Robert F. Kennedy and his supporters do not get how science works

Aspiring presidential candidate and anti-vax activist Robert Kennedy Junior is now claiming that WiFi radiation causes cancer, opens the blood brain barrier, and kills our mitochondria. Scientists and doctors are refusing to debate Kennedy’s claims because they’re bullshit, but I’ve seen a number of tweets arguing that if someone makes a scientific claim, you can’t just say “that’s not scientific” — you’re obligated to debate and prove science is on your side. Doesn’t their refusal suggest they’re afraid the facts are really on Kennedy’s side?

No. Science isn’t decided by debate, it’s decided by research. Simply asserting “wifi causes autism” or “vaccines destroy the brain-body barrier” isn’t a theory or even a hypothesis. Good science is falsifiable; as Stephen Jay Gould once put it, if someone found rabbits in Precambrian rocks, that would prove all our theories wrong.  Charles Darwin developed tons of evidence in favor of evolution; Kennedy’s simply making claims. If he wants them taken seriously, he could use his money to prove it: come up with a research project, hire some scientists to test your theory, then present his findings for peer review. Do it with full public scrutiny; don’t hide the results if they’re against you.

That’s science. It’s hard work, however, and Kennedy may know perfectly well he won’t get the results he wants. He’s wrong. That’s why he and his followers online are using the same tactics as creationists. Don’t try to prove your case is scientific, try proving it in the court of public opinion or lobbying government to “teach the controversy” (there isn’t one, just stubborn people who refuse to accept the facts). That’s not science, it’s working the refs. But hey, it keeps them in the spotlight and probably keeps donations to their organizations flowing.

Now, on to the links:

“As Chicken Little said, the sky is falling. But instead of one acorn, I think it really is falling,” — from an article about how the increasing number of artificial satellites may be killing astronomy.

“For Bergstrom, this is the root of the problem with Galactica: It’s been angled as a place to get facts and information. Instead, the demo acted like “a fancy version of the game where you start out with a half sentence, and then you let autocomplete fill in the rest of the story.”

One challenge with chatbots is the users — like a teacher who fed one his students’ papers, then flunked them all based on the results.

Another problem with chatbots: they cost so much to run, the tech we interact with isn’t the best.

If you get word you’ve received the Nobel Prize for Philology, I have some bad news for you ..

The list of fourteen 2022 discoveries about human evolution includes that humans and neanderthals hung out a lot; dogs are the earliest domestic animal; and eating meat didn’t make us homo sapiens but possibly cooking did. Does therapy work?

The feds have shut down Hive, a major ransomware operation.

“Most programmers had never heard of left-pad, but now, somehow, their code couldn’t run without it.”

Climate change since the 19th century.

“Police and prosecutors trained in 911 call analysis are taught they can spot a murderer on the phone by analyzing speech patterns, tone, pauses, word choice and even the grammar used during emergency calls. ” Too bad it’s one of those forensic-analysis methods that doesn’t work.

Forget Jurassic Park: can genetics resurrect the dodo?

#SFWApro. Strange Adventures cover by Murphy Anderson; Alice in Wonderland illustration by of John Tenniel, all rights to images remain with current holders.