Jack, do you personally believe this could possibly have taken place with Physicians, Scientists, tech, and subsequently the public more broadly regarding COVID treatment and prevention? It always seemed conspiracy-ish to me, but the longer the illness is circulating, the more I have begun to see areas where my initial impulse to dismiss any information contrary to the common narrative may have been short-sighted. There was a real component of social pressure, where even openness to contrary information placed you on the fringe of society.
Have you noticed a similar trend in yourself or others?
Hey Ian! Tough question, there were definitely biases at play - Authority Bias being one of the main ones, which makes sense given it was so hard to know what was actually going on in 2020. People lean on heuristics when time and information is in short supply. Availability heuristic also, and the bandwagon effect - you're right that there was a massive element of social pressure involved. Similar to you, my stance on Covid was very certain at different points over the last couple of years, but not so much anymore. Statistics tend to be interpreted to support a particular point of view...
Would be great to chat more about this on your pod soon!
Jack, do you personally believe this could possibly have taken place with Physicians, Scientists, tech, and subsequently the public more broadly regarding COVID treatment and prevention? It always seemed conspiracy-ish to me, but the longer the illness is circulating, the more I have begun to see areas where my initial impulse to dismiss any information contrary to the common narrative may have been short-sighted. There was a real component of social pressure, where even openness to contrary information placed you on the fringe of society.
Have you noticed a similar trend in yourself or others?
Hey Ian! Tough question, there were definitely biases at play - Authority Bias being one of the main ones, which makes sense given it was so hard to know what was actually going on in 2020. People lean on heuristics when time and information is in short supply. Availability heuristic also, and the bandwagon effect - you're right that there was a massive element of social pressure involved. Similar to you, my stance on Covid was very certain at different points over the last couple of years, but not so much anymore. Statistics tend to be interpreted to support a particular point of view...
Would be great to chat more about this on your pod soon!