• Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    Yes, there does seem to be a disconnect here.

    Using weak epidemiology to inform public policy, etc, is bad.

    Calling epidemiology guessing, or saying that it’s use is “not in the realm of empiricism but of theology” is hyperbole. If you’re going to critique a paper because it’s being presented to a layman audience, you should probably avoid that (that being: exaggeration. Don’t do that.).

    This has, more or less been my point for this entire comment chain. Your exaggeration is harmful to your overall argument. Especially because people take up a sports-team sort of ideological following for eating meat vs not eating meat. I’d be especially avoidant of exaggeration for that reason.

    • jet@hackertalks.com
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      1 month ago

      I didn’t say epidemiology was guessing

      I said the statistical controls for confounding variables are guesses. And that is true

      I didn’t say epidemiology was theology.

      The abandonment of science, falling back onto week epidemiology is theology

      I don’t know how to express this more clearly