Many of you seem to be on Team Science™, but even on HN the discontent is boiling over. Recently someone asked about non-mainstream ideas to treat GBM (cancer). There were 373 comments over 7 days.<p>There’s always been dissident voices in the scientific community. Attention goes where money flows: extremely serious mistakes in the scientific consensus didn’t matter until the powerful realized Science™ could be used to make money.<p>Many of you are dismissive of people who question [0] if it was wise to try to prevent infections of a rapidly mutating seasonal cold virus with an experimental first-in-class vaccine targeting the proteins that are most like our own tissues [1]. It’s been 3 years - most the population has become <i>anti-booster.</i><p>[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28908797<p>[1] e.g., https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-96233-7.pdf<p>A few decades ago only a few peasants were upset about Medicine™ using incomplete science to make work for the medical industry. One got the ear of RFK Jr., who was then focusing on environmental law. The pitchfork-wielding peasant said, essentially, “Science™ is hurting children, <i>please help us.”</i> RFK Jr. considered the dissident science compiled by the angry peasants, and realized they might have a point: medicine might’ve been captured by charlatans.<p>Many of you think Cheeto Hitler 2.0 is a crazy guerilla who’s deploying teams to smash everything good and pure about science. But the pitchfork-wielding peasants are cheering Saint Trump’s having given Saint Elon root access to the Imperial Mainframe. The peasants’ latest celebrations are of this week’s consecration of Saint RFK Jr. as secretary of Health & Human Services.<p>Science had a pretty good run, but now it’s in desperate need of help. If Team Science™ wants its mojo back, one strategy is to acknowledge that <i>mistakes were made</i>. What mistakes can be acknowledged?
One of the neat features of the HN Poll is that I can add more choices. Respond to this comment with your favorite 'science mistake', and I'll consider adding it to the poll.
There’s nothing to be gained in admitting mistakes. Team science should take credit for the weight loss drugs that are in the process of making everyone’s lives measurably better.
> But the pitchfork-wielding peasants are cheering Saint Trump’s having given Saint Elon root access to the Imperial Mainframe.<p>Literally where? I have yet to see a single non-politician support this behavior. Everyone I talk to is worried about Musk's track record with personal information, his chronic lying and the potential anticompetitive advantages of his federal ascension.<p>This entire post is a pretty delusional tirade but this takes the cake. If it was a populist decision then Congress would have voted on it... but they didn't, even with a Republican majority. Trump's behavior is so plainly illegal he can't trust his <i>own fucking party</i> to support him.