Francis Collins: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust

[@WillNewcomb]

On Trust: being a complete layperson wrt science and medicine I rely on experts. But over the last 4 years I've discovered at least 60 such people who've failed in their area of expertise; some have been mentioned by Collins himself. But I've been following 'reliable' experts closely. What hope does the casual member of the public have of choosing wisely???

[@danlowe8684]

Dr. Albin discovered the PSA test in the 70s and has always warned against its use as a screening or diagnostic test. Much as Mullins did with the PCR test in the 80s. And here we have Collins touting both as important diagnostic tools in the 2020s!! Follow the money. smh.

[@Markwhitt-y9y]

I am very glad to hear your story. It is nice to hear someone who can expand their concepts to include more than the "party line". I have not problem with Genesis being factual. Day simply means time period-Sun was not created until later. Waiting to learn more from you!

[@cocoweepah]

Where’s my CENSORED Freedom of Speech comment ? WHO or WHAT and WHY did THAT ? !

[@danlowe8684]

A bit about climate change 'facts' and the Scripps Institution's buildings along the cliffs of La Jolla, from a 1983 publication. It seems climate change has been working on this erosion long before SUVs: We have considerable knowledge of the history of the alluvial cliffs at the northern end of the La Jolla section of coast. The first buildings of the previous hit Scripps next hit Institution were located just a few feet inside this terrace. Apparently, the builders did not realize that this area was subject to rapid retreat, on the order of a foot or more per year, as was established by repeated measurements (Vaughan 1932). This was actually known earlier than Vaughan's work because seawalls had already been constructed in front of the previous hit Scripps next hit buildings (Hanna 1926); nonetheless, retreat continued north and south of the wall until about 1946. The erosion was found to be related to the fact that the sand beach was several hundred feet wide at low tide in the summer and was subject to depletion during winter storms (Shepard and Grant 1947). Generally, the erosion began as a series of sand cusps, after which the waves completely removed the sand from the beach to expose underlying gravel and sometimes the underlying semi consolidated alluvial formation. During late winter storms, this allowed the waves, with the help of cobbles, to undercut the alluvial cliffs and thereby produce the annual retreat. Beginning in 1946, however, the storms became less violent, and the beaches were not appreciably cut away in the winters, so the smaller waves that reached the cliffs were not capable of undermining them. Instead, over the next thirty years, most of the bluffs gradually became less steep, and vegetation became well established on the slopes. Only an occasional storm did any cutting, and then it was at the cliff base. As a result, the builders, who rarely show interest in anything that may have happened more than a few years in the past, began building homes all along these apparently stable bluffs and filled canyons, some even extending support columns out over the inner beach. This practice was curtailed by the California Coastal Commission, however, in the 1970s. In January 1978 the first severe storms in thirty years occurred and panic followed (Kuhn and Shepard 1979). Desperate measures of all sorts were tried in an effort to stop the erosion of the alluvial bluffs, which had been postponed for so long. In one threatened area, the homeowners obtained old cars and drove them onto the beach, hoping they would buffer the cliffs from the waves. The cars were soon smashed to pieces, posing little resistance to the high surf and leaving a pile of glass and steel frames on the beach. The steel frames were removed by the homeowners, and concrete was poured over riprap in another attempt to stop the waves, but the waves broke over the existing concrete wall, causing it to collapse and greatly accelerating erosion of the adjacent property. Elsewhere seawalls were begun. This method, however, was only partially successful, as some collapsed while being built. As this book is being written, most of the homes are protected by a substantial, continuous seawall, and only one small section at previous hit Scripps next hit Institution remains unprotected. This last site is now being threatened, as evidenced by a number of cracks that became visible in the winter of 1982 in the pavement of the parking lot there. These cracks have since been filled. During the large storms of January to March 1983, however, the alluvial cliffs retreated about three feet as a result of cobble abrasion, and the previous hit Scripps next hit wooden stairs collapsed, necessitating their closure for public safety. One of the last sections to be protected by a seawall was the Marine Biology Building at previous hit Scripps next hit. This was a sore point with university architects who located the building on a low terrace of alluvium, about fifteen feet from its cliffed margin. They apparently failed to utilize studies showing that this margin had retreated some fifty-six feet over a sixty-three-year period from 1912 to 1975 (Hannan 1975). They even graded the outer terrace, which added to the erosion potential, and allowed pipes that drained water from the laboratories of the building to run out under the building margin, which only further eroded underlying semi consolidated rock formations. The results should have been anticipated. The terrace margin was cut away during the first year the building was occupied, and serious sagging of the floor occurred. A seawall was then built, and other measures were taken to prevent further damage to the new building. Just north of the building, over fifty Indian burial sites have been uncovered in the cliffs. Carbon-14 dating shows them to be from 5,460 to 7,370 years old (Shumway et al. 1961). A fossil horse bone found directly south of the building yielded an age of 55,000 years as determined by amino acid (Bada et al. 1974). A curiosity observed in the beach north of previous hit Scripps next hit Institution pier is the long, concretionary rock extending out from the shore. It forms a sort of dike that is well exposed each winter, when the sand is cut away from either side. Photographs dating back to 1943 show that erosion has gradually removed the outer portion of the concretion and, as blocks became detached, they were ground into sand (Emery and Kuhn 1980). South of the alluvial cliff zone is a barrier beach. It continues for more than half a mile, where it terminates south of the beach club in the sandstone cliffs. There is evidence that a considerable lagoon once existed inside this barrier, as indicated from soil foundation cores and from the fact that the lower part of the old lagoon became submerged in heavy rains. Extensive artificial infilling occurred during the recent dry decades, and a portion of what is now known as La Jolla Shores was created. This lagoon was partly filled by the runoff from Hidden Valley.

[@xpidxb]

Ai will make humans stupid at some point in the timeline!