3 ms·

> I suspect, based on your disposition towards it, you actually are not keeping up with the latest in SDOH research, Man, you guys keep finding fun new ways of

by timr 4mo ago

> I suspect, based on your disposition towards it, you actually are not keeping up with the latest in SDOH research, Man, you guys keep finding fun new ways of saying "if you don't like what I like, you must be uninformed". Instead of doing that, inform me: what revolutionary new finding in SDOH have we discovered in the last 20 years? Prove me wrong. > I'm not sure where your confidence comes from as to whether we're firehosing money into "standard model research" or whether we're building a more refined and useful picture of stuff that was more vaguely understood 20 years ago. That's called a metaphor. Feel free to substitute any other example that you feel better illustrates the concept of "studying a question we already know the answer to". Knowledge is always fractal, so it's not particularly responsive to argue that there might be something we don't know about the thing we've already intensively studied. Of course there might be...but when there are lots of questions we don't know the answer to, it's smarter to focus on those, instead.

estearum 4mo ago
Sure here's one revolutionary new finding in that timeframe: that a person's social/cultural environment affects DNA methylation and gene expression for the rest of their lives. Here's another one: a person's perception of whether they "are" rural is actually a better predictor of their health outcomes than whether they actually are rural. I.e. two neighbors living side by side in suburban America, the one who perceives themselves to be rural will have dramatically worse outcomes than the one who perceives themselves to be urban/suburban. These are both potentially useful things to know as we try to eliminate extreme health disparities between Americans. You seem to think we have all the answers though, so what's the answer? How do we do it? FWIW, the specific cited research where she's trying to quantify the health impacts of living near pollution sources is actually important for e.g. lawsuits where people try to hold corporations accountable for poisoning their children. Any value in that?
- timr 4mo ago
  > Sure here's one revolutionary new finding in that timeframe: that a person's social/cultural environment affects DNA methylation and gene expression for the rest of their lives. This isn't revolutionary. But it's a perfect example. This is a completely derivative conclusion from something I learned in molecular biology as an undergrad. The only "new" thing here is saying that poor people live in environments, since we've known for literally decades that DNA methylation is affected by environment. > a person's perception of whether they "are" rural is actually a better predictor of their health outcomes than whether they actually are rural. OK. Great. I'm poor if I think I'm poor. Roger. > These are both potentially useful things to know as we try to eliminate extreme health disparities between Americans. You seem to think we have all the answers though, so what's the answer? How do we do it? I don't know! You tell me how your "potentially useful" information provides a solution. Win me over!
  - estearum 4mo ago
    > This is a completely derivative conclusion from something I learned in molecular biology as an undergrad. The only "new" thing here is saying that poor people live in environments, since we've known for literally decades that DNA methylation is affected by environment. Yes, just like approximately everything we've learned about cosmology in the last 100 years are completely derivative conclusions from relativity lmao. There's what, <5 things we've discovered that are not completely derivative over 100 years and billions of dollars of research? > I don't know [how to mitigate health disparities]! You tell me how your "potentially useful" information provides a solution. Win me over! Huh? I didn't claim to have all the answers lol, you did.
    - timr 4mo ago
      > Yes, just like approximately everything we've learned about cosmology in the last 100 years are completely derivative conclusions from relativity lmao. OK, cool. Let's not do more of that, then. I just said that I could see the difference between the questions, and that they're not likely to get funding elsewhere, not that we should absolutely fund more black hole space telescopes. > There's what, <5 things we've discovered that are not completely derivative over 100 years and billions of dollars of research? No. Not in the same class as "are poor people sicker than rich people", or "does gravity cause things to fall down". Next question.
      - estearum 4mo ago
        FYI we've discovered precisely 0 (zero) things in cosmology or physics more broadly, or even material science, in the last 100 years that aren't derivable from relativity lol. Does your tirade copy/paste to that entire field too?
        deleted 4mo ago
        [deleted]
  - curt15 4mo ago
    >This is a completely derivative conclusion from something I learned in molecular biology as an undergrad. The only "new" thing here is saying that poor people live in environments, since we've known for literally decades that DNA methylation is affected by environment. It's one thing to theorize a causal relationship, but informed policy-making needs actual data that can only be obtained by legwork. What aspects of the social/cultural environment are we talking about? What genes are being expressed differently? What are their estimated health or economic impacts?

by timr 4mo ago

estearum 4mo ago

Sure here's one revolutionary new finding in that timeframe: that a person's social/cultural environment affects DNA methylation and gene expression for the rest of their lives. Here's another one: a person's perception of whether they "are" rural is actually a better predictor of their health outcomes than whether they actually are rural. I.e. two neighbors living side by side in suburban America, the one who perceives themselves to be rural will have dramatically worse outcomes than the one who perceives themselves to be urban/suburban. These are both potentially useful things to know as we try to eliminate extreme health disparities between Americans. You seem to think we have all the answers though, so what's the answer? How do we do it? FWIW, the specific cited research where she's trying to quantify the health impacts of living near pollution sources is actually important for e.g. lawsuits where people try to hold corporations accountable for poisoning their children. Any value in that?

timr 4mo ago
> Sure here's one revolutionary new finding in that timeframe: that a person's social/cultural environment affects DNA methylation and gene expression for the rest of their lives. This isn't revolutionary. But it's a perfect example. This is a completely derivative conclusion from something I learned in molecular biology as an undergrad. The only "new" thing here is saying that poor people live in environments, since we've known for literally decades that DNA methylation is affected by environment. > a person's perception of whether they "are" rural is actually a better predictor of their health outcomes than whether they actually are rural. OK. Great. I'm poor if I think I'm poor. Roger. > These are both potentially useful things to know as we try to eliminate extreme health disparities between Americans. You seem to think we have all the answers though, so what's the answer? How do we do it? I don't know! You tell me how your "potentially useful" information provides a solution. Win me over!
- estearum 4mo ago
  > This is a completely derivative conclusion from something I learned in molecular biology as an undergrad. The only "new" thing here is saying that poor people live in environments, since we've known for literally decades that DNA methylation is affected by environment. Yes, just like approximately everything we've learned about cosmology in the last 100 years are completely derivative conclusions from relativity lmao. There's what, <5 things we've discovered that are not completely derivative over 100 years and billions of dollars of research? > I don't know [how to mitigate health disparities]! You tell me how your "potentially useful" information provides a solution. Win me over! Huh? I didn't claim to have all the answers lol, you did.
  - timr 4mo ago
    > Yes, just like approximately everything we've learned about cosmology in the last 100 years are completely derivative conclusions from relativity lmao. OK, cool. Let's not do more of that, then. I just said that I could see the difference between the questions, and that they're not likely to get funding elsewhere, not that we should absolutely fund more black hole space telescopes. > There's what, <5 things we've discovered that are not completely derivative over 100 years and billions of dollars of research? No. Not in the same class as "are poor people sicker than rich people", or "does gravity cause things to fall down". Next question.
    - estearum 4mo ago
      FYI we've discovered precisely 0 (zero) things in cosmology or physics more broadly, or even material science, in the last 100 years that aren't derivable from relativity lol. Does your tirade copy/paste to that entire field too?
      - deleted 4mo ago
        [deleted]
- curt15 4mo ago
  >This is a completely derivative conclusion from something I learned in molecular biology as an undergrad. The only "new" thing here is saying that poor people live in environments, since we've known for literally decades that DNA methylation is affected by environment. It's one thing to theorize a causal relationship, but informed policy-making needs actual data that can only be obtained by legwork. What aspects of the social/cultural environment are we talking about? What genes are being expressed differently? What are their estimated health or economic impacts?