Everybody (me included) is getting bogged down on the details of events at NIH et al. Fatal mistake. The big picture is Musk/Trump are trying to shut down all gov-funded Medical/Disease research in the US. Have to understand that to have any hope of stopping it. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/act-now
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We risk getting a generation of subpar doctors.
I don't know why this bunch of Rich People is so much dumber than the ones a hundred years ago. THEY knew to encourage medicine so it would there when they needed it. This bunch is like an army of invading ants who can think only of destruction.
The one additional factor might be that Musk and co really seem to have a problem with expertise.
The additional problem is that scientists do have options due to that expertise, and they have to eat. That likely means a brain drain from the U.S. that will be hard to undo.
1. vast majority of engineers i’ve met are completely ignorant of biology and think they could somehow write a program to do research with the need for experimentation*
2. very few people outside of research…
3. the christian nationalists…
4. the anti-vax crowd has decided that all science is a fraud intended to harm
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3ljptbrrp6v2h
Musk is afraid his brain is dying (it is). He wants the NeuraLink to work now.
I’m serious. Normal people can’t imagine Musk thinking.
2) It disproportionately harms dems/leftists and liberal areas, the coasts, cities
3) MAGA sees scientists and the medical community as their enemies w/r/t abortion, evolution, trans issues, climate
Besides the e.g. clear self-interests there's a fundamental psychological aspect to it as explained by Alice Miller in 'Breaking down the wall of silence', 1990:
Eg, I've never understood why patients enroll in clinical trials. Don't they stand a 50% chance of getting placebos? And while stopping other treatment?