The Skeptics Guide #1019 - Jan 18, 2024 (Ad Free)
Added 2025-01-18 16:36:59 +0000 UTCInterview with Nick Tiller, News Items: Does Fact-Checking Work, Nuclear Electric Propulsion, The LA Fires, Building Materials for Storing Carbon; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction
Comments
Oh, and also, you're losing track of the years! It's 2025. :oD
Jelle Kastelein
2025-01-22 23:24:19 +0000 UTCThe typo on title needs to be corrected - the year now is 2025, not 2024.
Vincent Tabirara
2025-01-22 23:21:18 +0000 UTCJust to push back on Steve a little bit, I agree that the doctors that he spoke about do work to help patients manage their diet. In other instances, not really so much. Doing research on overweight people, a common complaint is too many doctors (general practitioners that the patient will see first) will take one look at an overweight patient and say, "You need to lose weight." They don't give any advice, they often do even have the expertise to give advice, then they fail to follow through and refer the patient to a dietician or nutritionist. The patient is then left on their own to deal with it. The doctor's intent isn't to fat shame the patient, but that is the result. They're just checking a box for the insurance company. They never stop to think, "Is just telling my patients to lose weight working?" If the answer is "no" (spoiler alert: it is), then you need to find a better way. It's like telling a homeless person, "You need to build a house" or starving children, "You need to eat," and expecting that to solve the problem.
Asymetra
2025-01-20 13:54:43 +0000 UTCOn a different podcast, the guest used to run a free speech absolutist forum on FB. The only rule was you can't block admins. It was a race to the bottom as hate groups and racists dominated the forum. He ran it for a few years before shutting it down. Six weeks later, one of the most prolific "contributors" posted a manifesto online and went on a shooting rampage. The guest was grateful that he had shut the group down and didn't have to deal with the police investigating him for running the group.
Asymetra
2025-01-20 12:21:32 +0000 UTCIn journalism, not fact-checking has immediate monetary and reputational consequences. At least it used to. Lying on FB/X/internet has no consequences worth caring about and feeds fragile egos seeking validation.
Asymetra
2025-01-20 12:15:50 +0000 UTCDon't confuse the issues with the facts! Watching Leeja Miller on YouTube, in one of her recent videos, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRax3yTYR6Q&t=926s) she posts a statement from 2022: "Unfortunately, the problem with left-leaning media is they're intrinsically more strict with their propaganda to only using verifiable sources so it's really hard to poke holes in their ideology and arguments in comparison to a lot of quality rightwing content. "That makes attacking their fact checkers not very effective unless their fact checkers use misinformation tactics as well. "In essence people like us on the right have to work harder and more creatively to push our agenda as statistics and, unfortunately, official studies aren't usually on our side." There's a lot to unpack here from all the typical logical fallacies and biases to the fact that facts aren't important to a certain set of people that don't like reality as it is and to "fix" it they prefer stories. If they needed to get over a mountain ridge, they could climb it, build stairs to get over it, or declare god put the ridge there and no one is allowed on the other side. It seems like stories are more important than putting in the hard work to the pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstrap crowd.
Asymetra
2025-01-20 08:11:05 +0000 UTCI'm a Type 1 diabetic that has struggled since I was diagnosed to maintain my blood glucose levels. I've been on the insulin pump since the 90s and a CGM for about 10 yrs. 6 months ago got prescribed semaglutide and it has been a game changer. My glucose is much easier to control and my appetite is easier to deal with. I'm maintaining my blood glucose in range over 75% of the time. All that on the lowest maintenance dose required. I'll happily take that shot for the rest of my life. For people with a chronic conditions like mine, the medication IS required because our bodies are rebelling.
Tom P
2025-01-19 18:04:05 +0000 UTCFact checking is, in fact, the backbone of the marketplace of ideas on which the concept of free speech rests.
Scott A Bakkila
2025-01-18 23:13:24 +0000 UTCThe download file names have all been 1.mp3 for last few weeks.
Steve Nerlich
2025-01-18 20:35:54 +0000 UTCYou've done so many shows you're losing count! It's #1019, not 1018. :o)
Jelle Kastelein
2025-01-18 17:18:55 +0000 UTC
