Not dead yet!
Well-Known Member
Well not to bleed over into another thread, but when I was reading the Plague book, Judy Mikovits's side of the story, I was struck by how similarly all wealthy people behave. They always hire from people they know, they are maybe "possessive" is the word... about friendship = loyalty. Also, if they do have substantial wealth (not just a few hundred thousands, they put it in a tax free foundation so the IRS doesn't take it. The behavior is classic.
I think one of the Doctor Who episodes said it best, something like, "wealthy people don't change their minds to face the truth, they change the truth to suit their mindset." It was on my mind because someone described the President that way. They also prefer to use other people's money to achieve their ends. The grant writing system is seventh heaven for a wealthy person looking to hide their money from the IRS. Unfortunately Pres. Trump behaves only stereotypically.
They don't see the world as something to contribute to, with hard work, they see the world as something they can lead toward a useful direction -shaping other people's hard work. Like Julius Cesar, tapping into the "right thinking" set means basically There is a need here, if I can get enough people with passion on this issue to work for me, with grant money, then I can have a side business marketing the output. It's really not an evil system, unless there is a dispute. (I grew up in a Family Business, actually we had 3.)
A good fiction example would be the detective novels by Rex Stout, the behavior of Nero Wolfe.
I don't mean to imply that it's a bad system, but when it turns on someone who's just trying to help and has the habit of saying the wrong thing from a marketing perspective, it can lead to a horrible abuse of power.
As far as cutting funding, I'm not sure the NIH has ever been dedicated to steadily funding ME/CFS research, so I'm not sure what we lost. Most of the research I see is either a specialty university or funded by a Foundation. Or even funded by an industry / corporation
The problem with corporate funding of research is that negative results are rarely if ever published. They are designated "confounders" and ignored, because the corporation is like an avid buyer of herbal supplements, they only want to hear that it's a good idea, they want to validate that it works. Sorta like what happened with statins. Some corporations really are trying to help, but their goals are not necessarily a full disclosure of all the known facts.
Check out the #metascience tweets. There are some who are calling for an end to peer review because too many corporate interests are involved, even for an editor.
When I went back to college the 2nd time, I made it a point to find a formal logic class (philosophy), but I may have erred. From what I see metascience is a blend of Psychology and Statistics. (Ie, how does your subconscious goal lead you astray, and how can it be seen in the way you choose statistical models). Fascinating stuff (well, to me), dead boring to others.
I think one of the Doctor Who episodes said it best, something like, "wealthy people don't change their minds to face the truth, they change the truth to suit their mindset." It was on my mind because someone described the President that way. They also prefer to use other people's money to achieve their ends. The grant writing system is seventh heaven for a wealthy person looking to hide their money from the IRS. Unfortunately Pres. Trump behaves only stereotypically.
They don't see the world as something to contribute to, with hard work, they see the world as something they can lead toward a useful direction -shaping other people's hard work. Like Julius Cesar, tapping into the "right thinking" set means basically There is a need here, if I can get enough people with passion on this issue to work for me, with grant money, then I can have a side business marketing the output. It's really not an evil system, unless there is a dispute. (I grew up in a Family Business, actually we had 3.)
A good fiction example would be the detective novels by Rex Stout, the behavior of Nero Wolfe.
I don't mean to imply that it's a bad system, but when it turns on someone who's just trying to help and has the habit of saying the wrong thing from a marketing perspective, it can lead to a horrible abuse of power.
As far as cutting funding, I'm not sure the NIH has ever been dedicated to steadily funding ME/CFS research, so I'm not sure what we lost. Most of the research I see is either a specialty university or funded by a Foundation. Or even funded by an industry / corporation
The problem with corporate funding of research is that negative results are rarely if ever published. They are designated "confounders" and ignored, because the corporation is like an avid buyer of herbal supplements, they only want to hear that it's a good idea, they want to validate that it works. Sorta like what happened with statins. Some corporations really are trying to help, but their goals are not necessarily a full disclosure of all the known facts.
Check out the #metascience tweets. There are some who are calling for an end to peer review because too many corporate interests are involved, even for an editor.
When I went back to college the 2nd time, I made it a point to find a formal logic class (philosophy), but I may have erred. From what I see metascience is a blend of Psychology and Statistics. (Ie, how does your subconscious goal lead you astray, and how can it be seen in the way you choose statistical models). Fascinating stuff (well, to me), dead boring to others.
