There are people with a clear motivation to spread disinformation regardless of the human cost. But the most puzzling motivation in the disinformation ecosystem are of the scientists who get caught up in it. But challenger science must be based on dataMasks are another area where scientists have been co-opted into the disinformation wars. Sunetra Gupta conflates fair scrutiny with bullying of a scientific pioneerAcademic freedom does not imply freedom to spread disinformation. Some of the biggest jumps in scientific progress have come as a result of outlier scientists challenging the scientific consensus: think Galileo, Einstein, Darwin.

Source: The Guardian November 22, 2020 08:26 UTC