> the same dangerous theme keeps surfacing: dangerous theme keeps surfacing: monolithic thinking, with “no alternatives allowed”
That might be part of it. I think a bigger part is, "we don't know what X is so we can't measure it, but Y seems to coincide with X and we can measure Y, so let's focus on Y".
This probably happens a lot and sometimes it works out, but it also often doesn't. It failed with dietary cholesterol, and Alzheimer's is the just the latest big failure of this approach.
That might be part of it. I think a bigger part is, "we don't know what X is so we can't measure it, but Y seems to coincide with X and we can measure Y, so let's focus on Y".
This probably happens a lot and sometimes it works out, but it also often doesn't. It failed with dietary cholesterol, and Alzheimer's is the just the latest big failure of this approach.