Wild Celery's Guide to Life

2003-05-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

debunking the occult

There are lots of people out there who take great joy in "debunking" paranormal or metaphysical phenomena. Unfortunately, this usually takes the wholely un-scientific approach of false appeals to authoriity, ad hominem attacks, and thinly veiled mockery, all in the guise of science. This often says more about the debunkers themselves than anything else.

If you're like me, you believe there is no place for mockery or personal attacks in science. One can either prove a theory scientifically or not, but it is extremely difficult to disprove something. This reduces a lot of "debunking" to the simple exploration of personal (often unsubstantiated) opinion, or commonly held social and cultural beliefs. Beliefs are not facts.

Plainly speaking, the occult is anything which is occluded or hidden from view. By definition, the paranormal and metaphysical are merely things that are similar to, but outside the normal, or come after the traditional study of physics. Areas of study that are difficult to prove or explore by traditional scientific means will fall into these categories. Unfortunately these spheres of study have been confused with some of their more eccentric proponents or radical theories, rather than a branch of study. In the same way UFO's are commonly considered to be "crafts manufactured and piloted by an alien intelligence", when in fact they are simply Unidentified Flying Objects.

Explorers of the occult and the paranormal are often dismissed as "devil worshipping", "ghost hunting", "mind reading" carnival hoaxers. But this isn't fair. Sure, a lot of people have abused and misrepresented occult study, often for profit, but this happens in traditional sciences just as often. Lots of people walk around using terms inappropriately and undermining important concepts and theories like chaos, dark matter, game theory, quantum physics, etc. To hear some of these people speak, you'd think that traditional science was a total joke.

Personally, I don't believe physics can stand without metaphysics. Metaphysics occupies a grey area where psychology, science and philosophy combine. As new concepts become accepted (some people still argue whether psychology is a true science) they are plucked out of this area and assimilated into common understanding.

It's pretty common for people to say "I don't believe in UFOs because it's not scientific", even though, critically speaking, the sentence has no meaning. "I don't believe in unidentified flying objects" is like saying "there are only identified flying objects." This presupposes that all people at all times can identify all flying objects. It's bunk! ;-)

Now, if you want to say "I don't believe alien life has contacted earth," then you have to give reasons for your belief, and the discussion changes. You have to substantiate your claim, otherwise you're simply stating a belief. If you hold onto that belief in the face of contrary evidence then you no longer have science. You have religion.

2003-05-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

marijuana posters

I added marijuana posters to my recommended links because I like to raise the issue every chance I get. No doubt you've seen all the ads on TV claiming "1 in 3 drivers pulled over for erratic driving were found to have marijuana in their bloodstream", or showing teenagers running children down or shooting their friends with guns under the influence of this terrible weed. I won't argue with the statistics, because they are believable to me. But you can make statistics seem to suggest pretty much anything.

For example, say "1 in 3 drivers pulled over are high on dope." What information doesn't this reveal? What does it help to conceal?

what percentage of those 1 in 3 also had alcohol and/or other drugs in their blood?
what did the other two thirds of drivers pulled over have in their blood? (probably alcohol)
of those pulled over with dope in their blood, how many had caused an accident? (people get pulled over all the time for driving strangely, sometimes due to exhaustion, talking on cell phones, arguments with passengers, etc. these people might be considered negligent, but rarely dangerous or criminal)

Logically, if you are okay with people drinking alcohol, you can't be against the use of marijuana under similar circumstances, because it has been proven to be less harmful than sanctioned drugs -- even regular cigarettes.

So, while I'm not a big pot smoker, I do have a marijuana poster up in my home. It's a sign of resistance to yet another regulation that is oppressing the people based solely on stereotypes, and cultural elitism.

2003-05-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

living and learning

Everyone, no matter how young or old, has a story to tell. Of course, some stories are better than others, and some are told better than others. But if you take a moment to reflect, each story can have meaning for you, no matter how crap it may appear on the surface :-P

The key to living well is making the most of what you've got. Good theory, no? But like any good theory, it's best reinforced by practice. And good practice means good technique.

If you want to see a sunset, you have to face west. Looking east doesn't work. Running east as fast as you can, screaming and flailing your arms doesn't work. No amount of enthusiastic eastward running will get you that sunset.

It's one way to see a sunrise, however.

See how much we've learned already? ;-)