> My point was that you are actually very rarely in the case that studies are in conflict to the point that the best you can do is personal experience

I didn't make my point very clearly, but my actual view is that only the researchers who perform a study and their immediate scientific peers are able to determine whether a study is reliable and what conclusions can actually be drawn from it. I say this as someone who worked in academic research.

> To paraphrase Churchill: science is the worst system we have for understanding these sorts of things, except for all the others.

Preaching to the choir, there. I'm not arguing against science.