I'm coining a new term:

No evidence medicine.

No-evidence medicine:
- "There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of #coronavirus."
- "There is no evidence masks work."
- "There is no evidence of airborne transmission of #covid19."
- "There is no evidence circumcision causes lasting trauma." https://brendonmarotta.com/6420/covid-19-discussion/

No evidence medicine is the idea that because the person you're talking to is not aware of the evidence for an idea then there must not be any evidence, and the idea can be dismissed without further inquiry.

You've encountered no evidence medicine if you've ever had this exchange:

"Do you have a study for that?"
"Yes." *provides study*
"Well, I've never heard of that study before!"

When children hide their eyes, they think the world has gone away. Likewise, practitioners of no-evidence medicine think if they pretend the evidence isn't there, the idea they ignore ceases to be true. No-evidence medicine is a form of ideological narcissism.

When a practitioner of no-evidence medicine is forced to acknowledge the evidence, they will never admit they once argued the opposite. Or if they do, they will say "but how could we have known!" as if there weren't others trying to show them the evidence.

Look at the response of medical organizations, media, and politicians to #COVID19. Have any acknowledged that up until February they were calling it "just the flu" and telling people to go out?

https://brendonmarotta.com/6420/covid-19-discussion/

Here is another example of no-evidence medicine from WHO: "There is no-evidence for Chloroquine working.... so don't go researching any!" https://twitter.com/adrianbye/status/1246231189733736449

Evidence-based medicine involves saying "we don't know, so we should research it further." No-evidence medicine is about saying "we don't want to know, so don't do any research."

You can tell where no-evidence medicine is being practiced by what is not being researched.

For example, in @circmovie we talk about how there are no longitudinal studies on circumcision, and certainly, none on its impact on men's feelings or psychological experience.

The next time you see someone say there is "no evidence" of something, see if they are open to evidence. If not, you are talking to a practitioner of "no-evidence medicine" not evidence-based medicine.

This thread is now a blog post. https://brendonmarotta.com/6491/no-evidence-medicine/