Thread by @AlisonBlunt

1. Further quote from 'Dr. Terence Kealey and the Myth of Scientific Objectivity' & transcript crossfit.com/health/terence…

'....it's a very important question,' ... 'So, let me just answer this. First of all, John Ioannidis at Stanford wrote a paper.'

2. 'It's now been cited over 5,000 times [2019]: “Why Most Scientific Papers Are Wrong.” And it's not just John Ioannidis. There's a group of them now. They're superb.' ...
... 'And these people are pointing out that over half of all scientific papers are just wrong. So, the...'

3. ...'question is therefore, how do we know? Well, the answer, I'm afraid, is to understand what a scientific paper is.'

'When, after I published my book, I was interviewed by what we in England called The Times Higher Education Supplement, what you call The Chronicle of ...'

4. ...'Higher Education, and they said, “Would you like to distill in one sentence what you've learned from this study of breakfast?” I said, “Yes." ... ... “When I pick up a paper on breakfast I always ask myself — the first thing I ask myself is, ...' ...

5. '‘How and why are these lying bastards lying to me?’ And if you don't pick up a paper and ask yourself that question, you're going to be gulled.”'

'... — what people don't understand is what peer review is.' ... ... ' ...peer review started in England in the 17th century...'

6. ...'when we created the Royal Society and stuff. It wasn't as people now think it is: “Oh well, have they used the right p-value here?” What peer review was, actually, was: “Is he one of us?” Or was he some sort of lunatic? Peer review was a social thing. “Do we know this...'

7. ...'person? Can we trust him or her?” So, for example Leeuwenhoek, the great Dutch micro — microscopist, used to send his stuff to the Royal Society as a letter, and he would then have affidavits attached to it from very distinguished members of the Dutch aristocracy who...'

8. ...'would confirm that they had also seen these things under the microscope. So, the point about his peer review was actually about, “Can we trust this person?” which is why, by the way, every scientific society to this day — and all of you belong to all sorts of medical...'

9. ..'and scientific societies — are just like posh clubs in London. You've got to be sponsored, you've got to be seconded, and there's a vote, and then you join the society. It's like joining a club. And so, to come back to what a paper is, the only way you can understand a...'

10. ...'paper is to see yourself as a judge. You're a judge in court and here is someone who is an advocate, primarily for their career. What they're actually trying to do is to promote their own career. That's what they're doing, because they're human.'

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