Introduction
- Russell is an Associate Professor of Law at Rutgers
- He was on a previous show (Episode 3.37)
Disinformation [2:03]
- Dealing with true malinformation, such as Russian bot spewing, is much less common that dealing with information that we disagree with so much so that we believe danger is involved
- Belief can not be pawned off to trusting public health agencies because often these organizations conflict each other on gray areas of research
- e.g. CDC vs WHO SARS-CoV-2 guidelines
- Belief can not be pawned off to trusting public health agencies because often these organizations conflict each other on gray areas of research
- Claims of disinformation
- The term disinformation is being used to give labels to things that are pejorative–that simply mean we disagree or don't like
- Labeling specific articles or media as disinformation also truncates with whom you can converse
- Removing opinions you don't like is not a good recipe for discourse or debate
- Labeling specific articles or media as disinformation also truncates with whom you can converse
- The term disinformation is being used to give labels to things that are pejorative–that simply mean we disagree or don't like
- Consistency
- There are many reasons why Ioannidis should not be silenced:
- Consistency in his work throughout his entire career
- Discourse is important
- Science involves some variables of speculation
- Claims are made, tested, and proven right/wrong
- In the context of a novel public policy issue during a pandemic, you want a range of opinions
- There are many reasons why Ioannidis should not be silenced:
Reading and thinking [17:41]
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Dr. Prasad has a hypothesis:
"Some people are pushing back in a reflexive, tribal way. They have not read the studies themselves, they have not thought about the issue themselves. Some of these people may even lack the tools to think about these issues, because they're not in the business of reading data and making up their own mind. Their whole career is going what doing what other people tell them and following the herd. And I hear this word people use contrarian–I don't like that word. Because sometimes it is the contrarian, in that huge group of people, [that] may only be one person who actually thought about the damn thing themselves. And the rest of the people just follow that one person, because it's conservative." - Dr. Prasad
- If people continue to have the view that individuals who defy the grain are bad, thinking and dialogue will become stifled
- It should be a basic tenant of academic life that we are open, curious, and skeptical
- If people continue to have the view that individuals who defy the grain are bad, thinking and dialogue will become stifled
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Dr. Prasad also points out that people want to be heard rather than actually having something to say
- Something changed in the era of social media that led people to want to make themselves excellent to wanting other people to think they were excellent
- These people are not willing to spend time developing their skill set to think about complex policy trade offs
- Instead, they want to skip to shouting from the mountain tops
- Russell adds that partisanship and feelings of political obligation may contribute to this phenomenon as well
- Instead, they want to skip to shouting from the mountain tops
- These people are not willing to spend time developing their skill set to think about complex policy trade offs
- Something changed in the era of social media that led people to want to make themselves excellent to wanting other people to think they were excellent
Politics [38:46]
- Dr. Prasad presents a thesis that "if you are truly an intellectual, if you're actually an honest broker of ideas, you can never really be in a political party"
- If one does identify with a particular ideology, it is important to look at the philosophy from a bird's eye view and find places to improve
Uncertainty [50:37]
- Russell points out that in addition to fear playing a role in avoiding discourse, there is also a level of uncertainty
- Many people are uncertain about their own ideas and when confronted by that uncertainty, they are not comfortable with it
News and media [53:36]
- Why is journalism regression to the mean?
- There are many factors, such as:
- Science doesn't speak with one voice
- An absence of asking why without endorsement
- Unwillingness to calibrate
- There are many factors, such as:
People mentioned:
Literature mentioned:
- A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data
- Op-Ed by Ioannidis
- Vaccinated People Are Going to Hug Each Other
- Atlantic article by Julia Marcus
- Great Barrington Declaration