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Notes -
FWIW, I think this highlights the distinction between epistemological and decision-making logics.
From an epistemological point of view, the burden makes sense -- the default position is equipoise or agnosticism. Until presented with reliable evidence, one should neither believe nor negate a claim. One is entitled (and IMHO obligated) to say that the question remains open.
From a decision-making perspective (including political & legal disputes), there is no luxury of equipoise. A decision has to be made, a political action is either taken or not, a legal verdict is issued. That's where defining the burden of proof becomes extremely relevant but that is always extrinsic to the scientific/epistemic perspective. Epistemology doesn't say anything about the idea that a criminal defendant should be presumed innocent until proven guilty -- that had to come from outside.
So yeah, in politics, one popular formulation (advocated a lot as Chestertonian or Burkean) is that altering the state quo bears the burden. That impacts the political debate but it doesn't change the question from a scientific sense.
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