Serving The Process of Science Not The Political Institution
ON THIS EPISODE OF THE BEST MEDICINE PODCAST
Our Guest: Ian Martiszus
Today Ian Martiszus returns to BEST MEDICINE.
I very much enjoyed my previous discussion with Ian and told him months back I’d love to have him on again when his company has some more findings to share.
Ian is level headed. Many people have realized that much of the mainstream media narrative around COVID 19 has included falsehoods, fear-based propaganda, and “population management” messaging.
However, this does not mean that we abandon the scientific process entirely. Ian is a wonderful example of an American Hero who is providing honesty, transparency, reason and efficacy to the American people at a time where it’s most needed.
I hope you enjoy this episode!
Science is an evolving and iterative process of challenging knowledge, not a dogmatic canon to be religiously worshipped.
Episode Highlights
“Trust the Science” is toxic.
Many people in the United States have begun using the phrase “Trust the Science.”
This is a toxic neo-liberal talking point meant to serve the government and large corporations — and their financial interests.
Science — as in the scientific process — is a system where trust means nothing and authority means less.
The Medical-Industrial Complex, and the Political Institution of Science
Science is a process. It’s a process by which one devises a hypothesis, tests that hypothesis by creating a controlled environment and measuring variables, gathers data from the experiment and analyzes that data in context of other scientific findings.
Science is not the process of peer review. It is not the process of public-messaging. It is not the process of devising policy or morality for the public.
Science’s domain, where it is the sole ruler of the realm, is testing individual empirically testable facts.
Notice I did not say it is the ruler of the realm of “promoting ethical worldviews based on proven fact-sets.”
Science continually tests hypothesis to overturn (or add to) old data.
Today’s science is potentially tomorrows tall-tale.
The right wing may have unfairly said the “scientific community” has become a cult.
I do not think that individual scientists are fans of the “Trust the Science” ethos.
Ian Martiszus certainly isn’t.
Trust the Science emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to discourage the public from challenging government suggestions. We know this because the CDC openly changed their mask policy based solely on what percentage of doctors were able to get masks.
When doctors could not obtain masks easily the CDC said “masks are only needed for frontline medical workers.” As soon as the medical industry was able to protect itself, masks were recommended to the public.
From a strategy point of view (truth-claims of mask effectiveness aside), I can almost understand the temptation to protect doctors first. If healthcare professionals are in danger, then the general public can not be treated.
But I disagree firmly with LYING to the public about it.
And that was, for many Americans, the root of their distrust of the science.
A simple lie, for the purpose of population management, has spiraled into a memetic conflict.
On one side lies the “cult” of science. Science is surely done there, but the mainstream media and government amplify certain parts of the messaging (and none of the thinking skills or understanding) in ways that invariably protect government optics and institutional finances.
On the other side lies the “conspiracy theorists” on the right. These people may also be doing their own science. They might be studying adverse effects of the lockdown, finding conflicting data on vaccine or mask effectiveness, or citing issues in the messaging of mainstream “Trust the Science” media promotions. However, many people on this side are NOT scientifically literate and have lost trust in the institutions entirely.
As far as I’m concerned this is a tragedy that could have been avoided if the CDC simply chose to be honest.
Science, and the process of searching for truth, does not belong to a government, financial institution, or a media complex. Period.
Why I Admire Citizen Scientists like Ian Martiszus from Cure-Hub.
As I mentioned in his intro, Ian is the founder of Cure-Hub.com. Cure Hub is an independent research group aimed at finding accurate data on the COVID-19 pandemic and communicating it directly to concerned American citizens.
Starting any business is hard.
Doing science is hard.
Communicating to people about COVID-19 is hard.
Doing independently what institutions typically take the reigns on is hard.
Doing all four of those things at the same time is incredibly difficult.
And not only is Ian pulling it off, but he’s pulling it off for the right reasons.
He is a bioscientist and Data Analyst who genuinely wants to understand what’s happening with COVID-19.
And like many Americans he saw the media manipulating and narrativizing much of the data — and he also saw abnormalities with the collection and analysis of this data by institutions, as compared with their typical means of performing such functions.
So, given his training, he decided to do it himself and communicate transparently to the American Public.
He is, in my mind, one of the nations leading experts on COVID-19, but you’ll never see him on CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, or in the New York Times, despite having a better grasp of the science than most of the “science communicators” brought on by those media groups.
As 2008 caused all Americans to either become LOYAL to the financial institutions, or to blatantly distrust them (at the cost of their own abiity to enrich themselves), so 2020 has led many Americans to distrust doctors and scientists (possibly to their own bodily harm).
This is a catastrophe caused by political, media, and monetary actors in the government and Medical-Industrial Complex.
I applaud Ian because he is one of the people who is not just helping the American people learn the truth, he is helping to restore some legitimacy to the public name of science.
And all it took was some bravery, and the will to follow that age-old scientific method we all learned about as children.
IN CLOSING
I hope you enjoy this episode.
Of course, I’d like to re-iterate that this post is not an endorsement of any particular behavior in regards to masks, vaccines or social distancing. I am not an expert on those things. I merely present Ian’s expertise on the data around COVID-19.
Please do your own research.
One thing I am qualified to do, is provide telemedicine if you believe you are afflicted with COVID-19 (or any other disease).
If you enjoy my writings or podcasts and want a doctor that does NOT follow institutional financial incentives then I’d like to invite you to check out my online clinic, Wellspring, the next time you’re in need of a doctor.
If you don’t have insurance, that’s okay because we don’t accept insurance. We’re cash only, same $50 price for everybody.
Otherwise, enjoy the show and enjoy your week.
We’ll talk soon.
