Alternatively, it may become possible to have a discussion about what, exactly, science is. For example, in the case of the ATP turbine, “Natural selection did it” has the same explicit explanatory value as “God did it.” But natural selection is somehow science and God is not. Why? How?
Medicine
The smog is beginning to clear around hydroxychloroquine
Revealing the way politics has invaded science all the way down, according to Norman Doidge. There’s a good chance that, even though most people don’t directly say it, the reputation of “science” will never recover from this episode. People will disbelieve politely but thoroughly.
The Frontline Doctors put some “plausible” mechanisms for Hydroxychloroquine on the table
In their July 28 seminar, the Frontline Doctors Group led by Dr Simone Gold, have put some plausible mechanisms for HCQ based cocktails on the table. These were noted on in an augmentation to an earlier post, but deserve headlining in their own right: Dr Frieden OP: >>I have found at Bit Chute, a July Read More…
Dr Thomas Frieden, formerly Director of the US CDC, 2017 in NEJM, on the need to go beyond placebo-controlled studies as “gold standard”
One of the key steps in dismissing evidence of efficacy of hydroxychloroquine-based cocktails in treating early stageCovid-19 for patients in vulnerable groups on an outpatient basis is the use of the premise that such evidence is of low quality as it does not match the “gold standard” of placebo-controlled, randomised tests (often. RCT’s). However, observations Read More…
Prof Risch answers critics:
It’s worth headlining from the CV19 thread: Jerry, 579: >>Dr. Risch strikes back. https://washex.am/2DFxdij Hydroxychloroquine works in high-risk patients, and saying otherwise is dangerous As of Wednesday, some 165,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19. I have made the case in the American Journal of Epidemiology and in Newsweek that people who Read More…
Some CV-19 data (for reference)
I note, from OWID, today August 13. First, case fatality rate vs population’s median age, though this is oldish data now . . . however exceptionally poor management by the US — an obvious implied thesis — should have been obvious even then: Next, case fatality rate overall — a metric dependent on degree of Read More…
On the trajectory of Covid-19 (and similar diseases)
As a FYI, we need to understand the pattern of such diseases, so courtesy Yandex Image search (Google did an obvious results suppression): This leads to the simplified U/L trajectory description. If a vulnerable patient catches, things tend to get worse over several days, potentially leading to a crisis from immunity system over-reaction and/or secondary Read More…
Is human biology too complicated for humans to understand?
Craig Mundie’s dream is to build an AI that rivals human intellect to tackle problems in health care. He hopes to be able to customize medicine for every person by building a virtual proxy for every person. It’s almost like he is asking for biology to play tricks on him…
At ACSH: Understanding the loss of credibility of expert opinion, post-COVID-19
Berezow: A loss of credibility, therefore, happens for other reasons. In the case of coronavirus, we believe there are five reasons: Incompetence, waffling, moving the goalposts, disregarding unintended consequences, and being political.
COVID 19: John Ioannidis, scourge of trashy science studies, responds to critics
We still urgently need a serious discussion about the role of the “science” expert, as we survey the ruins of our economy. How is that expert different from the crystal ball reader?
Ioannidis, the opponent of bad science studies, risks Unpersonhood
On account of stuff he said that is mostly correct and even obvious but exposes the cult of the science expert.
Dr Raoult Roars — new articles on findings and issues about HCQ + Cocktails for Covid-19
IHU- Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, is a significant French research institute that has continued its work on CV 19. For the record, here are excerpts from some recent work, headlined from threads where such would be buried: EXH 1: >>COVID-IHU #15 Version 1 du 27 Mai 2020 Early diagnosis and management of COVID-19 patients: a real-life Read More…
The big COVID-19 retraction: Top people don’t notice the smell?
For the record, Uncommon Descent has no official opinion on this mess except to say, yes, a fumigator is badly needed at The Lancet.
Why not to trust “science” just now: COVID-19 edition
We’ve been hearing complaints about Lancet and other journals for years. Trust but verify. “Science” is a discipline, not an incantation.
Dr Zelenko on Israel National News, May 21, 2020 — forthcoming paper ~ two weeks?
Dr Zelenko expects to be in publication along with some German colleagues, in about two weeks. In the following video (pardon quality issues): . . . he asks, in effect, isn’t it standard to treat a disease as early as possible, so why the strange difference here? He makes a comparison to how a fire Read More…