Why do people get vaccines? Don't they research the ingredients?

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DalaiLama wrote:

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鬼殺し wrote:

Well and good, but while you're sitting on your butt discussing scientific method and your mother is somehow disproving your quantum mechanics, some dickhead's just gone and made another 400k followers after tweeting that avocados cause haemorrhoids.

It's true. There's even logical rationale behind the theory:

Avacado's Number (6.022 × 10^23)is such a large number that it causes people's math sphincter to pucker up. As they digest more story problems, this leafs them in a pickle as there is no way for the solution to emerge. While some people soy this isn't a big dill, as people can immunize their sphincter with wax beans, anti-Waxers are skeptical, and think a simple life style change is enough, chanting "No Grain, No Pain"

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Sparta and its allies, with the exception of Corinth, were almost exclusively land based powers, able to summon large land armies that were very nearly unbeatable. Under the direction of Pericles, the Athenians pursued a policy of retreat within the city walls of Athens, relying on Athenian maritime supremacy for supply while the superior Athenian navy harassed Spartan troop movements. Unfortunately the strategy also resulted in adding many people from the countryside to an already well-populated city, introducing a severe crowding factor as well as resource shortages. Due to the close quarters and poor hygiene exhibited at that time Athens became a breeding ground for disease and many citizens died including Pericles, his wife, and his sons Paralus and Xanthippus. In the history of epidemics the 'Plague' of Athens is remarkable for its one-sided affliction and bias on the ultimate outcome of a war.

In his History of the Peloponnesian War the historian Thucydides, who was present and contracted the disease himself and survived, describes the epidemic. He writes of a disease coming from Ethiopia and passing through Egypt and Libya into the Greek world—a plague so severe and deadly that no one could recall anywhere its like, and physicians ignorant of its nature not only were helpless but themselves died the fastest, having had the most contact with the sick. In overcrowded Athens, the disease killed an estimated 25% of the population. The sight of the burning funeral pyres of Athens caused the Spartans to withdraw their troops being unwilling to risk contact with the diseased enemy. Many of Athens' infantry and expert seamen died, as well as their general Pericles. After the death of Pericles, Athens was led by a succession of leaders Thucydides described as incompetent or weak. According to Thucydides, not until 415 BC had Athens recovered sufficiently to mount a major offensive, the disastrous Sicilian Expedition.

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erdelyii wrote:

To the topic generally at hand, it's not about Science having all the answers, to everything, because it doesn't. It's about having the sense to judge when Science does have the best fit current answer to a particular problem, or part of a larger problem.

It's all-or-nothing thinking on both "sides" that is a problem. Rejecting Science altogether is foolish and inexcusable when it harms others through easily preventable actions such as not vaccinating. Believing that Science has all the answers is also foolish, as much wisdom is traditional, local, and as effective, if not more, than answers deduced by the scientific method, or necessarily able to be measured for statistical analysis.

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rojimboo wrote:

Which questions cannot be answered by the scientific method, eventually?

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erdelyii wrote:

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rojimboo wrote:

Which questions cannot be answered by the scientific method, eventually?

Well, I could be poetic and say "what is love"?

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On a practical level we can't, ethically. The gold standard is Randomized controlled design experiment.

So, we will never - unless we start experimenting this way on human beings again - have answers to a great many questions.

Good Cracked article on some crazy questions Science still doesn't have answers for

Why ice is slippery? Who the fuck knows.

I mean, go ahead and investigate, by all means, but keep an open mind, eh, Science?

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I could say that the certainty of science (or how it speaks and is interpreted) is problematic for anything to do with the human mind.
I don't think we will understand our own minds through Science.

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鬼殺し wrote:

At my best, I manage to ask the right question. I am usually content to encourage others to do so.

Answers that don't lead to more questions bore me. I am quite like a little kid there.

The adult part of me spends most of its time figuring out whom to ask and when.

It's been said that a genius knows the answer before hearing the question. I think it's impressive enough when a person can give themselves the right answer to the right question.

For everyone else there's MasterCard...and the scientific method.

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鬼殺し wrote:

At my best, I manage to ask the right question. I am usually content to encourage others to do so.

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faerwin wrote:

There's no right or wrong question, just right and wrong answers.

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erdelyii wrote:

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鬼殺し wrote:

At my best, I manage to ask the right question. I am usually content to encourage others to do so.

Questions. That's where Science has a major blind spot -

Not specifically to you Charan but feel free to chip in:

How do scientists know which questions to ask?