The Playbook: Substitution, Assumption, Persuasion As the conventional history of virology tells it, virologist John Franklin Enders “isolated” and “proved” the measles “virus” in 1954 in his paper Propagation in Tissue Cultures of Cytopathogenic Agents from Patients with Measles. He did this by developing a culturing method that used throat washings from suspected measles patients—collected by gargling… Continue reading Enders Game
Author: Mike Stone
AntiViral Ep. 4: The Santa Analogy in Virology
Belief Built on Cookie Crumbs: The Illusion of Invisible Causation In this special holiday-themed AntiViral episode, I present my recent article The Santa Analogy in video format. It visually shows how, much like children believing in Santa without ever seeing him—based on cookie crumbs, letters, and presents under the tree—virology relies on indirect signs to support belief in invisible… Continue reading AntiViral Ep. 4: The Santa Analogy in Virology
Do Cytopathic Effects Prove “Viral” Replication?
Historical Assumptions, Logical Pitfalls, and Unfalsifiable Reasoning I want to preface this article by stating that the cell culture experiment has been repeatedly shown to be a pseudoscientific set-up. I have already written about the logical fallacies built into its design and demonstrated how it fails to adhere to the scientific method. Crucially, the experiment does not test… Continue reading Do Cytopathic Effects Prove “Viral” Replication?
ViroLIEgy 101: The Santa Analogy
The power of belief disguised as scientific evidence. ViroLIEgy 101 is a series of articles meant to provide relatively short (by my standards) and concise explanations of key concepts regarding both germ “theory” and virology. I’m providing an overview on topics that are essential to the conversation that people may be confused with and have difficulty… Continue reading ViroLIEgy 101: The Santa Analogy
AntiViral Ep. 3: The Flawed Foundations of Virology
Exposing the logical fallacies holding virology together. In the third episode of the AntiViral series, I turn to the underlying flaws in logic that form the foundation of the entire field. Without sound reasoning to support it, virology is a house of cards waiting to collapse. While the previous episodes addressed the false assumptions and missing empirical… Continue reading AntiViral Ep. 3: The Flawed Foundations of Virology
AntiViral Ep. 2: Missing Proof in Virology Claims
Exposing the broken chain of causation at the core of virology. In this second AntiViral episode, I focus on the missing chain of causation—what I see as the most powerful evidence against germ “theory” and virology. To prove that any microbe causes disease, there are agreed-upon scientific standards: evidence derived from the scientific method that satisfies Koch’s… Continue reading AntiViral Ep. 2: Missing Proof in Virology Claims
Update 2: An Open Challenge to Virologists
Fight or flight? It has been two months since I responded to virologist Ed Rybicki with the challenge to produce the absolutely necessary scientific evidence supporting his belief in “pathogenic viruses,” and I’m happy to report that we finally have a response from the seemingly elusive science fiction author. However, before I noticed he had left me… Continue reading Update 2: An Open Challenge to Virologists
The Trump Card
Played to protect Big Pharma, not to expose it. I normally try to stay out of politics, as I don’t subscribe to either party or the illusion of choice. To me, both sides are simply two faces of the same coin, designed to keep us divided and distracted. That said, despite my reluctance to wade… Continue reading The Trump Card
Fictional Fear
What we fear, we manifest. Around this time of the year, I like to highlight a factor in disease that is very often overlooked: the fear factor. Fear—along with its close relatives, anxiety and stress—is well documented to negatively impact physical health. Yet, when discussing illness, people often ignore how profoundly these mental states can… Continue reading Fictional Fear
AntiViral Ep. 1: Virology — A Critique of Its Foundations
Where science ends, pseudoscience begins. Welcome to the first episode of the AntiViral series. Since this is the beginning, I thought it best to start with the core arguments against germ “theory” and virology—especially for newcomers. It’s striking how many who attack this position don’t actually understand its fundamentals. Here are the basics introduced in this… Continue reading AntiViral Ep. 1: Virology — A Critique of Its Foundations