Full disclosure: I am not interested in being a member of someone’s audience. I am in Substack because I want to be in mutually respectful conversations.
Obviously, not everyone infected with COVID died of the (biological) virus. The global "officially confirmed case" mortality rate in early 2020 was 3.4%. However, I neither know nor do I need to know the officially confirmed case criteria.
Likewise, not everyone infected with the underlying (social) virus is a member of a cult. I neither know nor need to know the officially confirmed case cult membership rate. However, I do know the officially confirmed case criterion.
The mortality rate from playing Russian roulette is 16.7%. The maternal mortality rate from giving birth in a Vienna obstetrical clinic in April 1847 was 18.3%.
Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) focused his attention on solving the problem soon after his 1846 appointment to a clinic leadership position. Intuition led him to implement a protocol in May 1847 requiring physicians to wash their hands before assisting in labor and delivery. The respective rates in June, July, and August were 2.2%, 1.2%, and 1.9% proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he’d solved the problem.
Instead of being celebrated for saving countless lives from what we now know is physician-induced septic infections, Semmelweis was mocked and ignored by his own scientific community. The only thing his understandably iconoclastic, demonstrative, and disruptive advocacy accomplished was a commitment to an insane asylum where he died — ironically — from a septic infection, the result of a mistreated wound cased by an asylum guard’s assault.
In their response to his proposal, Semmelweis’ entire scientific community tested positive for what can be referred to as the “Semmelweis” (social) virus.
For the record, the “science” system is continuing to produce the same harmful result, and the effect will continue until the system is deliberately changed, and the result is a verified and validated improvement. The current scientific community is aware of many manifestations of the Semmelweis phenomenon throughout the history of science from a hindsight perspective while remaining largely unaware of ongoing manifestations. That’s not an opinion. Instead, it’s an accurate description of one readily apparent manifestation of the “cognitive dissonance” phenomenon.
A physician must do everything in their power to save a person dying from COVID and the scientific community did a great job of lessening the probability that people would contract the virus.
Likewise, you, Dr. Hassan, are compelled to do everything in your power to help people escape from cults and I am compelled to do everything in my power to lessen the probability that scientists will contract the underlying Semmelweis virus.
My essay is currently being reworked based on feedback from a rigorously skeptical reader revealing (what I now realize is) a flaw (at the technical detail level) in the way I’ve expressed my understanding of science and the Libet experiment.
Meanwhile, here a link to the essay's current version:
“The Whole Foods of sexuality” is frightening. I’ve lived in Austin and the Texas hill country most of my life now. My mother’s friend and mother of three high school acquaintances knew the founder of Whole Foods. She maintained he started his business using drug money. I don’t know this for a fact but rumors abound about Whole Foods. They are notorious for being anti union and anti labor organizing. So, perhaps there might be a valid parallel after all.
💙💙💙
Full disclosure: I am not interested in being a member of someone’s audience. I am in Substack because I want to be in mutually respectful conversations.
Obviously, not everyone infected with COVID died of the (biological) virus. The global "officially confirmed case" mortality rate in early 2020 was 3.4%. However, I neither know nor do I need to know the officially confirmed case criteria.
Likewise, not everyone infected with the underlying (social) virus is a member of a cult. I neither know nor need to know the officially confirmed case cult membership rate. However, I do know the officially confirmed case criterion.
The mortality rate from playing Russian roulette is 16.7%. The maternal mortality rate from giving birth in a Vienna obstetrical clinic in April 1847 was 18.3%.
Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) focused his attention on solving the problem soon after his 1846 appointment to a clinic leadership position. Intuition led him to implement a protocol in May 1847 requiring physicians to wash their hands before assisting in labor and delivery. The respective rates in June, July, and August were 2.2%, 1.2%, and 1.9% proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he’d solved the problem.
Instead of being celebrated for saving countless lives from what we now know is physician-induced septic infections, Semmelweis was mocked and ignored by his own scientific community. The only thing his understandably iconoclastic, demonstrative, and disruptive advocacy accomplished was a commitment to an insane asylum where he died — ironically — from a septic infection, the result of a mistreated wound cased by an asylum guard’s assault.
In their response to his proposal, Semmelweis’ entire scientific community tested positive for what can be referred to as the “Semmelweis” (social) virus.
For the record, the “science” system is continuing to produce the same harmful result, and the effect will continue until the system is deliberately changed, and the result is a verified and validated improvement. The current scientific community is aware of many manifestations of the Semmelweis phenomenon throughout the history of science from a hindsight perspective while remaining largely unaware of ongoing manifestations. That’s not an opinion. Instead, it’s an accurate description of one readily apparent manifestation of the “cognitive dissonance” phenomenon.
A physician must do everything in their power to save a person dying from COVID and the scientific community did a great job of lessening the probability that people would contract the virus.
Likewise, you, Dr. Hassan, are compelled to do everything in your power to help people escape from cults and I am compelled to do everything in my power to lessen the probability that scientists will contract the underlying Semmelweis virus.
My essay is currently being reworked based on feedback from a rigorously skeptical reader revealing (what I now realize is) a flaw (at the technical detail level) in the way I’ve expressed my understanding of science and the Libet experiment.
Meanwhile, here a link to the essay's current version:
https://jamesrcarey.substack.com/p/why-scientists-are-expert-problem
“The Whole Foods of sexuality” is frightening. I’ve lived in Austin and the Texas hill country most of my life now. My mother’s friend and mother of three high school acquaintances knew the founder of Whole Foods. She maintained he started his business using drug money. I don’t know this for a fact but rumors abound about Whole Foods. They are notorious for being anti union and anti labor organizing. So, perhaps there might be a valid parallel after all.