<div dir="ltr">I'm a big fan of but some members of this group have been highly critical of Bret Weinstein in previous emails. I'll be monitoring the exercise described below where the integrity of Bret Weinstein will be scrutinized.<br><br>Background<br>The online magazine Quilette published an article <a href="https://quillette.com/2021/07/06/looking-for-covid-19-miracle-drugs-we-already-have-them-theyre-called-vaccines/">https://quillette.com/2021/07/06/looking-for-covid-19-miracle-drugs-we-already-have-them-theyre-called-vaccines/</a> highly critical of Bret Weinstein and his guests.<br><br><div>Now, supporters of Bret decided to challenge the article and are launching a $10k "Ground truth challenge". <a href="https://www.betterskeptics.com/launching-the-10k-ground-truth-challenge/">https://www.betterskeptics.com/launching-the-10k-ground-truth-challenge/</a><br><br></div><div>I quote:<br>"<span style="color:rgb(127,136,143);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px">As listeners of the DarkHorse Podcast, we are well aware of the seriousness of the claims being made by its hosts and guests. Like most, we would prefer if those claims were not true. We read the Quillette piece with interest, hoping to hear a counterpoint that gave us reason to think things would turn out for the best. We were</span><span style="color:rgb(127,136,143);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/alexandrosm/status/1412814554510200832" style="font:inherit;box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-left-style:initial;border-color:initial;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none">disappointed</a><span style="color:rgb(127,136,143);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px"> </span><span style="color:rgb(127,136,143);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px">to discover that under basic scrutiny, the criticisms crumbled.</span></div><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 2em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14.6667px;line-height:inherit;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(127,136,143)">The pervasive view that the DarkHorse Podcast broadcasts misinformation, paired with the inability to point to exactly what that misinformation might be, leads us to wonder about what failure of sensemaking might be taking place on either side of this debate. We believe we need 'better skeptics', ones committed to calling out bad behavior, but also to offering concrete evidence for scrutiny.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 2em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:14.6667px;line-height:inherit;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(127,136,143)">We decided to make this our first experiment in collective sensemaking: Could an online community, aided by a purpose-built protocol, resolve the question of factual veracity in the views expressed by Bret, Heather, and their guests, on the topic of vaccines and ivermectin?</p><div><span style="color:rgb(127,136,143);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.6667px">Unlike existing fact checkers, we recognize that in new and developing situations, no-one can or should claim to hold the absolute truth. Consequently instead of "verificationism", we're embracing Popper's Falsification philosophy. We can't aspire to verify all claims out there, but we can attempt to eliminate demonstrably bad statements by falsification and in that process illuminate the voices that may be pointing to truth.</span>"</div></div>