NYC: Center Stage
What Happened in New York? - Part 2
This is the 2nd post on the March 25, 2024 session of the IPAK-EDU Director’s Science Webinar featuring the work of Jessica Hockett and Jonathan Engler.
You can find the Part 1 here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here.
Check the Short Cuts section on the home page for the full clip archive.
Our perception of events are subject to many influences. Some may quibble about this truth, but it is somewhat of a given.
Many of those influences are rooted in the narratives we have already been exposed to in our lives. The stories, the headlines, the reporting—even what we consume for entertainment—shapes our perception.
Whether one is conscious of these influences or not, these narratives have the combined effect of building a mythos, or what one might call a framework for belief.
Or, a kind of lens.
Interestingly, and worth reflecting on, the word myth, and its Greek root mythos do not necessarily imply falsehood or fantasy, as the modern usage commonly is employed to insinuate. That’s a connotation that seems to come from the 1800’s. The older meaning is decidedly more open-ended: “speech, thought, word, discourse, conversation; story, saga, tale, anything delivered by word of mouth.”
Wiktionary uses a four-part definition for mythos:
1. Anything transmitted by word of mouth, such as a fable, legend, narrative, story, or tale (especially a poetic tale).
2. A story or set of stories relevant to or having a significant truth or meaning for a particular culture, religion, society, or other group; a myth, a mythology.
3. (by extension) A set of assumptions or beliefs about something.
4. (literature) A recurring theme; a motif.
Observe how notions of ‘truth’, ‘meaning’, and ‘belief’ are embedded and entwined in the definitions here.
Oftentimes, our earliest exposures to a thing prove to imprint the most persistent memories. Repetition also can play an outsized role, as many have experienced and learned.
It might even be fruitful to consider our early exposures to certain narratives as akin to ‘epigenetic’ factors, in as much as they may alter our internal capacity to interpret information in a naive or more innate fashion.
So, back to the questions asked:
What actually happened in New York City in the Spring of 2020?
Does the available data support or contradict the narrative?
How do we know (or think we know) what we know?
What kind of evidence is available and what still remains elusive and undisclosed?
Here is the start of Jessica and Jonathan’s talk:
Over the next several days, we’ll look at more short clips from the full talk.
Paid subscribers to Twisting Strands will get access to a growing catalog of video shorts for an easy-to-watch, deeper perspective. Consider upgrading your subscription—you’ll be glad you did.
Information wants to be free—and over 90% of the content here is accessible to anyone. But everything takes care and time. If you like what you see, and you’re willing and able, consider leaving a tip. Every a little bit helps. Thank you!
Subscribers to the IPAK-EDU Director’s Science Webinar get full access to webinar recordings, including this 2.5+ hour session with Jessica Hockett and Jonathan Engler.
Your support of the webinar and IPAK-EDU makes this possible!
Check out Jessica and Jonathan on Substack, and their work with PANDA.
