Job Discussion Forums

[Nagoyaguy]

Another thread mentioned a man who claimed to "predict" the tsunami disaster in Asia. Personally, I dont believe it, but he has a huge following.

So;

What is your position on these things- astrology, psychics, TT, holistic care, psychic surgery, etc? My feeling is that ESL teachers in general are more credulous than the population at large.

For example, theraputic touch and reiki are both popular, but are also total junk. THey have no impact other than a mild placebo effect, and often are dangerous as they lead patients away from more conventional (proven) treatment regimens.

Others? Feel free to contribute

[Guy Courchesne]

PT Barnum sums it up nicely enough for me in this respect.

[Paul John]

The Australian Skeptics have their annual 'Bent Spoon' award for what they regard as the most outrageous quackery of the year. Some years ago, the list of nominees for this award included Princess Diana's astrologer.

This month's cover story points out that it's a shame that no psychics appear to have predicted the Asian tsunami disaster - although it's no doubt easy enough to find psychics who claim to have "predicted" it.

[Glenski]

PT Barnum has said it for me, too.

Heinlein has a few choice goodies:

If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.

What are the facts? Again and again and again - what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" - what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!

There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?

One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.

Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.

The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa.

The shamans are forever yacking about their snake-oil 'miracles.' I prefer the real McCoy - a pregnant woman.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

[Atlas]

It said nothing about 911, or the tsunami, etc.

So what good is it?

The study of metaphysics and mysticism is a study of congitive fantasy and culture of the individual.

The study of the "collectice unconscious" is a reference to the genetic "memory" shared by the species that inhabit this planet, of which the vast majority share similar DNA. You only have to change a microfraction of the genes to get a human, chimp or alligator.

The fantasy constructions of our sensory-disengaged sensory devices are very compelling to witness but do not interact with the physical world except generally or coincidentally. And if they do "echo" reality, then they do not do so on any regular basis, so again I ask, what good is it?

Except to construct "prophecies" that limit our range of imagined responses to our affairs, thus creating our own fulfillments based on our own culturally-biased houses of cards. Just because the world flips on its axis does not mean the Hopi accurately predicted it. But that would certainly affirm Hopi culture to one of its members.

[Twisting in the Wind]

[homersimpson]

I think all those things are wonderful ... if you live in 1605. But, if you are living in 2005 and looking to Orion or the Year of the Bull, you are a lost soul. After all, the moon has far more influence on the Earth (check tides) than any of the planets. WHY DOES NO ONE WORSHIP THE MOON!

[sigmoid]

Why do some people BELIEVE that sports are important and feel depressed when "their" team loses?

What about all the magical, superstitious and religious aspects of that?
...the chants, the dances, the talismans, the lucky numbers and symbols, the rituals, etc.?

[sigmoid]

And what about the FAITH in modern medicine?

My doctor told me...
This medicine cures...
"They" did a study that showed that...
This food is "bad" for you...
This food is "good " for you...
60% of the time it works everytime...

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Keep in mind that Chinese Acupuncture was(is?)dismissed as "cultural conditioning" etc...but now it's used in USA/Europe on non-Chinese speaking racehorses.

To introduce some science into the discourse...

http://twm.co.nz/DrYan_qi.htm

To summarize, based on a series of qigong experiments I have conducted over the last ten years in collaboration with many leading universities and scientific institutions in China (including, but not limited to, Tsinghua University, Beijing University, Zhongshan University, and within the Academia Sinica, the Institute of High Energy Physics, the Institute of Biology, the Institute of Electrical Engineering, and the Institute of Microbiology), we have preliminarily discovered that the qi of qigong has properties of matter, energy, and information. Moreover, qi can be influenced, disturbed, or controlled by the thoughts of a qi-emitter or people nearby. At the same time, according to different purposes of the experiments, qi can also display different attributes, such as being bi-directional, distance-transcending, self-controllable, reversible, and targeting. Some experiments involving chain reactions have also been successfully completed.


The scientific papers on these qigong experiments have been rigorously reviewed by highly accomplished academics, including Professor Qian Xuesen (Tsien Hsue-sen), former Chairman and current Honorary Chairman of Chinese National Association of Scientists, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, formerly Goddard Professor, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Professor Zhao Zhongyao, an eminent expert on nuclear physics in China, member, Academia Sinica, an early academic advisor to Dr. C.N. Yang who later won a Nobel Price in physics (being a member of Academia Sinica is roughly equivalent to being a fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences); Professor Bei Shizhang, biophysics expert, world renowned biophysics teacher, member, Academia Sinica; Professor Feng Xinfang, microbiologist, member, Academia Sinica; and Professor Hu Haichang, thermophysicist, member, Academia Sinica. After they became aware of, participated in, or reviewed the scientific papers on the qigong experiments I conducted in collaboration with a number of experts and professors from prestigious Chinese universities, such as Tsinghua University and Beijing University, they all acknowledged that qigong is highly scientific in nature.

Professor Qian Xuesen has unequivocally advocated the creation of human body science. At the same time, he predicted that the integration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, qigong, special human body functions, and a unified theoretical and scientific work will result in a great leap forward in modern medicine. Furthermore, he suggested that this event will revolutionize modern science as a whole, and that a second cultural renaissance will arise and come to fruition in China. A number of scientists, represented by Professor Qian Xuesen, including the top leader of Chinese qigong affairs for past ten years, the late General Zhang Zhenhuan (a retired general formerly in charge of the Commission on Science and Industry for National Defense and the first president of Chinese Research Society on Qigong Science), have continuously supported scientific research on qigong and consistently acknowledged the results set forth in various scientific qigong papers.

[ChinaMovieMagic]

Like any system, Science can become an "ism".

http://twm.co.nz/Beard_interv.html#Contrary%20to%20the%20scientific

TWM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Interview with Tom Bearden
The following partial extract is taken from an interview with Tom Bearden which appeared in a magazine called "Megabrain Report". It is dated 4-Feb-1991. The interviewers were Terry Patten and Michael Hutchison.
Click here for full interview.

"Lt. Col. Thomas E. Bearden is a nuclear engineer, war games and weapons analyst, and military tactician. He has an MS in nuclear engineering from Georgia Tech and is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College and several US Army artillery and guided missile schools. He has over 30 years experience in air defense systems, technical intelligence, Soviet electromagnetic weaponry, artificial intelligence, computerized war games, and antiradiation missile countermeasures. He is a senior scientist with a large aerospace company [Colsa Corp.] Col. Bearden personally developed and published the basis for a drastic revision of electromagnetic theory and engineering, based on the work of Whittaker and Maxwell. His work is primarily responsible for the widespread interest and research into scalar electromagnetic phenomena in this country over the past decade. He is the author of several books on this subject, including *Towards a New Electromagnetics*, Parts I-IV (Tesla Book Company)."

Question: So how about general relativity? How does it fit in?
"A similar thing also happened to general relativity, believe it or not! Einstein unwittingly restricted general relativity to a subset of the theory he intended to write....Unfortunately, Einstein's modern followers have raised Einsteinian general relativity to a dogma. They ruthlessly uphold the overstatement of the flat local spacetime postulate. Physicists who would dispute it __ and quite a few would do so __ are essentially barred from obtaining funding. If they persist with their heresy, their scientific stature is lost, and they are ostracized and cut off economically. Simply read Santilli's book, if you wish a clear inside picture.

Contrary to the scientific propaganda, orthodox science is ruthless in defending its doctrine against all would-be heretics. Much of science has been converted to a religion, instead of a science. Any person knowledgeable of scientific history can cite numerous examples of scientific suppression, character assassination, and essentially banishment. Gauss's nonlinear geometry, Wegener's continental drift, Mayer's discovery of the conservation of energy, Ovshinsky's amorphous semiconductors, physical therapy, the EKG, and the clinical use of hypnosis come readily to mind.

Scientists form a distribution, just like any other group. Some of them are saints. Some of them are devils. The broad majority is neither, but is made up of just ordinary people like you and me, doing a specialized job. Every scientific model is known to be falsifiable and imperfect in the first place, if you believe Godel's theorem.Scientific method does not yield total truth anyway, by its own assertion; at best it yields a partial truth. By the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, every measurement distorts the entity with which the instrument interacts, changing what actually appears to be measured. Real scientists know that scientific models are progressive. For any model, sooner or later a better one, an improvement, will be found."

[Nagoyaguy]

Twister;

[ChinaMovieMagic]

[homersimpson]

The Earth is flat. The sun is NOT the center of the universe. Our leaders are chosen by God. Let's move backwards as a people.

[Nagoyaguy]

CHinamoviemagic, you are falling into the trap of equating belief and popularity with reality. It doesnt matter whether or not acupuncture is accepted or not. The fact remains that it doesnt work any better than any other method that relies on the placebo effect.

Traditional Chinese medicine is not based on knowledge of modern physiology, biochemistry, nutrition, anatomy, or any of the known mechanisms of healing. Nor is it based on knowledge of cell chemistry, blood circulation, nerve function, or the existence of hormones or other biochemical substances. There is no correlation between the meridians used in traditional Chinese medicine and the actual layout of the organs and nerves in the human body.

The NCAHF (National Council against Health Fraud) found that;

"the perceived effects of acupuncture are probably due to a combination of expectation, suggestion, counter-irritation, operant conditioning, and other psychological mechanisms."

As I said, if you can show that acupuncture works, even once, under proper observing conditions, you can earn a million dollars. No questions asked, no scientific explanation needed.