Month: May 2007
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Why most published research findings are false
Seed magazine profiles the recent work from John Ioannidis, author of the groundbreaking article “Why most published research findings are false”. I’ve written about him before in several contexts and the importance of understanding this research. The counter-intuitive thing is how much his research redeems science as an enterprise and emphasizes how denialists can abuse…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The 10 of Hearts, “You Don’t Understand Us”
An industry lobbyist can buy time by becoming petulant. After throwing a temper tantrum, the next step is to play the 10 of Hearts. Play this card by saying that your industry is misunderstood. It is a sophisticated, nuanced entity that needs more understanding before any proposals advance.
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The Fifth Hand, The False Expert and Growing Petulance
The denialist is in serious trouble at this point. Whatever problem that didn’t exist has continued to capture regulatory attention. It is time to devote serious resources to fighting the proposal being debated. The denalist should have a fake consumer group or academic group at this point. It will pay off with fake research and…
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Some More Thoughts on Gonzalez and Academic Freedom
Some followup from the earlier post: If Gonzalez thinks ID is science, and not religion, he may have an even harder time arguing that there is discrimination here. Professors, rightly so, have freedom of religion and can believe whatever they want in their personal lives. However, if he thinks ID is science, I don’t think…
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The Limits of Academic Freedom
First, a disclaimer: I don’t know much of anything about this controversy surrounding Guillermo Gonzalez, but I do know a fair amount about academic freedom. I wrote an article several years ago on legal protection for professors’ speech. Legally, professors have the same rights as ordinary public employees, and so only a small spectrum of…
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I was right!
People with good reasoning skills don’t fall for stupid things like spun arguments and advertising. I always suspected that if we taught a basic reasoning class in public schools in which kids were taught about logic and critical thinking it might lead to a decrease in the efficacy of advertisement. Reasoning abilities are influenced by…
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Promising Embryonic Stem Cell News
This new paper from Stem Cells is a wonderful example of the potential of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to treat diseases like Type I diabetes. The reason type I diabetes is such an obvious target for hESC therapy get a little complicated, but I’ll walk you guys through this paper, and recent results in…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The Joker, “Temper Tantrum”
At this point, the consumer advocate has proceeded far along the path of moving some type of proposal. It’s time to sacrifice a high-value card–the joker. The denialist throws a temper tantrum. This may sound distasteful, but it actually works. There is a certain tone that an industry lobbyist can generate when truly pressed. It…
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If you’re going to cherry pick, don’t provide a link
It just makes it too easy to show your dishonesty. UD continues to harp endlessly about Gonzalez’ tenure case as they have nothing else to do, like original research. But I have to give them a piece of advice. If you’re going to cherry pick, either don’t cherry pick the first line of an article,…
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They found the bees!
They were just at a charity walkathon. They left you a message. Didn’t you get it?