Angry Doctor

Friday, June 22, 2007

Zen and the Art of Limb-Regeneration


angry doc apologises for the lack of posting; he has been busy over at Mr Wang's blog, discussing the topic of limb-regeneration.

Well, actually, he hasn't; the limb-regeneration part is a red herring.

The discussion, the way angry doc sees it, is about the scientific method and how we should test each claim and require evidence for them. Many participants seem to disagree, and the usual arguments abound, including (links to Wikipedia and Skeptico's blog):

Do hop over and have a read (especially if you are a quantum physicist; I think we sorely need the input of one there), but before that, angry doc would once again like to draw his readers' attention to the letter by Mr Shyamal Ghose which he featured in an earlier post.

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9 Comments:

  • Hey Doc,

    I saw your post on limb-generation and went over to Mr Wangs and left a note.

    I glanced at the 100+ posts and think you have boiled the matter down to the crux.

    I was particularly amused by how quantum entanglement has been dragged into it.

    Keep up the good work.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At June 23, 2007 11:17 am  

  • QM,

    Thanks for writing. I'm sure I don't understand quantum mechanics, but I am also pretty sure that there is currently no evidence that 'mind-hacking' can make the universe deliver whatever we want to us, and that it is a universal law that is valid 'all the time'. :)

    By Blogger angry doc, At June 23, 2007 6:19 pm  

  • y are u so angry? relac la

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At June 24, 2007 5:10 pm  

  • hi doc, very glad to have found your blog. Thanks for the link to Shyamal Ghose's letter. It was a brilliant piece of writing.

    Wang might be a good political commentator but he makes a lousy scientist, lacking a basic understanding of how science works.

    I suspect he's beginning to realise that he's wrong.

    He used to insist: thoughts -> reality.

    Now he says: thoughts -> actions -> reality.

    Or more hilarious still, actions IS reality.

    But he is unwilling to admit his mistake. So he drags in all sorts of complex and unrelated theories to create a smokescreen.

    I'm amazed by your patience in dealing with his nonsense. :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At June 27, 2007 4:20 pm  

  • Welcome, Boon.

    I am really quite impressed with Shyamal Ghose's letter; so much so that I featured it on my blog even though it wasn't directly-related to healthcare.

    It is rather frustrating arguing on Mr Wang's blog (both with him and with some of his readers), but I feel it is important.

    Mr Wang has a high readership and that's because he has demonstrated through his previous posts his acumen for detecting propaganda or spin in the news, and his analytical ability in seeing through them. His readers trust him.

    However, he doesn't seem to be applying the same powers for logical analysis to his own claims in this latest series of posts.

    I think it will be a pity if the same readers who have learnt how to think about political and social issues critically come away with the idea that we should not require logic and evidence to tests certain claims just because they have a purported religious or spiritual element to them.

    By Blogger angry doc, At June 27, 2007 5:10 pm  

  • hi doc, thanks for reply.

    If some of wang's readers fail to spot the holes in his reasoning, it simply means that they haven't learnt to think critically.

    They might have switched from mainstream media to online blogs, but they're still accepting whatever the "authority" says, wholesale and unquestioningly. That's rather sad, I felt.

    Critical thinking is a mindset and philosophy, because although there are techniques which assist in critical thinking, but one has to know when to apply them.

    Do you know if there're any organisations or societies in Singapore which promote critical thinking?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At June 27, 2007 10:45 pm  

  • Boon,

    Don't know of any such society, but there are many skeptic sites and blogs around. I think I'll feature one tomorrow...

    By Blogger angry doc, At June 27, 2007 11:03 pm  

  • Thanks Doc, appreciate it. Hoping to find more like-minded people in Singapore. :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At June 28, 2007 10:46 am  

  • Here, I do not actually think this is likely to have success.
    have a look | best | glance 3 | ! | my 2 | !

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 16, 2013 10:50 pm  

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