have several ways to share that theory:

• Option 1: Launch a podcast. They passionately argue their case, dismissing other theories as idiotic or from obviously corrupt people.
• Option 2: Write an op-ed. They cite sources, quote esteemed mechanics, and wrap their theory in intellectual flair.
• Option 3: Go on TV. Dressed to impress, they promise to reveal “the real truth” that others have hidden.
• Option 4: Publish a book. Hundreds of pages on the philosophy of car repair, tracing its lineage to Carnap and the Vienna Circle.
• Option 5: Test the theory. Do a voltage check. Swap out the battery. See if the car starts.

Only one of these options is accountable to the truth.

This is what scientists do every day. They test. They measure. They validate. So when scientists are lectured to by people who choose the first four options—performance over proof—it’s wildly uncompelling. If your way is better, show us. Prove it.

The first four paths can be lucrative. Their accountability is to audience engagement, not truth. Attention becomes currency. Books, subscriptions, ad revenue—they flow from emotional hooks: conspiracy, grievance, ridicule, outrage, or even the rush of a superficial insight from intellectutainment like a slick TED talk or a blowhard pop sci book. But these commentators aren’t accountable for solving problems. They’re accountable for keeping you watching.

Most of us work differently.

Mechanics, engineers, scientists, doctors, plumbers—we’re accountable to outcomes. To truth. To solving problems.

Postscript

Politicians are accountable to voters. But their appointees? They occupy a gray zone. Their job is to keep their boss happy—not necessarily to serve the public or solve problems. Whether they’re held accountable depends entirely on the elected official that appointed them. Their boss might just be another audience member, easily sated by their words, and unconcerned about their service or stewardship.