[SZJX]

Not sure it’s a “long-running Internet movement”. You make it sound like one of those loony anti-science conspiracist agendas. There have been a lot of serious articles written about it. I don’t think it’s hard to believe that a lot of scientists and institutions have the incentive to try to keep a whole system of focusing on removing beta-amyloid going as a self-fulfilling cycle. Getting funding and publication citations snd promotions etc. could always be the fundamental incentive out there.

[fithisux]

Sabine Hossenfelder uncovered a whole industry in theoretical physics.

[pas]

did she? or is she simply preaching to a certain choir that's awash with the heavy anti-establishment and anti-intellectual sentiment of nowadays?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miJbW3i9qQc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70vYj1KPyT4

... that said, of course there's some valid criticism of science funding underneath, and (the whole role, purpose, and status of) the academic sphere (with its traditions and privileges) which largely determines the outcome of how grant organizations end doing funding decisions.

[fithisux]

I've been doing research as a post-graduate and I can definitely say that a big part of academia is just an echo chamber for what is mainstream. Mainstream is not necessarily bad. But the echo chamber happens uncritically and even in bad research. It is frightening at least.

[pas]

the problem is that ... there's currently no better theory that matches the data than the amyloid cascade one - as far as I understand (and of course I'm extremely far from an expert on this)

still, I think it's correct to state that it's very hard to falsify the hypothesis, because it says that AD (Alzheimer's disease) goes through the following stages: unknown proximate cause leads to appearance of amyloid plaques which then irreversibility lead to Tau bundles (tangles) which inevitably lead to neurodegeneration which then show up as AD

the model states that by the time the plaques are there it's "too late"

of course there are drugs being tested to try to "solve" this from multiple angles, for example make the progression slow enough to "not matter", prevent the tau bundles, etc.

...

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/in-defense-of-the-amyloid-h...

see also "In 2024, the amyloid-cascade-hypothesis still remains a working hypothesis, no less but certainly no more": https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/arti...

in particular I recommend looking at this diagram that shows how the model has evolved over the decades: https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/1459224/fnagi-16-...