Ambiguous Language

#61 It can make for effective rhetoric, or mess up everything from our healthcare to our clothing*

Introduction: Something strange is happening. Lawmakers pledging not to stifle computer technology through regulation have quashed biotechnology via haphazard debt-ceiling cuts and misinformation campaigns.

Sep 15 USAID virus monitoring program gets canceled (KJZZ 91.5) - “The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has canceled DEEP VZN (Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens Viral Zoonoses) before it could begin work.” “Critics of the program expressed relief, citing what they considered to be a risky approach to research and questioning why a development agency had oversight. Others believe the decision was politically motivated or stemmed from fears that researchers studying bat viruses may have triggered the most recent pandemic.”

Driverless cars recently permitted by state utilities to service San Francisco passengers around the clock soon crashed into fire trucks and parked themselves in wet cement. But one science writer couldn’t access the antiviral that shortens sick leave and reduces long COVID risks:

Aug 30 Our priorities are all wrong when it comes to new technologies | We can't get life-saving drugs, but we can get dubious self-driving taxis, says Annalee Newitz (New Scientist) - “My video call was routed to a random nurse somewhere in California, who told me there was no evidence Paxlovid was helpful against covid-19 because there are so many new strains. I said I had read articles saying it was, and he replied, ‘Oh, let me check.’” “‘No,’ he said after a moment, ‘it only helped three strains ago.’”