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9th June 2011, 12:51 AM | #361 |
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You're missing out on how much better naturalism is than supernaturalism. If you spend all of this time on these distortions and fantasies that's time you could have been spending on reality and nature. Your distortions and fantasies do have some benefit which seems great to you, but you don't realize how lame it was until you've been living in reality for a long while.
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It's like the time Randi thought he had an OBE until it was explained to him that it couldn't have been real. "During the OBE, Randi interacted with his cat Alice as she lay on his chartreuse bedspread. He was subsequently shown that the cat had been locked outside, and the chartreuse bedspread was in the wash — not on his bed." A convincing effect, even for Randi. |
9th June 2011, 12:55 AM | #362 |
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The textbook advice was mainly meant to provide basic information on how the human body metabolizes fat, carbohydrates and protein to provide energy and "building blocks" for our cells. This is very basic physiology, and comprehensively studied in med school at least in Sweden, and I'd be surprised if American med students didn't go through it as well.
What parts of the common human diet do you consider detrimental? Sure, there are lots of ways to eat in an unhealthy manner (too much, too little, too limited a diet), but the human body can prosper on an amazing variety of foodstuffs- just look at how people in arctic regions have survived on a diet basically devoid of vegetables, while some ethnic groups get along just as fine without meat. |
9th June 2011, 01:00 AM | #363 |
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Yes that is right. Brain get shut all the time to a low level , and back up to survival, creating all kind of weird experience.
But you know what ? The difference is that today we know what's the brain function, and that with all the evidence we have at hand , all those experience you cited fully happen in the brain aka : they are a dellusion. Thus the "god helmet" , "drugs" and other way to push the brain to its limit and conjure hallucination. |
9th June 2011, 01:07 AM | #364 |
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For me this is reality :
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” Not the kantien philosophy "dry hole" as somebody said earlier. You can mastrubate all the way that reality is an illusion that trance lead somewhere etc... But the cold reality is that brain hallucination are just that. but in the case you present reality is probably better defined as : “Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs.” |
9th June 2011, 01:11 AM | #365 |
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9th June 2011, 01:17 AM | #366 |
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No! I say it like it's an obvious thing; and I support reaffirming the obvious. No worries, though
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However, the judgement on my comment was precisely why I said, "been led to believe..."
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9th June 2011, 01:24 AM | #367 |
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9th June 2011, 01:28 AM | #368 |
I lost an avatar bet.
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9th June 2011, 01:34 AM | #369 |
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No, I don't. Of course, my point was not to claim that I was one with everything. My point was to ask you what your opinion of other paths was.
I want to understand why you consider all other paths to be dead ends. And in answering this question, please, please, PLEASE do not say: it is the only way because XXXX said it was the only way. |
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9th June 2011, 01:44 AM | #370 |
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Dangerous? For one, not if you follow everything else I've said. For two, this isn't an advice forum, so no one should be following mine in the first place
Also, that doesn't mean that there isn't proof, just that I'm not going to go out of my way to find it for you when it won't have any bearing on your feelings toward it in the first place. If I ever get a crazy huge grant and some equipment that will allow me to test it, I will, just for you I'd test it this way: Gather 20 people who have smoked cigarettes for exactly 20 years and smoke about the same amount daily as each other. Split them into two groups; all body types varied, 10 per group. Scan all their lungs and anything else directly affected by smoking. Group Y would quit smoking cold turkey and not pick it back up. Group X would quit cold turkey on the same day and also begin fasting with the parameters I've outlined in my recent posts ETA and not pick it back up. Take scans of all lungs and such after the fast is complete, and again in a year. Hypothesis: Group X would exhibit faster healing rates than Group Y on all levels because I smoke, but quit when I fast, and when I fasted I pooped out tar from day 6 until the last day ____ Until then, though, you'll have to forgive me. I'm poor. |
9th June 2011, 01:45 AM | #371 |
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9th June 2011, 01:46 AM | #372 |
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9th June 2011, 01:54 AM | #373 |
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Um... No. Using the word, "I," is the best identifiable term the English language has for quickly determining one entity. Self has multiple definitions [spiritual/physical], and relating Ladewig's use of "I" into something you can understand way up there on your throne/podium, just imagine he said, "So you are trying to teach the fact that one cannot learn from being aware of one's surroundings."
Holding yourself above others because of their vocabulary is a cheap trick that develops subconscious Ego, pushing you farther from your goal of, "Enlightened," and only crushes your Humility. Had you been, "Enlightened," you would have refrained from being a know-it-all. |
9th June 2011, 02:13 AM | #374 |
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Apologies for spamming
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9th June 2011, 02:33 AM | #375 |
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What are you talking about? How are you making fasting perfectly safe? What did you say that makes it safe to make unsupported claims?
Fasting is a dangerous idea and has harmed or killed many people. Another consideration is that it's wasted time and energy better spent on real solutions which is a net harm.
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9th June 2011, 02:54 AM | #376 | |||
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Food Matters. Cranks!
David Wolfe thinks mushroom spores come from other planets. He's an absolute crank whose sole value is entertainment purposes. yay!
Classic moments I bookmarked (will load video at exact time) Deer Eaters are more Heavenly Activate Genius Ormus wants to mate with you Mushrooms are aliens If you have candida (how do you diagnose?) you should drink piss. My point is that all of these new "natural health" movies that come out try to make themselves look so mainstream and acceptable, but if you look into them, there is hardcore woo everywhere. Case in point, Simply Raw. It's a fairly noncontroversial idea, diet helps diabetes, but if you look into their beliefs, especially about the Essenes and the other stuff they are involved with, you think wow! Is this like recruiting for their superwoo? Their top endorser is Dr. Mercola!?!? lol I could probably go on all day about that movie. Mike Adams is indeed part of that I guessed it, here's him interviewing Charlotte Gerson (daughter of famous cancer crank) on their website. Mike Adams is persona non grata. Search his name on Orac's blog for endless hilarity, although some of it is outrageous, not funny. He wrote on his blog once that he thought Jared Loughner was a mind control victim of a conspiracy, but for some reason later edited that post... He really is the king of health woo cranks that's why I guessed he was involved in this... |
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9th June 2011, 02:58 AM | #377 |
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To stop fasting when your body starts deteriorating. Said that twice; pay attention if you're gonna troll.
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That's what science is for.
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However, I don't quite understand the double-meaning, so correct me if I'm inconsistently deciphering your daunting code. You're assuming I ingested charcoal? No, just water. You're saying I pooped out charcoal because it was already in me? Possibly, but wouldn't that be a good thing to cleanse anyway? |
9th June 2011, 03:03 AM | #378 |
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9th June 2011, 03:24 AM | #379 |
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9th June 2011, 03:27 AM | #380 |
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Yeah, that's real solid advice.
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Anyway, it's woo. Back to the OP |
9th June 2011, 03:53 AM | #381 |
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Both points underlined and seconded. The warning systems of the body are good, but not foolproof, especially when impaired by hunger (very similar to how normal heat regulation breaks down in hypothermia).
And as for strange faeces, it's a classic trick in many woo diets to provide people with substances that cause unusual colour or consistence of the fecal matter, claiming that "toxins are being cleared from the body". One of the worst examples I've seen was small "pebbles" that absorbed water in the intestine, coming out as round balls that were pointed out as excreted gallstones... Tar-like faeces is often caused by iron supplements, as well a food made from blood. Swedish black pudding is well known for this. |
9th June 2011, 04:02 AM | #382 |
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No, I just meant that since the tests aren't complete there's no proof against the fact that fasting could be healthy given the correct circumstances.
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9th June 2011, 04:47 AM | #383 |
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Ahhh I see! Having fasted myself and having watched others I think normal warning systems for behavior are missing too. Evolutionarily you would expect any adaptions to deal with hunger and help you find food would have some negative trade-offs (ignoring signals so you can focus on other things which I think is why religions use fasting)
Sawbones you practice medicine right? Is your name because you get to saw bones sometimes? |
9th June 2011, 05:00 AM | #384 |
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It probably could be made to be healthy, there probably are some ways to benefit from the idea of fasting. But because the idea is so nebulous, we have to be specific about how.
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9th June 2011, 05:17 AM | #385 |
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"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
In other word be wary of not becoming what you fight, be wary of taking the bad side of what you fight to overcome it. An example of that would be to use terroristical tactics in fighting terrorist, use torture, etc... Or a democraty using anti democratic means to maintain itself (banning some political party). Examples abound. |
9th June 2011, 06:36 AM | #386 |
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I was going to say that proof would certainly have bearings on my feelings toward fasting and "detoxifying."
If there were toxins which harmed the body, and fasting was the easiest and healthiest overall way to do it, and there was evidence for that, I'd certainly feel differently about it, and might try it. But then I read this...
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I eat a fairly good diet by modern medical standards, low fat, high fiber, no caffeine, alcohol maybe once a month, get enough vitamins and minerals without supplements, <2,000 calories a day, and I'm in excellent health so it seems to be working, though I still eat normally processed foods with their "toxins." But I can't imagine ever being stupid enough to smoke. That's about the most direct way of putting real toxins in one's body that I can think of, and it's cheaper and easier and more convenient not to do it, than to do it. So I'm thinking this isn't really about what's best overall for one's health, and I can see why you wouldn't want to bother providing evidence. There's some emotional component here I can't fathom, where one would choose to poison the body and then try to get rid of that poison, rather than just avoid the poison in the first place. |
9th June 2011, 07:21 AM | #387 |
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9th June 2011, 07:37 AM | #388 |
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If the "tar" was indeed endogenous, it might be bile products. Anyway, as for the OP: Fasting is one way amongst many (including drugs, extreme exhaustion, self-suggestion) to achieve a state of altered conciousness. Going from this to calling it a supernatural or spiritual experience requires either extraordinary evidence or a leap of faith.
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9th June 2011, 08:05 AM | #389 |
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Originally Posted by Joe McGee
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9th June 2011, 08:12 AM | #390 |
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9th June 2011, 08:25 AM | #391 |
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The uncivil ones in construction take the view (and I quote) "If my subs (subcontractors) are happy I'm not doing my job." Freaking pouring concrete in a freaking thunderstorm.....
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9th June 2011, 11:45 AM | #392 |
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9th June 2011, 11:53 AM | #393 |
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My thing is, the argument "All scientists need a bit of autism" doesn't stand if scientists aren't significantly different from the wider population. The argument, as stated in this thread, is that the autism is causally linked to science. However, if there's no significant difference between scientists and the general public (and I've seen no studies indicating there is, and a LOT of anecdotal evidence to suggest that there isn't), what's actually happening is that a bit of autism is merely a human trait, and the evidence (those with autism) is being cherry-picked to support the conclusion (picking scientists with a touch of autism).
In other words, even if all scientists DO have a miniscule, nearly indetectable amount of autism, that's not enough to prove that autism and science are linked. |
9th June 2011, 12:02 PM | #394 |
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I don't see anyone in that article claiming that the benefits are exclusive to scientists. There are lots of lifestyles that use similar abilities, and you would think there would be a matrix of spectrums of this kind of thing, that's included in the overall theory of evolutionary biology and neuroscience I was talking about.
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9th June 2011, 03:11 PM | #395 |
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This
______________________________ Yes, Shakespeare wrote a few plays about madness. That two of his most popular were about madness is not evidence of Shakespeare's madness anymore than my saying that you wrote several posts about madness is evidence that you are suffering from madness. It is possible that the plays are popular because the madness described in those plays makes for a fascinating story. _____________________________ Christ on a bike, for the last time: just because Plato said something does not mean it is true. Plato is not the Divine Master whose words form the font of all that is True and Good. I don't know where you developed your idée fixe on Plato but a good therapist can help you overcome it. ____________________________ There is no divine element to epilepsy. Asserting that there is is offensive. Please stop it. ____________________________ There is no demon possession. Let me close with a question. When you earned your liberal arts degree, did they make any attempt t to teach you how to evaluate evidence? Because citing this bigoted, conspiratorial, kook-filled website ( http://www.jesus-is-savior.com ) is nonsense. There is no evidence at that site. |
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9th June 2011, 05:37 PM | #396 |
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Top 5 Mad Geniuses
"Despite evidence of a link between genius and madness, no one has proved that such a link exists. However, scientists at the University of Toronto have discovered that creative people possess little to no "latent inhibition," the unconscious ability to reject unimportant or irrelevant stimuli. As University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson puts it, "This means that creative individuals remain in* contact with the extra information constantly streaming in from the environment. " http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic...mad-genius.htm |
9th June 2011, 06:37 PM | #397 |
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Not back then, that's my new regimen for fasting. At the time of the tar I was ingesting only water for the whole period.
I'm surprised I can sway your opinion so easily.
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Leave my personal choices out of this, unless you'd like to start a new thread about "Flaming smokers." Yes, I do, but...
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I'm incredibly open to the idea that I could be wrong. My Point is that neither of us can be conclusive, so the material is inconclusive, and that's that. At this time proof is of no importance to me. After I conduct the 14-day fast I will get back to you, but until then my thoughts were merely meant to be there for the masses as one who has fasted. "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" comes to mind when interpreting either of our proofs from the other's POV. Ah that's a good quote! It goes alongside the idea of the Universal Law of Attraction, as well. |
9th June 2011, 06:55 PM | #398 |
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I tried fasting once when I was 21 or so, along with a few other friends, having heard it might be useful to gain some kind of insight or clarity or some such enlightenment. Alas, I was then, as I am 40-odd years later, a user of dangerous machinery, and found after a couple of days that it's really stupid to fast if you need to be alert and remember where all your fingers are. No doubt I'm also still an unenlightened oaf, but I still use dangerous machinery, still have all my fingers, toes and teeth, and I eat when I'm hungry.
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9th June 2011, 07:06 PM | #399 |
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Yeah I can see how that would be a problem!
When I first started fasting I almost lost my job because I had such a huge headache for four days. A disclaimer, if this were an advice thread, would be, "Danger, don't attempt unless you are stubborn! Also, having Faith in unprovable things is almost a necessity! Don't attempt if you enjoy defining things and/or critically think often!" |
9th June 2011, 08:09 PM | #400 |
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