The Weinstein Brothers: Nobel-Prize Level Scientists or Self-Aggrandizing Woosters?

Are Bret and Eric Weinstein scientific geniuses who have been deprived of their rightful Nobel Prizes by a Distributed Idea Suppression Complex (DISC) - otherwise known as the Scientific Establishment or are they conspiracy theorists with a massively inflated self-belief peddling dangeruos pseudoscientific nonsense?

SPOILER: they are conspiracy theorists with a massively inflated self-belief peddling dangeruos pseudoscientific nonsense.

Ever since Bret Weinstein got cancelled, the Whinestein Brothers have amassed a growing cult er.... following who regard them as heroes...

Bret Weinstein: 348K subscribers
Eric Weinstein: 261K subscribers

Bret has recently been peddling anti-vax nonsense, making massively inflated claims about ivermectin and his endorsement of the lab leak hypothesis is almost for me enough to think it is probably not true.

Eric believes he has come up with a new form of physics that he feels has been suppressed by the Man. Now he seems to be into UFOs...

Of course, neither of them seem to be actively doing any science at all, and instead they have become broadcasters telling anyone who will listen that they have noticed things that have been missed (or suppressed by the science establishment).

Are they not just a pair of cranks and charlatans? Are they not just well-spoken, less crazed versions of Alex Jones?

Here, by the way, is an article about Bret and his wife, Heather Heying... (I don't remember where I first read it, maybe it was posted on this forum, if so thanks to whomever posted it) and how they seem to be making the Gallileo Gambit. The idea is that they are the geniuses being suppressed by the Orthodoxy:

Quote:

Dr Heying and her partner Dr Bret Weinstein argue strongly against all of these positions. In a recent episode of their podcast Heather acknowledged that Bret had estimated the likelihood of laboratory origin as greater than 95% (an increase from his original estimate in May 2020 of 90%). They claim that the COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous, comparing taking the vaccine to playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun. They argue in the strongest possible terms in favour of Ivermectin as an entirely safe and highly effective prophylactic and cure. The authorities and experts are described as ‘playing games with people’s lives’, engaging in the ‘crime of the century’, and are accused of neglecting and suppressing these ideas. Thus, although they sometimes portray their views as merely ‘conspiracy hypotheses’, it is hard to regard these caveats as being anything other than a performative tactical disclaimer, given the vehemence and certainty that characterises their split with the scientific consensus.

Link

Indeed, almost all of Bret and Eric and Heather's conceits seem to be that they have something more important and interesting to say about science and that everyone else is wrong.

Funnily enough Eric also seems to think he speaks for science such as in this megalomaniacal outburst while talking to Michael Shermer (and was then mocked by another conspiracy theorist comedian called Tim Dillon):

https://twitter.com/thebadstats/stat...903212545?s=21

It's funny because Tim Dillon is doing an Emperor's New Clothes on Eric Weinstein. He's merely pointing out that Eric Weinstein hasn't done any science which has made people's lives better.

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3xV1mk2