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Nathan Williams Profile picture
Nathan Williams
@nathankw
I make films about science and history. Humanist, vegetarian, NB, board-gamer, urban-paddleboarder with 2 cats. Views are mine.
Feb 6, 2023 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
One of the most influential people in the sex/gender debate is Anne Fausto-Sterling (AFS). For instance she's quoted by @theAliceRoberts and @robinince. Both excellent science communicators but I don't think the way they've presented AFS gives the full picture. So here's a🧵 1/x Her work is much misunderstood so it's vital to look beyond the slogans.
AFS is most famous for her proposal that there aren't 2 sexes, there are 5. Smashing the sex binary is commonplace now but was radical at the time. What's not so well known is that AFS was actually joking.
Aug 4, 2022 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
A quick thread on this new paper which it has been claimed refutes the notion of social contagion in trans adolescents. Even by the poor methodological standards of this topic it's remarkable how weak the evidence is compared to the claims being made. 1/x The central argument is that according to a single survey source, the rate of trans identification is going down (2017 vs 19) disproving the social contagion (SC) hypothesis. It's pretty obvious that inferring a trend from 2 data points is virtually meaningless. It reminds me 2/x
Jul 30, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
The sad story of the GIDS and the Tavistock should lead us all to seriously reflect on how a dysfunctional organisation was allowed to carry on for so long. Many should hang their heads in shame but it's my own sector - the science comms industry - that bears particular guilt... Science journalists and scientists in the public eye should have been at the forefront of raising questions. Instead, many actively participated in spreading disinformation and attacking those who did try to investigate. Almost all others just ignored the issue, turned away...
Jul 14, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
After I retweeted this statement calling for mutual tolerance of differing views, many replied asking if I'd heard of Karl Popper's Paradox of Tolerance. I'm lucky enough to have studied Philosophy of Science at Cambridge so yes, I do know it and have read lots of Popper. 1/x In contrast (& I hope I'm not being mean), I suspect many of those who asked had only heard of Popper from a cartoon graphic that's popular on social media. It's therefore not surprising that they are grossly distorting Popper's argument. I hope they'll find this 🧵 useful 2/x