Alex WellersteinVerified account

What it does not do is say, "scientific facts are arbitrary." That is not what social construction means.

It is unfortunate that many people think it means that. I suspect most have not read the works they claim to criticize.

Which is ironically not very scientific! /thread

One last little thing: here's another way to think about it. Are nuclear weapons themselves social constructs?

In the sense meant by social construction, yes. They are created by society, by social practices. They certainly don't just grow on trees.

They are made to satisfy certain social goals, of certain societies. Over time, those goals have shifted a bit—hence the weapons have, too.

Their creation, deployment, and use are all dictated by social practices. And indeed, the weapons themselves may dictate some practices—

for example, they tend to require secrecy in the organizations that create them.