• Dr Cog
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    Strong disagree, given the vaccine hysteria was on the part of the deniers. The science supported and continues to support the vaccines effectiveness and safety. It’s primarily people who aren’t scientists and don’t know how to interpret medical studies that are claiming that they are dangerous or ineffective.

    Nice to meet you, I’m a medical scientist that specializes in Alzheimer’s research. Absolutely none of my colleagues think vaccines are dangerous.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The media and the general population do not recognize any one single specific scientific organization as an authority to depend upon, so being smug about your claimed place in the ivory tower does nothing to stop people from getting false science from somewhere other than that ivory tower.

      EDIT: And how exactly are those masses that you condescend to supposed to distinguish “shitty” science from outright false science? And why should “shitty” science things be given validity and attention (which may well include race science because you never said otherwise in this thread) while you somehow distinguish that away from antivax nonsense? They’re both nonsense but you seem to be making pious excuses for one kind of it.

      Stating “post all the science” must feel good to say but it does nothing to stop the posting of false science calling itself science and many people going along with that. You yourself claimed (or feigned) ignorance of race science as false science, which shows just how insidious such things really are.

      • Dr Cog
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Good. There isn’t a single scientific organization, given the whole point of science is democratizing information research.

        General populace are supposed to rely on the top researchers in their field to disseminate information. These top researchers are usually the least controversial which is why they are trusted by the (again) democratized scientific community. I’ll say this because a lot of people don’t realize it: if you have any controversy in your past regarding misinformation or “fixing” results, and it ever gets out, you are immediately shunned and your work will never be looked at seriously again. You will lose your job and all credibility immediately. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it is heavily discouraged.

        If we want to combat misinformation we should be encouraging people to trust scientists and not get information from organizations with ulterior motives.

        • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          If we want to combat misinformation we should be encouraging people to trust scientists

          That sounds really grand on paper but in reality the societal definition of who a scientist is (and who is a credible scientist) is blurred to the point that you can piously disavow antivax conspiracy theories (some of them pushed by quack scientists with dubious qualifications) but also proclaim that even “shit science” should be freely released for all to see (with “race science” being mentioned in particular with you glibly disavowing knowledge of it) and you still haven’t provided a distinct measurable difference between the two.

          You really seem to be more in favor of “race science” than antivax nonsense, and they are both nonsense.

          • Dr Cog
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            I’m not saying trust any random person who calls themself a scientist. Myself included.

            I’m saying people should trust reputable scientists at the top of their field. Ideally, journalists should do the leg work to identify these people and give them a voice, and describe why they should be trusted.

            That doesn’t happen with nearly all right-leaning journalistic publications, unfortunately, resulting in a huge population not knowing who to trust or just mistrusting scientists in general.

            Edit: I realize I didn’t answer your point on freedom of access. I do firmly believe all science should be accessible, because no single study should ever be taken as fact. Science works through repetition, and if you have a study that disagrees with nearly everything else then it’s either a brand new way of looking at things (and will be supported in the future) or is junk (and will be ignored). But just because something is junk doesn’t mean we should prevent people from accessing it.

            • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              But just because something is junk doesn’t mean we should prevent people from accessing it.

              Again, after glibly dismissing antivax conspiracy theories as unscientific under the presumption that no one credible would believe them (not that that stopped the spread and distribution of them to the general public) you’re suggestion that all of the harmful prior false science listed at the following:

              https://legacyofslavery.harvard.edu/report

              https://slaveryandjustice.brown.edu/

              https://slavery.virginia.edu/

              https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/nzo1tx4elaerg13akjwxuve3pv9sb03a

              https://news.emory.edu/features/2021/09/emory-unpacks-history-of-slavery-and-dispossession/index.html

              should get openly and freely distributed under some idealistic notion of “set it all free” while you already derided the public for buying into antivax nonsense. Your idealism can and will hurt a lot more people because you clearly are more fine with racism than antivax conspiracy theories.

              • Dr Cog
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                You’re very good at putting words into people’s mouths (I didn’t even mention antivax theories), and that point is where I end the conversation. Good day

                • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  You’re very good at putting words into people’s mouths (I didn’t even mention antivax theories)

                  You previously said:

                  Strong disagree, given the vaccine hysteria was on the part of the deniers. The science supported and continues to support the vaccines effectiveness and safety. It’s primarily people who aren’t scientists and don’t know how to interpret medical studies that are claiming that they are dangerous or ineffective.

                  Nice to meet you, I’m a medical scientist that specializes in Alzheimer’s research. Absolutely none of my colleagues think vaccines are dangerous.

                  If you’re going to complain about “putting words into people’s mouths” don’t be a liar on top of that.

                  Good day

                  smuglord

                  • Dr Cog
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Ah, yes. Good catch, I did mention that there is no scientific evidence to support any widespread negative effects of the vaccines, and there continues to not be. You’re more than able to put yourself in the running for the Nobel prize for saving millions of lives by finding and publishing this evidence, though, since it seems that you’re so confident in it.

                    I did not state that “no one credible would believe them”, and your links about slavery are irrelevant because the discussion was about vaccines, not racism.

                    And I didn’t lie. Literally none of my colleagues thinks there is any merit to antivax scaremongering.