A few years ago, on the occasion of a paper published in Interciencia that demonstrated with precise altimetry procedures that the actual height of the highest mountain in Venezuela was different to that which had been assumed and taught as true, an editorial was written on the issue of scientific truth. We now return on the theme a propos of the extreme positions adopted regarding matters of great relevance to all humankind, as are the existing polemics around climatic change and the exhaustion of energy and food resources. On that occasion the issue was a clarifying matter over which there was no polemic whatsoever. It was the result of the discovery of a truth that was different from the one assumed up to that moment. In contrast, the present issue is a highly polemic one due to its complexity, to the many details still to be learnt and, above all, to the many institutional, national, commercial or other interests involved. It is not strange that, when such interests are in play, diametrically opposite views are generated in relation to one and the same problem. In matters of political, and sometimes social, relevance it becomes difficult to elucidate reasons or to be objective. In matters of technical nature it should be easier; however, it is not always so. Reality is not always univocal, even if we want it to be.
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