Because consensus opinion is NOT science. There are numerous examples where a lone voice bucked accepted conventions and was eventually vindicated. For example:
1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak - Wikipedia
Dr Snow died in disgrace even though his theory was correct. It was not politically expedient to publicly acknowledge fecal-oral transmission was happening, and public health officials replaced the pump handle after the cholera outbreak subsided. But time and good science eventually revealed the truth.
This culture of chilling dissent and silencing voices of disagreement, shaming scientists and doctors, it’s the opposite of science. I remember a Chinese virologist getting black-balled last year for suggesting Covid came from the Wuhan lab. But now it seems nearly certain that is the case, with some of the details of its genome and the confirmation that gain-of-function research was funded there. But last year this possibility was not given fair hearing nor appropriate scientific curiosity because of groups of scientists behaving politically rather than with agnostic curiosity that reflects the true scientific spirit.
I don’t know the guy being discussed, but he IS an accomplished researcher who ought to know enough about the subject to have an educated opinion. Scientific debate isn’t settled by arguing. It’s settled by performing experiments to prove or disprove a hypothesis. But we are seeing way too much of the social media court influencing what is allowed to be questioned.
