Two little acronyms
Semi-valid convective thought....

I've been tiresomely hammering on this point forever: Before the '70s, public experts were trustworthy. They TRIED to tell us the truth when they knew it, and tried to be humble when they didn't. Since the '70s, public experts are toxic. The only thing we hear from the public voice of "science" is wild bizarre universe-exterminating delusions.

BUT: Plenty of engineers and medical types are still doing real science, still trying to SOLVE REAL PROBLEMS that make a difference in real lives.

Why don't we hear from them? Why do we only hear from the omnicidal lunatics?

I've cited tenure, but that doesn't really strike this particular nail.

The answer is two acronyms. NDA and HIPAA.

Engineers who are working on real problems are STRICTLY bound by NDAs, and medical types who are trying to cure real diseases are strictly locked up by HIPAA.

Both of these acronyms started around 1980. Before 1980 there were non-compete agreements in engineering. Before 1980 doctors followed confidentiality as a cultural norm. But those earlier norms were much looser. When you read scientific and medical journals from earlier decades, you find much more candor about engineering projects, and much more detail in medical case studies and information for patients.

Now the fear of career-ending lawsuits and penalties leads to absolute silence by the REAL PROBLEM-SOLVERS. The sllence on information to patients is deadly. [Addendum next day: And silence on engineering infotmation is even more deadly.]

The delusion-vendors are not bound by NDAs or HIPAA because they're dealing purely with theories and delusions. They're not working on anything real and concrete. Even though their theories are GENOCIDAL, there's no legal consequence for erupting psychotic toxin across the landscape.
  ¶ 11:55 AM