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Philipp Markolin, PhD

@PhilippMarkolin

Nov 6

Why is it so difficult to find anybody to make a scientific case for the lableak? There is not one single paper published that lays out a lableak case that accounts for basic scientific evidence we do have.

For example, how do the many different engineering scenarios account
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for the fact that SC2 has a mosaic genome consisting of like 27 genomic pieces that have multiple ancestors found in the wild?
It is a non-starter to talk about design, only recombination in the wild explains it. Period.
Anybody whose lableak fantasy blog still involves
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deliberate engineering has no idea what they are talking about and need to exit the discussion, they are at best amateurs making noise, likely useful idiots or at worst motivated grifters and liars.

Now rinse repeat for all the people who claim SC2 was 'derived' from RaTG13
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Read 6 tweets

Philipp Markolin, PhD

@PhilippMarkolin

Nov 6

@janeqiuchina

Please share @janeqiuchina extensively sourced collection of problems from a recent @propublica @KatherineEban piece.
Propublica has not yet offered a response, correction or retraction, which is journalistic malfeasance. They can not be allowed to sweep this under the rug.
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https://twitter.com/janeqiuchina/status/1589098167051911169

@propublica

I know it seems like an esotheric topic, but @propublica is a 6 pulitzer prize winning organisation. They have hard earned credibility & responsibility to correct their errors.
There are many excellent investigative journalists at propublica, are they okay letting the shoddy,
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@KatherineEban

unqualified and motivated propaganda piece by @KatherineEban tarnish their work and reputation too? I doubt it. That is why a correction/retraction is necessary.

Democracy relies on responsible journalism, and Eban did not even get the facts right in her article.
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Read 4 tweets

Philipp Markolin, PhD

@PhilippMarkolin

Oct 30

I think there is a nuanced argument to be made why democracies can not afford small lies in service of greater goods.

Using the lableak conspiracy myth as a cudgel to hammer biosafety concerns into people might seem like a small price for a worthy cause, but what people
tend
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to ignore is that lies (and especially conspiracy myths) are an externality that a democratic society can not afford.

The same is true for using the conspiracy myth to sell people on the moral and worldview failings of a geopolitical adversary. Yes, democracies should not be
2/

naive when it comes to autocratic nations like China, especially since their political leader has been accumulating more power and might pose dramatic challenges to the world in the future.
Agreed on that part. But 'fighting fire with fire' and propaganda with propaganda
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Read 6 tweets

Philipp Markolin, PhD

@PhilippMarkolin

Oct 30

@KatherineEban

While it is true that @KatherineEban sham article in @propublica will eventually be corrected/retracted based on its errors, it does not matter. Damage is already done, targeted at the midterm elections, and later corrections might be embarassing but irrelevant to them.

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https://twitter.com/zhihuachen/status/1586653800168886274

This is what people often do not understand about information operations, the right timing has a much higher strategic utility than the unwelcome repercussions from lies later when attention has wandered off.

They already won, holding them accountible to correct the record is
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@KatherineEban

necessary but ultimately insufficient to deter future malicious behavior.
The only consequences @KatherineEban will see for her unethical behavior and journalistic malfeasance is at best a slap on the finger and a falling out of polite circles with some scientists.
Small price

Read 4 tweets

Philipp Markolin, PhD

@PhilippMarkolin

Oct 29

@PeterDaszak

My latest article about scientific memes seems to have hit a nerve with segments of the anti-vax, lableak, 'great reset' #conspiracy myth crowd.

Now I am apparently in the hall of fame, next to Fauci, @PeterDaszak, and Cuomo?! as a "maniac in power" 🙄

What power do I have?
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Well, quite a lot apparently.

You see, using precise analyses, well-documented research, case examples, and expert opinions in my work & make them accessible to a wider readership is threatening to the 'alternative reality' ecosystem.

And they hate it
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protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/scientific-m…

Now obviously my personal ambition has been to educate and to try to offer a more systemic understanding of why a discrepancy between science and society is bad for us in the long run.

Bad for science, bad for the public good, bad for democracy, and bad the world.

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Read 5 tweets

Philipp Markolin, PhD

@PhilippMarkolin

Oct 28

@JoeyPrink

Great interview with @JoeyPrink ⬇️

Games might be empathy machines, but currently, they are still underutilized.

The interesting parts of games is that they are the only art medium that centers human agency.

This is powerful in many ways, some outlined in the interview...
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https://twitter.com/CSatETH/status/1585532274040258566

but what is the most interesting for me is the way how some game designers manage to create choice architectures that allow us to explore ourselves.

This is the core of games as an art form, and dependent on our own agency through the choices we make, concepts like empathy
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can become alive in hitherto unprecedented ways.

But what might be even more important is that as a new art form building around human agency, games inevitable open up a new space for experimentation and exploration that might be critical for human society.

3/

Read 8 tweets

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