Twitter CEO Elon Musk has announced that his social platform will encourage “reasonable” questioning of scientific data.
On Wednesday, Musk, who has been particularly vocal on the platform since assuming control in late October, wrote: “The new Twitter policy is to follow the science, which necessarily involves reasoned questioning of the science.”
Gad Saad, a well-regarded evolutionary behaviorist, jokingly responded to Musk’s tweet by sharing a video of Dr. Fauci published and wrote: “Science is everything His Eminence Lord Fauci says.
Musk ruffles his feathers again on Twitter, declaring that the platform will “follow the science,” which will include robust challenge to theory and data — a jab at those who have blindly followed CDC and other government advice during the pandemic
An exchange with popular evolutionary biologist Gad Saad gave Musk another opportunity to meet Dr. Criticizing Fauci, who was largely responsible for the government’s COVID response
“His excellence is science,” Saad continued.
To which Musk replied, “Anyone who says they question it is questioning the science itself, cannot be considered a scientist.”
Musk then took his point a step further by posting a meme mocking those who “believe everything blindly.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci repeatedly asserts that those who criticize him and his work are “actually criticizing science”.
During a November 2021 interview, while speaking about the so-called politicization of public health, Fauci said those who criticize the COVID response he’s spearheaded “are really criticizing the science because I represent the science.”
“It’s dangerous,” he continued. “For me, this is more dangerous than the slingshots and arrows that are being thrown at me. I won’t be here forever, but science will be here forever.
And if you harm science, you’ll be doing something very harmful to society long after I’ve left. And that’s what I’m worried about.’
Although many users agreed with Musk’s newly announced policy, some were less enthusiastic, deriding and condemning Musk’s position.
Wajahat Ali, a New York Times contributor, wrote that Musk’s statement was “something a really stupid person would tweet.”
Journalist Ashton Pittman further criticized Musk’s tweet, writing, “By ‘reasonable questioning’ Elon Musk means bats, clown car conspiracy theorist drivel.”
While information about Twitter’s past ownership continues to leak, Musk recently revealed that the company’s employees used to have “an internal Slack channel that was unironically named the ‘Fauci Fan Club’.”
He also focused on what he was implying, a chronic lack of institutional accountability regarding Fauci and his work as the government’s top scientist.
“Almost nobody seems to realize that the chief of bioethics at the NIH — the person charged with ensuring Fauci’s behavior is ethical — is his wife,” Musk wrote.
Earlier this month, Musk raised eyebrows again when he tweeted, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.
dr Fauci claimed several times during the pandemic that criticism of his beliefs and responses to COVID-19 would be a criticism of science itself
Musk posted a meme expressing his critique of those who live their beliefs in accordance with Dr. Fauci have established, continued to drift home
MSNBC Analyst and Risk Intelligence CEO Laith Alkhouri wrote“The scientific method doesn’t happen on Twitter.
“It’s being conducted by experienced scientists making observations and asking questions, and making assessments and re-evaluations – not 5G and flat-earth conspiracy theorists.”
But while some doubt Twitter’s ability to serve as a platform for the fruitful exchange of scientific ideas, others appreciated Musk’s testimony after years of silencing and banning accounts for breaking the government line on COVID and a host of other health-related measures had questioned.
In response to Musk’s statement that following the science “necessarily involves reasoned questioning of the science,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, wrote, “Bad news for transgender extremism, Covid totalitarians and climate alarmists.”
Mathematical physicist and CEO of Thiel Capital Eric Weinstein wrote that Musk’s decision “Changes. Everything. If true.’
“Is that a 1000% commitment to biologists that they can stop talking about sex, healthy reproductive development, ‘herd immunity’, genetic differences between geographically separated populations, horse paste, Wuhan Inst. GoF, etc.?” he wrote.
Joshua Stevens, a NASA director of Earth mapping and data visualization, wrote that Musk’s policies are “fair and reasonable.”
“And if a scientist tells you otherwise, don’t ever make them poetic about *curiosity and wonder* again.”