Welcome to Phoenix Rising!
Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.
I apologise, Gerwyn, the phrase I used was a bit strong and unfair.
Please don't stop making your excellent points in your own straightforward and direct style. I know you don't mean things personally, and neither do I, it just comes across that way sometimes within this limited communication medium. (I think) we all here have the same objectives.
All the best.
Steve
Ditto. Thanks Gerwyn -- and Kurt -- for your many contributions towards helping us all understand this complex issue.
d.
Without these exchanges I would be very much the stupider!
Many, many thanks!
Thanks, Sing, and sorry if the Wayne Rooney refererence was too esoteric for trans-atlantic cultures....and too sub-intellectual for this thread!
Me too. Problem is of course, half the time I can't remember what I've read!
I agree dannybex. I somehow think I'm getting smarter because I read all this stuff, but then I can't actually remember any of it!
I think I'm smarter by association; I hang out with smart people. I'm smart enough to know who the smart people are. HA!
It's better to be around smart people and feel stupid than it is to be around stupid people and feel smart.
Kuhns work is often used as a basis for constructing some argument or other ususually by people who have a political or some other vested interest in promoting some viewpoint or other
Didn't Kuhn say that he shuddered every time he heard the words "paradigm shift" being used in the media?
By the way, what are your qualifications with regards to medical science?
I don't necessarily agree with Kuhn's philosophy or history of science, but pseudoscience and relativism have been around a lot longer than Kuhn. I happen to believe the antidote to positivist rationalism is pan-critical rationalism.
I did mean biomedical science. Not that this point really needs clarifying.
Maybe you have answered my question about your biomedical science qualifications elsewhere, but still look forward to your answer.
see the numerous posts with Kurt on the subject
see the numerous posts with Kurt on the subject
...This illustrates how the challenge of proving retroviral infection as the cause of CFS, and suggests that given the early mixed findings, some type of consensus process may be very important in the search for answers about XMRV in CFS.
There are good reasons to pursue the long-term goal of a formal consensus process for XMRV in CFS, even if the initial studies all seem to agree on the major findings. The use of outside experts, as in the NIH approach to consensus-building, can help give credibility to the findings...