Prof Noakes appears to be going down the Fat Emperor black hole of misinformation

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #1

Very concerned about what’s happening to one of my heroes, the low carb luminary Professor Tim Noakes. His QTs and retweets are increasingly of more and more conspiratorial, unproven mumbo-jumbo.

I don’t want to get into a political debate here; this is not about the content of his posts. It’s about the fact that he seems to be prepared to rely on the most questionable of source material for his various claims on different subjects. See two examples below: one is a QT of a tweet whose provenance is laughable, and whose content is embarrassing. The other comes from a site called “lifesitenews.com” which sounds like baloney. Never heard of it and I bet it’s BS.

Watching so many low carb luminaries disgrace themselves in this kind of way has made me begin questioning the very diet of theirs that I’ve been following for over 5 years now. Who can I rely on for good information when the very experts I relied on to take a cold, objective view of nutritional science are now spouting conspiracy theory and retweeting exceptionally dubious sources?

Frankly, this kind of thing is what vegan propagandists do… I’m really kind of deflated watching this happen in our community.

And to be very clear: I like Tim Noakes very much. I have very warm feelings toward him. But this… is heartbreaking.

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(bulkbiker) #2

i.e. Tim has a different view to you on this so must be wrong?

What if he’s actually right ?

It’s hardly just him after all…

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #3

The subject itself isn’t the point — even though he is objectively wrong on this subject.

The point is his use of more and more ludicrous “sources” in service of conspiracy theory.

Look at the sources. Why is Prof Noakes dignifying this Internet sewage?

(bulkbiker) #4

Wow…

do you ever read what you write back to yourself before hitting that post button?

#5

Maybe his account is hacked, or is just managed by an employee, who is not up to his standard.

He is one of my heros aswell, and i agree. Its not the stand he takes here, but for him to use such unscientific base for his arguments. What happend to The Prof.

It is heartbreaking.

(bulkbiker) #6

Any evidence for that please?

#7

I would normally like to site Prof. Noakes, as a source i base my information on. But that kind of retweets make me uncertain. I will choose to believe its not the Prof personally behind those tweets.

(Richard Morris) #8

I feel the same way.

I have great fondness for the prof, he did in fact save my life and set my career on a new trajectory that may save a lot more lives. I can’t begin to say thank you adequately.

But I think it is important to realize that he was right about low carb diets not because his opinions are always right and he is just omniscient … but because he reviewed (and contributed) first class research that informed that opinion, and this was his field.

In the case of the pandemics, virology and immunology I don’t believe he is across the literature, nor should we really expect him to be as it’s not his field (nor mine).

For example

There is excellent evidence from the US that vaccination after infection can increase neutralizing antibodies 1000x fold.

and from the UK

The mechanistic evidence is that acquired immunity from infection has 28 different proteins to make antibodies to, but it is antibodies to the receptor binding domain of the spike that are neutralizing which the vaccines specialize in. Neutralizing antibodies stop the virion from getting into a cell to hijack it, antibodies to the other 27 proteins warn the immune system of a cell that has been hijacked so it can be killed. The combination of these 2 kinds of immunity has been called a hybrid immunity in Science

I was vaccinated before (as far as I know) infection and I am this very day 2 weeks post vaccination so I am at peak neutralizing antibodies. However I can probably not acquire a hybrid immunity today by say licking all the door knobs in Wuhan because my immunity through inoculation prevents the virus getting into my cells to replicate to generate antibodies to those other 27 proteins. Eventually my immunity will wane, and I will likely be infected and then acquire antibodies to those other proteins.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #9

I posted two screenshots of his QTs and RTs above. Prof Noakes quote tweeted a tweet which read “Fauci indited,” misspelling the word “indicted” and containing a ridiculous video of unknown provenance. The level of silliness of that tweet is kind of beyond words.

It is horrifying that an authority of Prof Noakes’s stature is dignifying such nonsense by amplifying it online.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #10

Couldn’t have said it better, @Richard. Thank you for your reminder that not even our heroes are omniscient on every subject; very helpful advice.

#11

Truth is objective, not subjective. It is possible for me to recognize a well-grounded fact on one issue and yet hold a badly misinformed opinion on another issue. The same holds for others as well. Follow the science, not the personalities.

(Mark Rhodes) #12

We all have equal opportunity to read the data and be wrong. This is not relegated to scientists and engineers. Indeed being wrong for engineers is a way of eliminating a theory. “huh, that didn’t work…wonder why”.

The larger problem is not that these ketoverse “stars” went wrong elsewhere but how to filter out the noise and hear when they present credible nuggets and insights in their wheelhouse.

Besides @gabe 5 years of Keto should equal some pretty impressive results that you do not need others to convince you it works.

#13

I still listen to Ivor. He has been shown to be correct over time. He had some good information on magnesium, and statins the other day.

#14

Explains why I only gained robust immunity after my 4th infection and sufficient immunity to prevent lung scarring a third time after my 2nd infection.

Is the 1000 fold increase in antibodies after vaccination temporary or permanent in those previously infected?

(Jane) #15

Exactly. I don’t need experts to tell me keto has improved my health significantly nor use it as an excuse to go back to a SAD diet because I don’t agree with their opinions on other subjects.

As my neighbor is fond of saying… “suit yourself” :slightly_smiling_face:

(Mark Rhodes) #16

I am thinking of questioning your neighbor. :sunglasses:

(bulkbiker) #17

I guess you mean “It is horrifying to me”?

I have zero idea why you have to make personal attacks on people constantly or maybe its just you like to pile onto to people who you disagree with.

It is something I have seen from a few people on the forum… one of the founders included…

Hmm yet you are "qualified " to pass judgement?

(Mark Rhodes) #18

I didn’t read that the way you did. I read what Richard said as we all have levels of expertise that eminently qualify us to have a very educated opinion. That level of expertise does not always travel field to field. Once you leave your field of expertise you are in effect a layman with the same tendencies for error.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #19

The OP is a combination of Poisoning the Well and the Genetic Fallacy . It’s essentially an Ad Hominem attack against Noakes by calling attention to something he supposedly got wrong (conspiracy theory about covid…), then, concluding that all arguments from him are now suspect because of it.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #20

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