WASHINGTON (AP) — In his confirmation hearings to lead the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya pledged his openness to views that might conflict with his own. “Dissent,” he said, ”is the very essence of science.”
That commitment is being put to the test.
On Monday, scores of scientists at the agency sent their Trump-appointed leader a letter titled the Bethesda Declaration, challenging “policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.”
It says: “We dissent.”
In a capital where insiders often insist on anonymity to say such things publicly, 92 NIH researchers, program directors, branch chiefs and scientific review officers put their signatures on the letter — and their careers on the line. Another 250 of their colleagues across the agency endorsed the declaration without using their names.
The four-page letter, addressed to Bhattacharya, also was sent to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and members of Congress who oversee the NIH. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
Well I’m sure this will convince them to reverse course.
How would you handle expressing dissent to your boss?
Like this, and then when the boss doesn’t listen, quit and let the boss flail about with no staff.
“Dissent,” he said, ”is the very essence of science.”
No, it’s not. This is the bullshit quacks peddle to justify their unsupported crazy. It’s part of their “they all laughed at Einstein” narrative.
Idk I think it’s pretty clear that they want to weaponize that idea to fit the Trump/RFK/Thiel narrative, but I do think there can be some truth to it. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Completely aside from their arguments about how this applies, there are examples where individuals in science have had to go against the common assumption to reach a new discovery.
Most obvious example that comes to mind is the guy that discovered the mirror box as a treatment for people dealing with phantom limb pain. Most people thought what he was proposing was a dumb idea bc it seemed way too simple.
Science is not a debate club. Dissent isn’t the essence of science, empiricism is. This is the part these quacks, frauds and charlatans always conveniently leave out.
If the guy who discovered the mirror box treatment was proven wrong then he would need to accept that fact. Quacks are the ones who instead loudly proclaim that “dissent is the core of science!”
I’m not arguing it’s the core of science, I’m arguing it shouldn’t be dismissed completely bc these people want to weaponize it.
Science should always include healthy skepticism and debate. If not, you’ve basically just reinvented religion.
If you’ve worked in science, there is a good chance you’ve met somebody like that. There are unfortunately many people that seem to have a pathological inability to acknowledge when they’re wrong or accept that they made a mistake.
If you have worked in science and believe you’ve never encountered that attitude you’re either very lucky or you’re that guy.