A Couple of Thoughts on Medical Studies Given Recent Experience
- Here is the iron law of medical -- in fact all scientific -- studies in the modern world: most do not replicate. This has always been true of studies that supposedly find some link between doing [thing we enjoy] and cancer. This of course does not stop the media from running with initial study results based on 37 study participants as "fact." The same is true for studies of new drugs and treatments. Most don't pan out or are not nearly as efficacious as early studies might indicate. We have seen that over and over during COVID.
- The Feds insist that a drug that is know to be perfectly safe in humans still must be carefully tested in random controlled studies before it can be used for a new application. Fine, I think they are overly cautious in application of this, but let's run with this standard for a moment. Why, then, are NPI that have known astronomical human costs (eg lockdowns, business closures, and mask mandates) allowable without any sort of study -- allowable in fact when the existing science on their efficacy is at best ambivalent?
Update: In case you wonder why they don't replicate
