Stay curious‼️ 🤔

The “do your own research” people need to have it explained to them that even experts in their respective fields aren’t automatically capable of parsing scientific literature. A family doctor with 50 years experience who prescribes antidepressants every day will have no deep understanding of what any particular scientific peer reviewed study on SSRIs is telling them. They need a grounding in statistics more than anything else, which most people just don’t have. So the idea that a non-educated, non-scientist can read peer reviewed studies and come away from them with some sort of understanding of the issue is the thing that needs to be highlighted, preferably in high school science class (earlier, frankly). A willingness to slog through scientific papers in pursuit of deeper knowledge is admirable, but is dangerously misguided without proper training. I don’t even mean training in the specific science, but just in how to speak the language of peer reviewed studies more generally. It’s very much its own discipline.

I want someone to ask Joe Rogan what ‘regression to the mean’ means. I want someone to ask him what a ‘standard deviation’ is and how to apply the concept. I don’t want to know what papers he’s read, because you could read 50 true scientific papers a day on one topic and still have no idea what the current scientific consensus is on said topic, absent the requisite training. You’ll almost certainly come away from it with a very wrong but very confident belief. Dunning-Kruger on steroids.

Tbf this does kind of imply we are doing something wrong. Maybe instead we should teach people to learn and judge information, rather than train them to take information presented to them at face value.

There are as many irrational science fanatics as there are religious fanatics.

Vaccines could cause autism since they contain immune system steroids, and should probably not be given to people who haven’t reached adulthood. Anyone who is a decent mother has probably thought about this. GMOs can also be dangerous although not likely, outside of fats, your bodies tends to break down other things. Flat earth is a troll. Climate change is real but the solutions people have for dealing with it are stupid, annoying, intrusive, and impractical. Cars get shittier year after year because of the stupid laws, meanwhile the human population is exploding.

Also don’t tell me I don’t understand the science because I do. I just figure out things myself instead of trusting corporations and social media companies. People who unironicly think that vaccines are safe did not form that conclusion by, “understanding the science”. They came to that conclusion because some other liberal corporatists told them too. It is true vaccines will cause the cow herd to be a bit more resilient, but also if that comes at the cost of the brain and mental health, then no that’s fucking stupid. Sure to corporations having bodies is probably the best thing for them. They need as many workers as possible, but from a human standpoint, there is nothing more valuable than your mind. Don’t waste your children’s minds to make cattle for corporations.