HOW GOES THE RESISTANCE? REPORT FROM THE FRONT LINES (2021, No. 27) How many people do you know who largely discount information received from so-called mainstream news media? Sources that intentionally report fake news, alternative reality, and conspiracy theories have clearly diminished respect for science, truth, and facts. We estimate that 40% of Americans get their news from partisan, propagandist channels these days. They …
Rick's Pearl
1 month, 4 weeks ago
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Rick's Pearl · 1 month, 4 weeks ago
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HOW GOES THE RESISTANCE? REPORT FROM THE FRONT LINES (2021, No. 25) How does a Democracy devolve into a totalitarian state? How often does that occur? Is the US undergoing that metamorphosis? Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and Franco’s Spain provided the clearest answers to those questions in the 20th century. More recently, Russia, Hungary, and Venezuela have illustrated how this can happen. Of …
Rick's Pearl
2 months ago
3 views
Rick's Pearl · 2 months ago
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HOW GOES THE RESISTANCE? REPORT FROM THE FRONT LINES (2021, No. 25) When we launched Trusted Origins Corp. in 2019, we hoped that we could catalyze the rise of an army of volunteers who would actively resist disinformation. Our insight was that almost all harmful information on the Internet emanated from liars of three sorts: bots, trolls and shills. Stopping disinformation thus …
Rick's Pearl
2 months, 1 week ago
Rick's Pearl · 2 months, 1 week ago
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HOW GOES THE RESISTANCE? REPORT FROM THE FRONT LINES (2021, No. 23) At least in the US people seem to be settling into their favorite information bubble, with the Republican party now totally in bed with climate deniers, anti-vaxxers, Big Lie proponents, and other conspiracy promoters. They also fiercely oppose teaching critical race theory, the history of slavery, oppression, and discrimination in the …
Rick's Pearl
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Rick's Pearl · 2 months, 3 weeks ago
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HOW GOES THE RESISTANCE? REPORT FROM THE FRONT LINES (2021, No. 21) One of the nurses interviewed on ABC News at the New York City ticker-tape parade for first responders made a stunning observation about how the city had defeated Covid-19 via wide-scale vaccination of the public when she said, “Science won.” What we took her to mean was that scientists developed …
Rick's Pearl
3 months, 1 week ago
Rick's Pearl · 3 months, 1 week ago
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I recommend the In the Pipeline blog by Dr. Derek Lowe, https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/ as a very useful source of news and information on COVID vaccines, on-going clinical trials, vaccine technology, the supply chain and production issues from ideas in labs to jabs in arms, and occasional bits on ethics. Posts have lively and generally well-informed discussions. The blog covers many topics, but his COVID-19 topic is …
#covid-19 #covid-19vaccines #covid-19Trials #covid-19Biology
Allan's Pearl
8 months, 3 weeks ago
7 views
Allan's Pearl · 8 months, 3 weeks ago
· 7 views
Assessed by Allan
Knowledge grows and evolves over time. Technology and methodology advance as people discover new and better ways of observing, measuring and controlling things. Microscopes allowed scientists to observe bacteria, and this led to improved understanding of diseases. Telescopes allowed us to observe distant galaxies, quasars, cosmic expansion and the bending of light caused by black holes. All of those observations feed a process of …
#nugget #knowledgebank #covid-19 #knowledgeEvolution #ProofsAndRefutations #counterexample #Lakatos #communityOfTrust #trustworthiness #F.Hayes-Roth #learning
Rick's Pearl
10 months, 2 weeks ago
57 views
Rick's Pearl · 10 months, 2 weeks ago
· 57 views
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Facts are assertions we should believe because they provide the simplest descriptions or explanations of evidence available. Shams are assertions we should disbelieve because they do not qualify as facts. Usually shams rest on bogus evidence or questionable explanations. Humans benefit from facts, because knowledge enables us to make better decisions. Shams harm people in many ways, including misleading them about reality and prodding …
#claim #sham #nugget #fact #covid-19 #evidence #justification #complement #knowledge #flu
Rick's Pearl
10 months, 2 weeks ago
49 views
Rick's Pearl · 10 months, 2 weeks ago
· 49 views
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People often compare the US and S. Korea because both countries had their first confirmed Covid-19 deaths on the same day in January 2020. Immediately thereafter South Korea began serious efforts to contain the virus incuding testing, containment, contact tracing and quarantines. The US Federal Government started encouraging social distance and masking months later, and Donald Trump "downplayed" the threat to the US public. …
#covid-19fatalities #covid-19policies #covid-19mortaility #DonaldTrump #CompareUStoSKorea #S.KoreaVsUS #SouthKoreaVsUS #leadershipFailure #CompareS.KoreaToUS #pandemicResponses #SouthKorea #USvsSouthKorea #S.Korea #leadership #USvsS.Korea
Rick's Pearl
10 months, 2 weeks ago
34 views
Rick's Pearl · 10 months, 2 weeks ago
· 34 views
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Who is Denise-Marie Ordway? Why do people who trust science succumb to beieving pseudoscience more than other people? How can you best make science-trusting people fall for pseudoscientific claims? How do people with deeper understanding of scientific methods differ in their assessment of pseudoscience claims? Why will efforts to make people more trusting of science likely fail to address issues such as rejection of Covid-19 …
#trustworthinessAssessment #journalism #trustInScience #methodologicalLiteracy #scientificMethod #TheJournalistsResource #credibility #skepticism #DeniseMarieOrdway #pseudoscience
Rick's Gem
2 months ago
Rick's Gem · 2 months ago
Assessed by Rick
How many people died in US traffic fatalities during 2020? Why is the number of US 2020 traffic fatalities so surprising? What fraction of people who died in US traffic fatalities in 2020 were not wearing seatbelts? How many years have seatbelts been available as a safety innovation against traffic fatalities? How well has Mayor de Blasio's 2014 Vision Zero plan to reduce pedestrian deaths …
#covid-19vaccines #seatbelts #NewYork #UStrafficFatalities #carCrashes #deBlasio #excessiveSpeed #NewYorkCity #knowledgeRejection #DontTreadOnMe #safetyMeasures #liveFreeOrDie #scienceRejection #pedestrianFatalities
Rick's Gem
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Rick's Gem · 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Assessed by Rick
Why does the CDC state that "less than 10 percent" of Covid-19 transmission occurs outdoors? How much Covid-19 transmission actually occurs outdoors? Why is a 10X or 100X overstatement of actual risk considered "conservative"? How did ways of classifying construction projects in Singapore lead to an overestimate of outdoor cases? What is the current best estimate of the fraction of Covid-19 cases arising from …
#covid-19rates #CDCcredibility #CDC #constructionWorkers #covid19Transmission #outdoorTransmission #indoorMasking #Singapore #outdoorMasking #sharkAttacks
Rick's Gem
5 months, 1 week ago
Rick's Gem · 5 months, 1 week ago
Assessed by Rick
What can happen to prominent people who deny that COVID-19 is real and dangerous? Who was Hans Kristian Gaarder, 60, from Gran, a municipality that lies 40 miles north of Oslo? How did the Norwegian COVID-19 denier die? How did Hans Kristian Gaardner contract COVID-19 that killed him? Where did Hans Kristian Gaardner publicize his denial of COVID-19 risks? What kinds of illegal gatherings preceded …
#covid-19fatalities #Covid-19Disinformation #Norwegian #Norway #covid19denier
Rick's Gem
6 months ago
Rick's Gem · 6 months ago
Assessed by Rick
How many Republicans in March 2021 say they are reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid-19? What matters more, race or political affiliation, in explaining current vaccination reluctance? Who is Frank Luntz? Who is Dr. Tom Frieden? What did Dr. Frieden say that most influenced Trump voters to become less reluctant about Covid-19 vaccines? How does acknowledging uncertainty increase the credibility of scientific arguments?
#covid-19vaccines #anti-vaxer #TrumpVoters #vaccineReluctance #FrankLunts #CDCcredibility #TomFrieden #acknowledgingUncertainty #CDC #Republicans #changingMinds
Rick's Gem
6 months, 3 weeks ago
Rick's Gem · 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Assessed by Rick
Why do some patients dying from COVID-19 still believe the virus is a hoax? How many US adults believe the Chinese government created the coronavirus as a bioweapon? How many US adults believe people in power created the pandemic? Why is it difficult to cure people of false beliefs? When are we susceptible to misinformation? What are the six "degrees of manipulation" used to …
#covid-19 #accuracy-nudge #infodemic #who #Covid-19Disinformation #Covid-19Misinformation #covid-19China #pandemic #protectingBrains #GoViral! #prebunking #accuracyNudge #bioweapon #brainwashed #susceptibilityToMisinformation #misinformationSusceptible #disinformationSpread
Rick's Gem
7 months, 3 weeks ago
4 views
Rick's Gem · 7 months, 3 weeks ago
· 4 views
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