Irving Janis in “Victims of Groupthink” discussed and illustrated how elite individuals do stupid things under group influence, the many factors involved in belonging to a group.
George Bernard Shaw had pointed out much earlier that all professions are a conspiracy against the laity.
TED is like other human institutions. No matter how or why founded, if reasonably successful its chief aim comes to be maintaining its existence and status, including the positions and perks of its staff. When matters of knowledge or science are concerned, the staff is rarely competent to judge.
Julie:
Very few people manage to change a belief, you deserve respect and congratulations. On my website I have:
“And when I am wrong, and therefore change my mind,
and am criticized for inconsistency, I cite John Maynard Keynes:
‘When the facts change then my opinion changes: and you, sir?'”
Thanks for raising this issue. Guilt by association is a commonly used shortcut to avoid the work of looking into the details. I’ve described how I came by my views about HIV in https://www.dropbox.com/s/dc51wk16s2mo7ce/CrankDISINFO.pdf?dl=0; I had collated the published results of essentially all HIV tests in the USA and saw that they are incompatible with an infectious agent.
My Wikipedia entry was created by Ken Witwer who was then part of AIDStruth.org which defends the orthodox view. My friends and I have tried to correct errors of fact in my entry but without lasting success, because someone immediately re-inserts innuendos and the like.
I can only ask that on any and every issue, people confront me strictly on the basis of evidence. Re Loch Ness, my personal website has a page setting out the evidence and sources. Re HIV/AIDS, the evidence is set out in my book “The Origin, Persistence and Failings of HIV/AIDS Theory”, Jefferson (NC): McFarland 2007. As to fringe science in general, see my book “Science or Pseudoscience: Magnetic Healing, Psychic Phenomena, and Other Heterodoxies”, Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press 2001.
I like to remember the motto of my alma mater, the University of Sydney: Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Citing anagrams and laughing are no substitute for looking into the evidence. The whole justification for the Mad in America website is that the evidence does not support current mainstream practices in psychiatry. If anyone wants to discuss Loch Ness or HIV, please look into the evidence about those things and then talk to me if you still disagree with me.
Julie:
It’s hard enough to change one’s own beliefs.
Some of my very good friends just choose to overlook, ignore, some of my beliefs. Some who agree with me that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS think I’m wrong about human-caused climate change; and vice versa. And almost all my good friends think I’m nutty about Loch Ness monsters. It was a revelation to me to discover in the Society for Scientific Exploration a large number of highly intelligent, accomplished, successful scientists and other people who take seriously things I had previously dismissed as obviously wrong.
Humility is always called for, a recognition that we ourselves might be wrong even when we’re sure we’re right.
Medical practices, including psychiatric, have not reformed to avoid or prevent these conflicts of interest even as literally dozens of books by informed people including insiders have been published in the last two or three decades. A periodically revised bibliography is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/2cxs7a7862kmism/What%27sWrongWithMedicine.pdf?dl=0
Human behavior is not repeatable. Medical treatments, including psychiatric, cannot be guided just by “scientific” clinical trials. In psychiatry and in physical medicine, it is a single individual who matters. Population averages from clinical trials can offer suggestions, but not all people are the same. Good doctors and psychiatrists are good at diagnosing and at listening to their individual patients.
Sylvain:
Yes.
In my opinion, the desired approach is to stick as closely as possible to the hardest evidence, the most secure facts—in other words, try to do what science would do if left to itself, namely truth-seeking.
Of course it takes political maneuvering and struggling for influence to accomplish anything like that, but the goal and motto needs to be truth-seeking.
“Repeated and repeatable” is possible only when the thing being studied repeats itself in identical fashion. Human behavior, be it mental or physical, is in principle not repeatable because time has passed and something has changed. You are not the same person when you take a given exam for the second time, for example.
With medical or psychiatric matters, the lack of repeatablity is much worse than that trivial example.
The “scientific method” is not how science is done, see lengthy discussion in the book I cited. That “method” explains nothing about science, and especially not the history of science
Richard, Darius: I don’t disagree overall.
As to religion, I don’t think it had much impact on scientific activity except perhaps in some sectarian colleges.
The second part of my oversimplified nutshell includes the role of Big Pharma, indeed of Big Money, Big Everything — science nowadays is NOT its own thing
Irving Janis in “Victims of Groupthink” discussed and illustrated how elite individuals do stupid things under group influence, the many factors involved in belonging to a group.
George Bernard Shaw had pointed out much earlier that all professions are a conspiracy against the laity.
Report comment
TED is like other human institutions. No matter how or why founded, if reasonably successful its chief aim comes to be maintaining its existence and status, including the positions and perks of its staff. When matters of knowledge or science are concerned, the staff is rarely competent to judge.
Report comment
Julie:
Very few people manage to change a belief, you deserve respect and congratulations. On my website I have:
“And when I am wrong, and therefore change my mind,
and am criticized for inconsistency, I cite John Maynard Keynes:
‘When the facts change then my opinion changes: and you, sir?'”
Report comment
Thanks for raising this issue. Guilt by association is a commonly used shortcut to avoid the work of looking into the details. I’ve described how I came by my views about HIV in https://www.dropbox.com/s/dc51wk16s2mo7ce/CrankDISINFO.pdf?dl=0; I had collated the published results of essentially all HIV tests in the USA and saw that they are incompatible with an infectious agent.
My Wikipedia entry was created by Ken Witwer who was then part of AIDStruth.org which defends the orthodox view. My friends and I have tried to correct errors of fact in my entry but without lasting success, because someone immediately re-inserts innuendos and the like.
I can only ask that on any and every issue, people confront me strictly on the basis of evidence. Re Loch Ness, my personal website has a page setting out the evidence and sources. Re HIV/AIDS, the evidence is set out in my book “The Origin, Persistence and Failings of HIV/AIDS Theory”, Jefferson (NC): McFarland 2007. As to fringe science in general, see my book “Science or Pseudoscience: Magnetic Healing, Psychic Phenomena, and Other Heterodoxies”, Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press 2001.
I like to remember the motto of my alma mater, the University of Sydney: Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Citing anagrams and laughing are no substitute for looking into the evidence. The whole justification for the Mad in America website is that the evidence does not support current mainstream practices in psychiatry. If anyone wants to discuss Loch Ness or HIV, please look into the evidence about those things and then talk to me if you still disagree with me.
Report comment
Julie:
It’s hard enough to change one’s own beliefs.
Some of my very good friends just choose to overlook, ignore, some of my beliefs. Some who agree with me that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS think I’m wrong about human-caused climate change; and vice versa. And almost all my good friends think I’m nutty about Loch Ness monsters. It was a revelation to me to discover in the Society for Scientific Exploration a large number of highly intelligent, accomplished, successful scientists and other people who take seriously things I had previously dismissed as obviously wrong.
Humility is always called for, a recognition that we ourselves might be wrong even when we’re sure we’re right.
Report comment
Medical practices, including psychiatric, have not reformed to avoid or prevent these conflicts of interest even as literally dozens of books by informed people including insiders have been published in the last two or three decades. A periodically revised bibliography is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/2cxs7a7862kmism/What%27sWrongWithMedicine.pdf?dl=0
Report comment
Human behavior is not repeatable. Medical treatments, including psychiatric, cannot be guided just by “scientific” clinical trials. In psychiatry and in physical medicine, it is a single individual who matters. Population averages from clinical trials can offer suggestions, but not all people are the same. Good doctors and psychiatrists are good at diagnosing and at listening to their individual patients.
Report comment
Sylvain:
Yes.
In my opinion, the desired approach is to stick as closely as possible to the hardest evidence, the most secure facts—in other words, try to do what science would do if left to itself, namely truth-seeking.
Of course it takes political maneuvering and struggling for influence to accomplish anything like that, but the goal and motto needs to be truth-seeking.
Report comment
“Repeated and repeatable” is possible only when the thing being studied repeats itself in identical fashion. Human behavior, be it mental or physical, is in principle not repeatable because time has passed and something has changed. You are not the same person when you take a given exam for the second time, for example.
With medical or psychiatric matters, the lack of repeatablity is much worse than that trivial example.
Report comment
The “scientific method” is not how science is done, see lengthy discussion in the book I cited. That “method” explains nothing about science, and especially not the history of science
Report comment
Richard, Darius: I don’t disagree overall.
As to religion, I don’t think it had much impact on scientific activity except perhaps in some sectarian colleges.
The second part of my oversimplified nutshell includes the role of Big Pharma, indeed of Big Money, Big Everything — science nowadays is NOT its own thing
Report comment