Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@qoto.org

This incredibly low-effort and unoriginal meme is going around again. Whoever came up with it has never done #science for a living, and I guess neither have the vast majority of people who repost it.

#Questioning *nature* is how you do science, trying to figure out something new about the way the world works. Sometimes, yes, that involves questioning existing science, but not very often. Much more commonly—99% or more of the time—scientists are building on each other's work. Shoulders of giants and all that, without Newton's sarcasm.

In my line of work, for example, I often question whether a particular #mutation in a particular #gene increases #responsivess to a particular #drug in a particular type of #cancer. I don't question whether #chemotherapy in general is worth doing for cancer patients, or whether genes in general influence drug metabolism in general, because I don't have to. Other people have already done that work, and if I want I can go back and read how they did it.

*Very* rarely I think they did it wrong, and I will of course bring that up to my clients. Even then, it will be about specific cases relevant to the mutation, drug, and #tumor type at hand—not about the idea that relations between #genetics, cancer, and the #treatment thereof *exist*. Not because someone's paying me not to, or because I'm afraid of the answers I'd get, or any of that nonsense, but simply because there's no point.

Scientists could spend all our time trying to prove each other wrong, of course. Every once in a while we do, both because it improves our knowledge, and yes, because that's one of the best ways to get a paper published in a major journal. But if that were all or even most of the practice of science, nothing else would ever get done.

Do you want that outcome? A lot of people seem to. When they're lying in a hospital bed dying of something we could have treated if we'd been able to research it properly, I bet they won't.

NËÜRØ STRÏKË TÅRGËTTËD [sic] is my new band name.

Bold of you to assume there's any kind of #dinosaur I wouldn't at least give a nibble.

"Fucking mirrors, how do they work?"

"No one knows lol"

"Must be a miracle. [solemn nod]"

"Similar to magnets, I think."

"Well that doesn't help!"

"Sorry that’s all I got."

"Fair enough. I guess it's time to Do My Own Research™."

Naaah, not really. You were horny and did something stupid. We've all been there.

"What do you *want*?"

"I want #antivaxers to live just long enough to learn what actual research is. And when they realize what idiots they've been, I will wave at them ... like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

Like, whatEVER.

I think he also coined "Where are they now?"

I laughed. But more and more people believe this dangerous nonsense. Our ability to prevent and treat #disease is under full-scale attack, and millions—tens or hundreds of millions—will die because of it.

Nobody deserves to die of an easily preventable disease. If anyone did, though, the people pushing this insanity would be at the top of the list.

Checklist time!

Good food: #France ✅ #OlympusMons ❌
Good beer: France ❌ Olympus Mons ❌
The Louvre: France ✅ (kind of) Olympus Mons ❌
High peaks: France ✅ Olympus Mons ✅
Highest peak in Solar System: France ❌ Olympus Mons ✅
Cool fossils: France ✅ Olympus Mons ❌ (probably)

Hard decision, really.

How about that.

I think my direct deposit paperwork got screwed up.

#seemslegit

[climbs out of acid bath] You mean I've been doing this wrong the whole time?

Perhaps I was luckier than I thought when my academic career ended prematurely.

No matter where you go ... there you are.

You know, I'm good with this.

#Bioinformaticists need a set of Greek theater masks.

Nature is so beautiful.

"I was too smart to enlist and they didn't want me as an officer because I raise too much hell."

"Officially, there's no record of my service."

"I'd've punched out the DI the first time he got in my face."

Did I miss any?