Comments | hummingwolf: Why do I do it?

hummingwolf

Why do I do it?

Jun 16, 2009 10:43

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I keep checking out new age fluff from the library and reading it? No, that's not the question. The question is: Why do I keep reading new age fluff by authors who try to support their mysticism with "science"? After all, it's not the metaphysics that bothers me; it's the physics. I'll be reading along ( Read more... )

linkage: science, books

Comments 12

slyfoot June 16 2009, 15:34:04 UTC

The universe is sparkly. The Dancing Wu Li Masters told me so.

hummingwolf June 16 2009, 15:37:30 UTC

I am one with the Universe. Therefore, I am sparkly.

slyfoot June 16 2009, 15:43:36 UTC

Hehe :)

I'm not really into becoming one with nature. There's way too many mosquitos.

flewellyn June 16 2009, 17:24:47 UTC

Sometime I question your commitment to Sparkle Motion!

Thread 7

aekiy June 16 2009, 16:08:19 UTC

I think we traded shifts; I finally got to sleep shortly after 4:00 a.m. Now that I'm up, I think it's about time for your nap.

And ya.. I have that problem too. I'm also just generally unnerved by how it seems everywhere I look - like in sociology and other science sections of a library - I see books espousing The Secret and The Power of Positive Thinking philosophy as science.

hummingwolf June 20 2009, 21:57:47 UTC

Did you go to sleep at 4 a.m. on Thursday too? And take lots of little catnaps during the day? Because Thursday was another day when I woke up early and had difficulty staying awake.

I see books espousing The Secret and The Power of Positive Thinking philosophy as science.

There are people who do that? Okay, bits of the original Norman Vincent Peale book probably appealed to the psychological theories of the day, so I could almost understand that, sort of not quite. But... The Secret??? AGH!

aekiy June 20 2009, 22:30:50 UTC

ya.. it is very sad.

magnifelyn June 16 2009, 18:19:35 UTC

Yes, in my New-Agey reading and viewing, if there is one beginning of an assertion that chills me to the bone, it is the very common, "Quantum physics tells us..." Whatever follows, is inevitably brain-exploding. The FAKE PHYSICS, IT KILLS.

hummingwolf June 20 2009, 22:04:34 UTC

You know, I actually enjoy it when people take ideas or experimental results from quantum physics and use them as a jumping-off point for wild speculation about the nature of existence. (There's a reason why "quantum mythology" is on my interests list!) But when people state baldly that quantum mythology--or any other branch of science--"tells us" or "teaches" something, I get seriously annoyed. Especially when, as in this case, it would be more reasonable to say that experimental findings suggest the exact opposite of what is being claimed!