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by mpfundstein
2247 days ago
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> A medical doctor who uses his authority to spread what he thinks is the right message, but goes against what most informed scientists consider correct, is EXACTLY spreading misinformation If everyone would think like you, science wouldn't progress far. Einstein would have never happened.
While Einstein was busy developing his theory of relativity, the majority of the scientific world thought Newton is the end of it all. He was the crazy dude who dared to go against the order.. even annihilating academic friends by doing so.... However, the crazy dude was right. Having Majority DOES NOT EQUAL Being right. Always remember that. You even write 'to spread what HE THINKS IS THE RIGHT MESSAGE' > Thats a mega important point. If he is convinced that this is how things are then there must be a (public) place to share those ideas. Even though he might be wrong in the long run.
And that's different from FAKE NEWS, where an actor spreads midsinformation with a malicious goal. Hence in the FAKE NEWS case, he would KNOW ITS NOT RIGHT but spread it ANYWAY. See what I mean? |
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In a democracy, it kind of does. And science is a democratic discourse. If 99.9% of all scientists say global warming is real or evolution "just a theory", and 0.1% says it is not, the likelihood of the 99.9% being right is... well, 99.9%. When people mention how Einstein revolutionized science, you have to remember that he was the absolute, astounding and rare exception. The very vast majority of people who go against the grain of the dominant scientific belief tend to be crackpots. Always remember that.
You even write 'to spread what HE THINKS IS THE RIGHT MESSAGE' > Thats a mega important point. [...] Even though he might be wrong in the long run. And that's different from FAKE NEWS, where an actor spreads midsinformation with a malicious goal. Hence in the FAKE NEWS case, he would KNOW ITS NOT RIGHT but spread it ANYWAY.
I agree with you, "fake news" was a bad choice of words. I think that's the extreme end of a spectrum of "spreading non-true information", and I personally think that's what this doctor did. But my beef isn't even with that. It's perfectly okay (Very, very much encouraged, actually) to voice dissenting opinions in science! That is how science works, after all. And hence it is important to voice dissenting options in a scientific manner. Which brings me to:
> If he is convinced that this is how things are then there must be a (public) place to share those ideas.
There absolutely is: Peer-reviewed scientific literature. That's the place where scientific ideas are evaluated, based on their merit. You don't go call a press conference when you have a plausibly sounding hypothesis that might explain some observations you made. You write a paper about it, make your case, back it up with data and experiments, and evaluate your findings to see if they hold up to statistical scrutiny. And then an informed discourse among peers can start, and the facts & data will decide who is right/wrong. And if you want to prove something that most of the scientific community thinks is wrong, and when potentially many lives are at stake, then the burden of proof rests on you, and that burden is rightfully high. Much higher than "I called some friends and we our subjective impression is that this is overblown". And _THAT_ is why I think this is misinformation, even if I'm sure it was done with the best of intentions.