Health and Sanity category archive

At Al.com, a physician steps back, takes a larger perspective, and looks at the history of pandemics and vaccines, leading him to wonder what happened to the concept of the common good. Here’s a bit; follow the link for a valuable perspective.

Of course, in the ancient world, it was easy enough to attribute infectious disease to an enraged deity. With that mindset, a logical solution was simply to banish the person who had offended the god or gods in charge.

Aside:

Methinks the “ancient world” isn’t so ancient after all.

David debunks a deluge of disinformation.

Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Kristen Lee explores some of the reasons for recent outbreaks of hostility, both in the air and on the ground. She identifies several reasons; here’s an excerpt from her discussion:

The toxicity from our screens has undoubtedly rattled cages and unleashed blatant disregard for manners and basic human kindness. We are self-protective creatures, but we can overcome the primitive instinct to protect territory and demand our way if we’re intentional in working toward change. Treating people like people should not be a novel concept or lofty goal.

A marauder who suffers the children.

We are a society of stupid.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Christopher Bergland reviews research that indicates that the eases of using internet search engines leads persons to overestimate their own knowledge and competence.

Methinks this a significant topic in these viral times, when so many (think, for example, the Florida and Texas governors) disdain the reasoned, evidence-based conclusions of science and expertise, and, is so doing, endanger the citizenry.

Here are his key points; follow the link for a detailed discussion of each one.

• The Dunning-Kruger Effect is an illusory cognitive bias marked by overestimating one’s competence, intelligence, or knowledge base.
• People who frequently use search engines like Google are prone to mistake the internet’s knowledge as their own.
• Knowing that Googling often leads to overconfidence in one’s knowledge may be enough to keep the Dunning-Kruger effect in check.

Just desserts.

Brian Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, reminds us that choices have consequences.

A pictorial history of vaccine mandates going back three centuries.