248 karma · joined August 31, 2022
However, I've met several people in the tech industry who are adherents. Whenever any conversation entered slightly philosophical in nature, which happens unusually often in tech in my experience, the individuals I'm thinking of would immediately ask, "Well, have you ever read or listened to Alan Watts?" I'd simply say something like, "Yeah, but he doesn't really do it for me." And I'm met with this condescending "You'll understand/agree when you get older (aka wiser)" response. I'm 35, not 15.
Anyway, yeah, I'm sure it's not all Alan Watts stans, but isn't it weird that it happened 3 times? I now regard advertising Alan Watts as a red flag.
Ever since I was made aware of Betteridge's law of headlines, and I started noticing it was correct based on my own experiences, I more or less refuse to read anything with a question as the title. I'm sure I'm missing a few good things with this practice, but I'm saving a lot of time missing out on wastes of time. Enough so that I consider it a net benefit.
Similarly, from now on, I'm going to be immediately suspicious of all claims that are served up with a side of folksy anecdotes.
The whole thing seems like a fallacy by appeal to "common sense".
I will point out that while he may not have proven dogs can be psychic, he didn't disprove it either.
That is statistically significant, but not exactly overwhelming by my personal yardstick of whether or not I'd gamble money on it. Not exactly scientific, I know.
I still don't find this particular study convincing in its claims of hair loss and sexual dysfunction being mechanically related to COVID aside from the general stress of it.
As a layperson, I have some sort of cognitive dissonance calling it "Long COVID" as if it's a separate but related disease, or a continuation of the primary infection. People's bodies suffer long-lasting damage while successfully fighting off all sorts of infections. But I don't recall it being framed this way.
ORIGINAL: Like most people here in the comments, I'm coming at this report with a healthy amount of skepticism.
The relatively paltry numbers and self-reporting remind me of the folks in cancer clusters in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, who completely believe they're victims of the Three Mile Island accident even though it's scientifically impossible for that to be true.
I believe the symptoms are real. But about a million things can cause hair loss and sexual dysfunction, including stress. Perhaps the stress of getting sick during a pandemic when people are dying and you know you're infected with the same illness? The fear of the unknown? Seeing people survive with complications and worrying that the worst of your particular case is yet to come? The guilt from wondering why you were pardoned when so many others weren't so lucky?
I'm pretty sure there's historical precedent for psychological symptoms made physical among the survivors of pandemics throughout history.
That's not to say that there are no precedents of lingering disorders, for example encephalitis lethargica in the wake of the 1918 flu pandemic. But my layperson's application of Occam's razor is telling me this is more Morgellons than encephalitis lethargica given the data currently available.
I would be more than happy to be proven wrong about so-called "long COVID" if it meant there could be a more effective treatment than the complicated world of psychiatric healthcare. If there could be a pill or a shot that could relieve these symptoms, I'd be delighted to eat crow.