I realize it isn’t fair to ask…but might we see a bonus episode on Robert Wyatt at some point—maybe paired with an Elvis C main?

There’s a lesson here about writing in the age of weaponized lies: Always precede false claims with giant red text, ideally wrapped in a <blink> tag, that says “THIS IS A LIE I AM REFUTING!!”

But also, why is a book that makes this kind of lazy, bad-faith argumentation getting any accolades at all?

Big social media platforms have become wired to spread bullshit. The people and organizations who worked to understand why, called out the bullshitters, and tried to push for platform changes to counteract manipulation and address harmful misinformation… have been silenced by an admin powered by bs.

(Side note:
As a journalist I am still shocked by how quickly the attack on the CDC was set aside.
How rarely I have read the name David Rose in the past few months is for me a pretty good indicator of how much a large swathe of US media has failed to meet this moment.)

I deeply admire these young scientists's willingness to stand up and speak out.

As you may have gathered, I love hard data analysis, but I am always picturing real people who use federal support to conduct important research and who are affected by the political shenanigans that are going on.

2/2

Thanks for the support! This comment worries me a lot. Not because I need Bhattacharya's validation of my status as a scientist, but because it speaks to his vision of an NIH where program officers are rubber stampers instead of scientists.