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PhDBiologistMom's avatar

That Twitter thread is infuriating. I think there’s no question that at least hypothesis #2 applies in this case. Here’s what I think the author is hoping: Most people are not particularly well educated in science, sadly. But even they generally recognize that math lends itself to more certainty than biology. (As a biologist by training myself, I’ll be the first to recognize that my field is “squishier” than the “harder” sciences.) So, by casting doubt on something that even non-scientists think they know for sure (2+2=4) in a field like math that is known for its absolute truths, posters/activists further open the window to sowing doubt regarding things people thought they knew for sure (there are two sexes, and individual mammals can’t switch from one to the other) in a field they know is less prone to absolutes.

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Nathalie Martinek PhD's avatar

I came across the Twitter thread on my feed and wondered how people have so much time between their moral outrage addiction about the world, rage posting, and important performative activism to break math rules and tweet nonsense thread about it. Kudos for your patients and methodical takedown of alternate/dissociated reality maths.

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