Re: Choroquine-phosphate Death

Posted by gepr on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Choroquine-phosphate-Death-tp7594931p7594938.html

Yes, it does. Information has context ... otherwise we wouldn't call it "information". And if your audience takes your message to mean "Hey, eat some aquarium disinfectant!", then your message was wrongly formulated, if not entirely wrong.

I'm not one to claim that the *entire* burden of clear communication lands on the sender. The receiver bears burden, too. But if you already *know* that those who receive your message will misinterpret it, then you the burden becomes asymmetric. This is why responsible people say things like "Self-medicating will only cause more damage." And "The last thing that we want right now is to inundate our emergency departments with patients who believe they found a vague and risky solution that could potentially jeopardize their health."

On 3/24/20 7:56 AM, Prof David West wrote:
> Just because the first person that told people about this was an idiot does not make the information wrong.

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