5 ms·

If this were actually true we would see elites and politicians constantly smoking, since it would be keeping them safer and they have access to infinite resourc

If this were actually true we would see elites and politicians constantly smoking, since it would be keeping them safer and they have access to infinite resources, knowledge, etc. Instead we see them getting vaccinated (sometimes in secret or with no acknowledgement like Trump did) and guzzling Paxlovid courses (multiple times like Fauci did) if they do get sick. I'm sticking with the pharmaceutical interventions that the elites seem to love...

johnnyo 4y ago
It’s possible that (A) smokers are less likely to get Covid AND ALSO that (B) taking up smoking still has more downsides, making it not recommendable as an actual treatment. Just because A is true doesn’t mean it follows smoking is a useful or recommended treatment. But it might lead to insights that drive future treatments.
ajmurmann 4y ago
In reality there is no well-informed, well-coordinated elite that creates conspiracies. That's not house information gets suppressed. It's some individuals feeling, often implicit, cultural pressure not to give too much attention to something.
Marsymars 4y ago
> If this were actually true we would see elites and politicians constantly smoking We'd only see that if the cumulative risk from smoking and maybe-covid was greater than the cumulative risk from vaccination and maybe-covid, and if the marginal risk from vaccination if one were already a smoker was negative. As is, I expect this is true, but that the harms of smoking outweigh the decreased risk of covid by quite a lot, so this isn't actionable at the individual level, though it may be actionable for research into biological pathways.
Godel_unicode 4y ago
> have access to infinite resources, knowledge, etc. I find the pervasiveness of this idea fascinating since it usually falls apart on backtesting. There are tons of elites who get taken in by Ponzi schemes (just look at Madoffs client list), lots of very well connected people lost a ton of money in 08, lots of celebrities use Goop products, etc. Are there counter examples? I have not found much evidence that there’s some secret elites-only repository of knowledge.
happyopossum 4y ago
> sometimes in secret or with no acknowledgement like Trump did Err, that's not even close to factual. Donald Trump touted the vaccines before they were released, got publicly vaccinated, publicly discussed getting his booster shots, and touted their effectiveness in interviews: Example: “Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get (Covid), it’s a very minor form. People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine,” he said in an interview with The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens that was released Tuesday.
- qbasic_forever 4y ago
  Donald Trump did not get publically vaccinated: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/donald-trump-melania-coronavirus-vaccine.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/donald-trump-... He got his booster in secret too: https://theintercept.com/2021/12/21/trump-admits-he-got-vaccine-booster-shot-in-secret-skipping-photo-op-that-could-save-lives/ https://theintercept.com/2021/12/21/trump-admits-he-got-vacc... Come back to actual reality please, you're inventing an alternate universe.
  - happyopossum 4y ago
    Getting “publicly vaccinated “ doesn’t have to mean doing it in front of TV cameras. He said he was going to get it as soon as it was available, he talked about getting it after he did it, and he to this day continues to extol the virtues of those initial vaccines and boosters.

johnnyo 4y ago

It’s possible that (A) smokers are less likely to get Covid AND ALSO that (B) taking up smoking still has more downsides, making it not recommendable as an actual treatment. Just because A is true doesn’t mean it follows smoking is a useful or recommended treatment. But it might lead to insights that drive future treatments.

ajmurmann 4y ago

In reality there is no well-informed, well-coordinated elite that creates conspiracies. That's not house information gets suppressed. It's some individuals feeling, often implicit, cultural pressure not to give too much attention to something.

Marsymars 4y ago

> If this were actually true we would see elites and politicians constantly smoking We'd only see that if the cumulative risk from smoking and maybe-covid was greater than the cumulative risk from vaccination and maybe-covid, and if the marginal risk from vaccination if one were already a smoker was negative. As is, I expect this is true, but that the harms of smoking outweigh the decreased risk of covid by quite a lot, so this isn't actionable at the individual level, though it may be actionable for research into biological pathways.

Godel_unicode 4y ago

> have access to infinite resources, knowledge, etc. I find the pervasiveness of this idea fascinating since it usually falls apart on backtesting. There are tons of elites who get taken in by Ponzi schemes (just look at Madoffs client list), lots of very well connected people lost a ton of money in 08, lots of celebrities use Goop products, etc. Are there counter examples? I have not found much evidence that there’s some secret elites-only repository of knowledge.

happyopossum 4y ago

> sometimes in secret or with no acknowledgement like Trump did Err, that's not even close to factual. Donald Trump touted the vaccines before they were released, got publicly vaccinated, publicly discussed getting his booster shots, and touted their effectiveness in interviews: Example: “Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get (Covid), it’s a very minor form. People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine,” he said in an interview with The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens that was released Tuesday.

qbasic_forever 4y ago
Donald Trump did not get publically vaccinated: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/donald-trump-melania-coronavirus-vaccine.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/donald-trump-... He got his booster in secret too: https://theintercept.com/2021/12/21/trump-admits-he-got-vaccine-booster-shot-in-secret-skipping-photo-op-that-could-save-lives/ https://theintercept.com/2021/12/21/trump-admits-he-got-vacc... Come back to actual reality please, you're inventing an alternate universe.
- happyopossum 4y ago
  Getting “publicly vaccinated “ doesn’t have to mean doing it in front of TV cameras. He said he was going to get it as soon as it was available, he talked about getting it after he did it, and he to this day continues to extol the virtues of those initial vaccines and boosters.