5 ms·

> There are studies on this Studies on this are generally poor quality, and you can easily tell by looking at the study content. Remember when early 2020 all

by hsn915 5y ago

> There are studies on this Studies on this are generally poor quality, and you can easily tell by looking at the study content. Remember when early 2020 all the official organizations (WHO, CDC) were telling people to NOT wear masks because studies showed they didn't work? Yea. Turned out all the studies were really bad quality. "Scientific" publishing is broken and you simply can't rely on it for useful information. Many studies don't even replicate, but they still get published and cited. For another example, see: https://twitter.com/cmuratori/status/1459275924059217920 https://twitter.com/cmuratori/status/1459275924059217920 Basically, whenever I hear "studies have shown ..." I just don't care. Let the studies show whatever they want. I will go with my own experience and with personal anecdotes I hear from people. They are way more consistent and reliable.

aksss 5y ago
> "Scientific" publishing is broken and you simply can't rely on it for useful information. Many studies don't even replicate, but they still get published and cited. I may take issue with some of your other statements but fully agree with this observation. A critical thinker needs to be highly skeptical of the appeal to authority used by invoking the phrases “the science says”, or “studies have shown”.
glofish 5y ago
The problem is that the studies that shows masks work are just as broken, it is simply a matter of whose broken opininon is the "acceptable" read below how bonkers the stats are in the mask-study that the CDC uses to "prove" that masks work: http://www.argmin.net/2021/09/13/effect-size/ http://www.argmin.net/2021/09/13/effect-size/
- hsn915 5y ago
  Why would anyone trust the CDC or the WHO after their abject and emarrasing failure to handle covid? Here's a better argument for wearing masks: https://medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade-7de897b517b7 https://medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade-7de897b517b7 A crucial piece of evidence IMO is "the salon story where two infected stylists failed to infect all their 140 clients (making the probability of infection for bilateral mask wearing safely below 1% for a salon-style exposure)" There's another good point about "evidence". Do you need a scientific study in order to convince yourself to lock your door at night? Does the lack of scientific evidence in that regard make you go "I think I should not lock my door" or worse "people who lock their doors at night are crazy"? It's an absurd thing.

by hsn915 5y ago

aksss 5y ago

> "Scientific" publishing is broken and you simply can't rely on it for useful information. Many studies don't even replicate, but they still get published and cited. I may take issue with some of your other statements but fully agree with this observation. A critical thinker needs to be highly skeptical of the appeal to authority used by invoking the phrases “the science says”, or “studies have shown”.

glofish 5y ago

The problem is that the studies that shows masks work are just as broken, it is simply a matter of whose broken opininon is the "acceptable" read below how bonkers the stats are in the mask-study that the CDC uses to "prove" that masks work: http://www.argmin.net/2021/09/13/effect-size/ http://www.argmin.net/2021/09/13/effect-size/

hsn915 5y ago
Why would anyone trust the CDC or the WHO after their abject and emarrasing failure to handle covid? Here's a better argument for wearing masks: https://medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade-7de897b517b7 https://medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade-7de897b517b7 A crucial piece of evidence IMO is "the salon story where two infected stylists failed to infect all their 140 clients (making the probability of infection for bilateral mask wearing safely below 1% for a salon-style exposure)" There's another good point about "evidence". Do you need a scientific study in order to convince yourself to lock your door at night? Does the lack of scientific evidence in that regard make you go "I think I should not lock my door" or worse "people who lock their doors at night are crazy"? It's an absurd thing.