Darkshadow7827
Smash Lord
Link to original post: [drupal=2242]Degeneration 1: Psychics[/drupal]
This is my first blog. For the record, it'll probably fall into the tl;dr category... So skip to the bottom for the tl;dr version :D
I often see, hear, and read about claims that tends to attract national attention on either a small, medium, or large scale. I feel that as science and technology grows, so does our advances in all types of fields: medical field, criminology, forensics, engineering, etc. But as we advance our knowledge, something incredibly ******** unconventional comes up to hinder our progress. Of course it's all about opinion. This is mine.
After watching 20/20, reading articles about psychics that appear in Life and Science magazines, I wonder if psychic children and paranormal "experts" should be taken seriously. It's a relevant issue because these "psychics" really impact society. For example, 20/20 did an interview on a 19 year old girl who claimed she could gold and brown auras around people. According to her, a gold aura depicts health and a brown aura depicts disease. She also said she she could see into the human body. As a biology major, she could diagnose a person just by looking at them! The proof? She saw a brown aura around her dad and saw he was sick with black lungs. It turned out his lungs were infected with a fungus.
So how does this affect society? You have her and hundreds of other "prodigy" children who convince truly sick patients to come to her rather than see a doctor. It's true that a doctor may not correctly diagnose you and will refer you to a specialist. Personally, I have seen up to 10 different specialists, but have not have a clear diagnoses as to why my condition arose. That doesn't mean I'm going to get psychic help.
The question we should be asking is should we take these psychics seriously? There is a lot about the human mind we don't know. Is it possible that a person can identify and diagnose the sick? Yet, these psychics could be convincing patients who need help to do something irrelevant, something that may worsen their condition. Even worse, she proclaims she can help people over the internets! So now a person who is sick and may need immediate help might, just might, send an email instead of going to the ER. We all know medical visits without insurance is expensive.
Even in the forensic field, police and investigators sometimes refer to psychics to help them with unsolved cases. They may help. They may not. More importantly, these psychics are taking work away from properly trained forensic investigators. If psychics are being used as a last resort, then they are probably wasting police officers time validating their claims. Some policemen, however, claim that psychics can actually help. So should we take these psychics seriously?
I will conclude with my argument against psychics and why it's bull****. The most logical explanation is that there's no hard physical evidence. The scientific method requires measurable results, a thesis on how the method work and the predicted results, and reproducible results. You can't even test their abilities. If we examine how we see, you'd find that everyone sees the same way. Light reflecting off objects, image projected on the cornea, rods cones, optic nerve, yada yada yada. Where would the deviation be in this process that allows for a human to see an aura? Would it be in the visual cortex in the occipital lobe? I think the most important factor is how psychics detracts some people from trained professionals. A doctor who has gone through 7-8 years of college, med school, and residency does not a self-proclaimed psychic to give a unvalidated diagnosis.
These self-proclaimed psychics who crave for attention have a degenerative effect on society. They are bringing us down as a species and they are hindering real progress. I am spiteful, but I do have an open mind. I will need concrete, reproducible evidence though.
tl;dr version:
*A psychic girl says she can see auras and see in the human body and tell us if we have a disease
*Everybody sees objects through the same process; she is no exception.
*She is giving patients unvalidated diagnoses, while doctors could give quality care with reasonable evidence.
*Forensic psychics take work from trained investigators.
*Forensic psychics are wasting police officer's time and money.
*I think psychics are attention-wh***s. I'll keep an open mind and listen to any counter arguments though.
What do you think?
This is my first blog. For the record, it'll probably fall into the tl;dr category... So skip to the bottom for the tl;dr version :D
I often see, hear, and read about claims that tends to attract national attention on either a small, medium, or large scale. I feel that as science and technology grows, so does our advances in all types of fields: medical field, criminology, forensics, engineering, etc. But as we advance our knowledge, something incredibly ******** unconventional comes up to hinder our progress. Of course it's all about opinion. This is mine.
After watching 20/20, reading articles about psychics that appear in Life and Science magazines, I wonder if psychic children and paranormal "experts" should be taken seriously. It's a relevant issue because these "psychics" really impact society. For example, 20/20 did an interview on a 19 year old girl who claimed she could gold and brown auras around people. According to her, a gold aura depicts health and a brown aura depicts disease. She also said she she could see into the human body. As a biology major, she could diagnose a person just by looking at them! The proof? She saw a brown aura around her dad and saw he was sick with black lungs. It turned out his lungs were infected with a fungus.
So how does this affect society? You have her and hundreds of other "prodigy" children who convince truly sick patients to come to her rather than see a doctor. It's true that a doctor may not correctly diagnose you and will refer you to a specialist. Personally, I have seen up to 10 different specialists, but have not have a clear diagnoses as to why my condition arose. That doesn't mean I'm going to get psychic help.
The question we should be asking is should we take these psychics seriously? There is a lot about the human mind we don't know. Is it possible that a person can identify and diagnose the sick? Yet, these psychics could be convincing patients who need help to do something irrelevant, something that may worsen their condition. Even worse, she proclaims she can help people over the internets! So now a person who is sick and may need immediate help might, just might, send an email instead of going to the ER. We all know medical visits without insurance is expensive.
Even in the forensic field, police and investigators sometimes refer to psychics to help them with unsolved cases. They may help. They may not. More importantly, these psychics are taking work away from properly trained forensic investigators. If psychics are being used as a last resort, then they are probably wasting police officers time validating their claims. Some policemen, however, claim that psychics can actually help. So should we take these psychics seriously?
I will conclude with my argument against psychics and why it's bull****. The most logical explanation is that there's no hard physical evidence. The scientific method requires measurable results, a thesis on how the method work and the predicted results, and reproducible results. You can't even test their abilities. If we examine how we see, you'd find that everyone sees the same way. Light reflecting off objects, image projected on the cornea, rods cones, optic nerve, yada yada yada. Where would the deviation be in this process that allows for a human to see an aura? Would it be in the visual cortex in the occipital lobe? I think the most important factor is how psychics detracts some people from trained professionals. A doctor who has gone through 7-8 years of college, med school, and residency does not a self-proclaimed psychic to give a unvalidated diagnosis.
These self-proclaimed psychics who crave for attention have a degenerative effect on society. They are bringing us down as a species and they are hindering real progress. I am spiteful, but I do have an open mind. I will need concrete, reproducible evidence though.
tl;dr version:
*A psychic girl says she can see auras and see in the human body and tell us if we have a disease
*Everybody sees objects through the same process; she is no exception.
*She is giving patients unvalidated diagnoses, while doctors could give quality care with reasonable evidence.
*Forensic psychics take work from trained investigators.
*Forensic psychics are wasting police officer's time and money.
*I think psychics are attention-wh***s. I'll keep an open mind and listen to any counter arguments though.
What do you think?
