Re: Marriage is under fire!!

From: Kevin Aylward (salesEXTRACT_at_anasoft.co.uk)
Date: 08/16/04 

Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 18:20:38 GMT

andy wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 06:55:42 +0000, Kevin Aylward wrote:
>
>> andy wrote:
>>> On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 13:50:00 +0000, Kevin Aylward wrote:
>>>
>>>> andy wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 06:40:05 +0000, Kevin Aylward wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> andy wrote:
>>>>>
>>>
>>>>>>>>> that carries a
>>>>>>>>> whole load of other associations beyond just the idea that
>>>>>>>>> people's character and behaviour is a product of both their
>>>>>>>>> genetic inheritance and later social influences.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Oh? Just what piece of magic, other than the hardware and
>>>>>>>> software programming of humans do you think is relevant to
>>>>>>>> humans?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The only escape, excluding magic, from classical determinism
>>>>>>>> for all of human behaviour, is quantum uncertainty. However, a
>>>>>>>> random trait generator, is by definition, random, therefore an
>>>>>>>> "I" can have no control over it. Any non-random control, is
>>>>>>>> the result of prior memes and genes.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So, what else do you actually suggest, again excluding magic?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> what do you mean by magic that you insist on excluding it?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anything that isn't a part of mass-energy physics.
>>>>>
>>>>> That just seems ignorant to me
>>>>
>>>> Not at all. This process actually works.
>>>
>>> It works by, whenever something is explained scientifically which
>>> was previously understood as magic, then it is no longer magic, and
>>> any earlier approaches to understanding that thing are relegated to
>>> 'primitive superstition'. Which is alright in a way, except for the
>>> way that until that happens, scientists have a tendency to invest
>>> far more energy than is really justified into rubbishing any
>>> competing explanations of things that they consider within their
>>> realm of understanding, simply because they draw on conceptual
>>> frameworks which don't easily fit the current scientific
>>> understanding of things.
>>>
>>> One example is asian medical traditions like acupuncture and
>>> shiatsu. I suffer from some mental health problems which are mostly
>>> around excessive fearfulness/paranoia. In chinese medicine, the
>>> emotion of fear is seen as related to the kidney meridian, which
>>> runs from the big toe up the inside of your legs, and then up the
>>> sides of the chest.

There is no logic to this idea. Fear is an emotion evolved to achieve a
certain function. i.e. make sure people take the appropriate action to
maximise their interests in the face of danger. The idea that this
"kidney meridian" has an effect on the brain is rather incredible. Sure,
maybe getting kicked in the kidneys might promote some response, but
there is no rational way a general relationship between fictitious
contours on the body and brain electrochemical responses can occur. It
just don't wash. Its simply stuff ignorant peasants dreamed up before
they had any idea of how the brain and body works.

>'Kidney chi weakness' is also the diagnosis
>>> I've had when I've been to see traditional chinese practitioners.
>>> One way to balance this out is simply to do exercises which involve
>>> stretching the inside leg muscles, and massaging the kidney area.
>>> I've tried this
>>>
>>
>> Ahmmm...this is way to vague to make any conclusions.
>
> It's only one example out of a whole medical tradition.
>
>>> and it actually works for me,
>>> but because the theory behind these
>>> treatments is put in a conceptual framework which is foreign to
>>> western medicine, many scientists seem to want to rubbish that whole
>>> medical tradition just because it uses a language that makes no
>>> sense to them.
>>
>> Its not because the language makes no sense, its because there isn't
>> a theory here at all.
>
> There is a theory

Oh?

>- that human health is related to
> circulation/movement of an energy (bad word to use because of the
> western scientific connection) called chi,

Indeed. The word "energy" is already taken. It is therefore pointless
using it to refer to something completely different.

> that this takes different
> forms which are concentrated in a series of pathways called
> meridians, that the activation of these meridians varies in a
> cyclical way which is described by the five elements theory, that it
> is possible to diagnose energy imbalances using various methods, etc.

This is simple waffle. "Mental" "problems" must be either due to "bad"
genes (brain hardware) or bad memes (brain software). That's all there
is, excluding magic.

> It's just that most of the theoretical terms, and the signs and
> symptoms connected with them, can't easily be translated into western
> scientific terms.

I doubt it. If this er... "theory" made any real sense, it could be
expressed in a more normal concise language. Usually obtuse terms and
vague ideas are just a cover up for lack of any real substance. Its done
all the tome by palm readers, tea leaf readers, astrologists etc.

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
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