5 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

This thread has drawn a very good cross section of the scientifically illiterate, clickbait channeling clowns that have somehow coalesced on AN. A sad state of affairs for what started as such a useful expat forum.

Awww.. its ok... Tolerate them as entertainment in the "Off the Beaten Path" sub-forum. There is a place for contrarian voices.

Questioning accepted ideas isn't stupid. Quite the opposite. Science advances because people challenge assumptions, test evidence, and occasionally prove everyone else wrong. That's precisely why dissent should never be silenced.

In fact, it's important that those of us who accept established evidence are reminded that society contains everyone, from the merely eccentric to the gloriously detached from reality. Knowing they're out there is part of understanding the world as it really is.

And, to be fair, they occasionally perform a valuable service. Every now and then, a fringe argument uncovers a genuine flaw in accepted thinking, exposes bad science, or highlights a question that deserves proper investigation. History has shown that consensus isn't infallible.

The problem is that the truly committed cranks never know when they've been beaten by the evidence. When every fact becomes part of the conspiracy, every expert is corrupt, every contradiction is ignored, and every goalpost is wheeled off into the distance, debate ceases to exist. What's left is dogma masquerading as scepticism.

We need sceptics. We even need the occasional eccentric. What we don't need are people so intellectually bankrupt that they mistake obstinacy for critical thinking and delusion for open-mindedness.

That's the irony. Their original cause may have been the pursuit of truth. Somewhere along the way, it became far more important than the truth itself.

Some 'light' bedtime reading, sweet dreams 'yo-all' multivaxers

1-year risks of cancers associated with COVID-19 vaccination: a large population-based cohort study in South Korea

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40364-025-00831-w

This is not mRNA vaccine, but it's another vaccine they are developing that is supposed to increase lifespan.

Would you try it? Or are you wary of all vaccines now?

SenoVax is a vaccine that trains your immune system to hunt down and destroy senescent cells — the "zombie cells" that accumulate as you age and drive inflammation, tissue damage, and disease.