Every day we see in the media experts who talk about scientific issues without having a solid scientific basis. They sound good, they’ve learned it by heart the day before or that morning and give them a voice to report what’s going on. They communicate well and it’s great that they do, that no one misunderstands me.
However, if we dig a little, we’d see that they’re communicators without scientists. They communicate without any other intention. I’d love to know how many of those experts we hear or read every day know what a PCR is all about. Or you know what those acronyms mean (Polymerase Chain Reaction).
I had several subjects in the career where we talked about PCR. I had to study it, I answered questions about it in exams, I did lab practices, etc.. The basis that I have, that I studied it, can’t be had by any scientific reporter who is in the media. That journalist will most likely go to google.com pcr and read the first 5-10 links that appear in the search engine. No one has evaluated what he knows, he didn’t perform any PCRs. I think it’s okay to do your job because it’s important to communicate, but maybe it would be nice if more people came out who really know what they’re talking about.
The Covid-19 pandemic
And in this came a pandemic like never before in the history of mankind. This page has several articles about it and more will be uploaded, see Strategies in the design of new drugs. It’s hard to believe that political scientists or economists are talking on television for hours instead of talking epidemiologists or scientists. What matters least to me right now is politics or economics. First you have to end the pandemic and then you can talk again about what you really know.
Nazi Germany militarized the economy. When they began to invade other countries, the entire economy was destined for the creation of weapons and the army. For now that we are in the midst of a pandemic like never before, it is essential to “sanctify” the economy. All resources should be allocated to combat covid-19. Then we’ll have time to go back to where we left off. There is a need for a break in the world.
Youtube, the ideal place for ‘experts’
The Case of YouTube is also a clear example. There are thousands of ‘expert’ videos that don’t know what they’re talking about. They’ve read it on the internet or in any other medium. They’re no longer journalists or spreaders, they’re anonymous people who talk about what they don’t understand. It is also the ideal niche for fake news or conspiracy theories. To say something stupid it takes 2 minutes but to refute it you need days.
The Covid-19 pandemic,caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, is an example of how fake news or misinformation multiply uncontrolled. It’s like a parallel pandemic that pollutes everything. You listen, you see or you read a news story and you always have to contrast it. Then you don’t have to read anything in media that has to do with your political ideology. You have to have a global vision.
How many videos work on Youtube can be explained in this way. Something goes viral, such as the arrival of a comet, a game, a pandemic, or a series about a nuclear accident, etc., and as mushrooms begin to appear videos of people who start talking about it precisely because they know that is what is most sought at that moment.
It’s okay for them to do it and I’m sure they’re going to have visitors, which is what they’re looking for. They want to have more views in their videos, in order to deposit more money with the advertising that Youtube inserts. Then they are not content creators in their strict definition. They are video creators of themes that are fashionable, that’s all.
The ‘experts’ in economics who make videos instead of living on what they know about economics
It is also very common to find videos of experts who want to teach you how to succeed in life, invest in the bag, play poker, etc.. What catches my eye is that they don’t apply it to themselves and don’t live by their steps to succeed. Instead they post a video on youtube and wait for them to have visitors.
If you’re an economics expert, you’re not working at an economics company. They’re people who even promote their content. That is, they pay to appear in other Youtube videos. Most of those videos only look for visualizations and revenue through those visualizations, that’s all.
You can play chess and learn all the openings. How to play the middle game or the end of the game. But when you play in real life you show what you really know about the game and even knowing all the tactics and strategy failures because you are not able to understand the position. Likewise, these people create videos to show you what they know but won’t do you any good when faced with real-life challenges. There may be some video that does work, but to be honest the vast majority are clicks and information that you can find all over the web and that is useless.
Conclusion
Everyone is free to do whatever we want. We can talk about everything, but we shouldn’t invade the space that can be occupied by someone else who really knows what he’s talking about in the media. Many of these media have been giving voice to experts for months who don’t have a solid scientific basis but communicate well.
I prefer a medical scientist in a specialty than a scientific discloser without a degree who has memorized what he has to say. And I’m not looking for Youtube as a source of information because often the information is sesatic and served for quick consumption, such as fast food, without any scientific basis.
