Welcome back to "Doggerel," where I ramble on about words and phrases that are misused, abused, or just plain meaningless.One completely off-topic thing woos like to bring up is whether or not a "psychic," "healer," or whatever gets paid for what they claim they do. If I were to build a car for someone for free, I don't see how that would change whether or not the car works. Either the car runs or it doesn't. Either the "psychic" can perform or he can't. Either the "healer's" treatments work, or they don't. Reality is not dictated by money.
I suspect this doggerel has a lot to do with one of the straw men woos like to beat on: Despite what they may think, skeptics don't believe all psychics, quacks, etcetera are conscious frauds. I suspect most woos sincerely believe what they say. People can believe all sorts of silly things. But, like money, belief doesn't play much of a role in determining reality.
We form conclusions based on evidence. That's what the James Randi Paranormal Challenge is all about: Proving that it works under tight experimental conditions designed to filter out all the stuff that allows us to fool ourselves. So far, all the best evidence suggests that this sort of stuff doesn't work. The woos are free to prove otherwise. And that's all that matters.
Getting a worthless item for free isn't exactly a wonderful deal.
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Doggerel Index
1 comment:
WTF?!
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