Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
It’s a reminder, if any is needed, that science is a tool, which can be used responsibly or irresponsibly, subject to the whims of human emotions. Scientists are people just like everyone else.
Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
This excellent article focuses on medical science. The social sciences are much further along toward sacrificing all their credibility on the altar of political zealotry. Anthropology, my own field, is a lost cause, and indeed a laughingstock. But even psychological research, with its facade of quantitative rigor and "objective" measurement, is full of biases that a careful reading of almost any published paper on a hot-button topic will reveal.
Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
"The solution to all of these problems is simple to understand, though not necessarily simple to implement or to realize. It involves a return to humility."
And courage. I think what's mostly lacking is the guts to stand up and take a bullet for civilization. Western liberal democracy is for those who have the sanity, decency, educated intelligence and courage to defend it every day against the omnipresent forces -- mostly from within -- that never rest in their efforts to destroy it. From all sides! BLM, wokeness, Trumpistry, LGBTQ+ ... all seek to eat civilization alive.
Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
Incredibly well said. Someone should roll this up in the form of a newspaper and smack Hotez and Fauci on their noses until they shrink back into the dark recesses of Democracy’s cavernous butthole, where they belong.
Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
Status - likes, clicks, money... it has become the ubiquitous pursuit of academics having replaced the previous pursuit of reputation for honest and accurate work to advance their discipline. I live in a university town. The admin and faculty parking lots are filled with Tesla cars and other exotics. The biggest homes and yards in town are occupied by University employees... some retired. Undergrad students have tens of thousands of student debt with a worthless degree from classes taught by professor assistants.
Science is a mess because our industry of higher learning has been corrupted into a wealth-making machine for elites. Science has lost its mission and has become yet another institution we cannot trust.
There is an old quote that goes something like this: What do you get when you cross science and politics? Answer: Politics.
The Covid experiment in mind control clearly shows how utterly effective public witch hunts are. Even a relatively decent human, when faced with losing their jobs, family, friends, etc. (while simultaneously being subjected to public hatred and harassment) may rationally choose to be silent. We also need some “humility” when we consider what scientists have been (and continue to be) subjected to. Everyone is an armchair hero, but in the real world...???
I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this mess. Certainly awareness is needed, but we may need some type of “disruptive event” to get this uniquely heavy and extreme pendulum to start swinging in the opposite direction.
Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
There is a difference between trusting science and "the science."
Once upon a time, it was the Catholic Church that suppressed scientific advancement. Now, it's the government and even wider society. It's sad, because science is the lifeblood of human advancement. Without STEM--and more importantly, curiosity-- we would still be languishing away in caves, having never discovered weapons or fire or language. To suppress and discourage scientific inquiry, discovery, and facts, just because the truth is considered unpopular or blasphemous is one of the greatest tragedies.
Jun 29, 2023Liked by Colin Wright, David C. Ronquillo
It all started with Climate "Science", COVID-19 just made use of all the tools for the manipulation and politicization of Academia and scientific institutions
Sadly, it is the author who is engaging in a "betrayal of science" here.
Colin: I'm very disappointed that you cross-posted this.
I don't have the time or energy to rebut all the misleading-to-false statements here, so I'll just do the first two:
> Our country's medical experts rushed:
> to deny the efficacy of cloth masks [link to LA Times artilcle]
From that article: "April 3, 2020: After insisting for weeks that healthy people did not need to wear masks in most circumstances, federal health officials change their guidance in response to a growing body of evidence that people who do not appear to be sick are playing an outsize role in the COVID-19 pandemic."
Yes, after getting new evidence, the experts changed their minds because of it! This is what scientists are supposed to do!
> before mandating their use,
There was NEVER a mandate for use of cloth masks specifically, and so of course there is no supporting link for this particular statement.
> before admitting their uselessness [link to NYT opinion columnist Bret Stephens] once again.
So an opinion columnist with a degree in political philosophy is now a scientific authority?
>to continue to exaggerate the efficacy of cloth masks and to make continued demands for their use long [link to a New Yorker article] after their relative uselessness had become well established
The New Yorker article explicitly says that it is about "a ragtag coalition of public-health activists". Of course there is dissent throughout science. Citing a popular article about what "a ragtag collection of activists" had to say hardly counts as what "our country's medical experts" are saying.
OK, I'm already exhausted. Very disappointed again that this polemic gets presented as "science". It most definitely is not.
Very nice perspective and heavy on appropriate criticism of the medical profession. To me as a retired pediatric specialist, the greatest error of the majority of physicians in the USA has been the silent deference to the experts who have misled our society in many ways. It is curious to me that the author overlooks the decades of scientific malfeasance within the environmental science community which has gone off the rails in so many ways. The stated principles of science mentioned at the beginning of the piece should be the subject of every introductory course in medical school and graduate schools of science.
The medical establishment's embrace of the outrageous lies of "trans" ideology has done a thousand times more damage to science – and deservedly to the medical profession itself – than COVID, whose invisible bugs are a great deal murkier than the birds and the bees of human sexual dimorphism, which is obvious on a basic level to every sentient human being from an early age.
It’s a reminder, if any is needed, that science is a tool, which can be used responsibly or irresponsibly, subject to the whims of human emotions. Scientists are people just like everyone else.
It nails something I've been investigating namely the psychology of religion and just how religious science has gotten. https://www.polymathicbeing.com/p/religion-as-a-psychology
This excellent article focuses on medical science. The social sciences are much further along toward sacrificing all their credibility on the altar of political zealotry. Anthropology, my own field, is a lost cause, and indeed a laughingstock. But even psychological research, with its facade of quantitative rigor and "objective" measurement, is full of biases that a careful reading of almost any published paper on a hot-button topic will reveal.
"The solution to all of these problems is simple to understand, though not necessarily simple to implement or to realize. It involves a return to humility."
And courage. I think what's mostly lacking is the guts to stand up and take a bullet for civilization. Western liberal democracy is for those who have the sanity, decency, educated intelligence and courage to defend it every day against the omnipresent forces -- mostly from within -- that never rest in their efforts to destroy it. From all sides! BLM, wokeness, Trumpistry, LGBTQ+ ... all seek to eat civilization alive.
Incredibly well said. Someone should roll this up in the form of a newspaper and smack Hotez and Fauci on their noses until they shrink back into the dark recesses of Democracy’s cavernous butthole, where they belong.
I said what I said.
Status - likes, clicks, money... it has become the ubiquitous pursuit of academics having replaced the previous pursuit of reputation for honest and accurate work to advance their discipline. I live in a university town. The admin and faculty parking lots are filled with Tesla cars and other exotics. The biggest homes and yards in town are occupied by University employees... some retired. Undergrad students have tens of thousands of student debt with a worthless degree from classes taught by professor assistants.
Science is a mess because our industry of higher learning has been corrupted into a wealth-making machine for elites. Science has lost its mission and has become yet another institution we cannot trust.
There is an old quote that goes something like this: What do you get when you cross science and politics? Answer: Politics.
The Covid experiment in mind control clearly shows how utterly effective public witch hunts are. Even a relatively decent human, when faced with losing their jobs, family, friends, etc. (while simultaneously being subjected to public hatred and harassment) may rationally choose to be silent. We also need some “humility” when we consider what scientists have been (and continue to be) subjected to. Everyone is an armchair hero, but in the real world...???
I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this mess. Certainly awareness is needed, but we may need some type of “disruptive event” to get this uniquely heavy and extreme pendulum to start swinging in the opposite direction.
I always keep in mind that at one time, the medical "experts" thought that bleeding patients was effective. Germ theory was also pooh-poohed. And if you were shot, then you were sure to get sepsis with the treatment used: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/dirty-painful-death-president-james-garfield
There is a difference between trusting science and "the science."
Once upon a time, it was the Catholic Church that suppressed scientific advancement. Now, it's the government and even wider society. It's sad, because science is the lifeblood of human advancement. Without STEM--and more importantly, curiosity-- we would still be languishing away in caves, having never discovered weapons or fire or language. To suppress and discourage scientific inquiry, discovery, and facts, just because the truth is considered unpopular or blasphemous is one of the greatest tragedies.
It all started with Climate "Science", COVID-19 just made use of all the tools for the manipulation and politicization of Academia and scientific institutions
Great quotes. They should be studied in every science program. Galileo is a role model for us to fight this new religion: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-follow-the-science-join-the-resistanc
This is such an important essay from a rare but needed perspective. Thank you.
Thank you
Sadly, it is the author who is engaging in a "betrayal of science" here.
Colin: I'm very disappointed that you cross-posted this.
I don't have the time or energy to rebut all the misleading-to-false statements here, so I'll just do the first two:
> Our country's medical experts rushed:
> to deny the efficacy of cloth masks [link to LA Times artilcle]
From that article: "April 3, 2020: After insisting for weeks that healthy people did not need to wear masks in most circumstances, federal health officials change their guidance in response to a growing body of evidence that people who do not appear to be sick are playing an outsize role in the COVID-19 pandemic."
Yes, after getting new evidence, the experts changed their minds because of it! This is what scientists are supposed to do!
> before mandating their use,
There was NEVER a mandate for use of cloth masks specifically, and so of course there is no supporting link for this particular statement.
> before admitting their uselessness [link to NYT opinion columnist Bret Stephens] once again.
So an opinion columnist with a degree in political philosophy is now a scientific authority?
>to continue to exaggerate the efficacy of cloth masks and to make continued demands for their use long [link to a New Yorker article] after their relative uselessness had become well established
The New Yorker article explicitly says that it is about "a ragtag coalition of public-health activists". Of course there is dissent throughout science. Citing a popular article about what "a ragtag collection of activists" had to say hardly counts as what "our country's medical experts" are saying.
OK, I'm already exhausted. Very disappointed again that this polemic gets presented as "science". It most definitely is not.
Colin, you really have to do better.
Very nice perspective and heavy on appropriate criticism of the medical profession. To me as a retired pediatric specialist, the greatest error of the majority of physicians in the USA has been the silent deference to the experts who have misled our society in many ways. It is curious to me that the author overlooks the decades of scientific malfeasance within the environmental science community which has gone off the rails in so many ways. The stated principles of science mentioned at the beginning of the piece should be the subject of every introductory course in medical school and graduate schools of science.
The medical establishment's embrace of the outrageous lies of "trans" ideology has done a thousand times more damage to science – and deservedly to the medical profession itself – than COVID, whose invisible bugs are a great deal murkier than the birds and the bees of human sexual dimorphism, which is obvious on a basic level to every sentient human being from an early age.