
‘Accuracy nudge’ could curtail Covid-19 misinformation online - Amygaz
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/study-accuracy-nudge-could-curtail-covid-19-misinformation-online
======
taxicabjesus
Who decides what information is accurate?

There are many purveyors of misinformation. I think the CDC and the WHO are
rather dishonest about viruses. All they recommend is washing hands and
wearing gloves and "social distancing", so that we can "flatten the curve" and
"slow the spread" and survive long enough for a vaccine to become available
for "herd immunity", so that we can prevent old people who are likely to die
of something soon anyways from dying of Covid-19.

I refuse to believe that Science hasn't figured anything else out about how to
be healthy. One doctor's video about Chloroquine said it works by carrying
zinc into cells [3]. Maybe zinc supplements would be preventative? I don't
know, I'm just a simple retired taxi driver. Why doesn't the CDC provide an
official list of known anti-viral lifestyle adjustments, to help us all be
resilient against inevitable viruses?

There is a difference between official misinformation, well-intentioned
Chicken Little-ism, and those who are just along for the ride and follow
whomever they find most credible.

Chicken Little [0] meant well, he was just a simple chicken who didn't
understand what he experienced, and was adept at recruiting followers to his
simplistic ideology: The sky is falling! The terrorists are coming! The super-
virus is going to kill us all!

Official misinformation is when the news media deliberately misleads its
audience: "Cheeto Hitler only got elected because the Russians helped him",
when in fact Hillary Clinton manipulated the DNC [1] to be the Democratic
party's presumptive nominee in spite of her having a fraction of Bill
Clinton's charisma. Imagine how that election would've turned out if the
Democrats had held a primary rather than a coronation. IMHO Cheeto
Jesus/Hitler (Donald Trump, depending on your perspective) won the election
because he ran an smart campaign, unlike his opponent [2].

My latest readings of the situation in Italy is that they are likely to have
to restate the cause of death of many of their recently deceased, so that
Covid-19 is only a factor instead of the primary cause. I don't think they'll
admit to irresponsible medicine: oxygenating and ventilating old people to
death.

But it's too late: official misinformation has grabbed onto the preliminary
statistics and used it to shut down the economy. In a video I watched earlier
today, a German doctor said Covid-19 (SARS v2) is not even as potent as SARS
v1 or MERS (the super-viruses of years past). Maybe I'll find that video and
submit it here.

People believe things fervently, and it's difficult to get us to believe more
accurate things. Accuracy is objective, but also a matter of perspective. Most
of us are just along for the ride.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Penny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Penny)
(Europeans: 'Henny Penny'. Americans: 'Chicken Little')

[1]
[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-b...](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-
brazile-hacks-2016-215774)

[2] _Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton 's Doomed Campaign_ \-
[https://books.google.com/books?id=OmS0DgAAQBAJ](https://books.google.com/books?id=OmS0DgAAQBAJ)

[3] _Chloroquine Is a Zinc Ionophore_ \-
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4182877/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4182877/)

~~~
elliekelly
> Why doesn't the CDC provide an official list of known anti-viral lifestyle
> adjustments, to help us all be resilient against inevitable viruses?

They have.[1]

TLDR: Wash your hands, practice social distancing, and cough/sneeze into your
elbow instead of your hands.

[1] [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-
si...](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-
sick/prevention.html)

~~~
taxicabjesus
I clicked your link, then followed to "if you are sick" [1], and found the
advice to be non-helpful for helping people prevent and recover from viral
sicknesses.

I'm interested in advice to help people become more 'resilient' against
viruses:

> resilient [adj] 1. Capable of returning to an original shape or position, as
> after having been compressed. See Synonyms at flexible. 2. Able to recover
> readily, as from misfortune.
> -[https://www.thefreedictionary.com/resilient](https://www.thefreedictionary.com/resilient)

I proposed that Zinc might be helpful. Vitamin-D is also indicated on account
of the season. Vitamin-B1 may be indicated for people who smoke and/or live in
an area with especially polluted air (Wuhan, northern Italy).

The experts should be telling us what to eat and how else to take better care
of ourselves while we're sick. But they default to 'don't catch the virus, if
you do you'll probably be fine, if not hopefully the medical system will
help.' Why can't they give more helpful advice?

[1] [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-
sick/st...](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-
when-sick.html)

~~~
skylanh
Because that's too complicated a message to send.

At a broad, high level, the message has to be simple and direct: stop (modes
of) transmission (touching eyes, washing hands, being around people),
quarantine yourself, self-isolate yourself, just stop!

Those simple and direct actions cover everything they need. Maybe that's
pareto's principle.

Getting into vitamins, whatever, minor optimizations, how do you propose that
works when literally everyone understands "America has an obesity problem--
stop eating so much", and yet there America is.

~~~
taxicabjesus
> At a broad, high level, the message has to be simple and direct:

"Vitamin D is the sunlight vitamin. Eat liver, or take a supplement, in the
winter when the sun has gone away."

> Getting into vitamins, whatever, minor optimizations, how do you propose
> that works

The CDC could simplify the actual findings of science to something
understandable for most people.

> when literally everyone understands "America has an obesity problem--stop
> eating so much", and yet there America is.

This explanation -- 'people eat too much' -> obesity -- is simplistic.
Sometimes people eat too much, but most of America's weight problem stems from
the food industry's misapplication of science. My father and his wife have
extra weight mostly because they eat meat-based diets complemented with
industrial starches (boxed chips, crackers, pancakes, fake syrup, etc). They
eat salads, but only when they're coated with large servings of industrial
salad dressings (soybean oil is cheap).

Maintenance pharmaceuticals put a lot of weight on people too.

The war on butter was quietly abandoned by the powers that be. The food
industry quietly reformulated some of their worst products to remove trans
fats, but there's still a lot of terrible foods on the grocery stores'
shelves.

The obesity epidemic is evidence of crimes against the public's health.

