"Holding Science Hostage"

[J Michael]

Oh, no! Not another thread about science, and Covid, and the pandemic and.....EEEEEEEK!

This is a very long (incl. footnotes, 14,288 words) article about trusting the government on science. As science has been, for the past 2+ years, very much a part of everyone's life, in one way or another, and as we've all been affected to greater or lesser degree by the events of the past 2+ years--Covid-19, face masks, "social distancing", "vaccinations", mandates, etc., I thought this would be an interesting read.

If you disagree with the author's premises or conclusions, it'd be interesting to know how and why.

Here's the link with the first few paragraphs. Enjoy!
Holding Science Hostage

Most risk judgments rest on little, if any, personal investigation; they depend largely, if not wholly, on trust placed in the judgments of selected others. -Timus Kuran, Stanford Law Review, 2007
I am fortunate enough to have begun my scientific career before the internet. Before Facebook and chat rooms we had pubs, coffee shops and professional symposia. Before Wikipedia and CNN, we had to rely on getting our misinformation from our neighbor whose brother-in-law allegedly worked at a government laboratory …somewhere, or our best friend who knew someone who knew someone.

So, I have seen firsthand how the General Public (GP) has responded to advents in science, and how the very notion of "science" has evolved in the Western Northern Hemisphere over just the last several decades to reach its current state of distortion.

So, what is "science"? Quite contrary to the belief of the GP, and regardless of whether we like to accept it or not, "science" as we know it today is a product of the Catholic Church. 2 The very foundation of "Science qua Science" springs from the human dedication to the philosophical position that God 3 made the universe according to certain unchanging principles and rules, and that those rules are discernible to Man. 4 5

As we have seen proven through history, without this philosophical underpinning, "science" could not have developed as it did. 6 For example, Islam, which was haphazardly cobbled together from bits and pieces of Catholic teachings by Mohammad in the Seventh Century, teaches that their god has no rules and therefore, there are no rules by which the universe is fixed, and therefore, no rules can be discovered. Very often the "scientific advances" attributed to Muslims are recent attempts at revisionist history. 7 In Islam, the Universe is as ephemeral as god's imagination and will. 8 Although it is difficult to pinpoint when "science" (as we know it) began, the Roman Catholic Church's "Condemnation of 1277" certainly was a major turning point 9 and facilitated the work by Oresme, Buridan, the Oxford Calculators, and the Parisian Doctors.

So, for a moment, I'll define science thusly: 10

"Science is the creative formulation of reasonable paradigms that have an high probability of explaining material observations."

 

[Irkle Berserkle]

I read the article in its entirety. I have been quite astounded throughout the supposed pandemic at how many seemingly sane and intelligent people fail to see how the entire message Just Makes No Sense. My own experience, in a supposed COVID Disaster Area, tells me something is Very, Very Wrong with the message. The reality that I and my neighbors have experienced just doesn't mesh, at all, with what we are being told is happening around us and what we should be experiencing. The extent to which people blindly accept The Message is bewildering. It's as though they have been hypnotized; it almost seems to me to have a supernatural dimension.

Like all areas of human endeavor, science is corrupted by human nature. That is, of course, the core of the Christian message. Science has done an effective sales job of convincing many people that it is magically exempt from the corrupting influence of human nature. For too many people, science now holds the authority that religion once did, and the most high-profile scientists are accorded the status and respect of high priests.

I did find the article off-putting in the author's disparagement of the General Public. Most people simply don't have the time, resources or even intellectual capability to do much more than rely on what they are being told by the most high-profile sources.

I am fully vaccinated and boostered and still wearing my mask in indoor environments with strangers. The author would say I'm a dolt - one of those fools comprising the General Public. I can't see that I've lost anything by taking these precautions. I might turn the tables and ask HIM why I should attach any weight to what he, an obscure "industrial forensic hygienist," has to say?

 

[SkyWriting]

If you disagree with the author's premises or conclusions, it'd be interesting to know how and why.

A disturbing premise by Caoimhín P Connell:

So, what is "science"? Quite contrary to the belief of the GP, and regardless of whether we like to accept it or not, "science" as we know it today is a product of the Catholic Church. 2 The very foundation of "Science qua Science" springs from the human dedication to the philosophical position that God 3 made the universe according to certain unchanging principles and rules, and that those rules are discernible to Man. 4 5

The earliest roots of science can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE.[2][3] Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes.[2][3]

It's good to know ones roots when writing a paper. The middle east also contributed greatly to the Chinese foundation on "Science".

"Toxic black mold" - I suffered from this for a decade as my wife brought out Christmas decorations from our damp basement every year. We finally sealed the crawlspace walls and floor so that I was not incapacitated for 3 weeks every New Year. It was like a yearly Covid infection I enjoyed like clockwork. Some years it took down visiting family members as well. (The color of the mold is not important.)

According to contact tracing - Viral disease is spread by fluids ejected from people's mouths. There is no hospital that has ever disputed this throughout human history.

Why not?

 

[toocoolblue]

99.9% of people will never read thru all that, thus no matter what point the author intended to make, it will fall upon deaf ears.

Simply put, people are stupid. Today's generation is probably the dumbest group of people who ever lived. They will believe anything, no questions asked.

Joe Biden gives himself credit for starting the environmentalist movement in 1987 with this Senate floor speech - "Scientists predict also that global warming would mean temperature increases more rapid near the poles than at the Equator. This would mean a partial melting of the polar ice caps and of glaciers at the higher latitudes. Water released from these ice concentrations would raise sea levels up to 4 to 5 feet, producing widespread coastal flooding. Should this occur, mankind could-within the lifetimes of many now alive-witness a sudden alteration in global geography unlike any change in recorded history....
...Global warming, should it occur in accord with the direst predictions, would be a catastrophe of Biblical proportions for the entire world. The human activities that could bring it about-the inefficient burning of fossil fuels, the atmospheric release of CFC's, the destruction of tropical forests-are occurring right now. And unless these activities are changed in the next few years-"

So in 1987...if we didn't act immediately sea levels were going to rise 4-5 feet and a catastrophe of Biblical proportions for the entire world would follow.

However, 30+ years later, we did nothing and sea levels didn't rise nor did any Biblical catastrophe occur.

But try telling that to any so-called environmental expert.

Today, "science" is what people want to believe. The facts, the truth, reality..it all means nothing.