Yup, that is also how it works with scientific research: Once an article is published, anybody is free to read it, criticize it, reproduce it. That's because the government stays out of it: private individuals can use things like Google Scholar and Google Search to find other people's reviews and follow-up studies to better understand the quality and nuances of the original research. Consensus is an important part of science just as it is for reviews on Google Maps. Is consensus sometimes wrong? Yes, no doubt. Is it useless? Nope.
> If people can't define it, then that seems to me like a valid criticism of the scientific method.
> If people can't define it, then that seems to me like a valid criticism of the scientific method.
Please read the hamburger example once more.