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How False Rumors can Cost Lives
- swolchok 17y ago"If you don’t know anything about the science, ask someone who does, or check in Wikipedia. (It’s not infallible, but it’s a lot better than the New York Times." This, in an article about the spread of false rumors.
- duskwuff 17y agoI fail to see any contradiction here. The core of the issue lies in taking the word of people who don't know anything about the science. And, where science is concerned, Wikipedia tends to do very well: any non-stub science article will likely have copious references.
- swolchok 17y agoI was under the impression that Wikipedia has this vandalism problem, especially with popular articles.
- kragen 17y agoYes, but the New York Times has an ignorance problem, which turns out to be more severe in practice, in my experience. Your mileage may vary. Other newspapers and magazines are even worse.
- duskwuff 17y agoVandalism tends to get caught very quickly as it shows up on the Recent Changes feed, and doubly so on popular articles (which many users will also have watchlisted).
- ZeroGravitas 17y agoInteresting stuff to think about. Just like in zombie movies, it's your fellow human beings you've got to watch out for in such situations, a flu pandemic is just a backdrop to watch the human drama unfold against.