I dunno' what your philosophy of science is - but this is the one I subscribe to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessimistic_induction
Which can be summed up pretty simply.
Just because science says something is true. It is incorrect to think it could not be overturned tommorrow by a newer discovery.
And equally - just because something isn't proven by science. Doesn't mean that some kind of proof for it will not be discovered tomorrow.
And lastly - some things may be true. And may never be proved by science at all. Either due to lack of ingenuity, oversight or because it is too difficult for science to find a way of proving it.
Now - I use the word 'proof' as a short-hand for the theory with the biggest consensus in science, which has yet to be overturned by an experiment. I know that proper scientists don't think in terms of proof.
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Now - this might seem pretty arcane stuff. Except that too many people are risking their brains (which once damaged can never be fixed) due to a mistaken belief in the power of science.
'First, do no harm', for two thousand years, was the guiding principle of western medicine.
And - when people take powerful psychiatric drugs - they are gambling that the drugs work in the way they have being promised. And that the scepticism of pessimistic meta-induction (as detailed above) will not turn out to be relevent in their case. This is truly a case of playing Russian Roulette with your brain.
The tide is finally turning against psychiatry and the 'medical-industrial complex'. There have being a bunch of articles recently speaking out against this. Such as the following in yesterday's Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/m...tal-health
But - I want to ut up this post since I want to pass along the latest column by my favourite writer, Peter Hitchens.
As always with his work - he goes over fascinating details that most others are too lazy to look up. A nice example in the article below is the fact that the inventor of lobotomies was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949.
As a worthy recipient of the The Orwell Prize for journalism - Peter Hitchens has always being fiercely independetly minded. And in the coming years - I am convinced he will be proved correct again.
Can Medical Science be Utterly Wrong? Yes, It Can.
I just want to share this since I find it interesting when acccepted truths are dismantled. Since once those truths are dismantled, people have a tendency to forget that they ever believed otherwise.
'All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.' - Arthur Schopenhauer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessimistic_induction
Which can be summed up pretty simply.
Just because science says something is true. It is incorrect to think it could not be overturned tommorrow by a newer discovery.
And equally - just because something isn't proven by science. Doesn't mean that some kind of proof for it will not be discovered tomorrow.
And lastly - some things may be true. And may never be proved by science at all. Either due to lack of ingenuity, oversight or because it is too difficult for science to find a way of proving it.
Now - I use the word 'proof' as a short-hand for the theory with the biggest consensus in science, which has yet to be overturned by an experiment. I know that proper scientists don't think in terms of proof.
---------------------------
Now - this might seem pretty arcane stuff. Except that too many people are risking their brains (which once damaged can never be fixed) due to a mistaken belief in the power of science.
'First, do no harm', for two thousand years, was the guiding principle of western medicine.
And - when people take powerful psychiatric drugs - they are gambling that the drugs work in the way they have being promised. And that the scepticism of pessimistic meta-induction (as detailed above) will not turn out to be relevent in their case. This is truly a case of playing Russian Roulette with your brain.
The tide is finally turning against psychiatry and the 'medical-industrial complex'. There have being a bunch of articles recently speaking out against this. Such as the following in yesterday's Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/m...tal-health
But - I want to ut up this post since I want to pass along the latest column by my favourite writer, Peter Hitchens.
As always with his work - he goes over fascinating details that most others are too lazy to look up. A nice example in the article below is the fact that the inventor of lobotomies was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949.
As a worthy recipient of the The Orwell Prize for journalism - Peter Hitchens has always being fiercely independetly minded. And in the coming years - I am convinced he will be proved correct again.
Can Medical Science be Utterly Wrong? Yes, It Can.
I just want to share this since I find it interesting when acccepted truths are dismantled. Since once those truths are dismantled, people have a tendency to forget that they ever believed otherwise.
'All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.' - Arthur Schopenhauer