Re: Insufficient science killed Asimov

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Thu Mar 07 2002 - 17:14:31 MST


> (hal@finney.org <hal@finney.org>):
> Pat Fallon writes:
> > I respectfully disagree. I think the Perth Group
> > [http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/perthgroup/index.html] provides a good
> > argument that there are indeed major flaws in current AIDS science.
>
> I'm not qualified to evaluate the arguments pro and con on the linkage
> between AIDS and HIV. I am not a biochemist, virologist, epidemiologist,
> or a member of any of the other scientific communities which have
> investigated this issue and have become convinced that the linkage
> is valid.
>
> However, I do have confidence in the working of the scientific method
> and the scientific community. Scientists make mistakes, but there are
> many institutional mechanisms for correction. Otherwise science would
> never have propelled us into this rapidly-changing world.

I am not a doctor either, but I have been a professional bullshit
detector in other fields, and most of this AIDS-is-not-HIV stuff sets
off my alarms pretty heavily. The stuff from the Perth Group looks
like the straining-at-gnats-and-swallowing-camels variety; they
deride the scientific consensus for not having unquestionable ironclad
proof of their contentions, then offer alternatives for which there
is only the slightest suggestion of relevance.

As Eli put it, you shouldn't have to squint hard to see reality: it
should slap you in the face. What slaps us in the face about AIDS is
that 99.9% of those who have the tell-tale symptoms test positive with
the test developed by those following the HIV hypothesis. It also
slaps us in the face that _millions_ of people who have the disease
in places where things like AZT aren't available die, pretty much
without exception and on schedule, while folks like Magic Johnson are
still making the talk show circuit.

It doesn't really matter much to me if "popular" researchers may not
be dotting their i's and crossing their t's the way some might like.
The overwhelming evidence is that they're on the right track.

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC


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