Category: Science and Epistemology

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Cyberwarfare: the border between games and reality is thinner and thinner

 

ARCAS (the acronym stands for AI-Powered, Computerized Solution for Assault Rifles) reduces the difficulty of a soldier involved in combat in analysing the scenario and making decisions on engaging opponents. It is a system built around the concept of an assault rifle that allows soldiers to identify threats in advance, optimise firing trajectories, lock onto targets and have visual information on the weapon’s operation and interaction with the environment. In addition, the system allows the operator to receive information from the control room and other team members equipped with the same instrument by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Strategikon – an Italian Tech Blog

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The Pro and Cons of Doctors’ Criminal Liability Shield

Decree-Law 44/2021 establishes the criminal non-punishability of vaccinators. Nevertheless, the rule is inapplicable and does not prevent legal action against health personnel. However, it solves a problem in the short term. The analysis of Andrea Monti – Adjunct Professor of public order and safety, University of Chieti-Pescara. Initially published in Italian by Formiche.net Continue reading “The Pro and Cons of Doctors’ Criminal Liability Shield”

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On the release of AstraZeneca’s lots

After the Italian Council of State’s (the Supreme Court for Administrative Law) order on the off-label administration of hydroxychloroquine, once again judiciary powers judiciary show their unfamiliarity with logic and the scientific method. The price to pay is the delay in the vaccination campaign and the increase in distrust of vaccines by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Scienza in Rete Continue reading “On the release of AstraZeneca’s lots”

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The problematic relationship between law, politics and the scientific method

Two seemingly unrelated events (one legal, one political) highlight the inability of decision-makers to make meaningful use of the scientific method. It is not a reversion to Lysenko’s theories. However, the lack of a rational approach toward science to justify choices that directly affect people’s lives is worrying by Andrea Monti – Initially published in Italian by Scienza in Rete

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Peter Doshi and vaccines data: “trust but verify

Peter Doshi’s (denied) request for access to the raw data of the vaccine trial published in the British Medical Journal is a starting point to analyse on the delicate relationship between science and the media by Andrea Monti  – Originally published in Italian by Scienza in rete

Those who practise the scientific method have the stubborn habit (incomprehensible to most) of drawing conclusions from the analysis of data according to the criteria of a research hypothesis and applying a method that allows the inter-subjective verifiability of the results.

This mental attitude is diametrically opposed to those who base their opinions and – worse – decisions on ‘trust’ (often turned into ‘faith’) and therefore on the authority of various eminences. I do not criticise this attitude in the religious sphere, but in the secular one, that of science, yes. If a dogma exists in the practice of science, it is that of the methodical doubt, together with that of the absence of certainty. An experimentally verified theory is valid as long as it is valid. It happened to give an example of which expertise overflows outside the laboratories, with Newton’s gravitation and quantum mechanics. Continue reading “Peter Doshi and vaccines data: “trust but verify”