Behzad Nikzad: Data Scientist on Bad Modeling and the Religion of Science
The Discernable Interviews
Behzad Nikzad: Data Scientist on Bad Modeling and the Religion of Science
1hr 13min
Behzad Nikzad is a data scientist with a keen interest in mathematics and data modeling. He lives in Quebec, Canada and has experienced the same historic lockdowns as in Melbourne Australia, but under the Trudeau government. He has noticed the models relied upon for lockdowns becoming ever more ridiculous and unjustifiable and sees a sad demise of the scientific method as a technocratic priesthood emerges.
He has written a book on this phenomenon where large swathes of the population are dazzled and/or suppressed by a ruling elite who claim insurmountable knowledge for the layperson. Just like priests before the printing press being the only ones allowed and capable of reading and interpreting holy texts.
In this conversation he walked me through a retrospective data analysis where I was forced to guess which cities and countries had the strongest restrictions based on their results. We also uncovered absolute irrationality on display by SAGE.
We ran out of time to discuss the parallels to his family’s experience under the Taliban in Afghanistan, so Behzad provided this written account:
“
My mom was a teacher in Afghanistan. When the Taliban took over our city in 1995 (the first time) they closed schools for all girls. She could no longer work. She was no longer allowed out of the house without a chaperon. Every woman was required to cover their face.
The Taliban justified this by saying that, through mandates such as face coverings, they would build a better society. Anyone who questioned their logic was told that they were being immoral. My mom experienced the citizen-policing that happened then with people telling each other to cover up their faces. If she felt hot under the face covering and pulled it up for a minute, someone would show up to warn her that it was important for her to wear her face covering.
My mom had to relive that trauma as she became policed by her peers for not wearing her face mask. She told me that she once decided to go a very short distance in an indoor space without a mask and that someone yelled at her for it. She said the experience felt eerily similar to her experiences in Afghanistan during the (first) Taliban era.
“
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Heston Russell: What Real Leadership Is Made Of
The Discernable Interviews
Heston Russell: What Real Leadership Is Made Of
1hr 21min
Heston Russell is a retired Commando from the Australian Defence Force active in mental health and veteran charities. After many political parties approached Heston to run on their brand, he decided to form the Australian Values Party and build a long term cultural change to the way Australia understands political leadership.
As a leadership expert, author, speaker and practitioner in the ADF, Heston believes Australians politicians are not displaying the qualities of leadership but it doesn’t have to be this way.
In this discussion we covered the political landscape of the Australian federal election, but also dived into what really makes a leader, and why we should demand such leaders in politics and in society more broadly.
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Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party Invades Melbourne: Candidate Lisa Stark
The Discernable Interviews
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Invades Melbourne: Candidate Lisa Stark
60min
Lisa Stark is a corporate executive in marketing and long time supporter of the Liberal Party. Feeling abandoned by the party, Lisa is running in the wealthy electorate and lifestyle Mecca of Melbourne: Goldstein.
Currently held by Liberal MP Tim Wilson and threatened by climate change focused candidate Zoe Daniel, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this electorate will be won on climate change policy but Lisa Stark believes that there is a strong voter base in Goldstein that are so affected in their businesses and personal lives that climate change debates will not cut it this cycle.
Lisa is a candidate for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party and feels that it best represents the interests of those pragmatic, middle Australians. In this discussion I tried to feel out the mood of this glitzy electorate and probe what type of party One Nation is today.
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Assoc Professor Dr Gilbert Berdine: 'It's no longer science, it's a religious cult.'
The Discernable Interviews
Assoc. Professor Dr Gilbert Berdine: 'It's no longer science, it's a religious cult.'
41min
Dr Gilbert Berdine is an associate professor at Texas Tech University with degrees in chemistry and life sciences from M.I.T. and medicine from Harvard University.
Dr Berdine is a lecturer and attending physician, having treated many patients with Covid-19, as well as a published academic in peer-reviewed journals.
One of the earliest voices to predict the failure of lockdowns, Dr Berdine turns his attention to Australia in this interview to discuss the illusion of lockdown success, the ethics of vaccine mandates, and whether the claim ‘safe and effective’ is valid.
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'Always be critical': Barrister Mahmoud Mando
The Discernable Interviews
'Always be critical': Barrister Mahmoud Mando
46min
Barrister at law Mahmoud Mando believes that vaccine mandates are immoral and that the Australian spirit of distrusting authority must be protected. He regularly calls for people to remain ‘critical thinkers’ in all matters even when fear and panic take over.
Mahmoud practises from Edmund Barton Chambers, Sydney.
https://ebc44.com/home/barristers/mando-mahmoud
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahmoud-rocky-mando-3a325522
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=568137326
2:24 The legal system is in a unique position to keep checks on the political class
5:07 What are the views amongst the legal professionals?
6:51 Are people thinking critically right now?
10:11 Employer mandates vs government mandates in the High Court
12:39 The science doesn’t support vaccine mandates for ‘reasonable precautions’
14:34 Has there been any successful cases against these mandates?
16:19 Will there be future cases against vaccine mandates?
18:23 Justice is not always served
20:40 Society is becoming much more complex needing better legal professionals
22:59 We need to change how we approach the law – keep an open mind and not just clinging to a specific ideology
26:25 Australia’s Common Law is a safeguard for its citizens
29:23 Legality vs morality of recent executive pandemic laws
31:54 People were rattled by the pandemic and the government ‘reacted’
33:32 How we should think about the legal system in bringing change to our society
38:26 Judicial activism needs to be respected
41:15 How does Australia compare to the rest of the world in terms of rights and the justice system
42:37 The need for free thinking and the danger of submitting to dogma and ideologies
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'Northern Territory Mandates Are Invalid': Law Lecturer Geoffrey James
The Discernable Interviews
'Northern Territory Mandates Are Invalid': Law Lecturer Geoffrey James
1hr 14min
Retired lawyer of 42 years Geoff James believes the Northern Territory vaccination mandates are invalid at law (ultra vires) and has published an essay explaining why. This argument is distinct from others we have heard because rather than make a moral judgement, Geoff makes the claim that they are simply and technically not law.
His legal argument is being used by class actions in the Norther Territory to fight mandates.
In this interview he steps us through the broad position of law in Western democracies and how executive rule by fiat authority is on the rise but in no way legitimate.
You can download his full essay here.
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Interview with a Canadian Who Does Not Approve of the Truck Protests
The Discernable Interviews
Interview with a Canadian Who Does Not Approve of the Truck Protests
1hr 4min
Discernable has given much coverage to the Freedom Convoy Truck Protest in Canada and the positive voices around the movement but with so many Canadians also against the protest, we felt it was only right to hear from their side as well.
Tim Van Winckle is a resident of Ottawa, Canada. Ottawa was the centre of the protest and is a very pro-government city, much like Canberra, Australia. Tim believes the protest was ill thought out, fragmented, hijacked at times, and overall ineffective.
If you follow accounts such as https://www.instagram.com/freedomconvoy2022 you would understand the protest in a very positive light. If you turn on the legacy media, you would perhaps see the protests in a similar light to what is explored here.
As always, make up your own mind and remember that we are all on the same team: #TeamHuman whether we like it or not.
2:42 What is Ottawa?
6:00 Tim’s understanding of the Freedom Convoy
8:08 Competing interests within the convoy
9:22 Self-proclaimed leaders of the convoy
10:14 The make-up of the convoy group in Ottawa
12:40 The local population reacts to the convoy
16:28 Ottawa hadn’t seen this type of protest before
18:20 ‘They protested in the wrong place’
19:16 ‘The convoy had nothing to do with the lifting of mandates’
20:46 No Canadian wanted to see the Emergencies Act implemented
24:10 Reaction to bank accounts being frozen
28:46 How the convoy ‘lost the support of everyday Canadians’
32:35 ‘Trudeau was right to not talk to the convoy’
34:14 The Canadian truckers are a ‘bunch of clowns’
37:02 Canadian biases
40:50 Lack of legitimacy of the anti-vaccine side
42:48 What about legitimate information from censored experts?
46:02 Why are Canadians more trusting of government?
51:10 What do Canadians think about reports of vaccine adverse reactions?
53:42 Targeting children to get the covid vaccine
55:48 Risk vs reward ratio for children getting vaccinated
57:19 How do Canadians view Australia?
59:24 Threats and secrecy push more people away from trusting the government
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Andy Anderson on Business Success and Failure During Covid-19
The Discernable Interviews
Andy Anderson on Business Success and Failure During Covid-19
1hr 22min
Andy Anderson is an entrepreneur who started a gym franchise in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. We discussed fitness, business funding and expansion models, and how he was thrust into Covid partisanship when he started to call out lies and bad behaviour by politicians who were destroying his business.
ANDY ANDERSON
https://www.instagram.com/andy_i_anderson
https://instagram.com/contrariandaily
https://globalfreedomrally.com
https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-ultimate-you-andy-anderson/book/9781635766356.html
https://teethonferry.com
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Simon Hill - The Proof Is In The Plants
The Discernable Interviews
Simon Hill - The Proof Is In The Plants
1hr 11min
Simon Hill is famous for his work in the plant-based lifestyle movement, his predilection for scientific evidence and his in-depth podcast where he interviews experts in nutrition, and other health disciplines.
We invited Simon to appear on Discernable as a ‘meta-analysis’ of all the studies he has read and reviewed, and all of the expert interviews he has conducted. Simon’s podcast is an excellent resource to dive deep into the details of a particular issue but we wanted to hear from him about the broad momentum of the plant based movement, healthy nutrition, and world agriculture.
As with all of our interviews, we were looking for the ‘why’ and explored Simon’s way of thinking, how to determine good science from bad, and whether he would hypothetically follow the science away from a plant-based lifestyle.
What we found was surprising and refreshing.
SIMON HILL
https://www.facebook.com/theproofpod
https://www.instagram.com/plant_proof
https://twitter.com/theproof
https://plantproof.com/book
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Cosmetic Surgery and Self Identity
The Discernable Interviews
Cosmetic Surgery and Self Identity
1hr 16min
Why do people get cosmetic surgery? Is the trend increasing? How does this inform, enhance or distort our self-identity? With a special appearance by Dr Gemma Sharp (body image expert from Monash University), we delve into the world of Body Dysmorphic Disorder and explore exactly why Matt (and millions of others) went ‘under the knife’.
In this conversation we slammed together two worlds: the founder Australia’s largest hair restoration surgery clinic – Mikko Myllymaki, and Dr Ben Buchanan – a clinical psychologist and academic who specialises in Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
With mental health experts warning against the surging popularity of cosmetic surgery, and surgeons fighting to give the people what they demand, are these two worlds at war? Or do they rely on each other in the long run?
MATT’S SURGERY
https://www.instagram.com/gro.diary.matt
DR BEN BUCHANAN
https://foundationpsychology.com.au
https://www.benbuchanan.com.au
https://twitter.com/ben_buchanan
DR GEMMA SHARP
https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/gemma-sharp
https://butterfly.org.au/chattokit
GRO CLINICS
https://groclinics.com.au
https://www.facebook.com/GroClinics
https://www.instagram.com/groclinics
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