I hope not

[degringolade]

 

Post-Impressionism / Vincent van Gogh/ The Starry Night

Spent the last couple of months assiduously ignoring the news and the research.  Really was a nice mental health break.  But all good things must end.  With the hospital in the early stages of the freakout mode, I thought that I would spend a little time catching up.

Lots of preprints out there.  Lots of work is being done.  I think that it is now more important than ever to look at the conflict of interest statements.  The data is not hopeful.  

Now, I don’t think that this can be considered unexpected.  I am thinking that the problem is more subtle than a virus that is known for its ability to throw off adaptations at a furious rate.  But what may well be happening is yet another slide down the slope of loss-of-faith in science and medicine.  Right now, the faithful are trying to shove the “science” down the throat of the apostate.  But the “science” has always been a touch on the threadbare side, and now if the science is shown to be again suspect, we will get another load of folks dropping into heresy.

This one is tough.  Right now my estimate of the ratio believer/apostate is 60:40.  If delta and lambda start getting traction in a serious way (I am hoping against it, but the news ain’t promising) the ratio will take another step on the “down” stairs.

50:50 is a dangerous place to be in situations like this.  The world is getting progressively more unstable and folks tempers are getting out of hand.