Chopra responds about HIV/AIDS

January 30, 2015 • 7:25 pm

Someone whom I think is Deepak Chopra (the email address makes me a bit unsure) has responded to my criticisms of his earlier interview, an interview in which he stated, among other dubious claims, that the HIV virus is not the cause of AIDS. He now seems have retracted tha claim t without actually doing so. You can see his long comment (I’m assuming it’s him) here.

I have responded right below it.

Readers can feel free to respond as well, but, as always, do not be aggressive or nasty when dealing with someone who responds to public criticism on my site.

 

25 thoughts on “Chopra responds about HIV/AIDS”

      1. Yes. 🙂 Though presumably not when Deepak uses it (but who knows?). See both signatures at Jerry’s link in the post above.

  2. I love the second sentence in his comment:

    “It’s unfortunate that he didn’t go to medical school, but I did.”

    First, lots of people go to medical school, manage to obtain a degree, and yet are incompetent at their job. Too, there are doctors who are competent at their jobs but nonetheless hold irrational views (e.g., neurosurgeon Eben Alexander). Second, that sentence implies the author believes medical doctors are a breed apart and all others are intellectually inferior and unable to appreciate, let alone contribute to or criticize, our understanding of biology. A view that is dripping with condescension and trivially dismissed.

    The study, and ability to treat illnesses, of biological entities is certainly more challenging than repairing a broken automobile transmission (which itself is an amazingly complex entity). But that does not mean people who perform the latter task are incapable of recognizing bullshit when they see it.

    1. We have lots of HIV and infectious disease researchers at our University who didn’t go to Medical School (alas they only have a meagre Phd). So clearly they must not produce good researcher and not know a lot more about HIV than Deepak because they haven’t got those two tiny capital letters after their name. Sound argument!

    2. Perhaps it works differently in the states, but in France, I’m pretty sure that a MD does not qualify you to do research; only a PhD in a related field does. Of course, you can have both. Chopra does not.

      Apart from the fact that sneering about qualifications constitutes childish bad manners in general — part of the point of a qualification is to known enough to argue one’s position — it seems very strange to me to see an MD sneer at a biology PhD on matters of biology.

      It’s like a plumber telling a hydraulics researcher that he does not understand water compressibility. In this case, a plumber that has not practiced his trade for nigh on three decades. I can’t imagine a serious, competent plumber doing that.

    3. Well Abbie Smith who has a PhD and is not an MD works in an AIDS laboratory as a researcher.

      1. Yes. If they awarded him a medical degree, then they have to live with the consequences of their error.
        Let’s Goodwin : you can make an argument that by rejecting a certain Austrian wanna-be dauber in 1907 & 1908, the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts laid the seeds for millions of deaths. If Chopra’s arguments were to gain credence and consequent action, then his alma mater would bear some responsibility. Not a lot, but not zero.

    1. I was going to suggest you post your response there as well, but unsurprisingly he has comments turned off.

  6. Chopra wrote “Coyne has yet, in all his attacks on me, to uncover a single instance of bad medical practice.”

    That’s pretty rich coming from an Ayurveda practitioner. Just about all he does is bad medical practice….

  7. At least Deepak gives us empirical evidence that positive thinking can be harmful for your brain.

  8. First grammatical error I have ever seen on this site: misuse of objective case for nominative case in “someone whom I think is Deepak Chopra.” Should be “someone who I think is Deepak Chopra” as “who” is the subject, despite the intervening “I think.” It would be interesting to know how many others have made this same comment.

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