BC SCIENCE
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

Read this thread from @lilithsaintcrow. I really mean it. Just read it. Because if what she is saying is true (and I happen to think it is) it explains *so much*

An example using the Flat Earthers: A thread of many parts:

 I'm firmly convinced that the flat Earth thing was started by some adolescent trolls with nothing more productive to do. They didn't believe it, but they thought it was entertaining to keep pretending that they did.
You can't engage with them, because they *are playing a game*. They think it's fun to see if they can get anybody to engage with something completely stupid as though it's true.
If you challenge them, the rules of the game state that they have to argue as hard and a spuriously as they like, but *never* to admit that the Earth is not in fact flat. I suppose you have to make up your own entertainment on 4chan or whatever hole this was conceived in.
It's annoying as hell, but I suppose it doesn't do much harm.. except to folks like this: https://t.co/zsCejvkrkr
and this: https://t.co/hRInMK6vEU
So, yeah there are people who fell for it. Hook, line, sinker, rod, umbrella, and copy of Angling Times.
There's now people out there now who genuinely believe that the Earth is flat because of this game, and this has distorted their worldview (heh) because it has trained them to distrust the folks who are not playing the game and are genuinely arguing that the Earth is round
(because we have to do that now). It's socially disruptive, completely pointless, and a bit cruel. Perfect for teenaged trolls to get a kick out of it.

So how does this translate into the really *really* important thread I quoted at the beginning?
It's training.

The core idea is that you can just say "I believe the Earth is flat" and *nobody* can prove you don't. Evidence is irrelevant, because we are *playing a game*.
It doesn't matter how fallacious the argument, or crap the logic is, all you have to do to win is keep saying "I believe the Earth is flat" and eventually you win.
Now everyone wants to believe that they're the hero of their own story, and everyone decides what they think is true based on a range of evidence, preconceptions, outside influences etc.
We know that people are more likely to believe things that prop up existing beliefs (confirmation bias) and we know that you can't *make* someone articulate whether they do or don't believe something (eg the Spanish Inquisition - Amazing, they were finally useful for something).
So what does that mean?

1) People will rationalise their existing ideas. E.g. I don't like fat people, because... they're lazy, or they smell, or they are genetically inferior, or it's Tuesday or whatever insane reason you like.
2) People will use shaky rationalisations to justify their actions, even if the rationalisations are clearly (to you and me) bullshit.
3) People will repeat the rationalisations to others who are also trying to prop up their own existing ideas

4) It is impossible to *prove* whether someone genuinely believes it or not. To be fair, I expect that some of them don't even know.
5) If it goes on long enough, with enough intensity, you'll get people who do genuinely believe it because they are too badly educated to spot that it is, in fact, insane.

6) People make shocking decisions on the basis of shit data.
So what now?

Well I expect that some people are a lost cause. They have got so completely lost in a maze of justifications and lies that they are impossible to reach.
They have accepted a worldview that is so completely at odds with the real world, that they are a danger to themselves and others. It's basically a cult.
What do we do with the others?

I'd argue that this kind of thing is largely the product of *ignorance*. Now I don't mean that we aren't arguing effectively - there are many cleverer and more eloquent people than me working on this. I think it's to do with *experience*.
It's easy to make generalisations about people you don't know or abstract theories that don't have a concrete physical presence. A medieval peasant can perfectly well believe that there are dragons in a far off country if...
... someone who is well travelled comes back from the blank bit of the map and says they saw one. It doesn't even really matter if someone else who's been there before says there aren't - because then there's two experts arguing -
... and the poor peasant doesn't have the tools to work out which is right. The peasant might be the cleverest person in the world, but they simply don't have the data to make the decision.
So how would we convince the peasant that there are no dragons in the wilds of Lincolnshire (or somewhere)? We'd have to *take them* and *show them* what Lincolnshire looks like (flat, bit damp, not many trees, No Dragons).
What I think I mean (as I desperately try and bring this in to land) is that until there is some way (and I don't necessarily know what it is) to

1) stop peddling bullshit, and
2) re-introduce the people who think that Covid or climate change is a hoax, (or whatever) to the genuine real-world experienced reality of those things we're going to continue to have a problem.
Also consequences. Because, seriously if you want to dress up as a Nazi and assault people in the street, you've bloody well earned some consequences.
Ignorance is sort of understandable, but that doesn't mean you get to avoid experiencing reality - that's exactly how we ended up in this mess.

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1/ Today is #BlackHoleFriday, an annual science outreach event that, by complete coincidence I’m sure, is done on #BlackFriday. You’ll read lots of cool stuff about black holes on the hashtag. Here’s mine.


2/ Black holes are weird. Duh. People like to think of them as something like incredibly dense nuggets of stuff that sucks other stuff in. But they’re not like that.

3/ If you squeeze enough mass into a small enough volume, the gravity gets so intense that it’s impossible to escape them *if you get too close*. From far away, though, gravitationally they more or less act like anything with that much mass.

4/ So if the Sun turns into a black hole we wouldn’t get drawn in. In fact, we’d orbit it almost exactly the same way as we do now, though we’d freeze to death pretty rapidly, which, in the end, would still kinda suck.

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With @franklowery our new study on attributes of T cells that contribute to successful cell therapy in cancer patients in @ScienceMagazine today w/ colleagues @slgoff_SB, @NCI_CCR_SB @theNCI a TL;DR thread on key findings with caveats :) 1/10

has a long history of using tumor infiltrating T cells (TILs) to treat cancers since well.. before I was even born. We analyzed our most successful melanoma ACT trial for cell surface phenotypes in TIL infusion products of patients (aPD1/immunotherapy naive) /2

Surprisingly we found a CD39- TIL subset (CD39-CD69-, DN) associated with ACT-response. TBH we were expecting the opposite (CD39+). We only included CD39 bcz multiple groups (e.g. Simoni et al, 2018) had reported CD39+ as enriching for anti-tumor/neoantigen reactive T cells. /3


CD39- DN TILs RNA/epigenetics resemble stem-like memory progenitors, and in vitro were able to self-renew, and give rise to other CD39+ subsets. OTOH the most dominant subset of patient infusion products were CD39+ CD69+ (DP) and these guys were terminally differentiated.. /4


So, to clarify we specifically analyzed tumor-specific mutation-reactive Tcells. Turns out, ACT-responders had pool of neoantigen-reactive TILs in the CD39- phenotype, while non-responders did not (despite other irrelevant CD39- Tcells) -> not all CD39- T cells are bystanders /5
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@SteB777
1) Science denial is destroying our societies, our civilization. Various vested interests, usually right wing ideologues find various scientific facts and information contrary to their agenda, so through propaganda they are orchestrating the public into denying this science.

2) We are seeing this with regard to the COVID virus, where a range of denial is being promoted, ranging from absolute denial the virus exists, to different levels of denial, such as only some people are vulnerable to the virus, to facilitate business as usual.

3) For a long time, to promote business as usual, vested interests have been promoting the denial of the climate and ecological crisis through propaganda. The aim being to create a large enough body of public denial to prevent action which can change anything.

4) We have seen similar patterns over a long time, such as when tobacco companies promoted denial of the emerging scientific evidence of how harmful and addictive tobacco smoking was. This further denial uses exactly the same methods.

5) Understandably, the public can't be educated about everything and have to rely on experts to inform them of concerns about threats to public safety. Malicious vested interests take advantage of this by using pseudo-experts to misinform the public.
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NotTheMacAnon
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Medical Nemesis
Medical Nemesis
@Medical_Nemesis
All modern research questions frame your mindset and self-frame research paradigm. Broad thinking: how little of everything can a citizen survive on; how cheap can your upkeep be? /1


When an American patient lands in an Austrian hospital for a back problem, a doctor tells him to perform a set of exercises.

- How many?
- Do you have anything else to do? /2

This interchange illustrates two mindsets colliding at bedside. How little can I get away with vs there is no limit to effort when it comes to your wellness. /3

When you were robbed of movement, somebody started selling you exercise. To understand that digging a ditch, to build a house, or to carry a child around, or waking to your grandparents for an hour is not the same as jogging on a treadmill... will reveal what research hides.
/4

When I talk about doing a purposeful activity outdoors, I look at complexity of movement, purpose, meaning, sun, and air, even an opportunity to meet a neighbor... that is now reduced to a calcium pill, vitamin D, an antidepressant, an osteoporosis shot, and an oxygen tank. /5
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