CDC officials’ resignation emails • Hacker News Board

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#101

Post by abracadaniel » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 5:15 AM UTC

voidfunc wrote: post #95

SantalBlush wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will listen to anyone who tells them what they like to hear. They will not listen to anyone who tells them what they don't like to hear. They shop around for truths they prefer like they're items at Costco.

Somewhere along the line they had to develop preferences which indicates some level of listening.

People’s preferences tend very strongly toward whatever requires the least action on their part. If the problem is with someone else, then you never have to be part of the solution

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#102

Post by random3 » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 5:19 AM UTC

throwawaymaths wrote: post #57

random3 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So better throw the baby with the bath water and not have CDC then have CDC treat gun violence or suicides as an epidemic, yes?

[flagged]

Has the stability of CDC changed between this and the rest of presidencies, across the political spectrum?

Your angle reminds of a recent post -

> "John, when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."— Isaac Asimov, The Relativity of Wrong

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#103

Post by krapp » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 5:23 AM UTC

acdha wrote: post #68

krapp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the bigger failing in that regard is the educational system. There shouldn't be this many stupid people, and they shouldn't be this stupid.

It’s a big mistake to thing of people as stupid: they’d be far less dangerous if they actually were. The problem isn’t lack of intelligence but the information space they inhabit and the feeling that they have somehow been mistreated. There’s an entire genre of “why are leopards eating my face?” schadenfreude posts about MAGAs asking why Trump is doing some “surprising” thing he said he was going to do for years. Bec…

With all due respect, what you're describing is still stupidity. 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds' as Emerson said.

The people who voted for Trump (or against Biden) because they hadn't been paying attention over the last decade and just thought the price of eggs was too high were stupid. The people who knew exactly what Trump was about and just didn't think the leopards would eat their faces were stupid. The people who voted because they just wanted to be entertained watching the world burn were stupid.

There's more than one kind of stupidity, and when they combine en masse into a big dumb avalanche it can absolutely be dangerous.

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#104

Post by refurb » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 5:25 AM UTC

wakawaka28 wrote: post #51

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#105

Post by ornornor » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 5:56 AM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #3

The good news, at least, is that next week there's a chance we'll finally get to the bottom of the whole autism thing! https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-claims-we-... Seriously. If you voted for this, you owe civilization a debt that you will probably never be wealthy enough or long-lived enough to repay.

It’s hard to believe how much closer to Idiocracy the US is getting every day. I love how they quoted what RFK and Trump have said in the article to show how devoid of any substance any of that is.

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#106

Post by beefnugs » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 6:05 AM UTC

I think more important than most of the specifics here is how Dump is choosing government appointees: Someone who is terrible at whatever job they are given, and the public proclamation that "no one should take my advice" is an acceptable statement.

Wouldn't it be better that he at least says shit like, "as we ramp up militarization, killing and removing all the foreigners will get less germs in the air, aheeyuk" Like he is trying at a bare minimum brain level at the job?

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#107

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 6:25 AM UTC

DoctorOetker wrote: post #96

ceejayoz wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/guns-remain-leading-cause-... https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761 https://www.kff.org/mental-health/child-and-teen-firearm-mor... https://www.google.com/

I thought you were talking about work, its not clear you were talking about guns in your comment.

The CDC tracks accidents, too. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#108

Post by mnode » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 6:26 AM UTC

CMay wrote: post #88

Is this about the upcoming reveal of the autism findings, or is the article just feeding that as the cause? I thought the understanding for base rates of autism was that people are living longer and starting their lives later. Becoming financially stable later, having children later. Having children later rather than earlier significantly increased the risk of autism. After that then the question becomes about intens…

Base rates going up isn't fully understood but a large part is likely just changes to diagnosis. There's a recent summary of research evidence here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02636-1

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#109

Post by kevlened » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 6:33 AM UTC

CMay wrote: post #88

Is this about the upcoming reveal of the autism findings, or is the article just feeding that as the cause? I thought the understanding for base rates of autism was that people are living longer and starting their lives later. Becoming financially stable later, having children later. Having children later rather than earlier significantly increased the risk of autism. After that then the question becomes about intens…

Science Vs just explored the rise in autism [0].

Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, just presented a paper [1] (currently in peer review) studying 8 year olds from 2000 to 2016, categorizing and counting autism severity over time. The most severe cases were unchanged, or decreased, and the largest change was in those with no measurable functional limitations.

This unpublished paper suggests that identification of children with milder symptoms is the strongest driver.

[0] https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/autism-the-real-reason...

[1] "Trends in the Prevalence of Autism By Adaptive Level between 2000-2016: Evidence from a Population-Based Sample of 8-Year-Old Children in the United States" S. M. Furnier and M. S. Durkin

Re: CDC officials’ resignation emails

#110

Post by zevon » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 9:59 AM UTC

It's so sad to see these attacks on institions that are intended to save lives and cure horrible diseases. Many moons ago, during civil service and volunteer work with kids, I've occasionally been confronted with parents who were anti-vaccination or followed some esoteric stance on medicine. When the anger faded away, those days always made me so very sad and frustrated that the only thing you apparently can do is play the very long game of education and somehow try to keep up hope for a more enlightened future.