Dear colleagues, Dear Doug,
I recently had a discussion with a friend about who got rid of the supreme court filibuster. We had different memories of the event, so I googled it and confirmed what I remembered to be true. Far from settling the point, my friend doubled down and told me
that 'they' are all just lying. He just knew that he was right but was not able to tell me what sources he relied on so we could check them together. I later sent him an article about the case from what I guessed was his favorite source of news which confirmed
the identical course of events. (He then agreed with the basic facts, but moved on to blame others in the 'bigger scheme of things')
I wholeheartedly agree that it can be hard to identify the truth these days. But to abandon the notion of a knowable truth is deeply disturbing to me, especially coming from fellow scientists (other than quantum physicists...).
Case in point, when I googled the Mark Twain quote that was referenced by Doug, it turns out that much of the internet believes it to be a misattribution. I certainly did not have time to confirm whether or not the source I found (
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mark-twain-read-newspaper-misinformed/)
is correct or not, but I firmly believe that it is an answerable question if one were to put effort into it.
As a funny aside, the page has the following quote:
"[...] The aphorism was repeatedly used as a crutch for lazy columnists. Thus emerges a meta-irony which Twain would undoubtedly have appreciated: newspaper writers writing in newspapers about the unreliability of newspaper writing and citing an unreliable
source to testify to that unreliability."
If we believe that we live in a world where it is fundamentally not knowable if Mark Twain ever wrote anything like it, then one would have to leave it at this and move on. If, on the other hand, we find ourselves turning to our browsers to either confirm or
disprove this information, then we must still believe in knowable truths.
Happy googling! (I hope...)
Cheers,
Tobias
--
Dr. Tobias Teichert
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh
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Dear colleagues,
In this climate of fear and uncertainty, we first want to express our strong support for our American colleagues who are directly or indirectly affected by the current attacks from the U.S. government on scientific freedom.
It's certainly worth reaffirming our values as scientists, those that animate us beyond the hearing sciences community. These values are indeed those espoused by the Stand Up for Science movement (
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url="">),
to which we lend our full support. They are also the values upheld by democratic nations where science can be conducted freely and without political interference.
At the European level, various initiatives are emerging to provide structured, in-person support and financial assistance for American researchers facing these challenges, which we hope will be implemented quickly. For instance, in France, the universities
of Aix-Marseille (https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url="">),
Lyon, and Paris-Sciences & Lettres have already launched the first hosting initiatives, but other European institutions and foundations are expected to come up with new proposals in the coming weeks.
For those of our community who feel threatened, and find it difficult to continue their research in their home countries amid severe attacks on academic freedom — whether in the United States or other countries facing similar issues — we encourage you to reach
out to us in France or to other colleagues at European universities or research institutions not only to explore potential job opportunities but also to discuss any immediate forms of assistance and support that could be provided.
Best,
Nicolas Grimault, Mathieu Lavandier, Christian Lorenzi, Olivier Macherey, Sabine Meunier, Emmanuel Ponsot, Léo Varnet