#tw snakes. i go on a whole thing in the tags about snakes jghdkfj

[torchickentacos]

I think one of the worst feelings is when you have a special interest in something you're decidedly not intelligent enough to fully understand, so you just sort of emptily rotate it in your head for a bit without actually GOING anywhere with it

#tw snakes. i go on a whole thing in the tags about snakes jghdkfj #this is about methodology and how studies can easily falsify data #like okay how did we get to this conclusion #how did we choose our study groups here? is data based on observation or self reporting? #can you really and truly account for every single variable??? #did that 'health study' take baseline vitals before trying to prove a point???? looking at you. specific documentary. #OKAY RANDOM AND UNIMPORTANT EXAMPLE BUT ONE I HAVE THOUGHTS ON #I HAVE A RANT ABOUT THIS #OKAY #LOOK AT A 'TOP TEN MOST DEADLY SNAKES' LIST. RIGHT. #AND THEN ASK YOURSELF. #HOW ARE WE QUANTIFYING THE WORD DEADLY HERE #most deaths? sounds straightforward enough #but then you need to think about how a less potently venomous snake could be ranked as deadlier because it has a higher cohabitance with #humans. that can skew it. the snake per person ratio is really important when looking at and interpreting numbers #or are we weighing venomous as devoid of pure death counts and rather by potency of venom??? #because then you need to consider that snake venoms function differently #some are hemotoxins. some are neurotoxins #can you test them based on the same parameters if they function on different mechanisms??? #how can we account for dry bites in this? #IT GETS SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING IF YOU ZOOM OUT TO INCLUDE SNAKE INDUCED INJURIES #because some people are going to have aprticularly bad reactions to venom #and you need to account for preexisting conditions in the people being bitten #OOOOOOH AND YOU NEED TO CONSIDER MEDICAL ACCESS IN THE SNAKE'S RANGE #MORE PEOPLE WILL DIE OF SNAKEBITES IN IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITIES WHICH CAN SKEW RESULTS!!!! #oughhhhh there's so many variables and questions AND THESE LISTS NEVER TELL ME HOW THEY GOT THEIR CONCLUSIONS #TELL! ME! HOW! WE! GOT! HERE! AND! WHAT! WE! DID! TO! ENSURE! AN! ACCURATE! CONCLUSION!