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General Epistemology        Chapter II-8       

 

II-8 Scientistist taboos

 

(Permalink) (Was chapiter 18 in version 1) (note 92 on scientistism)

 

This chapter was essentially written between 1999 and 2010 (undated text), with some more recent updates (dated). Today (August 2018) I brought a final revision, because many things have changed or were clarified, most often in a good direction. However at a moment I have to stop these incessant rewriting, just removing some errors and cleaning up the style. The purpose of this chapter remains the same as when it was first created (to denounce taboos dictated in the name of science), but now you should take it as an historical testimony of the period of time it was written.

Chapter which, keep in mind, targets scientistism (note 92), not science.

When I first conceived this chapter in 1999, I hoped science would be some day able to get rid of any taboo.

19 years later, we are not yet here, but there are important progresses.

Introduction

(Permalink) Certain topics, even accessible to traditional materialistic science, were however excluded from its range of study. This is because rationalist ideologies (chapter II-6), like all the restrictive or reductive ideologies, claim to define alone the reality and its significance. Such topics are then qualified of «irrational» or «non-scientific». This attitude, perfectly irrational and non-scientific, is counterproductive and very detrimental, as it results in neglecting original or significant discoveries, or even in occulting major aspects of our life. Worse, as whole fields of human knowledge are thus left in waste land, the weeds, cults (note 48), odd ideas, phantasms and other really irrational ideas, can proliferate there without the society and nobody being able to control them. Thus scientistists and rationalists support in fact the irrational or antiscientific ideas they pretend to fight (It is what I call a collusion de facto, typical of what happens with reciprocal situations, see chapter I-4). This denial of knowledge can lead to socially dangerous and condemnable attitudes. We shall see this in these examples.

Alternative medicines

(Permalink) (Sub-chapter clarified and rewritten in 2014, revised and enriched in 2017, clarified again 2018. Old version on wayback machine). Faced with certain real or supposed abuses of the «official» medicine, the idea of «alternative» medicines («médecines douces» in French) has developed, more human, more respectful of life and even accounting with the spiritual dimension. Personally, it was the existence of serious alternative medicines (diet, organic food) which arose my interest in these things. But such a state of mind predisposes to «accepting everything» in the wake. Then, the «refusal of the system» (chapter VI-10), see the refusal of science, leads many people to accept things which are blatantly false, ineffective, and even organized deception.

Then I for long shown a clear preference for alternative medicine, and I still maintain that there are important things to be reaped there. But there are certain facts which make me seriously doubt today: in an area where «everyone has his own truth» and where effective medicine is a matter of «choice», we end up with just as much abuse, if not more. And equally powerless in front of these abuses, or while facing painful choices.

Therefore we cannot make general statements of the type «pro» on «con» alternative medicines, since some are valid, and others are not. Then I shall examine then on a case-by-case basis. And I shall draw my conclusions.

 

The approach of cancer. (Revised June 2017) This case is interesting, as it allows to assess the problems, by clearly revealing the difference between serious alternative medicines and scams.

«Official» medicine offers only effective but painful treatments, whereas serious alternative medicines address prevention, through lifestyle and organic food, which allow a significant reduction in the number of cases of cancers. I do not see in which way these two approaches would be in conflict, on the contrary they nicely complement each other, without interfering in any way. They are both equally rational, both based on science, and they both constitute duties and necessities, each in its turn. To oppose them, either in one direction or the other, is purely a matter of clan and pride. In this case, denigrating all alternative medicine without distinction costs tens of thousands of deaths every year (preventable environmental cancers).

(Added october 2019) And we were right, with the first science studies showing that organic eaters have 25% less cancers. A result which does not really come as a complete surprise, I must say.

On the other hand, some «alternative» medicines pretend to cure cancer. I'm open minded. But so far, to my knowledge, none has produced statistics showing the effectiveness of its treatments. (Which I asked for, in the first version of this book in 2000). In some cases, there has been refusals of care, through a carefully maintained fear of «chemistry» and hospitals. It is not an invention: I actually knew a woman who died after refusing the surgery which could have saved her from uterus cancer (and would have guaranteed her an absolute contraception for life, which she surely would be much interested). Of course, these deaths are brandished high, in order to denigrate all the alternative medicines, and beyond all those who do good work: doctors, farmers, traders, companies, associations, who concretely build a world without pollution, where cancer would be much rarer.

Thus the liars clearly play on both registers in the same time: reductive disinformation (generalizing denigration) and boosting disinformation (scams). Both in the end finally serving as much at destroying the idea of a more human medicine.

 

Homeopathy. Personally I had some sympathy for this method, which seemed to confirm certain spiritualist theories. The efficiency tests for its official recognition are a model of what should be done for all the schools of alternative medicine. The blockages which took place against these tests are them model of what should no longer happen. Unfortunately for homeopathy, these tests (1999) demonstrated its inefficiency. Homeopathy is just a good placebo for those who believe in it. It is probably this placebo action which makes that in France homeopathy is still paid by the health care system, while some ineffective chemical drugs have recently been de-reimbursed (2012). Also see note 62 on the «memory of water»

 

Holistic approach. (Added June 2017). This is not strictly speaking a method, but a principle, as what every aspects of the human person, body, metabolism, nerves, brain, emotions, consciousness, mind, would be connected, forming a whole. Thus, a disturbance of one aspect would affect the others. This would would introduce for instance the possibility of healing the body by acting on the mind (the latter being easier to modify). In practice, such interactions are observed: placebo effect, positive effect of massages, meditation, etc. Therefore serious physicians have introduced a share of holism in their practice, for example by proposing a friendly environment to the hospital, instead of distressing or impersonal environment. Of course, all the alternative medicines more or less claim to be holistic, sometimes right, sometimes with exaggerated pretensions. Indeed consciousness and mind also have their laws, which makes that in this domain it is just as ineffective or dangerous to turn to crooks or to false masters.

 

Humors, elements, acupuncture, shiatsu, etc. are Middle Age theories, or Asian traditional medicines. As for homeopathy, they demonstrated no efficacy other than placebo, more the well-known effects of massages and relaxation.

 

Chi, Prana, Kundalini. (Added June 2017). If we simply believe in these things, without feeling them, then the discussion goes back to the previous case, and the results are limited to the placebo effect, with all its risks. However, they are spiritual energies (chapter V-17) which can be objectively experienced with an appropriate training. A priori stating that these things do not exist is the reciprocal situation of the belief in ineffective trinkets: the scientistic refusal to consider real phenomena. People with this attitude are in fact as much patsies as those who read the horoscopes in the newspapers. The purpose of this second part of this book is precisely to overcome these difficulties.

These energies have no specific action on any part of the body, but they have a general beneficial action, which is probably the basis of the placebo effect itself (chapter II-9). Thus they enable it to be produced voluntarily, without dependence on a lie, a belief, or any snake oil. Neither on a costly «initiation» as proposed by some pseudo-masters imitating Reiki. Some techniques of Kung Fu and Tantras can actually fortify the body, or alter the nervous system, for example to allow a man to be multi-orgasmic. The forms of relaxation, Hatha Yoga, etc. are known to help to better handle or reduce pain, stress and other psychological disorders, so that they can be used as complementary therapies.

 

The Tummo. (Added on October 3, 2017) Although this is not a medicine, I add this paragraph here, because I see more and more boosting disinformation (many Youtube videos), presenting the Tummo as a kind of dangerous ordeal, stunt show or «cold resistance test». In reality, the Tummo is a technique of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, which requires no particular external circumstance. It plays an important role in achieving high spiritual states. Hence very probably the disinformation, and we might see in a few years the anti-cult cults «denouncing the dangers of the Tummo». Total lies and imaginary dangers, since the Tummo can be practised sitting in our bedroom, well warm. Scientific studies still show a warming of the skin (Benson et al., 1982; Cromie, 2002), even though they have not (or not yet) proved the parapsychological nature of this effect. Which is not at all the purpose anyway.

 

Personal development proposes a variety of techniques inspirited from yoga, psychological or spiritual training, etc. aiming at enhancing our performances, freedom, self confidence, etc. Most of these techniques are effective, but this is precisely what makes them dangerous, when used outside of the appropriate ethical of spiritual frame. They can result in hardening of the ego, and strengthening of negative traits like anger, arrogance, authoritarianism, becoming manipulative, etc. (I am sorry, but I just saw too many kind people becoming angry and aggressive in this way). This is also true in some New Age «therapies». There also are cases where these dangerous and invasive practices are enforced on employees in companies, under the guise of coaching. The dire danger of spiritual practices unconnected to respect of others or purpose of life, makes that spiritual people tend to gather back in old proven spiritual traditions, rather than trusting improvised therapists or self-proclaimed gurus.

 

Psychoanalysis is based on purely dogmatic and useless assertions, just like astrology. It proposes no effective treatment, only lengthy and expensive «analysis», which end up by solving the problems, when people become fed up of talking of them. Today, psychoanalysis is considered as a pseudoscience by all the scientists and scientific medicine, while the psychoanalysis session is one of the most enduring jokes topic, of the absurdity of a person having an obvious problem, that he finally does not want to consider.

Yet today many persons still confuse psychology with psychoanalysis:

 

By contrast, psychology proposes effective trainings, based on proved neurology (neuronal learning). However the problem with psychology is that it does not propose any ethical frame or purpose of life. Thus it can be either very useful or very dangerous, depending of the purpose of the psychologist, or who pays him. To be noted that neuronal training can be used by everybody, for purposes like becoming better (I found it alone, and it allowed to cure the racism neurosis I was given when a child. This was my first spiritual success). But psychology can be very dangerous when used out of a correct ethical or spiritual frame, such as for humiliation or manipulation, for instance advertising stalking or political manipulation. Traditional spiritual training is also a kind of psychology based on neuronal learning, but this ethical and spiritual frame makes it safe and useful.

 

Hypnosis (Added in June 2017) was not identified as a specific state of consciousness (besides some of its supposed effects would be parapsychology). All its effects on health are thus placebo effect, while its effects on behaviour, such as obedience, are reduced to the classic domination-submission games. As proof, these effects only happen on «some people». Once I tried to be hypnotized, to see. Absolutely nothing happened.

 

Osteopathy (added in August 2017) Almost all the nerves of the body pass between the vertebrae. This situation makes that the slightest misalignment of the vertebrae can pinch the nerves. This results in pains of the cramp type, often chronic or recurrent, sometimes intolerable, and in extreme cases paralysis. Osteopathy seeks to remedy this situation by manipulations of the vertebrae, in order to replace them in the correct position.

I always heard good about osteopathy. However my only experience was catastrophic, because the practitioner brutally twisted my neck, a dangerous thing totally unrelated with common descriptions of osteopathy, and which owed me months of suffering.

 

Wikipedia. It is common place to say that wikipedia is not a reliable source of information, especially on medicine. But for once wikipedia France is better than wikipedia USA. Indeed, in its hatred of social alternatives, wikipedia USA denigrates osteopathy in a particularly barmy way: they say it is a false medicine, because it has no other scientifically proven effects than to cure certain back pains. It is like saying that penicillin is a false medicine because it has no other effect than to cure certain infections! A little further they say that we must not confuse osteopaths with... professional osteopaths! Sure it's a good advice, ha ha ha! You understand why I consider wikipedia as not at all objective, and sometimes even wonky.

 

Medicine by the plants. Historically it was based on the «theory of signatures» of the Middle Ages. But doctors of old, whether academic or tribal, proceeded by experimentation. Thus they identified several hundred of plants which actually have a medical interest, hence some efficiency of medicine by plants. Pharmacists and «chemical» medicine often just isolated, copied and improved the active principles of plants.

(Added June 2017) I point out here that plants can, just like «chemical» drugs, have negative side effects, and even disastrous effects. And they depend equally on a correct diagnosis and application adapted to the person.

Also:

 

Chemical versus Natural (Added June 2017). It recently appeared a fallacy as what a «natural» molecule would always be good, whereas the same «artificial» molecule would always be «denatured», without this opinion being based on any justification. In fact, there is no difference between a molecule of natural origin and a molecule of synthetic origin, for the molecules are simple quantum objects, totally indistinguishable from one another. Therefore they cannot keep information on their history.

On the contrary, some medicinal plants are dangerous (I know for having «tested»), while there are excellent «chemical» drugs without adverse effects.

Other traditional medicines can sometimes offer varied useful advice, but often the proposed remedies are arbitrary, and sometimes dangerous. Some are causing poaching or other environmental problems.

 

Instinctotherapy. After what I said it all alone for years, this «school» was recognized as a sect (note 48). What I saw (I knew some members) is rather frightening: virile character turned into a mop, abandoning his militant ecological activities and giving all his belongings to the sect, anti-intelligence ideology, manipulations by gross suggestions, etc. I wonder if this false natural medicine has not been launched with the deliberate purpose of fighting vegetarian movements and ecology. In any case, to reach these circles, a sect played easy by being «above all not mystic»! With all that, they did not needed to be in more paedophiles to be frowned upon.

 

Auriculotherapy, iridology, reflexology, zone therapy, «teeth of light» etc. are based on «maps» of diseases which would be visible on certain parts of the body. Unfortunately, we do not know where these maps are coming from, nor how they were established. I even saw an «anus of light» passing by, but this one had to hide quickly!

 

The Bach Flowers similarly have no justification for their correspondence with diseases. But the bottles contain brandy, a well-known «traditional medicine», ha ha ha ha!

 

Hygienism, harmonism, naturopathy, etc. are different methods which emerged throughout the 20th century. They thus form the historical core of alternative medicines. They are based on known hygiene rules, or on «natural» treatments. These hygiene advices are often pertinent, but it is better not to take as face value all the proposed treatments or interpretations. Especially since any con artist can self-proclaim himself as a «health practitioner» without any control... we even found there a bloke like Radovan Karadzic, one of the worst criminals of the Milosevik regime!

I had, at some time, a slant toward the French harmonism method (Raymond Dextreit) which proposes many relevant hygiene advice. However, the sight of the popular French singer Rika Zarai sitting in a cold water basin made the general public laugh, without convincing anyone. I myself tested this method («Sitz bath» or «hip bath»), without any result. (Wikipedia says that they are good for some disease, but I was not in this case)

On the other hand, the recovery of Rika Zarai after her accident is very well explained (She sustained serious fractures, which did not heal, due to lack of calcification). Indeed, the harmonist remedy «oeuf citron» (eggs in lemon juice) brings calcium in ponderable dose, whereas the official treatment which was offered to me in a similar situation was... D vitamin. Yes, well, but how can vitamin D makes assimilate calcium which is not present in the food? Or which is present only in «homeopathic» dose in fake «organic» remedies?

These two examples introduce well the overall ambiguity of alternative medicines: good and wrong inextricably intertwined, with a century old theoretical frame.

And to keep a one year old child in water at 4°C until he stops screaming, it is not harmonism, it is a bad treatment to child. But when I denounced these things to justice, I was not listened to... proof that the denunciation of sects and false medicines is indeed an instrument for denigrating certain persons, but not others.

 

«Organic» trace elements. (Added in June 2017) (unrelated to «organic food») This is a curious belief which appeared recently: the organism could only assimilate trace elements if they are in an «organic» form, but not in a «chemical» form. This is a lie, since all living organisms managed very well for billions of years to assimilate trace elements in the form of salts or minerals. But this lie allows for a very lucrative trade, in pharmacies and in organic stores as well, of a horde of snake oil powders. A double scam since the prices are totally abusive, and additionally the active ingredient are in «homeopathic» dose, making of these products dangerous false medicines.

Luckily, we can find efficient cocktails of vitamins and trace elements, for cheap. But only in pharmacy, lol, since it is «chemical»!

 

Organic food. With some exceptions, this is the most serious of all the «alternative medicines», to the point of earning an implicit scientific acknowledgement. In theory, it is a scientific approach to the recognition of the toxicity of certain pesticides, food additives, food growing or preparation processes. However, the strong anti-science feelings in these milieus considerably weakened the definition of organic food, reduced to «specifications», simple collections of apparently arbitrary dogmas and recipes, cut off from their scientific justification (chapter VI-7). Normally, we can trust the low toxicity of a food labelled «organic», but not of the «theories» without justification which are often sold with, some of which being not much worthy than the astrology section of the local newspaper. More seriously, the disconnection from diet and spirituality leads to tragicomic absurdities, such as «organic wine» and «organic meat». Sign of the sick state of the movement, it is becoming today (2014) harder and harder to find wholegrain bread, nevertheless symbol of organic food and the very first step of food reform.

 

Gluten-free diets, without palm oil, etc. (Added in 2012) These diets are deceptions without any scientific or dietary justification. But the incriminated foods compete with meat and dairy products, hence the propaganda of the media... even in the organic shops. It should be noted that concrete oils are also bases for vegetarianism, because they provide indispensable nutrients, for instance to the maintenance of the myelin sheaths in the nervous system. I tested this...

With the exception of some situations still in scientific discussion (coeliac disease, chronic fatigue and other irritations of the intestine without apparent cause, all of them probably caused by microbes) gluten intolerance has no scientifically detectable symptom or mechanism. If it really existed, then the pyramid builders and the Roman legions would be unable to work as they did. Thus gluten intolerance is a phobia, propagated by the media and advertising, a purely psychological disorder. And this madness can go a long way: my son was accused of being intolerant to gluten in a... social inquiry. Things would have gone to an intestinal biopsy at the hospital... which refused to tell me exactly what happened. Of course when I got my son out of the sect, he ate bread and croissants normally. I am all the more affirmative that it is the same case which also saw a false statement (contradicted by specialists) to try to justify a sexual mutilation. This was then a very clear case of Münchhausen syndrome by proxy, aggravated by the abuse of judicial authority and the complicity of several doctors, including an «alternative» one.

 

Vitamins, trace elements, gut flora, gut infections, digestive allergies, genetic disorders of assimilation (Added September 18, 2017). Imbalances in these areas lead to diffuse disorders, without specific symptoms, always unpleasant, often disabling (fatigue, somnolence, aboulia...). However doctors generally do not attempt to identify these disorders, as it is a complex affair, with multiple causes, and, to say the least, uncertain theory. This situation creates a market for various «food supplements», both in pharmacies and in organic shop, serious or phoney, which are seldom effective, from failing to know the precise problem. Most often these preparations produce a placebo stamina boost, which ceases as soon as the symptoms reappear.

(Permalink) (Continue, added September 18, 2017) The complexity of this situation could be broken by a small device resembling a credit card, with a side ending as an USB plug. Printed in very large series, its cost would be reduced to a few dollars at most, justifying even a single use. A drop of blood, stool, saliva, etc. placed on it would be absorbed by nano-pumps and distributed to chambers loaded with reagents, thousands if needed. Expert software would analyse and display the results on the screen of a PC or mobile phone. We would then have a powerful diagnostic instrument, without ideological bias, reflecting the latest theoretical advances and even the uncertainties at this level. I think that such a device would be able to narrow on a small set of possible causes for such diseases, so that the person can test them all within a few weeks or months, or be referred to a doctor if necessary. Added Nov 2020: an article on how it may work.

(Continue, added September 18, 2017) As a consequence, it is possible to design the production of food supplements compositions, each addressing a specific cause, for example a deficient gene. Taking such a supplement then has a good chance of restoring normal functioning of the organism, and put an end to as vague as debilitating chronic fatigue and symptoms.

 

Colloidal Silver (added on September 18, 2017) Supporters of this method claim that it would destroy a large number of bacteria, viruses and even fungus. They add that doctors and administrations would plot to forbid it, as it would hamper their business. The latter say that these products have no scientifically proven effects in vivo, and that they may even be dangerous: blue colouring of the skin, poisoning of the soils. Who is right? We do like Trump, we say that «there are nice people on both sides»? That one has «each one his truth», that one is «free» to «believe» and «to choose his medicine»? General Epistemology remains afloat even in the absence of trust in official sources: do the experiments yourself, in participative self-management on social networks, so that it costs nothing and that everyone can contribute and verify the results. Follow a cohort of volunteers and their illnesses for a decade, with a control group receiving a placebo, and compare the two statistics. And publish the result, even if it goes against your belief. Meanwhile, considering the countless precedents, as long as you don't do this I consider that you fear the manifestation of the truth. And if this is not enough, I throw in an inconvenient little hint: why do we need «ultra pure» silver? This is a unique requirement in all the medicine, which means that we can get it only from well-determined suppliers... All the ingredients of a very lucrative scam, therefore: a conspiracy theory locking a belief, dogma herding the believers toward an unique saviour, whom of course we must pay to obtain his favours.

 

The Bates method (Added June 2017) of correcting eye disorders has been scientifically tested without showing any effect on myopia. But the relaxation exercises have, quite logically, decreased eye fatigue (often caused by an unconscious muscle tension, due to an effort to perceive). Wikipedia concludes, however, that the method has «no effect»... Anti-cult websites accuse a similar method, sungazing, of causing serious accidents. In fact, the method itself is not to incriminate: it says to look at the rising sun, «as long as we can bear it». This is not by itself dangerous. To lead to accidents, people would have to take these indications as a challenge, and keep looking as long as possible. Watching the sunrise in the morning has a well-known positive effect on the mood. But this works without silly challenge.

 

Treatment of strabismus (Added February 2022) Strabismus (of which I am a victim, hence my «expertise») is very embarrassing aesthetically, and disabling for certain activities like catching objects. Moreover, it causes a visual impairment of the affected eye, called amblyopia, which cannot be corrected.

The treatments I was offered by the time were more like some dubious «alternative medicine» than scientific: the «lazy» eye had to be «forced» to work. Wikipedia France even adds that this defect «attracts» mockery... (the remedy for this problem being well known: some well felt clouts to the sociopath apprentices, dilution 15ch)

In fact, the fixation of the eye is a complex mechanism, and it is difficult to know what goes wrong first, especially in very young children who are not aware of the problem at all. It is however vital to detect and treat this condition very early, before the strabismus and amblyopia are permanently installed. This requires active screening as early as one year old.

Virtual reality helmets have been proposed. I would like to add here a more detailed proposal: the helmet would be driven by an Artificial Intelligence, with an integrated camera to detect the position of the eye in relation to the objects shown. This would allow to detect the wrong reflex at the origin of strabismus, with the possibility of a diagnosis even on newborns unable to participate intelligently. In case of confirmed strabismus, the AI could then analyze the reflex nerve circuits, and detect where they are wrong, to then manipulate the images in order to recondition the nerve circuits towards the right reflexes. And this even on very young children, before these reflexes are permanently installed.

I don't know if this would allow to correct older children or adults. But in any case, these devices would allow to train without having to make an effort or to spend time on it, without even realizing, during other activities.

 

Color therapy. (Added December 2021) This had been long ago brandished as an alternative medicine, and forgotten since. The funny fact is that there is now a flurry of scientific studies showing the effectiveness of coloured light: red light against the weakening of the retina in old age (Nature), green light against migraines, 40Hz flashing light against Alzheimer's disease, and blue light against seasonal depression (SAD) (Mayo Clinic and PubMed). (Beware that there still are sites spreading arbitrary statement on this. The links above point at scientific sources and studies)

 

«Organic» tobacco, «organic» wine, «organic» meat, and soon perhaps «organic drugs» (Added June 2017), are pure scams: these substances are intrinsically bad, and cultivating them in organic ways does not change it. As long as we are there, we could also grow and sell organic strychnine, to get rid of our mother-in-law in an eco-responsible way, perhaps.

 

Wine in «reasonable quantity» (Added June 2017) is another well-known trap: indeed, it is always much harder to stop, or even simply to control oneself, than to resist the temptation to start. Certainly we are all subjected to the same social pressures, hazing and other mockery, inciting us to drink wine, to smoke reefers, and even to taste the most dangerous drugs. It may be difficult enough to resist this, but once we started, we add to it our own psychological or physical addiction, which is much stronger than the simple temptation to try. Thus the only «reasonable» amount of any drug is exactly «zero» and «never». This is easy to calculate, at least.

Moreover, speaking of «reasonable» quantity tends to rationalize and normalize dangerous substances, which will make us suffer without offering any benefit. It is therefore clearly a trap, a deliberate mind control, equivalent to saying to a mouse that it can advance «from a reasonable distance» in a mousetrap. Never listen to people who tell you to be «reasonable» without showing the premises and inferences of their reasoning. They necessarily hide something. Never go where they tell you to go. You do not recognize a mousetrap from the inside... so never enter it.

 

The intox of the wine «good for the heart» (Added June 2017). Here is a good example of «official pseudoscience», abundantly relayed by all the media and repeated ad-nauseam: red wine would protect the heart against cardiovascular diseases. And our scientific boozers to provide valuable studies which prove it! They just «forget» one little detail: the same studies specify that this protection is due to polyphenols, the substances which colour wine in red. But these polyphenols are found in abundance in grape, and in all the red fruits: we can therefore directly consume these fruits (or juice), without need of the wine! Here is a very clear example of a deliberate manipulation, against our health, to justify a drug which deleterious effects are well known.

Added April 2023: this study was finally proven to be of too low quality to be of any value. So then, why it was so many times repeated in different science reviews? Was it an «advertising» campaign? Also, if it had been a parapsychology study that bad, they would have spotted the flaws immediately, lol.

 

The good and bad tricks of autosuggestion. (Added in June 2017) Autosuggestion is a subtle trap: if we observe the objective reality (our health, etc.), we often find diffuse or ambiguous facts, which lean somewhat towards a conclusion, or somewhat towards the opposite conclusion, without really demonstrating one or the other. But if ever there is a neurotic attachment to one of these conclusions, the neurosis of opinion (chapter V-12) selects the facts: the uncertain or the non-conclusive then appear as a clear demonstration of our opinion. In practice, if, for example, we have a neurosis of rejection of the established order (chapter VI-10), and if we read in our media bubble that gluten is bad, or electrical meters, or «chemical» medicines, etc. Then this neurosis selects the facts which «prove» the theory: an ordinary digestive malaise, an insomnia, etc. become a «proof» that these things are bad, and that «the system» is plotting against us.

But the worse is that, once a belief is created as what something is bad, then the nocebo effect (negative placebo) can very quickly reinforce our feeling of being sick, or even reinforce the physical symptoms, creating a «real» and «objective» problem that a doctor can see. Then the person takes this as a «demonstration» of his belief. This is probably the explanation of the above phobias, but it also explains the «negative effects» of harmless things such as contraceptives, concrete, metals, electromagnetic waves (at common doses), certain drugs, horoscopes, black magic, and so on. Hence also the chronic ambiguity of the studies and expertises about them: the negative effects are real, but caused by belief, not by the thing. In addition, they vary from one study to another, depending on the degree of belief, explaining that we often have positive and negative studies.

This is how appear all the phobias without any physical cause: intolerance to gluten, electric fields, mobile phones, contraceptives, etc. In some cases this can lead to real collective hysteria («penis theft», accusations of sorcery). Such social diseases spread by contagion in Internet or media bubbles. But they can also be skilfully exploited, or even created (gluten) by skilled crooks who find there a lucrative market of quackeries and other trinkets like «wave balancers», «water magnetisers», etc.

The same process can also have positive effects, and even physically observable effects, if one creates a belief, for example in the effectiveness of a method of alternative medicine (siege bath, elements, homeopathy...). However, it still is a belief, a psychological process that we do not control, and which always allows manipulators to deceive us or exploit us. This is how most non-scientific alternative medicines work, and which allows them to «have effects» enough to persuade the followers. Effects which of course cannot be differentiated from the placebo effect... since it is just this, precisely.

It may be concluded that it is better to tolerate fancy medicines, as long as they produce an efficient placebo effect (and as long as they do not lead to refusal of care). But we are still in a pattern of manipulation and exploitation.

The real solution is then to use spiritual methods of positive visualization: to directly visualize a feeling of well-being or healing. This triggers the mechanics of the placebo effect, but this time under our complete control, without any belief, lie or manipulation.

And without needing to buy such or such miracle product or bizarre trinket.

And more subtly, without any need to adhere to any ideology, belief, group, environment, etc.

Hence the interest of a spiritual education in school (chapter V-7), which would allow people to control and use these things, instead of being exploited by quacks.

 

Palliative care (note 23) are accepted in hospitals, «despite» they are typically a more humane medicine, as alternative medicines claim to be. The cause presumably is that they were originally proposed in a non-confrontational and integrated way, instead of presenting itself as a Manichaean revolution against «those idiots of doctors».

 

The treatment of autism in France. Ladies and gentlemen, admire into this showcase a very curious hybrid: an «official alternative medicine» which is perfectly ineffective, sectarian and dangerous, yet defended and imposed as the only valid one by the public authorities in France (in principle abolished in 2012, but in 2017 there still are cases of hijacked children). Please do not touch. Everything started from a book by Bruno Bettelheim, who wrote about in May 68 that autism was caused by the «coldness» of the mother. Obviously, at the time of the refusal of «educastration», this looked nice. Since then, in France, the only «official» treatment of autism has been to remove children from their families and place them in «centres» where no one cares for them. Of course when they come out they are idiot, which «justifies» afterwards this treatment. Our modern Diafoirus add thereto, under psychoanalytic-marxist justifications, «therapies» such as «packing» (squeezing the child in wet cloths). Fortunately, it is enough to pass any frontier to return to the present and see these practices denounced.

 

Neurodiversity (Added June 2017). After the tenants of this idea, troubles like autism, dyslexia, bipolar disorders, deficit of attention, hyperactivity, etc. would not be «diseases», but another way to function, a natural variation of the Human brain.

This approach has good aspects: -First, as we cannot anyway find a quick remedy to these situations, the concerned persons must be able to «live with», this meaning enjoying adapted means to live, communicate, be happy, have income, etc. -Conversely, we too must adapt, in order to live with these people, whose functioning can be disconcerting. But especially, it is a total shame that disabled persons are the victims of discrimination, sadism, etc. Third, if some «do not understand» things like domination-submission games, then it is definitively them who are normal, and society which is pervert. Fourth, some Aspergers, dyslexic, etc. can show superior talents. Last, the concerned persons refuse that decisions are taken without their input. (See more in chapter V-14 on the functioning of the brain)

But this approach also has down sides: these conditions can be really disabling, and even dangerous (bipolar troubles), requiring helps, cares, and even sometimes isolation. To deny this can lead to refusal of cures (when such cures are available).

The synthesis could be a better knowledge of the brain, allowing everybody to develop qualities without having to destroy other functions, while warding off dangerous troubles like sociopathy and immorality

Added in August 2021: recent science studies tend to show that it would be the agricultiral poison chlorpyriphos the responsible of ADHD diseases. So that it would not be a matter of «neurodiversity», but of «ethical diversity», as long as we are with speaking in euphemisms.

 

The Global Method (added in July 2017) is an «alternative method» for learning to read: the child is presented with words written on cards. Even a pre-school-aged child quickly learns to recognize the cards, giving the impression that he can read magically, without the hassle of learning tedious grammar and orthography.

The rationale behind the method is in the style of using the «global» (intuitive?) abilities of the brain, instead of the analytical abilities. Indeed, people who are «questioning the system» often do not like «the intellect» (which sends them to their own failure to grasp this domain). For this reason, despite its repeated and massively observable failures, the method keeps an important support in «alternative» milieus, «spiritual», «ecological», etc.

A child victim of this method is unable to read a new word. Indeed, for him, each new word is an ideogram!! and he has no way to guess an unknown one. The true method, known as the syllabic method, allows to recognize the sounds from the letters, and therefore to read any word at first glance, without prior learning of this precise word. I can testify to the problem, since their mother imposed this method to my own children, against my will: It was of no help, and even a handicap once at school. But I could not help them, since at the time judges and social workers were forbidding my children to see me. There often are strange collusions between the extreme right and the pseudo social alternatives.

 

Indigo children (Added June 2017) result from a similar reasoning as with neurodiversity: people in these situations would be extraterrestrial reincarnations coming to help us, and their «disabilities» would result from the inability of our society to accept their superior capacities. Well, yes, I know, it looks very «cultish»... but somewhere we feel there is a share of truth: a society which requests «adaptation» is necessarily a severely sick society. This flaw of society is the fault where cults can take root.

 

In the «communication facilitée», (facilitated communication) (Added June 2017), a «facilitator» holds the hand of a mentally disabled person. This hand then begins to write moving texts, as if they were a message of the handicapped, conscious but incapable of expressing otherwise. I discovered this method when an adept asked me to give the caution of my General Epistemology. Not knowing what it was, I described the necessary tests to eliminate errors or frauds. They never contacted me again. Of course the case much smells the rip-off: exploiting the love of a family, using false messages. For more moving messages, pay again the «facilitator». You disagree? Pass the tests, and we'll talk about it again.

 

Vaccines: following the abundance of matter on this sole topic, I moved it to its own new sub-chaper.

 

Zen macrobiotic (Added in July 2015) This is a though system and feeding method which presents proven scientific data (acid/basic equilibrium, sodium/potassium balance, etc.) according to the traditional oriental concepts of Yin and Yang (chapter I-5). Or the opposite, the traditional Yin and Yang are explained in terms of chemical balances in the body, which can be corrected by food.

Macrobiotic, which was very popular in the 1970s, has experienced various fortunes, notably due to a fundamentalist branch which operated a Yin-Yang axis confusion (decreeing that the Yang is «good» and the Yin is «bad», chapter I-5) and proposed a deficient and dangerous diet. However the well-understood and well-conducted macrobiotic diet closely resembles other organic diets, and it similarly provides positive results.

Another discussion was the claim of the founders of macrobiotics to prevent or cure cancer. However, at the time, it was not known that cancers were monoclonal lineages (clusters of cells all descending from a single cell), hence the «weak» results of the method. In this light, we cannot expect this method to just literally «heal cancer», but it may be efficient as a prevention or an adjuvant therapy, against cancer and many other «civilization» diseases.

 

Bioelectronics of Louis Claude Vincent (Added July 2015) Popular in the 1970s, it is a representation of any organic liquid in a «bioelectronigram», including: -on the abscissa, the pH (number indicating the more or less acidic or basic character) -nn the ordinate, rH (number indicating the more or less oxidizing or reducing character, or aerobic/anaerobic)

What is striking when we see a bioelectronigram is that different microbes or viruses, as well as cancers, can only survive in small, precise areas of the diagram, while in the middle there is an area of good health, free of almost all pathogens (except mycobacteria). This suggests a very simple method of prevention, and even of cure: to correct the pH and rH parameters of our body by an appropriate diet.

To my knowledge, this theory has not been the subject of a scientific evaluation. Moreover, I note that the different media or cavities of the body naturally have very different pH and rH, which certainly complicates the theory. But a complex enough bioelectronics to take account of the different environments of the body, could hardly be distinguished from classical theories used in dietetics, medicine or biology.

 

Diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. (Added on September 18, 2017). One of the dangers of hypoglycemia, is that its symptoms are vague and not specific. Worse, a diabetic cannot easily distinguish hypoglycemia from hyperglycemia, and I even suspect that normal people might have hyperglycemic episodes even when fasting blood glucose is correct. Today the only solution is a blood test, and analysis by a small device. The discomfort of this method, and its cost, is an incentive to avoid using it, whereas the blood glucose can change from one hour to the next. It is thus desirable to develop a small tester which would work without a jab, through a mucosa, either by an optical method or with a mini MNR. A magnet, of similar size and shape to a tape recorder head, could produce a sufficiently powerful field in a very small but useful volume. Another solution would be an implant RFID chip (provided it is readable only by the bearer)

The scientific Study of Alternative Medicines

(Permalink) Today (2011), the most interesting elements of alternative medicine (hygiene, diet, palliative care ...) are increasingly accepted in standard medicine, in the media and administrations, compared with the first version of this book (2000), where there was a caricatured opposition. (2017: We are even talking now in the standard political programs of organic and vegetarian school canteens... interesting things are taking place, for sure.)

 

It should be noted, moreover, that no censorship prevents the proponents of alternative medicines from undertaking themselves the epidemiological studies which would prove the validity of their practices (written in 2000. I am waiting...). Which would be infinitely more effective in promoting their methods than simply accusing the doctors of «being all crooks» (which is objectively false).

 

I therefore encourage supporters and practitioners of «alternative medicines» to unite in a kind of faculty, to transcend their ideologies, their egos and their interests, and to publish the results of the scientific tests of their different methods in order to know who is right, and to reject the charlatans and sects which stifle the domain. Instead of taking refuge behind specious claims of «freedom of choice.»

Indeed, a sick person does not ask to «choose» his medicine, but to know what will cure him.

No freedom of choice without knowledge, sorry.

Abuses

(Permalink) It is difficult for ordinary citizens to defend themselves from the abuse of some «official» doctors, or even to identify them as such. We could try to ask the honest doctors to recognize and identify the bad ones. However, there is indeed a certain corporatism among doctors, which makes any attempt of this kind to fail, or even could turn it against its purpose. More practicable, a follow-up of the patients could gather evidence and diagnostic elements, making it possible to identify the abuses and their perpetrators. However, in the absence of a legal obligation, such initiatives, such as the French «carnet de santé», were largely ignored by the doctors, and it is often difficult for a patient to obtain information about himself (I tried to ask my son's medical record at the hospital, they straightforwardly refused). What in practice makes the chances of winning a trial virtually null. Thus the patient often finds himself in a situation of absolute dependence on the physician, whose science then becomes a power. It is, in my opinion, this situation which allows abuses, and especially which allows the proliferation of groups, honest or sectarian, which challenge medicine.

 

Concerning abuses committed by «alternative» doctors, there is the same problem of proof, and even of corporatism (yes yes yes), to which adds another difficulty: such an action is often used to denigrate ecology or spirituality. This is already serious in itself, but it also has a very high cost for the victim, who will lose all his friends and will have to rebuild his life elsewhere. This is what happened to me when I denounced the abuse on my children: the sect sent false information to all the members, which at the time included all my friends... I had to rebuild my life elsewhere, but I never was really able to rebuild such a large network of friends.

Some examples of abuse by «official» medicine of which I was directly victim or witness:

(Permalink) -A dentist who left me two years with painful repetitive abscess, when he knew the cause perfectly well, visible on a X-ray examination.

-Another dentist who also sabotaged a tooth, that I lost later. Always be wary of physicians who refuse social aid cards.

-Several other problems with dentists (if you are in the trade, you will surely admire the composite straddling two teeth. Excellent work it must be said, which could last more than three weeks.)

-Ophthalmologist who offers me double-focus glasses against the screen disease.

-Several ophthalmologists prescribing roughly inadequate spectacles.

As for «alternative» medicine, I finally found as many:

(Permalink) An «osteopath» who brutally twists my neck, without asking me for advice or inquiring about the condition of my vertebrae (which he was supposed to «feel»): three months of suffering with a minerva, and years before turning the head normally.

-An «alternative» doctor who makes false statements to «justify» a sexual mutilation (missed).

-An «alternative» doctor, who, without asking advice, prescribed medication to prolong menses, since, according to him, «you women psychologically need it.»

-I also saw rather unnatural hybrids passing by: a nazi New Ager, extreme right vegetarians, an organic-vegetarian paedophile (which did not stopped me from bringing him to court), and of course a bunch of sociopaths, all more «organic» «ecologist» or «spiritual» the one than the other.

Vaccines

(Permalink) After several revisions and augmentations, this sub-sub chapter was totally rewritten again in 2018. Two motives:

- In a nutshell, real progresses took place in vaccine science, as much in honesty as in knowledge. In more, I found out that some personnal information source were not reliable. This made that I had to abandon my former anti-vaccines position. However I did not changed all the text accordingly.

- For clarity, due to the abundance of matter, I pushed it in a separate sub-chapter.

 

(This paragraph added on May 16, 2020:) Warning: I refuse all association with, and I oppose to, any anti-vaccination movement which uses the same strategies as climate denial, or which associates with extremists or with conspirationnists, instead of presenting facts. To discus of vaccines safety is already complicated enough, and anyway a strictly scientific matter.

 

Vaccines are an old dispute. Let us start with an history:

History of the vaccines dispute:

- (Permalink) When vaccines started around 1900, they were presented to the public as a kind of magical remedy, with images of the stern sorcerer-scientist administrating the truth to the ignorant masses. Having a vaccine accident was not an option.

We can safely assume that there were a lot of fiddling at that time, especially around the definition of an «attenuated» vaccinating agent: since both DNA and the working of immunity were unknown, the crude methods used in this time may have preserved the DNA, allowing the agent to recover its full virulence in some occasions, causing severe vaccine accidents. Today it is known that a vaccinating agent must be «dead» (DNA destroyed) to avoid accidents like these.

 

- In the 1970, the growing awareness of vaccine accidents started a strong anti-vaccines movement. Side effects could be short illness, varied auto-immune reactions, severe encephalitis causing mental disability or death. In France, the «Ligue Nationale pour la Liberté des Vaccinations» (LNPLV) led numerous trials, which repeatedly condemned the French State.

(April 2021: I removed here several stories I heard by the time, after realizing that their source was not reliable. This source initially contributed to my anti-vaccine position in the 1970)

 

-In the 1970, the ecologists were raising the awareness of multiple lobbies working to denature science: nuclear industry, asbestos, tobacco, agrochemicals, technocrats, negation of consciousness, vivisection, meat, dairy products... (to which added later the Heidelberg appeal manipulation, and of course the climate deniers morons). This was just the «standard practice» in the 1970 years. So it was making sense that the pro-vaccines were just another of these big pharma lobbies, manipulating results to hide failures, paying media propaganda and political buffoons for passing laws supporting their sales.

It is this state of things which led me to adopt a resolute anti-vaccines position in the first version of this book.

 

- A long lull of anti-vaccines in the 1980,1990, 2000.

 

- A new 2010's anti-vaccines movement, starting approximately with the story of the «vaccine which would create autism» (that we shall debunk further). However this movement diverges from the 1970's one, in several regards:

- (Thi paragraph added in May 16, 2020:) Its relationship with conspirationism, populism and far right, instead of health movements or ecology movements

- Its support by the ecology militants is much weaker. I even see cases of serious ecology sites saying that some of the anti-vaccines claims are false (Polio vaccine which would give cancer). Fact check sites also published things like the above autism accusations being bogus, and even a fraud (here and here).

- In my personal life, I no more hear stories of dreadful vaccines accidents.

-The anti-vaccine movement is accused of presenting vaccines as a conspiracy theory: «Big Pharma against our health». Such conspiracy exist anyway, like the asbestos conspiracy, tobacco conspiracy, climate denial conspiracy, etc. But today, contrarily to the 1970's, many are denounced by scientists. Just that scientists cautiously say «lobby» instead of «conspiracy».

-The support of anti-vaccine movement by Donald T**** made many anti-vaccines dubious. And to say the least, me too... The Pauli exclusion principle played, in a way. I could not be in the same box than this guy.

So that, the relevant question is: are there still vaccine accidents?

(Permalink) Contrarily to the 1970, where there was many severe cases brought in court, today it is harder to have report of cases. So I tried to search «accidents» (Caution, liars trap here) in the site of the French «Ligue Nationale pour la Liberté des Vaccinations» (LNPLV). I then used the credible sources they tell, to base the following. I picked at random two examples of what we get:

- About the diphtheria vaccine, the LNPLV quotes the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The LNPLV article evokes numerous accidents, but prior to 1950 (confirming my view above about early fiddling and modern progresses). The USCDCP paper covers more recent years. It shows no mention of such accidents, and a shy statistical support to the efficiency of that vaccine. Happily hygiene suppressed diphtheria in the meanwhile.

- About the hepatitis B vaccine, the LNPLV shows numerous sources mentioning a large quantity of accidents, but only before 2002. The french ANSM (Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament) only mentions an epidemics of Macrophagic myofasciitis, in France only, which culminated in 1996. Nanoparticles of aluminium are clearly indicated as the cause (Uh oh we are served by propaganda that this is a conspiracy theory. Lie busted, lol). Wikipedia quotes several science papers (here and here and here) which also accuse the aluminium in vaccines, staying in the vaccination site and producing auto-immune reactions (the macrophages). The dates of the ANSM match the statistics and dates of the REVAHB, a French association of victims of the hepatitis B vaccine. To conclude, we clearly have a case of a serious medical accident. But instead of being highly advertised (as thalidomide was), it is denied by the media and politicians. The ANSM paper even quotes several French science institutions denying the link with aluminium: there still are public science institutions lying and doing propaganda.

What probably happened in reality, is that vaccines commonly use alum, which is quite inoffensive, and very soluble, so that it cannot stay on the vaccination site. But in the 1995 French vaccine, a batch of this alum may have been contaminated with aluminium nanoparticles. The confusion between alum and aluminium nanoparticles was then used, by both pro and anti propaganda as well, to deny any accident or to vilify all the vaccines at once.

Funny detail: we find in organic shops alum-based deodorants, as a «healthy alternative» to aluminium-based deodorants... Asinus viridis viridorum asinum fricat.

I think that an examination vaccine per vaccine would lead to similar results: neither perfection, nor catastrophe. But lies and confusions make that everyone see only what he wants to see.

Scientific evaluation of the rates of vaccines accidents... well, at least I tried.

(Permalink) In a world where all the official sources state that vaccines are perfect and treat anti-vaccines as conspiracy nutters, to evaluate the real risk level requires verifications and caution.

Pro-vaccines say that most reports of vaccine accidents may be in facts coincidences: the person gets sick at the moment of a vaccine, but for unrelated reasons. Fortunately we can statistically remove coincidences, because the coincidence rates is independent of the vaccine. So we just need the curve of report rates per vaccine, and remove the lowest value from all the others: the residue is the genuine accidents. Ideally, if we find that all vaccines have the same report rate, this would prove that there are no accidents at all, only coincidences.

So I asked on Quora for sources telling accidents rates, specially for this study. I got replies by specialists. But apparently, this is not so simple...

A page of the Health Resources & Services Administration (USA) shows the total doses of vaccines used, and the numbers of accident complaints submitted in court for compensation. The ratios of complaints per vaccine range from 1 to 16 per million doses. This leads to a pessimistic result, without any coincidence, and all the reports being genuine accidents. The problem here is that there can be severe distortions of the figures, between the real accidents and the courts, which in more are likely to strongly depend on the vaccine. So I am cautious not to publish the names of the incriminated vaccines. (Another reason is that I do not want my publishing to be being used for some fake new: fake news mongers, learn to use a spreadsheet to find out.)

The VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System, by the USA governement), publishes listings of accidents reports. In 2017 alone, we have 38916 reports, entailing 120 deaths, 577 disabilities and 7139 chronic illness. I wanted to try my statistical elimination of coincidences, as explained above. However the VAERS does not publish the names of the incriminated vaccines! So that we cannot derive the risk per vaccine, and then cannot eliminate coincidences.

This lack does not prevents the VAERS to publish VAERS studies, a series of short papers assessing the risks per vaccine. And these papers needed the missing figures, in order to only exist! They also avoid to publish accident rates, just stating that «there is no increase compared to usual». So I suspect that these publications are resulting from some public access law, but that in a last ditch some corrupt congressman managed to censor the most essential information. A stupid censorship indeed, as it highlight what it attempts to hide: people automatically suspect that the absence of figures is to hide a high accidents rate!

Actually, this is not how vaccines accidents evaluation should work. If parapsychologists used such methods, they would be accused of publication bias and loose standards, lol! The right method is to follow a cohort of people, and check for any health situation which may happen, depending on the vaccines they received or not. This would allow to set real accidents rates per vaccine, instead of having to derive them from inaccurate broad figures.

At this point, I am sorry, but I am not paid by any Ministry of Health, to do this work. So that I cannot go further in this time-consuming evaluation. And I must bring a final version of this chapter, reflecting the state of affairs in July 2018: could be better. Ok, 2020: in progress :-)

Other miscellaneous facts, that I gathered along those years:

(Permalink) August 2022: I finally suppressed most of this sub-chapter, where I had gathered a lot of polemical or oriented statements, remaining from the previous versions. They may be still visible in archives.

- Rare or marginal immunity reactions may still result in auto-immune diseases. Ideally there should be a background check or genome check before any vaccination. The test card I present above could perform this at a near zero cost.

- I strongly suspect that «homeopathic vaccines» do not offer any protection at all, even not as a placebo.

- At last but not least, to avoid common flu, colds and gastroenteritis epidemics, there should be much more education on hygiene methods: cough in the sleeve, not touching ourself after touching flush handles, cart handles, etc. These simple things would save thousands of lives each year, millions of working hours, and would be our only safeguard in case of a new epidemics or bacteriological war. (Added in February 2021: the covid19 epidemics shows how I was right. In the instance, I can say that millions people died from not reading mys site!)

To avoid common flu, colds or gastroenteritis epidemics, it would be much better to follow hygiena methods: sneeze in our sleeves, avoid contact with flush handles, cart handles, etc. These simple things would save each year millions of working hours, and would be our only safety in case of a strong novel epidemics or bacteriological war. (Added in February 2021: The covid epidemic showed in which extent I was right. In this case, I can say that millions were dead from not reading this site!)

2019 state of the dispute: the «guilt factor» shifted, but not enough.

● (Permalink) Vaccines were actually unsafe, but their safety improved. Ancient accidents resulted from faulty «attenuation», questionable adjuvants, etc. New methods avoid these, and faulty vaccines were withdrawn.

● Scientists are much more active testing vaccines and safety.

● However, despite these progresses, accidents still happen. Especially, the exact probability of individual accidents is still censored (as I had to admit above). Which is not enticing into trust, to say the least.

Brainwashing is still what the public is served mostly everywhere. These lies make that, if a large epidemics like the Macrophagic myofasciitis happens again, it can still be efficiently hidden.

● Since the fishy smell cannot be avoided, people are wary, but without reliable information.

● This boosting disinformation makes a propitious ground for alarming fake news and conspiracy theories.

● As a result, this boosting disinformation spoofs and stifles real whistle blowers.

● With whistle blowers discredited, a large issue might not be considered seriously, and it may make thousands of victims before being addressed. This could discredit vaccines for decades.

Conclusions

(Permalink) Even without any anti-vaccine prejudice, we are compelled to admit that both safety and efficiency of vaccines are not perfect. Yet we still have media, government agencies, politicians and even many scientists saying that there is no problem at all. This cognitive dissonance creates much more fear than the actual risks.

 

-The boosting disinformation (false accusations or imaginary issues) acts in a way to desensitize the opinion on real issues. This worked well on climate, migrants, Muslims, so why not to use the same method to hide real vaccine issues. Some accuse Big Pharma of being at the origin of the lies (We have other examples of such activities, like the imaginary dangers of gluten or soy, presumably from the meat lobby)

 

- Health professionals should realize that it is much more shocking and frustrating that a healthy person becomes sick with a vaccine, than an already sick person has an adverse effect of a medicine. This makes that vaccines require more transparency, and a much lower adverse effects rate than other medicines. Especially the mandatory ones.

 

- Health practitioners should also understand that the very idea of a jab is terrifying for most young children, and find friendlier ways to perform the practice.

- One of the main dangers of vaccines comes from the random mutations of immunity cells, when they react to the vaccine. This can unpredictably produce auto-immune diseases. A much less invasive approach would be to pick immunity cells from the person, make them react to antigens in vitro in a controlled way, and when the desirable immunity is obtained, re-inject these immunity cells. At a pinch, reinjecting them in a canister instead of in the marrow allows to remove them in case of a problem. Portable immunity! Added on February 2022: this is exactly what happened with a rare after effect of the covid vaccines: long term covid, which was found to be such an auto-immune reaction. Hence the danger of snubbing my work, instead of using the ideas that I provide.

- The VAERS studies often say that a common cause of accidents are temperature excursions, when handling or storing vaccines. This requires a temper-proof way to avoid physicians to use those altered vaccines, inadvertently or dishonestly. A cheap and efficient mean would be that bottles are made of a wax melting when excess temperature is reached, making the dose unusable.

Anti-covid19 vaccine in 2020

(Permalink) (Aded in November 2020)

This time it is scientists (here and here) who are warning against the risks of a vaccine imposed in urgency, by ignorant or unscrupulous politicians seeking only to exorcise their own fears.

Yet it is a known mistake to rely only on a vaccine, which already cost us a 20 years delay in the fight against AIDS. Moreover, the potential risks of an anti-covid vaccine are not trite, for a disease able of leaving neurological after-effects or causing autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. And it is not legal obligations which will cure the victims of such accidents.

 

Added in February 2021 (not in chronological order, to keep the following positive ending):

The site of the Ligue Nationale pour la Liberté des Vaccinations offers links to conspiracy sites, pro-Putin or anti-mask sites. This totally discredits this organisation. The only remaining usable counterpoint would be ALIS, a split of the Ligue, which criticizes various problems, notably the ideological excess of mandatory vaccines in France, or some toxic adjuvants. In the 1960s, the Ligue had proposed an immunization record, or tests before vaccines. But who is going to defend these things today?

 

Added in April 2021 (not in chronological order, to keep the following positive ending)::

A report of the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament (French CDC) gives the rate of adverse effects for the three vaccines available in France, while an article in Science et Avenir tells their efficiency:

Pfizer 95% (Added: also tested efficient against variants)

Astra Zeneka 55% with 2 doses at 6 weeks and 82% for 12 weeks

Moderna 94% (up to 100% on teens I saw recently)

Reminding that these figures are not declarations by celebrities or ideologists, but science results which were obtained with recording reports in real use, after methods which account with nearby all known possible objections. The big novelty here is that we are given accurate figures. They are not perfect, but still way better than any foggy fuzzy lenient declaration.

 

Added in January 2021

It is still too early to comment on the efficiency and safety of anti-covid19 vaccines. However (provided the initial success is confirmed and we had not serious adverse effects hidden) this would be a triple win for science:

☻Mastering the safety of at least one type of vaccine (MRNA, an interesting novelty since it no longer introduces DNA into our cells) (According to Dr. Fauci, adverse effects are rare and mainly due to the preservative: polyethylene glycol. As a general precaution, vaccines are still not recommended for allergy sufferers).

☻The labs (commercial companies, therefore interested) are no longer in a position to hide deleterious effects. Better still, there has been a relationship of trust between labs and health authorities.

☻going beyond the atmosphere of dangerous conspiracy theories propagated by social networks. (Theories without which a vaccine would not be necessary... After all, I have only been sick twice in 20 years, since I wash my hands after touching the cart handles at the supermarket).

 

That would be a great conclusion for this vaccine study!

 

Added on june 14, 2021: indeed, a recent study in Science Alert shows the rôle of confidence into the institutions, about acceptation of vaccines. And how to make them mandatory injuries this confidence. Either this lack of confidence arises from public scandals (1970 years) or by reactionary movements (conspirationism in the 2020 years). If we had to choose, the second case is less noxious.

If scientists tackle this confidence, then the problem will be solved.

Added in April 2023: one of the main causes of vaccine accidents is the appearance of auto-immune diseases. Unfortunately this can still happen with the new safer mRNA vaccines. However an article in Medical Express tells that this risk is less with the vaccine, than with the disease. I may add that death rate is also much lower with the covid vaccine than with the disease.

Nuclear power

(Permalink) (Added April 2018) Nuclear power is one of the domains where scientist were, and still are, the most guilty of distorting facts in support of dangerous activities. Of course when in the 1970's, ecologists were saying that nuclear plants can explode, they were ridiculed. One Chernobyl and three Fukushimas later, blind support to the nuclear industry somewhat abated. But science is still not taking an official position, contrarily to what it did about the climate problem.

There are two scientistist theories, or «official pseudoscience», which were invented in support of the nuclear industry:

-That low doses of radiations would have no effect. This is unlikely, and anyway not proved: as DNA wounds are single nuclear events, their probability to happen is simply in direct proportion with the dose. (It is nuclear burns which have a threshold effect, but the confusion between the two is so convenient). So that the only observable threshold is when the number of deaths from radiation is too low to be detected by statistics. But these deaths are still there! Hence the number of deaths attributed to Hiroshima is constantly revised to higher values, and the cold war nuclear tests may have caused as many millions of deaths as if the bombs had been dropped on cities. But we hear no cries, only satistics.

-The «nuclear hormesis» is a theory as what low doses of radiation may have a protective effect. There are some purported observations of this kind in bacteria, when DNA radiation damage triggers reparation mechanisms. However this mechanism cannot be extrapolated to low continuous doses received by Humans, if the whole thing is not just an invention.

Vivisection

(Permalink) Vivisection was, and still is, the most widely used tool to test medical drugs and procedures. There are some specific methodological concerns with this, but the main concern is ethical: the suffering and death inflicted to conscious beings. Or the specism, to consider this suffering acceptable in animals, but the worse crime on Humans.

Of course all sorts of associations are fighting vivisection. Yet finding alternatives is not simple. This certainly entails a large effort, financial means, and a political will. But remaining mute on the issue is certainly not the solution.

Scientists often say that vivisection was an invaluable help to medicine, finding cures to many diseases and saving countless lives. Technically, this is indeed how things happened. But the very idea of having a lush land of happy people blissfully ignoring the torture rooms hidden behind some anonymous walls, is shocking to every conscious person. And this situation may have a dire hidden cost, finally much larger than the advantages. We shall see this in chapter V-11.

Extraterrestrial life

(Permalink) (Original text 1999) This enthralling problem was often victim of intellectual ostracism and even of obstacles to search. Let us note that the idea that the extraterrestrial life must be rare comes from the fashioned theories on the formation of planets (note 24) at the beginning of the 20th century. For this time the probable values of all the astronomical terms of the Drake formula (note 25) (Chapter VIII-1) have increased constantly, which results nowadays in considering a very widespread extraterrestrial life.

Example of stupid ostracism: the abandonment of funding of the SETI project (note 26) by the American Congress. Fortunately the project continues with private funds!

(Original text 1999) However the problem of the extraterrestrial life is not absent of scientific reviews, it even meets there more and more favour, following the recent discoveries on exoplanets. However ideological colourings still exist, such as for example the French review «Ciel et espace» (in addition an excellent review of amateur astronomy) where we could recently (1998) read from its director Serge Brunier, that between two high and low values of the Drake formula (variations which express our uncertainties on the real values) it is necessary to choose the «most realistic», i.e. the lowest!! Tell us your sources, please.

 

(Added June 2017:) I added a whole new eighth part on the question of extraterrestrial life, the probability of it to appear (using the Drake equation and a detailed analysis of the appearance and evolution of life), how to try to contact them, and the future evolution of Earth itself.

(Added in 2018:) On the science side, it must be said that there has been considerable progresses, and the taboos have disappeared: we freely discuss SETI, habitable planets, extraterrestrial civilizations, possible Dyson structures around the Tabby Star, that the Oumuamua asteroid could be artificial, etc. Of course we still see Occam lurking around with his razor, but it lost its sharpness. In fact, the biggest problem today is that scientists are reluctant to make overly optimistic statements, for fear of having to deny media storms!

The best thing we could wish for now is that this open-mindedness is rewarded by the discovery of an inhabited planet, or an extraterrestrial signal!

Ecology

(Permalink) (Original text 1999) It is well-known that it is the scientists who first announced the risks related to pollution and environment degradation, the ecologist activists having done nothing else but to use the information provided by the scientists to take the civic, social, political and economic actions which this situation demanded. Some amount of reciprocal mistrust did not prevented some collaboration in fact between the two.

(Original text 1999) A much more serious problem started at the time of the Heidelberg Appeal, which was an attempt to organise a true anti-ecology scientistist ideology, often revisionist, revealing us that «ecology is an irrational ideology having for goal to destroy Western civilisation or to slow down economic development». Woaoaoaowww! The most disturbing is not that morons could write such balderdashes, but that it was endorsed by 4000 scientists including 72 Nobels.

 

Recent developments (2010) forced science to take distances with such kind of lobbying.

It was especially found that these manipulations are the feat of lobbying groups paid by carbon industry, the (in)famous climate deniers, to try to hamper environment policies, like the necessary abandonment of fossil fuels toward solar fuels (thermochemistry) and other renewable non-polluting energies. Politicians are not better, who blocked any solution into the Copenhagen and Cancun conferences... When people, in order to protect their egocentric interest, propose the destruction of the planet which bears these interests, then these people are really a suicidal cult of nutters, and there are even no words for this. In jail! In psychiatry!

See chapter VI-7 for what we have to say about ecology.

 

Added in June 2017: The above was written a few years ago, and I leave it there for the History. As now, I am happy to write that things have changed a lot in this field: not only have the Paris Agreements been unanimously adopted by all sensible governments, but we are also witnessing a fantastic awareness of society at a whole, including politicians, mayors, employers, and even banks, who join the millions of ordinary citizens already active for thirty years, in order to rapidly accomplish the necessary strong actions. In more, concrete actions are increasing: increasingly larger green power stations, closures of mines and nuclear power plants, banks disvesting from fossil fuels, new inventions (chapter VI-7), and even air and ocean purifiers (I was already designing such devices in 1973... it took me 45 years to see them!). Such a movement will certainly be a milestone in History, for we have never witnessed such a supportive takeover of society by all its members.

There still are some climate denial farts, but even there, things are very interesting: the obscure forces which were opposing life and democracy for decades are being unveiled and denounced, preparing a gigantic catharsis (In the sense of Aristotle), and ultimately galvanizing action instead of restraining it. Thus, just as nazism ultimately resulted in a taboo on racism, climate denial will eventually put the political manipulators off.

Mind and spirituality

(Permalink) (Original text 1999) It was seen that, according to the scientistist dogmas, the mind is only an emanation of matter. Following this reasoning, if one reduces all the explanation to matter, then the content of the mind does not have any explanatory value, and, therefore, no science interest. But in fact, even if we suppose that this assumption of Neuronal reductionism (to reduce the mind to the operation of neurones) is true, this by no means implies that the content of the mind does not have a value!

(Original text 1999) Demonstration with new epistemology: Take a partisan of neuronal reductionism small p, tell him that one need that somebody sacrifices his life to give some biological material to science or to clean a plutonium plant, surely he will stay staring at you with a great smile and repeat «yes, it is necessary, it is necessary to have such sacrifice for the development, the progress and blah and blah and blablablah». But very generally he will avoid very careful to go himself, and he will send somebody else, a guinea pig, or a tramp, like it was practicized in French nuclear power plants. It seems that, to the eyes of small p, his own mind, remarkable exception, has far more value than the mind of others... Therefore this small p does not have any authority to forcibly limit anybody in his own desire to be happy, and especially not to sacrifice others in his place. Conclusion: Small p is only a great egocentric without science value, and the human consciousness has inevitably more value than inert matter and the blather of all the small p p. We shall study in chapter V-5 with more details the question of the purpose of life, in a definitely more optimist way.

 

Added in April 2018: if we do not have here an opening of the scientific community at a whole, we still have some modest advance on two fronts:

-More ethics, less arrogance

-The demonstration of the real existence of the NDE, that we shall see in the next sub-chapter.

These still shy progresses are omens of a favourable future evolution, toward a science of the mind, as I propose in this book. But we are not yet there, as long as endure the materialist dogma and the confusion between spirituality and belief.

Until then, materialism and ignorance of the mind are still exposing us to dire dangers: transhumanism (discussion in chapter VI-16), artificial consciousnesses, (Chapter V-18), eugenics (Chapter VI-7 and chapter VI-15)

Near Death Experiences (NDE)

(Permalink) NDEs are challenging the classical scientistist view of equating the human mind to only the neurones. This view implies that if the neurones are out of function or destroyed, then there cannot be any more consciousness or perception: we are «dead», and we never again experience consciousness. But NDEs are consciousness experiences which precisely happen into such a state. So they are a strong evidence of a consciousness form independent of the material brain, possibly of a survival of consciousness after death.

NDEs are not yet considered seriously by most scientists, even competent ones, from their materialistic or atheistic ideological orientations. Most studies had to be done by individual researchers or non-profit groups like the IANDS.

Yet it is interesting to see at last the safest results published into a classical science reference review, The Lancet, making them very difficult to contradict: the «Dutch Study» landmark paper. (Full text here)

We shall speak more about this in the fifth part on consciousness, where I propose a theory which can explain immaterial consciousness without requiring any «belief» or unknown ingredient.

Spiritual powers

(Permalink) That mind may command to matter (psychokinesis, ESP, telepathy) was studied by many independent scientists, using correct checking methods. There is today enough data to «suggest» that these phenomena really exist.

Any phenomenon of this kind is a strong indication that consciousness is not linked to matter. If so, fantastic things become possible, such as survival after death, in a paradise. However, the difficulty of reproducing these phenomena, the many disappointing precedents, and materialistic prejudices, make that mainstream science ignores these results, and politicians have not allocated any budget.

Happily we now have several bodies of independent scientists, like the IANDS, the ICRL or the Society for Scientific Exploration. These people do no more try to demonstrate the reality of these phenomena: they study them. But for this, they need a theoretical frame. Providing with such a theoretical frame is precisely the purpose of this book.

We can note that people engaged into a serious spiritual path, including yoga methods to transform our mind, may be able to witness, and even produce, cases of such phenomena. However this happens in a very personal setting, making it hard to observe by classical science. Only General Epistemology can venture here: the only way is to be ourself part of the experiment, with developing the right motivation and engaging into a serious spiritual transformation. So do it, publications will come later.

(Remarks about the MANTRA studies has been moved in the next chapter II-9, together with several epistemological points of importance for this domain.)

Reincarnation

(Permalink) In countries where reincarnation stories are not repressed, like India, there are numerous stories of checked memories of former lives. There are some private enquirers claiming to check and compile such cases. However reincarnation did not mobilized the science community as NDE did. This is domageable, as a collection of independently scientifically proved reincarnations cases would be a definitive evidence of a permanent survival of consciousness after death, while the NDE do not bring evidence of a long term survival.

I speak of reincarnation in chapter V-9.

Ethics

(Permalink) The reasoning that we followed in the heading «mind and spirituality» above, does not disturb the scientistists and rationalists of all kinds, who deny any value to ethics under the pretext that mind being only a small epiphenomenon of matter, it does not have any interest. Words like suffering or happiness would thus not make any sense. At least those of others, will courageously admit the vivisectors and other technocrats who create us a polluted, noisy and intolerable world, but who have their yachts, the best doctors, and beautiful villas in areas far away from nuclear power stations. We can indeed wonder why, if our purposes, our values, our happiness, would not make any sense, why the financial interests, «the development», «the progress», «the technical commands» in the name of which they makes us suffer and destroys our lives, why they would have more, of sense, to thus be able to come and command us. The scientistist and technocratic speeches are there only to hide a monstrous selfishness and criminal behaviours.

 

On the genuine science side, the development of ethic committees seems a good point. That sincere people meet with the blessing of state authorities to propose ethical and deontological parapets against known or potential dangers of new practices (organs gifts, artificial insemination, genetic engineering, clones...) is inevitably a good thing. But how a science which precisely excluded from its vision any spiritual base could suddenly appear the best expert in ethics? This is impossible, without referring to «personal feelings» and other un-scientific contortions.

Some even claim to seek «an ethics without religious reference». Cheer if you find, but while waiting, let me laugh! (And if any you really wish to find that, see chapter V-5) Thus one goes and consult the philosophers, the humanists, and... the religions. One day, I saw passing by a chart where a representative of the Catholics, one of the Protestants, one of the Jews, one of the Moslems and even one of the Buddhists delivered their opinion on abortion, organ gifts, sperm banks, etc... On abscissa: religions. On ordinate: topics, and each answer in its box, separated by thick black lines. One is a scientist, isn't he? The Buddhists showed the most tolerant, the most modern, see. But perhaps the most naive: each «progress» is always presented according to its more enjoyable and attracting aspects, whereas its potential dangers are often hidden or minimised... And to know these dangers, it is often necessary to engage into a thorough and multidisciplinary reflection. Without accounting with all the new dangers which threaten our survival, another one each three or six months, now.

Perhaps it is better an intransigent Greenpeace with its principle of precaution. Perhaps a wise precaution would be to start with expurgating the ethics committees of all these blokes who have elsewhere anti-consciousness, anti-happiness, or amoral speeches, or who have financial or ideological interests in the practices they are expected to control.

 

One of the main purposes of this book is to propose a scientific ethics, into the sixth part.

UFOs

(Permalink) (Rewritten in April 2018, and summarized, since it doubled with chapter VII-2 devoted to UFOs and related phenomena)

UFOs are a strange case: the only «parapsychological» phenomenon which study enjoyed some institutional support, like the university studies on Hessdalen, the GEPAN, and even military researches like the Condign Project. These studies did what was needed to assess the reality of the UFO phenomenon, even if they failed to provide any explanation. But despite this solid scientific statute, most scientists still say that UFOs are hallucinations, psychology, and the like.

This ambiguous position of mainstream science allowed for an unprecedented amount of boosting disinformation, which are very detrimental to the public's understanding of the phenomenon, and even to its study. Beyond, we can say that the conspiracy theories on UFO are the mothers of all the other conspiracy theories, so that the cost of denying UFOs is much larger than just on science, it also is heavy on society and even in politics.

(Original text) With my opinion, the limitations of classical epistemology will not allow to solve the UFO phenomenon, which seems to reflect our inner life. But even a classical study had at least the merit of demonstrating facts and discredit hoaxes, to the eyes at least of educated people, if not of the masses intoxicated by the «liberal» press.

Unexplained rare phenomena

(Permalink) Although these phenomena are not necessarily bizarre (they could be just natural or physical phenomena), we find here, as for the UFOS, the same mixture of psychological reduction and balderdashes mongering. This is detrimental to everybody, especially to witnesses, who may be deeply intrigued, see shocked, and who may in more be confronted to psychological stalking by idiots who think they know everything. When explanations are found, they often are nice or mind-boggling.

 

The list of unexplained rare phenomena has been displaced to chapter VII-5.

Predictions of Quantum mechanics

(Permalink) (Summarized in April 2018) Although this is only a matter of pure «official» science, we note a strong reluctance to admit the results of Quantum Mechanics, including among scientists. I shall speak of Quantum Mechanics in chapter IV-2, and most generally, we shall see in fourth part on physics how those mysterious quantum phenomenon are at last very simple and very familiar, once we abandon materialism. So let us restrain the balderdashes showcasing to this chapter:

 

Of course, scientists are more and more numerous to effectively accept these results. But some are still dragging their feet:

(1998) the possibility of being able to design a quantum computer started quantity of searches and experiments «except in France, where one preferred to specialise in explaining the impossibility to fix the decoherence (note 35)». This typical example of rationalistic pessimism was nabbed by Jean Paul Delahaye in «Pour la Science», August 1998, «Les nouvelles lois de l'informatique quantique». It sounds prettily funny, as, just at the time it was written, some researchers came with a very simple system with a decoherence time of several minutes (Magneto Nuclear Resonance of protons in water, well known and widely used in medicine)

(2017) (2017???) (Yes 2017, this is not a mistake). On a consultation led by the French ministry Cédric Villani, one of my contributions, about using quantum Qbits to make artificial neurones, was called «pseudoscientific» by commentators! Rhakabocrapoploisticcvstovdgtrsz!

Conclusions

(Permalink)(Original text, 1999)

I feel that in this chapter there is enough valid matter to justify sincere scientific studies. Many researchers and private witnesses have accumulated enough data so that we can seriously plan to consider all these phenomena as experimental facts, what I will not deprive myself to do throughout this book, to base on this a fair part of my conclusions. Personally I am convinced of the existence at least of some parapsychological phenomena, that I have seen myself. So in the continuation I consider these phenomena as empirical facts about which it is necessary to find an explanation one day or another. Precisely I propose such an explanation, that I explain into the following parts of this book.

 

The recognition of these fields will be limited, as long as it is only the work of some private groups. Such a recognition can be complete and effective only if the necessary examinations and controls are achieved in a rigorous way by the persons and the institutions who make science. On the contrary, if some unexplained phenomena proved to be only the result of hallucinations, beliefs or other psychological deviations, only a complete, honest and transparent investigation, by official services, will be able to definitively convince the public opinion and indeed withdraw any credit to those who make propaganda for false phenomena.

 

For all these checks, a clear political choice is necessary. But especially the scientists who will have to actually study the phenomena, or to control private studies, will have to do this without any materialist, rationalist or scientistist prejudice. And without thinking that it is a search of little interest, quite to the contrary: considering the importance of the stakes, History will look upon them.

(Added April 2018: we saw that the sole denegation of the UFOs could result in a deep lack of confidence, and encourage a deleterious climate of conspiracy theories and fake news, poisoning society and politics)

 

The today deficiency of scientific institutions obliges the true researchers to work outside of these institutions. If, in more, they need to use other methods, such as the general Epistemology I propose, then a schism is unavoidable. I do not wish such a schism, which would be detrimental to everybody. But often in History things advanced in this way, innovators protecting themselves in order to be able to work, and people unable to evolve being automatically discarded when the new results arrive.

 

 

And «alternative» researchers should not expect to be recognised as long as they indistinctly considers all the scientists as narrow-minded idiots, and especially as long as there is not a rigorous methodology of control about the facts which one wants to see their reality recognised. These methodologies are known of many professionals and students, and it is easy to find persons who would agree to work for credible associations. But we cannot expect that all the jumble of fancy theories which encumber everyday more the alternative medicines and the New Age will never be recognised by any kind of scientist, and General Epistemology could make them a fate even more quickly than the old one, with making them testable.

Added 2018: and this is what is actually taking place: there are the serious ones who are proliferating, and the phoney who are more and more denounced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Epistemology        Chapter II-8       

 

 

 

 

 

 

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