Highlights from the past year: We’ve got freedom-loving Canadians; science—the good, the bad, and the ugly; hostile takeovers of once beautiful institutions and cities; attempted obliteration of reality in the name of activism and ideology; and even some lovely, wilder fare.
I am very partial to the points on science, especially with respect to your article about contrarianism. I find that many of my more recent posts have been criticisms of some studies cited by "Team Skeptic" (in quotes as I tend to use this phrase as an ambiguous umbrella), and that may come off rather contrarian.
One thing I have struggled to figure out is exactly how much science people have learned in the past few years.
I think your comments are right, in that many people who tout being the experts can't parse science past idioms and constant exclamations that being credentialed somehow infers a knowledge base which many of us are not privy to (and which many of these credentialed folk tend not to espouse).
It's certainly true that being educated is different than being intelligent. With that being said, I find that many people may still want a shortcut, tl;dr (too long; didn't read) rundown of science rather than engage and struggle though the milieu.
Even with all of the crazy going on this year, I thought that this would at least be a golden opportunity for everyone to learn science and this sometimes doesn't appear to be the case.
Anyways, happy holidays and happy New Year's to you and your family! I'm excited to see what both you and Bret cover in 2023!
It is an observation that has left me feeling hopeless at times, too, your point that "I thought that this would at least be a golden opportunity for everyone to learn science," and yet if anything the populace seems to have gone in the other direction. Or at least, many have revealed that they won't do any such thing.
Of course, the combination of a novel pathogen; fear brandished as a tool of compliance by governments, media, and public health authorities; and one such health authority proclaiming that he is science, so really you don't have to look any further--it rather perfectly dissuades people from doing the difficult work, even when their lives depend on it.
One thing that I have learned is that science should never be considered a concrete field.
Most research will never find THE ANSWER, and as Joomi Kim pointed out we hope that consilience will at least point us closer to possible answers, but maybe not THE ANSWER.
But on all sides, it's THE ANSWER that people chase after.
It's why the vaccines seem appealing, because they were meant to be THE ANSWER out of the pandemic. Died Suddenly is convincing because it provides THE ANSWER to all of the deaths that are occurring.
In many cases the situations are far, far more complex than can be answered in a Substack post or a documentary, but many times people don't want to spend time engaging with the science.
In some parts I don't blame them because many people don't have time to read science papers, but at the same time if there are things we are unsure of we should be careful in speaking in absolutes.
This, again, even goes to the skeptics, where we were told that natural infection should be sterilizing, and yet what evidence did we have to make that argument? If we turn to respiratory infections, then we should have been skeptical given that people can frequently get colds and flus. Ironically, several studies have come out looking retroactively at prior cold seasons to see if SARS-COV2 repeat infections are possible, so we don't even have clear evidence in the literature.
We see this also with long COVID as many people are questioning whether it's a real phenomenon or not. In my Substack I mentioned that the phenomenon was originally thought of as post-viral syndrome, but a lot of research into this syndrome did not occur because the manifestation occurred predominately in women, so most doctors assumed that post-viral syndrome may be part etiological and partly due to psychiatric disorders (i.e. mania and hysteria).
To that, I think that the term "novel" has been one of the most damaging words in the COVID discourse, since it made many think that what is occurring with COVID is specific to COVID, and instead may be par for the course of viral infection.
Now, there's a ton with COVID itself that is extremely concerning, but more important is that there's a ton about viruses that science has yet to figure out. In that regard, things will only appear novel when no other information is available.
And that's probably the more critical aspect of the COVID era, in that there was an audit of science, and apparently science still has a ton more to discover, and a ton of the stuff it has discovered probably isn't true or is based on false pretenses.
Apologies for writing your eyes off Heather. Anyways, have a great day!
Thank you, Heather, for your thoughtful, thought-provoking and always beautifully written works this year. You have been an important voice that helped to keep me grounded, somewhat sane and with my humanity intact.
A brilliant synopsis, Heather, thank you. It literally brought a tear to my eye. I tip my metaphorical new year’s glass to women… and to men… to our continued cooperation… and to freedom! 🥂
Thank you, Dr. Heying. Your insightful and thought provoking articles and comments have so enriched my life. I am happy to have references to some of your essays all in one place, easy to save. I have read them all, but look forward to the review. I loved “Mia”. Incidentally, today I am wearing my sweatshirt hoodie with “DO NOT AFFIRM, DO NOT COMPLY” script. It’s my way of protesting.
Love your work Heather! Or since I never met you- Dr Heying. I'm happy to say it looks like I read all of these Natural Selections pieces when they came out- so to speak (cheap laugh line...) Anyway I have a little phrase I coined to describe my approach to the official/approved viewpoints of the day: "Resist authoritarian oversimplification." My main corner of concentration, at least up to Covid has been Carbon/industrial emissions fundamentalism in the climate discussions... There are many interrelated causes of climate weirding and by the way water vapor is really the #1 greenhouse gas. It would bring me joy if at some point you might dip into this topic on the Dark Horse Podcast, please feel free to message/contact me if it's a thought. Happy New Year!
Basically clouds- being white- provide reflection of the sun's energy away from the earth, the fact that they provide shade also is a cooling effect- and all plants basically transpire- breathe out water vapor which also invisibly cools. It's a matter of what happens when the sun's energy hits the earth- buildings, paving, deserts and plowed fields/bare soils all turn that energy into "sensible heat"- we can feel it- significantly hotter there than in a forest or under a tree. This also tells it well: Pearce, F. (2018). Rivers in the sky: how deforestation is affecting global water cycles. YaleEnvironment360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-deforestation-affecting-global-water-cycles-climate-change Hope these help
Interesting. There are Climaticians (yeah, I mighta just made that word up) who say that North America is greener than it’s been in 30 yrs, and the whole globe appears to be greening overall... here’s an interesting link I found: https://www.carbonbrief.org/rising-co2-has-greened-worlds-plants-and-trees/
But maybe it’s not enough to offset the extreme weather patterns. It does seem like the earth is trying to find an equilibrium in response to our activities.
Re:video How exactly do we regenerate sand? I didn’t get that part... I’ve seen initiatives in cities that turn vacant lots (even paved over ones) into neighborhood gardens. Makes so much sense. Also, most lawns would be improved by at least planting flowers that bees are attracted to, if not veggies ppl can eat. Some city ordinances will fine you if your lawn gets taller than some arbitrary height... pretty stupid, honesty
Those were all great posts , my favorites of the year. Per Modern Discontents comment about science, could you delve into how evolution actually works in 2023. The science of it? They way the world is going I get this strange feeling that the process of evolution as we understand it, as nature has perfected, might be coming to an end.....at least for humans. Technology is not science, to me, I see it as the application of scientific discovery for many reasons not related to the joy and wonder of understanding things as they are, some of those reasons perhaps nefarious in nature.....?
Thanks Heather! Looking forward to your insights in 2023!
Canadian here. We were over 80% vaccinated by the time the truckers did their dance around the barbecues and hot tubs in Ottawa. We are a peaceful sort. Most of the time. The demonstrations died away - after their rantime was up - because most of us, by far, found them an embarrassment. JT will probably win the next election with a majority on the strength of his handling of hottubbers alone, never mind his record in other departments. I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. - Dwight
This is such an important post to me, thank you. I wanted to give an update on the politics of the last year, for those who were with us for every twist and turn, but today I am compelled to share exactly as I feel reading about our year in review.
First I find myself very humbled that the struggle of Canadians is still so close to people's hearts. This is especially true for my friends on these pages whose comments I regularly read.
Thank you keeping Canada in your thoughts and prayers. I'd like to share my gratitude to you, Heather and Bret and Zac and all the wonderful people you have brought together. Thank you for sharing our stories. And your insights, and suggestions and tools. Thank you for sharing you fears and hopes and words of encouragement and building one of the most intrepid communities online, without which I would not have been able to do fraction of what we accomplished in our community in 2022.
This sharing is the most powerful tool we have to shape our world into the thing we need.
As I hear people ask if it's too late for us in Canada, I sure hope not, because we are all up against this "thing" and it's just as much in our hearts as it is 'out there.'
And yes it's marching forward, and somedays that is bleak, but we are more awake than we have ever been, we are clear eyed and resolute and getting stronger every day. We are pushing back and changing our country from the inside out, which is where this fight began without our assailants ever having lifted a hand.
Canada is in many ways the front lines in our shared fight for freedom. Along with Holland and New Zealand we are much further down the road with tyranny, now splashed with a fresh veneer.
However, we are also much further down the road in the fight for freedom. And so we can look for direction in this petri dish of social media and to our streets where we now regularly gather - to understand where this fight is going and how it's being fought.
The deepest insight I want to share from throwing myself headlong into this last year is that we are up against an idea and people, who are pretending they have won and they have not.
Like every ideology they have heaved on us with all their might, they hope the weight will be too much for us to bare. They hope to separate us, demoralize us and gas light us, bewilder and bedazzle us.
They hope that we will let them turn on their vision for us - like a light switch - without ever asking for consent. They hope that we will beg for mercy, heat, and food and fool oursleves to think that it was never any different. We will not.
They hope that they can shame us, ignore us, downboost us, and cancel us, pretend we don't exist so they can masquerade as saviours to their own destructive plan. They cannot. Because we will not be silent and we will not pretend their world is perfect, or pretend we don't exist, or self censor or withdraw from conversation, or avoid offending anyone as we insist on staking out our God given claim to life and freedom in the objective reality we all share.
This is the playbook rolling out across the world, three years ago and again from the mountaintops this week. And this is what we must remind ourselves of when we feel compelled to hold our tongue, or soften our message, or give up our history or twist a word to where it is devoid of any meaning. Our country is a contract, our culture is a contract, our words are a contract, and we have to agree to be cancelled, one word, one idea, one painting, one statue, one friend at a time until the contract has no value.
Canada is here because we conceded, because the most unimaginable tyranny masqueraded as empathy for years until we felt empathy for our captors and disdain for our children. Tolerance and sensitivity are the lies they tell you to make your death more comfortable. Do not comply and we will win.
A great selection Heather!
I am very partial to the points on science, especially with respect to your article about contrarianism. I find that many of my more recent posts have been criticisms of some studies cited by "Team Skeptic" (in quotes as I tend to use this phrase as an ambiguous umbrella), and that may come off rather contrarian.
One thing I have struggled to figure out is exactly how much science people have learned in the past few years.
I think your comments are right, in that many people who tout being the experts can't parse science past idioms and constant exclamations that being credentialed somehow infers a knowledge base which many of us are not privy to (and which many of these credentialed folk tend not to espouse).
It's certainly true that being educated is different than being intelligent. With that being said, I find that many people may still want a shortcut, tl;dr (too long; didn't read) rundown of science rather than engage and struggle though the milieu.
Even with all of the crazy going on this year, I thought that this would at least be a golden opportunity for everyone to learn science and this sometimes doesn't appear to be the case.
Anyways, happy holidays and happy New Year's to you and your family! I'm excited to see what both you and Bret cover in 2023!
It is an observation that has left me feeling hopeless at times, too, your point that "I thought that this would at least be a golden opportunity for everyone to learn science," and yet if anything the populace seems to have gone in the other direction. Or at least, many have revealed that they won't do any such thing.
Of course, the combination of a novel pathogen; fear brandished as a tool of compliance by governments, media, and public health authorities; and one such health authority proclaiming that he is science, so really you don't have to look any further--it rather perfectly dissuades people from doing the difficult work, even when their lives depend on it.
One thing that I have learned is that science should never be considered a concrete field.
Most research will never find THE ANSWER, and as Joomi Kim pointed out we hope that consilience will at least point us closer to possible answers, but maybe not THE ANSWER.
But on all sides, it's THE ANSWER that people chase after.
It's why the vaccines seem appealing, because they were meant to be THE ANSWER out of the pandemic. Died Suddenly is convincing because it provides THE ANSWER to all of the deaths that are occurring.
In many cases the situations are far, far more complex than can be answered in a Substack post or a documentary, but many times people don't want to spend time engaging with the science.
In some parts I don't blame them because many people don't have time to read science papers, but at the same time if there are things we are unsure of we should be careful in speaking in absolutes.
This, again, even goes to the skeptics, where we were told that natural infection should be sterilizing, and yet what evidence did we have to make that argument? If we turn to respiratory infections, then we should have been skeptical given that people can frequently get colds and flus. Ironically, several studies have come out looking retroactively at prior cold seasons to see if SARS-COV2 repeat infections are possible, so we don't even have clear evidence in the literature.
We see this also with long COVID as many people are questioning whether it's a real phenomenon or not. In my Substack I mentioned that the phenomenon was originally thought of as post-viral syndrome, but a lot of research into this syndrome did not occur because the manifestation occurred predominately in women, so most doctors assumed that post-viral syndrome may be part etiological and partly due to psychiatric disorders (i.e. mania and hysteria).
https://moderndiscontent.substack.com/i/50042845/post-viral-syndrome
To that, I think that the term "novel" has been one of the most damaging words in the COVID discourse, since it made many think that what is occurring with COVID is specific to COVID, and instead may be par for the course of viral infection.
Now, there's a ton with COVID itself that is extremely concerning, but more important is that there's a ton about viruses that science has yet to figure out. In that regard, things will only appear novel when no other information is available.
And that's probably the more critical aspect of the COVID era, in that there was an audit of science, and apparently science still has a ton more to discover, and a ton of the stuff it has discovered probably isn't true or is based on false pretenses.
Apologies for writing your eyes off Heather. Anyways, have a great day!
Thank you, Heather, for your thoughtful, thought-provoking and always beautifully written works this year. You have been an important voice that helped to keep me grounded, somewhat sane and with my humanity intact.
Wait. Parrotfish?
They seem to be responsible for much of the sand in the Bahamas...
A brilliant synopsis, Heather, thank you. It literally brought a tear to my eye. I tip my metaphorical new year’s glass to women… and to men… to our continued cooperation… and to freedom! 🥂
Thank you, Dr. Heying. Your insightful and thought provoking articles and comments have so enriched my life. I am happy to have references to some of your essays all in one place, easy to save. I have read them all, but look forward to the review. I loved “Mia”. Incidentally, today I am wearing my sweatshirt hoodie with “DO NOT AFFIRM, DO NOT COMPLY” script. It’s my way of protesting.
Love your work Heather! Or since I never met you- Dr Heying. I'm happy to say it looks like I read all of these Natural Selections pieces when they came out- so to speak (cheap laugh line...) Anyway I have a little phrase I coined to describe my approach to the official/approved viewpoints of the day: "Resist authoritarian oversimplification." My main corner of concentration, at least up to Covid has been Carbon/industrial emissions fundamentalism in the climate discussions... There are many interrelated causes of climate weirding and by the way water vapor is really the #1 greenhouse gas. It would bring me joy if at some point you might dip into this topic on the Dark Horse Podcast, please feel free to message/contact me if it's a thought. Happy New Year!
Can you say a bit more about water vapor as the #1 greenhouse gas? I’m so curious!
Thanks for asking- and I'd say worldwide one of the more credentialed and well informed folks on all that is Walter Jehne from Australia- take a look: Walter Jehne: Climate Solutions for a Blue Planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQN9t-g2J-0&t=247s And for a shorter bit in writing: https://worldpermacultureassociation.com/theres-another-story-to-tell-about-climate-change-and-it-starts-with-water/?fbclid=IwAR0-beBOefqMtKODOqOEYMP3-Qro3aWTlrAUFfPZGwBDcLCd0RjLM5GtHjQ
Basically clouds- being white- provide reflection of the sun's energy away from the earth, the fact that they provide shade also is a cooling effect- and all plants basically transpire- breathe out water vapor which also invisibly cools. It's a matter of what happens when the sun's energy hits the earth- buildings, paving, deserts and plowed fields/bare soils all turn that energy into "sensible heat"- we can feel it- significantly hotter there than in a forest or under a tree. This also tells it well: Pearce, F. (2018). Rivers in the sky: how deforestation is affecting global water cycles. YaleEnvironment360. https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-deforestation-affecting-global-water-cycles-climate-change Hope these help
Interesting. There are Climaticians (yeah, I mighta just made that word up) who say that North America is greener than it’s been in 30 yrs, and the whole globe appears to be greening overall... here’s an interesting link I found: https://www.carbonbrief.org/rising-co2-has-greened-worlds-plants-and-trees/
But maybe it’s not enough to offset the extreme weather patterns. It does seem like the earth is trying to find an equilibrium in response to our activities.
Re:video How exactly do we regenerate sand? I didn’t get that part... I’ve seen initiatives in cities that turn vacant lots (even paved over ones) into neighborhood gardens. Makes so much sense. Also, most lawns would be improved by at least planting flowers that bees are attracted to, if not veggies ppl can eat. Some city ordinances will fine you if your lawn gets taller than some arbitrary height... pretty stupid, honesty
Those were all great posts , my favorites of the year. Per Modern Discontents comment about science, could you delve into how evolution actually works in 2023. The science of it? They way the world is going I get this strange feeling that the process of evolution as we understand it, as nature has perfected, might be coming to an end.....at least for humans. Technology is not science, to me, I see it as the application of scientific discovery for many reasons not related to the joy and wonder of understanding things as they are, some of those reasons perhaps nefarious in nature.....?
Thanks Heather! Looking forward to your insights in 2023!
Canadian here. We were over 80% vaccinated by the time the truckers did their dance around the barbecues and hot tubs in Ottawa. We are a peaceful sort. Most of the time. The demonstrations died away - after their rantime was up - because most of us, by far, found them an embarrassment. JT will probably win the next election with a majority on the strength of his handling of hottubbers alone, never mind his record in other departments. I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. - Dwight
This is such an important post to me, thank you. I wanted to give an update on the politics of the last year, for those who were with us for every twist and turn, but today I am compelled to share exactly as I feel reading about our year in review.
First I find myself very humbled that the struggle of Canadians is still so close to people's hearts. This is especially true for my friends on these pages whose comments I regularly read.
Thank you keeping Canada in your thoughts and prayers. I'd like to share my gratitude to you, Heather and Bret and Zac and all the wonderful people you have brought together. Thank you for sharing our stories. And your insights, and suggestions and tools. Thank you for sharing you fears and hopes and words of encouragement and building one of the most intrepid communities online, without which I would not have been able to do fraction of what we accomplished in our community in 2022.
This sharing is the most powerful tool we have to shape our world into the thing we need.
As I hear people ask if it's too late for us in Canada, I sure hope not, because we are all up against this "thing" and it's just as much in our hearts as it is 'out there.'
And yes it's marching forward, and somedays that is bleak, but we are more awake than we have ever been, we are clear eyed and resolute and getting stronger every day. We are pushing back and changing our country from the inside out, which is where this fight began without our assailants ever having lifted a hand.
Canada is in many ways the front lines in our shared fight for freedom. Along with Holland and New Zealand we are much further down the road with tyranny, now splashed with a fresh veneer.
However, we are also much further down the road in the fight for freedom. And so we can look for direction in this petri dish of social media and to our streets where we now regularly gather - to understand where this fight is going and how it's being fought.
The deepest insight I want to share from throwing myself headlong into this last year is that we are up against an idea and people, who are pretending they have won and they have not.
Like every ideology they have heaved on us with all their might, they hope the weight will be too much for us to bare. They hope to separate us, demoralize us and gas light us, bewilder and bedazzle us.
They hope that we will let them turn on their vision for us - like a light switch - without ever asking for consent. They hope that we will beg for mercy, heat, and food and fool oursleves to think that it was never any different. We will not.
They hope that they can shame us, ignore us, downboost us, and cancel us, pretend we don't exist so they can masquerade as saviours to their own destructive plan. They cannot. Because we will not be silent and we will not pretend their world is perfect, or pretend we don't exist, or self censor or withdraw from conversation, or avoid offending anyone as we insist on staking out our God given claim to life and freedom in the objective reality we all share.
This is the playbook rolling out across the world, three years ago and again from the mountaintops this week. And this is what we must remind ourselves of when we feel compelled to hold our tongue, or soften our message, or give up our history or twist a word to where it is devoid of any meaning. Our country is a contract, our culture is a contract, our words are a contract, and we have to agree to be cancelled, one word, one idea, one painting, one statue, one friend at a time until the contract has no value.
Canada is here because we conceded, because the most unimaginable tyranny masqueraded as empathy for years until we felt empathy for our captors and disdain for our children. Tolerance and sensitivity are the lies they tell you to make your death more comfortable. Do not comply and we will win.
Love and strength from Canada.
Dan Arcand