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What pseudoscience bothers you the least?
Posted on: April 29, 2009 - 5:25pm
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What pseudoscience bothers you the least?
Some are worse than other, no doubt. So which ones bother you the least? For me it would be cryptozoology. It's pretty harmless and rides that knife edge between utter bunk and the cutting edge of science.
How about you? Who says there's no atheists in foxholes?
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Phrenology, I think. It's pretty funny, and totally harmless.
Yeah, watching people hunt cryptids is always fun. I like the SciFi channel show "Destination Truth" in particular. The main dude, Josh Gates, is such a cynical smart ass that I can't help but love him.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
Vitamin overdosing, for doing us the favor of mercilessly ripping morons out of our gene pool.
(I'm kidding! I'm kidding!)
Hm. This is a tough one. I think I might also have to go with cryptozoology (though it's not quite as harmless as I wish it were; sasquatch 'hunting' has spurred a few too many firearm mishaps).
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
astrology.
Horoscopes are in like every newspaper. Yes, they likely apply to anyone and everyone, but it is still entertaining.
Theism is why we can't have nice things.
I am going to go with Feng Shui ...The idea that arranging your furniture in a certain way can create positive energy is more hilarious than harmful.
www.RichWoodsBlog.com
That's an enjoyable question.
Cryptozoology, for the same reasons. It's just fun. I like a good bigfoot hoax as much as the next guy (assuming the next guy really, really likes them). The only folks it generally harms are the ones who take it way too seriously and spend their lives trying to track down Nessie.
UFOlogy would be next, for the exact same reasons.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
Indigo Children is one of my favorites. It's an incredible construct of sometimes mind-boggling scope to cover up shitty parenting. Really, how these idiots elevate their kid's unstructured, bratty behavior to the realm of avatar-of-deity status is breathtaking.
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
My wife and I were in the bookstore tonight. There was a table a table full of the "Idiot's Guide" books. One was, "Idiot's Guide to Indigo Children." My wife laughed, read the title aloud, then said, "But I repeat myself."
Yeah. That's a good one.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
Tossing the bones of my ancestors to learn the answers to my most vital questions.
Ghost hunting
I love shows on TLC about hauntings and stuff.
I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Blue children? Is this like Children of the Corn?
...
Okay, I admit that I've had some beer at a friend's urging, and this is like a drunken dial, but I don't even see how looking up "indigo children" helps with the phrase. Who are these parenting-book assholes? Dr. Spock wasn't good enough for you fuckers? Huh? You have to come up with "attachment parenting" that grossly overextends attachment theory? Decide that because of one study, that vaccination is a bad idea?
Okay, I'll stop. What the fuck is an indigo child?
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
I didn't either. Google it, and you'll find out what it means.
Now I'm gonna join you and have my nightcap.
In the UK it has to be anti-vaccinations and 'alternative' (to being tested/working) medicine.
In the US it has to be ancestor worship (ie the American obsession with asking what politicans who have been dead for 200-300 years thought or would have wanted to happen). From what I see 90% of atheist Americans seem to be guilty of this never mind theists
I don't know, that sounds an awful lot like speculation rather than full blown pseudoscience.
I don't really count phrenology. I don't know much about it but wasn't it the cutting edge of science in it's time? You can't hold that against a certain era. Maybe some of our most concrete notions of the world will be proven wrong too.
Who says there's no atheists in foxholes?
http://foxholeatheist.wordpress.com/
Here you go:
Stupid crap. This is followed in the wiki by the following lines:
Does it help to know that Jenny McCarthy thinks that she is an "Indigo" to illustrate how truly stupid this is?
Read about Jenny's (further) idiocy here: http://www.childrenofthenewearth.com/free.php?page=articles_free/mccarthy_jenny/article1
She also believes that her kid is a "crystal," which is described thusly:
From this steaming pile of a website: http://www.crystalinks.com/childrensic.html
I wouldn't rate this as harmless woo, since the idiot parents who buy into this crap are fucking their kids up when they should be getting actual help for them.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
Is it just me or does Wikipedia really need to clean itself up?
Ok, that came out wrong. I guess I wouldn't censor or block it really... but it does seem to me that wikipedia on initial impact seems to promote this crap.
Funny, I was thinking about this a little while ago, you know, that fine line between harmless fun supersition and batshit lethal religious genocide... well... Anyone here have any little rituals you perform? You know, like, a lucky number or anything else?
Who says there's no atheists in foxholes?
http://foxholeatheist.wordpress.com/
In this case, the initial claim is immediately followed by the note that there is no evidence for it(with a more in depth critique later on), so I am cool with that.
Not that I'm aware of.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
Psychology, because its foundation allows it to become a full fledged scientific field one day.
/joke
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I'm with Rich on Feng Shui. I've got a friend who's family are from Hong Kong. He told me about a hotel that was built parallel to the lie of the land with the sea, as well as in a wave shape (looking down onto the top of the hotel). When it was designed the architect found out that a dragon was supposed to live in the lands to the... east I think.... and that the people held ceremonies to mark the passing of the dragon over the land. So the architect designed a hole in the middle of the hotel to allow the dragon to pass through and get to the sea.
It's nonsense but I kinda like it.
M
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
I'm going with Feng Shui as well.
Seems pretty unbiased to me, but also unambiguous in its assertion that there is no scientific evidence for indigo children.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare
Yeah, I got that. Maybe I just feel that it almost seems to lend a false sense of credability if you read no further.
Who says there's no atheists in foxholes?
http://foxholeatheist.wordpress.com/
I don't know what pseudoscience bothers me the least. Probably one of those I've tried on myself succesfully, so I don't worry about them anymore.
What I heard also is that DNA sample of some people glows in blue color, if it's viewed under a polarized light. (which should be a laboratory tool) These people are thus called "indigo". Their large-scale occurence is rather new, thus they are still usually young, thus they're called indigo children.
I don't believe this but I also don't have enough information to reject it, it's too vague to make an opinion. We here had asked a geneticist, but the blue glowing of DNA sample was a thing unknown to her. I don't know where that information came from.
We really have a problems with pseudoastrology. There are also inept astrologers, who explains the horoscope to the client, but in special terms of astrology. They are unable to say it in human terms, and then they encourage the client to learn the astrology by himself (words like quinkunx....etc) to understand his own horoscope! That's awful. I can be glad that my father and those who becomes astrologers at his courses are immune to such a medieval practices. As every science, also astrology must be constantly studied, developed, revised and correctly popularized.
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.
I have my answer: whichever pseudoscience Luminon is talking about on a given day.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
Oh, fuck...
The contemporary 'Indigo Child' movement essentially prescribes any case of mental illness in a child as a sign of deitihood; that is, the child is alleged to be misdiagnosed as mentally ill when they are, in fact (according to proponents of the ideology) 'deeply connected' with 'ultimate reality'. They have an ethereal '3rd eye' that they can apparently see into the future with; they have telekinetic and telepathic and empathetic powers; they are super intelligent; etc. All of this nonsense in order to attempt to explain a child's dysfunctional behavior without having to accept that there are negative things that occur that you have no control over.
Child breaks something or makes an enormous mess? They still getting used to their telekinetic powers (or are just 'exploring' said powers). Child hits another child? That other child just be a bad person in the future (or perhaps a bad person in a previous life, or an alternate timeline/dimension, etc). Child is socially anxious? They're just shocked to be walking amongst such lower beings as us. Child cannot concentrate or listen? They're just so darn smart that our lowly human tasks bore them.
In all honesty, though, it's much more harmless than it sounds. Parents usually only cling to the 'diagnosis' of having an 'indigo child' for a few years, and tend to take their little deity to proper psychologists anyway. I know a few psychologists who will even simply play along, facetiously (while actually rendering help), until the parent is readyto let get of their delusion.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Funology.
BTW I'm offended. I happen to be an Indigo Child.
Does this mean you could go out this Halloween as Dr. Manhattan just by strippin' to the bare and putting a Bohr model hydrogen atom figure on your forehead?
You Indigo Children have all the advantages
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
Although many will disagree, I think these Ghost Hunting shows are HILARIOUS! Paranormal state, With this Chip Coffey character yelling at walls and "demons" and screaming "In the name of Jesus, I say demon be gone!" Its fucking PRICELESS. Though there are many people who believe in such lunacy, Its funny how they videotape all of these shows and STILL have no actual evidence of anything Paranormal. If you haven't seen the show, do so, I promise you will burst out laughing in only a short amount of time.
Some family members like the Ghost Hunters show on SciFi. I admit, there was a few amusing moments, like when they went into some sort of prayer room in pitch darkness, and everyone bumped their shins on these low benches. For several minutes, the show consisted of hearing a thud, then a loud beep as they censored each person's encounter with the benches.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
I can't even watch those, I admit to being the cranky guy who disagrees. It's so embarassing. They go into a 200 year-old house, and
"Shhh! Did you hear that?"
Creak.
"O ghost. Tell us that you're there!"
Creak.
"Clearly a ghost!"
Fuck. How stupid are they? If I were in a 200-year-old house that creaked, I'd think, "hey, I'm in an old creaky house made with wood", not "there are ghosts!"
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
That does it. I'm kicking you off of the Ghostbusting team.
Turn-in your badge and proton pack, buddy.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Here is a great episode of "Destination Truth" with Josh Gates. It's essentially a show where this team goes searching for cryptids that I mentioned above.
I love the snarky attitude he has about the boats, and the tip he gives at about 6:00 is classic!
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
Once you go blue, you never go back to another hue. Damn! Almost worked...
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
MySpace
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
*Sigh*
I'm afraid 'destination truth' gets my official seal of disapproval. Going out into the mangroves in the dark isn't a particularly good idea because you're likely to stumble across a real monster: either a hungery alligator or a purturbed hippo.
It was a gator that snagged their camera. You can see it passing by in the footage.
Fellow is lucky that it didn't decide to snap-up his hand or capsize their boat.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
I doubt that the situation is ever as dicey as they portray it. I think that most of the "action" is hyped up if not outright staged for the camera. I just can't get enough of Josh's attitude about it. There is the running joke about the quality of boats they get, the foods they are offered, the weirdos they interview. This dude gets paid to go explore weird locales while acting like the character Jim from "The Office" (American version). He's got a sweet gig, he's having fun, and it makes it a pretty entertaining show.
Now, if he took it seriously, I doubt I would watch. The whole premise is a joke, and if you take it as such, it's hilarious.
And, for the record, my family comes from an alligator hunting area. Alligators tipping even little one-man pirogues is rare. A hippo, on the other hand, is nothing I'd tangle with.
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
We are sparks of light, soul consciousness, alien to this reality, and awaiting our return to the soul spark of creation to feel complete/whole."
LMFAO!! Wow, would make a good sci fi story though...