I made a conscience decision when opening a blog that I would not write about science of medicine. There are several reasons for that. One of the most important is that I am a bit over the top about science. My best friend has pointed out that what fundamentalist Christian nutcases are for religion, I am for science. I love the stuff. Just can not get enough.
Yesterday I was in a bookstore and discovered Ben Goldacre has a new book out. I got really excited. I started reading. I wanted that book so bad. I didn't have room to carry it, and it cost a LOT of money for stuff most of which I could have gotten online for free...but...I HAD TO HAVE IT. I got the bookstore to put the book in a brown bag. That way I could savor opening the bag later...my special guilty treat of about 25$.
Later that night I had the book and started discussing what I planned to do with it to a new, and rather attractive acquaintance. Normally I would have been interested by this man to put it mildly. He was a fit well built 30something mechanical engineer from Western Europe who had all his hair. He had the body of a male model. Unless he is a sociopath these qualities make him at least a solid 7.5/10 already...but I did not care. I couldn't shut up about what I planned to do with my book. Would I read it a few pages every night savoring it slowly, drawing out the pleasure for months; or would I just not be able to stop? Would I drop out of the world on my next weekend off and read every page.
"The clarity with which he explains concepts in epidemiology makes him accessible to the broader public..." might sound like a mundane thing to say...but I made statements like this with such interest and enthusiasm, my new buddy picked up the book, and started smelling and caressing it. I think he may have been making fun of me. He just doesn't understand how brilliant Ben Goldacre is.
My new buddy decided to go out with some other guys to a restaurant. He seemed very interested by what I would do. I proudly announced how I planned to lie in bed and read my book. I secretly thought of how funny it might be if they overheard me saying "Yes, yes, yes!" because this is what I expect from reading someone who actually understands science well enough to see through the hype of badly done research.
But maybe this over the top excitement about a single book is some really sad commentary on the state of modern society. Most children are born intuitive pre-scientists. They observe the world, form hypotheses and test them. With the slightest of nurturing a scientist grows (much like the plants I kept in my parents basement when I was 8 for experiments on the effects of different types of water on plant growth). Yet, in lots of average people something happens that crushes their inner scientist. They then intellectually marry themselves to dogma about how the world works. Eventually they start to hate and resent science and medicine. I can't count the number of times I have been told doctors are arrogant and our science (medicine) is convoluted. I think the opposite is true. Science inspires humility on many grounds. The universe is vast and we don't understand what goes on inside most of it on many levels. None of us can keep up with all the research. As to our science being complicated...perhaps medicine requires a certain knowledge base, but not an insurmountably large one. Science itself is a remarkably simple process. If you will, the science six step:
1. Observe stuff
2. Make some ideas about why things work the way they do
3. Refine these ideas into stuff you can actually test (hypotheses)
4. Examine the existing evidence for your hypotheses
5. If there is not enough evidence to draw firm conclusions, do some experiments
6. Evaluate the data already existing and possibly data from your experiments
OK, so that didn't get into the nitty gritty of how you calculate sample sizes to make your work sufficiently powered, or p values or some esoteric idea from quantum mechanics I can't understand...but barely anyone has to. A little straightforward common sense, and a computer have the potential to make anyone with half a brain a scientist. For this reason, I am constantly amazed at how utterly anti-scientific the general public is. You would have an easier time convincing people that prayer and consuming large quantities sugar cause rapid weight loss than getting them to apply scientific principles to even what they put in their mouth. Thus in spite of overwhelming evidence that most diets don't work that well- if you want to LOSE weight in the long run, as opposed to eventually gain weight- masses of people go on fad diets every year. Hope and delusion are stronger than science. Oh well, I can still cling to the fact that in terms of predicting reality, science is stronger than hope and delusion. As I savor my new book, I can also take comfort in the fact that I am not alone in my rather unhopeful, undeluded and downright unsexy thoughts.
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