patrick.net

In 1949, the neurologist António Egas Moniz received the Physiology or Medicine Prize for his development of the prefrontal leucotomy. The previous year, Dr. Walter Freeman had developed a version of the procedure which was faster and easier to carry out. Due in part to the publicity surrounding the original procedure, Freeman's procedure was prescribed without due consideration or regard for modern medical ethics. Endorsed by such influential publications as The New England Journal of Medicine, leucotomy or "lobotomy" became so popular that about 5,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States in the three years immediately following Moniz's receipt of the Prize.

Note: lobotomies were frequently used to treat psychiatric disorders and were often disastrous for patients.

Similarly, significant controversy has surrounded other prizes. For instance, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger for his work to end the Vietnam War, even though Kissenger was one of the primary individuals responsible for the bloodshed that happened and the Committee knew Kissenger’s peace deal was a sham (which led to many of the recipients refusing to accept the prize).

Likewise, when Obama became president, he was immediately selected for a Nobel Peace Prize (despite having done nothing to earn it) and during his presidency was directly responsible for numerous catastrophic wars around the world we are still experiencing the consequences of. Additionally, he also helped oversee an immense program of targeting adversaries with drone strikes:

Every Tuesday, President Obama personally checks off the names of people he wants killed. George Bush, a bit more squeamish than Obama, never did that; but Mr Obama felt those decisions were the president’s responsibility: he "want[s] to keep his own finger on the trigger”, according to one report. A tidy, scheduled man, the President only picks his victims once a week, now called “Terror Tuesday”.

The 542 drone strikes that Obama authorized killed an estimated 3,797 people, including 324 civilians. As he reportedly told senior aides in 2011: “Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” ...

Despite the immense fanfare that initially surrounded the mRNA vaccines, in only a few short years much of the public along with a significant portion of the medical profession has come to believe that:

•The mRNA technology should not be routinely used in humans

•The COVID-19 vaccines cause significantly more harm than the benefit that arises from them.

These both suggest that it was very premature to award this prize and that it may in the future been seen in the same way the decision to award one for lobotomies was.

Thus far, this is one of the most popular commentaries on that decision:



... Conclusion

As this article shows, the mistakes the Nobel Prize made with awarding this prize are enormous; at the very least they should have waited a few more years before making a deliberation on if any of the inventors deserved the prize—suggesting the committee’s decision was to a large extent influenced by the need to market and sell more of the vaccines.

I believe this decision is reflective of the fact our society is currently in the period of what is often termed “institutional breakdown,” where many institutions we relied upon for decades are gradually becoming corrupted and no longer serving the people. This is a cycle that happens in every society, and will continue to worsen until the society collectively comes together to oppose it.