Scientific Pretentions Exposed

 Vincent J. Curtis

3 Sept 20

Today’s Hamilton Spectator ran a piece written by four authors, headlined “Our Health is Shaped by our Wealth and Income.  The four authors were: Dennis Raphael (a Professor at York University), Toba Bryant (associate Professor at Ontario Tech University), Juha Mikkenon ((executive director of the Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention), and Alexander Raphael (student at Ryerson University).  It pretended to show scientifically that living and working conditions determine health.  It’s scientific pretentions are exposed below.

The very headline of this article by four credentialed “experts” is itself a howler, and a tip-off that there’s something really wrong with its contents.  The article is an illustration that claims to scientific authority are often nothing more than pretentions and dressed-up common sense.

The four credentialed experts list no fewer than 17 social “determinants” of health.  Straightaway, it isn’t clear if they’re talking about statistical averages, or that this applies to individuals.  They don’t say what the units of measurement these determinants are.  They don’t say what the range of values of “H = “ is.  In short, the authors are implying that there is an equation relating the value of ‘Health’ to 17 other variables, which they call determinants of health, but, lacking units of measurement and ranges of values, they really don’t have such an equation.  They offer ordinary common sense puffed up as scientific discovery.

The authors claim that the disadvantaged are more likely to contract and succumb to COVID-19, and are also bearing the brunt of adverse economic effects.  This claim flies in the face of the facts.  The many homeless camps around North America were expected to be ravaged by COVID-19, or some other epidemic given the living conditions, and surprisingly were practically untouched by the virus.  As is well known, the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions succumb, and the elderly aren’t bearing the brunt of adverse economic effects.  University students are now rapidly contracting COVID-19, and they aren’t the disadvantaged.

The authors quoted approvingly the following statements: “Canada is so wealthy that it manages to mask poverty,” and “we have one of the worst records in providing an effective social safety net.”  The first statement is nonsensical on its face, since poverty is the deprivation of wealth then possessing wealth means that poverty is most effectively masked.  And Canada may have one of the worst records for providing a social safety net, except for 185 other countries on earth. Note: effective social safety net is an obscure abstraction, and so what constitutes an effective net is unclear.  Clear thinking scientists don’t write blatant nonsense like this, and if they do it is a sign that there is something wrong with their theories and thinking.

The authors then employ the following howler: the quality of the social determinants have stagnated or worsened.  The determinants were offered as variables in an equation, having numerical values and units of measurement.  A number is a quantity, not a quality; hence the reference to a determinant having a quality that stagnates or worsens is another sign that no actual science is present here and the credentialed authors don’t even realize it.  And so, when the authors speak of an equitable distribution of the determinants they become downright incoherent.  A determinant is a variable that has a quantity and unit of measurement associated with it, and how this mathematical entity could get distributed equitably among people is a complete mystery.  Real science is clear.

The authors also fail to state the statistical correlation between their variables, which they call determinants, and actual, measured performance.

There is no science going on in the article, written by four credentialed experts.  What they offer are common sense opinions dressed up to look scientific and therefore more respectable than mere opinion.

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