Today, however, those who believe in "science" are derided. Fine. What the alternative is, so?
The alternative is not treating science as a belief system, with priests and holy dogma, but instead treating it as what it is, a highly effective set of systems for developing knowledge.
I could have answered you earlier, but I decided to see others' reactions.
Notice how my very first line was:
"The problem is not "referring to science" by itself. Science is not monolithic: it learns, changes and evolves everyday. There is a reason as why they had propeller planes in WWII and we have jets today."But I also added:
Planes, however, tend to stay up.It was funny to see, out of the gate, Shrieking Banshee trying to shoot down my idea that, today, having faith in science gets you derided without any alternative being offered - with a derisive post lacking any alternative, but... OK 😂
However, we live in times were choices must be made. "Important Discourses About Science" cannot anymore hide themselves behind the finger of "We will never be taken to task anyway". Today what you choose to believe in will have practical, possible life-and death, results on yourself and others.
Since this pandemic exploded I choose to follow the best scientific opinion. I didn't wear a mask at the beginning, going against the grain, because they suggested that it was actually dangerous. Then they changed their tune and I changed my behaviour. It didn't surprise me, however, that there was a learning process about COVID and the best way to protect yourself and those around you.
Eirikrautha called the examples I made "strawmen"
without putting any effort in debunking a single one. I guess the knowledge that they are strawmen comes from throwing bones and consulting the Loa - the very pinnacle of how human's doubts are answered. Yet, two words about why Voodoo is a better alternative would have been welcome.
I'm still curious about how many people know that virii work by injecting their own DNA or RNA into cells - so you risk to get a dose of that from them anyway.
No one tackled this question. Maybe the Loa were busy.
I lost my father to COVID. Due to sheer misfortune, my 85 years old mother had to undergo emergency surgery
two days after my father died. She spent two weeks in the hospital at the height of the pandemic in Northern Italy. When she came home I had to worry about her, myself and my girlfriend.
I hadn't the luxury to be able to deride this pandemic. While people like Spinachat laughed about the "Kung-Flu" (*) I had to choose how to navigate an unprecedented, dangerous event that already had revealed itself as deadly. I choose to follow the best scientific advice, paired with my own knowledge of the matter (knowledge born from reading a couple of books during the years, out of sheer curiosity about the matter, nothing more). I see many dissenting voices. Most of them come from the country that had 25% of the dead with only 4% of the World population - so maybe these voices can be useful as an explanation, for sure not as an example to follow. They also show how absolutely nothing was learned.
I and my family avoided COVID and now we all had our second shot. Were we lucky? Maybe. Some friends got it. One got "long-COVID" last Summer and, after one year, he is still listless (BTW, that the impact of a pandemic on the individual and the society as a whole is wider than the simple count of the dead is another topic seldom touched by the "Science is imperfect!" warriors from the Captain Obvious ship).
I don't wish COVID to the unvaccinated. It is petty and vulgar (what I actually hope for is that they get COVID without me wishing for it). I can only point out how, for every single negative answer here, there isn't a single answer to the question "So, what you think should be done
during a pandemic? And why it should be a better solution?
(*) Just to be clear: Spinachat and the like are a boon to the society; they give a summary of all the current idiocy surrounding an event in a single post, allowing you to understand
how not to think without losing precious time scrounging the internet. Twitter is another good place to find people who will never be in line to be the next who will split the atom.