Conspiracy theories have always been bad, but are they getting worse—more pervasive, more outlandish, more polarizing? I recently heard the authors of the new book “A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy” interviewed on John Lovett’s podcast. One enabler of the “new conspiracism,” according to the authors, is Read More…
Tag: scientific expertise
Coronavirus, scientific expertise, and knowledge infrastructures
Coronavirus news is dominating our mental and physical airwaves – I for one have eyes glued to virologists’ Twitter feeds and am constantly refreshing the Seattle Times daily updates. Scrolling through tweets the other night (I have self-diagnosed “Scrolliosis”), I saw a fascinating exchange in the comments. My favorite computational biologist, since that’s a thing Read More…
Why your PC may mistake your genome for a mail contact
There is a file type used to store large-scale genetic data called a “vcf” file, short for “variant call format.” To a PC, however, a “.vcf” file extension means something completely different: it’s the “vCard” format used to send Microsoft Outlook contact information. Therefore, if you click on a genetic “.vcf” file with a PC, Read More…
Is Genomics in a Bubble?
There has been a lot of election “post-mortem” talk about living in bubbles. Urban bubbles, academic elite bubbles, blue state bubbles — all out of touch with and perhaps at times dismissive of rural America, no college degree America, red state America. [For a concise articulation of the problem, see November 8th New York Times Read More…
Thoughts on Translation
I recently spent 12 days vacationing in Italy with my mother and two older sisters. While my body is still processing large quantities of delicious cheeses, pasta, and gelato, my mind is digesting the experience of touring a foreign country with different norms, cultural nuances, and of course — a different language (though the diversity Read More…
Acronymity
I was recently sitting across from my financial adviser, at his desk on the floor of a busy bank in Seattle. I panicked as I realized that, through a slippery stream of acronyms and jargon, I had lost track of the conversation. ETFs, A-shares, C-shares, rights of accrual…I had even studied up on mutual fund Read More…