8 ms·

What is a controversial scientific view that you wouldn't characterize as "conservative"? The article mentions aversion to GMO, does that count?

• dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Aversion to GMO is a sort of aversion to the unknown. Something like "regulation of long guns (shotguns, rifles, other things that aren't handguns) in various states in the US has had a non-negligible impact on crime in those states" would be more on par with climate change denial because in both cases you really have to pick a lot of cherries to back up the claim.
• malmsteen 8y ago
  "nuclear power is the safest on earth" (cf forbes article which show death/kwh is even lower than wind / water energy)
  • beat 8y ago
    That article is not a very good example. It makes some pretty twisted arguments, the sort of thing boys in college say to make themselves feel smart.
    • malmsteen 8y ago
      Its just numbers.. you can interpret as you want.
      • beat 8y ago
        You can interpret as you want, but start interpreting in a way that reflects poorly on the intellectual habits of the average HN reader, and you get downvoted to oblivion.
• moate 8y ago
  Anti-vaxxers tend to be described as middle/upper-class liberals. GMO/Organic trends do also tend to be similar groups
  • mmierz 8y ago
    That's the stereotype, but it's not clear that it's actually true [1] 1. http://theconversation.com/anti-vaccination-beliefs-dont-follow-the-usual-political-polarization-81001 http://theconversation.com/anti-vaccination-beliefs-dont-fol...
  • Buldak 8y ago
    >Anti-vaxxers tend to be described as middle/upper-class liberals. I've heard this, but it doesn't square with my own impressions, and a cursory Google search suggests that anti-vaxxers are not, in fact, predominantly liberal. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5784985/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5784985/ [2] https://medium.com/the-future-is-electric/conservatives-are-now-the-dominant-anti-vaxxers-23086800d689 https://medium.com/the-future-is-electric/conservatives-are-...
  • happytoexplain 8y ago
    I've never heard anybody say that anti-vaxxers are anything but mostly conservative, and those opinions seem to match my own experiences, so this comment is a genuine surprise for me. Is there really a belief in the opposite in some circles?
    • moate 8y ago
      Contrary to my downvotes, yes. I don't really think of it as any specific political thing, but there was a lot of emphasis, at least originally, put on the hollywood left (Jenny McCarthy comes to mind) pushing an anti-vax agenda. I'm not trying to make any kind of political point here. Someone asked >>What is a controversial scientific view that you wouldn't characterize as "conservative"? It's a stereotype. Like all stereotypes, it's attempting to make a broad proclamation of a large group of people, something that I generally try to avoid. I don't even agree with this one being accurate, but it's out there in the world. [1]https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/childhood-vaccination-programs-should-be-exempt-political-bias https://www.precisionvaccinations.com/childhood-vaccination-...
• randyrand 8y ago
  - men and women being physiological equivalent. - women having equal innate interest in Stem - no mental differences between races - gay,bi,trans being entirely genetic just off the top of my head. scratches the surface. The last is particularly interesting because its the opposite viewpoint with regards to protected classes of people and genetic psychology.
• PurpleBoxDragon 8y ago
  Anything along the line of Rind et al. Not that paper in particular, but anything that is even remotely in the same region.