NIH head, still angry about COVID, wants a second scientific revolution
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"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time-when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudo-science and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance." - Carl Sagan, A Demon-Haunted World, 1995.
"celebration of ignorance"...priceless and prescient.
"celebration of ignorance"...priceless and prescient.
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So the director lies, as noted when Senator Sanders produced the trend in reduced funding for research while Director Bhattacharya claimed that research funding had not been decreased. He is a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration during the COVID lock down, opposing nearly every epidemiologist in the process.
No.
Fake information, lies, ignoring scientific consensus?
No.
No.
Fake information, lies, ignoring scientific consensus?
No.
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Hahahahahahahahaha
No.
We're already losing researchers and scientists to literally every other country and poll showed that 3/4 US researchers would move overseas if given the chance for funding
No.
We're already losing researchers and scientists to literally every other country and poll showed that 3/4 US researchers would move overseas if given the chance for funding
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No. Not this fucking idiot. Nor any other idiot the main idiots (the orange turd, RFK) put in place.
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My god, the mindset that is required to produce words like this....
When a person gets power, you see who they truly are. And the type of person who writes this is not the sort of person who should ever have the reigns of power that he currently has.
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A scientific revolution at the NIH implies a pivot into worthless pseudoscience and superstition, for two main reasons: 1. The NIH was doing good work before and 2. RFK Jr is the biggest idiot ever to have led HHS.
The world has lost decades of progress in health research thanks to Trump and brainworm. It will cost millions of lives probably within the next decade.
The world has lost decades of progress in health research thanks to Trump and brainworm. It will cost millions of lives probably within the next decade.
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Read: truth is basically whatever the dumbest person in the room says it is.
"Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins the movie by telling you how it ends. Well, I say there are some things we don't want to know. Important things!"
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I'm afraid the inmates have taken over the asylum at the NIH. They may still occasionally do something that isn't the worst possible thing in the same way that a stopped clock is correct twice a day, but America's strength in biomedical research is history.
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This is a classic “pick any two” situation.
The only question is, which two options will this administration choose?
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This is what happens when bulshitters are placed in positions of power. This is how a civilization based on science and technology disintegrates.
“Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunistswho control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.”
Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
Somehow we have elected all of these through very well funded misinformation & pure stupidity combined with selffishness.
“Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunistswho control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.”
Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
Somehow we have elected all of these through very well funded misinformation & pure stupidity combined with selffishness.
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Oh BULLSHIT a lot of people let themselves get tricked into thinking that "sleight of hand was happening" because they are fools who like to be lied to.
"the scientist proceeded to do political or ethical work" that's a straight up lie and was used to justify tons of violence against valiant public health workers throughout the country, all of which barely got any reporting. All because these violent idiots criminal feelings are prioritized over the reality of what was said.
Just look at what happened in an overwhelmingly liberal part of the country, the harassment was absolutely disgusting, and entirely caused by the lies you are perpetuating:
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/736/the-herd
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As far as revolutions go, I wish him his own French Revolution the coming years. How about that, asshole?
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chaos215bar2
Ars Praefectus
These people are still literally complaining that they were asked to put on a mask and maybe stay away from people they don't need to be around while we figured out a novel worldwide pandemic. They put everyone in danger because they couldn't stand the idea of someone who wasn't part of their tribe telling them what to do. It's that simple. And we're supposed to feel sorry for them.
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So, speaking truth-to-power is a good thing in your mind instead of blindly listening to a leader that you don't respect? Going against the grain should be celebrated?
'Cuz I know a few million people that would like to have a word with you about that. Are you taking questions?
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Honestly Stanford is starting to seem like a huge part of the problem, first Scott Atlas and now this jackass (who is known behind his back as Jay Batshit to his IT support)
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... of a concerted effort from conservatives and anti-vaxxers to discredit and disparage science and scientists.
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Betteridge's law of headlines strikes again (and yes, I know it's not technically the headline)
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"They’re a suddenly powerful political constituency that also wants to see fundamental change in the scientific establishment, and they are completely unbothered by any lack of intellectual coherence." You know you're in trouble when statements that seem like they were pulled from the Hitchhiker's Guide become real, clearly non-exaggerated statements of fact.
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In a way, he was lucky that he doesn't have to live through this horrorshow.
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I think the inmates in an asylum would do a far better job than this lot though.
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Well, I suppose the Cultural Revolution was technically a revolution, so at least they have historical precedent...
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What's a name for circus that is stupid and dangerous? I hate denigrating clowns compared to these monsters
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I believe that most modern parliamentarians refer to that as a quorum.
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Are the Red
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I just realized, these guys are going to have an LLM write their Little Red Book, aren't they?
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I just finished rereading Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and his The Road Since Structure about a month ago. By Kuhn's (generally accepted) definition, we are not at the point where a scientific paradigm change is about to occur for scientific reasons, but we may be at a point where politics tries to force some paradigm changes—which is never a positive event.
If you are a scientist or someone deeply interested in science, Kuhn's works should be a mandatory read. Reading them should also be required of all K-12 science teachers, textbook authors, and state textbook standards writers and reviewers, because how we teach "how science is done" is flat-out wrong—something I remember arguing with my fifth-grade teacher about many decades ago.
That said, Bhattacharya seems to have a couple of decent ideas, but they all appear to originate from, and be based upon, the wrong reasons. But, maybe—just maybe—something positive may come of his efforts. Well, that is, if we can remove the politics from it.
Edit: Fixed typo I didn't realize I'd made due to dyslexia—Thanks to @vidsurfr for pointing it out.
If you are a scientist or someone deeply interested in science, Kuhn's works should be a mandatory read. Reading them should also be required of all K-12 science teachers, textbook authors, and state textbook standards writers and reviewers, because how we teach "how science is done" is flat-out wrong—something I remember arguing with my fifth-grade teacher about many decades ago.
That said, Bhattacharya seems to have a couple of decent ideas, but they all appear to originate from, and be based upon, the wrong reasons. But, maybe—just maybe—something positive may come of his efforts. Well, that is, if we can remove the politics from it.
Edit: Fixed typo I didn't realize I'd made due to dyslexia—Thanks to @vidsurfr for pointing it out.
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KoshcheiTheDeathless
Ars Centurion
This article made my head hurt. I tried to approach it disinterestedly, but I reached "What? Why? No." pretty quickly and now I need to sit down for a bit.
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ubercurmudgeon
Ars Tribunus Militum
The Nazis turned doctors into anti-doctors, at least the ones that were trained for concentration camp work in a twee village called Alt Rehse, where thatched cottages still carry inscriptions of which year of the new Nazi era in which they were built. MAGA is trying to turn medical research into anti-medical research.
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