News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

On ''Prayer''

Started by Paolo, May 23, 2020, 08:45:40 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

trdsf

Quote from: Jagella on May 25, 2020, 09:25:08 PM
Prayer can be quick, easy, and cheap. It sure beats actually doing some work or taking risks to make the world a better place!
And we've all seen how effective "thoughts and prayers" are against mass shootings, too.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Quote from: trdsf on May 26, 2020, 02:44:44 AM
And we've all seen how effective "thoughts and prayers" are against mass shootings, too.

I am disappointed too.  Not enough genocide.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Paolo

Thanks for the answers, guys. There have been some insightful posts here.
Oh noes...I think I’m dead....

Paolo

Quote from: aitm on May 24, 2020, 07:07:54 AM
If the best a god can do is to give you a nights sleep, don’t go praying for a miracle.

Well, to be fair, this friend of mine from the OP also claimed that he was able to ''self-heal'' from diabetes through prayer alone (though, strangely, he wasn't able to specify what type of diabetes he had...)
Oh noes...I think I’m dead....

SGOS

Quote from: Paolo on May 29, 2020, 12:43:15 AM
Well, to be fair, this friend of mine from the OP also claimed that he was able to ''self-heal'' from diabetes through prayer alone (though, strangely, he wasn't able to specify what type of diabetes he had...)
Lack of knowledge is the playground of woo.  Woo fills in the blanks of ignorance.  It's an easy fix like patching a rust hole in my old Junker pickup with duct tape.

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on May 29, 2020, 08:52:09 AM
Lack of knowledge is the playground of woo.  Woo fills in the blanks of ignorance.  It's an easy fix like patching a rust hole in my old Junker pickup with duct tape.

Hence controlled experiments.  But placebo does work.  The body is partner with psychology.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Sal1981

Quote from: Baruch on May 29, 2020, 11:46:41 AM
Hence controlled experiments.  But placebo does work.  The body is partner with psychology.
Placebo works because body contains mind, they're not separate entities.

Baruch

Quote from: Sal1981 on May 29, 2020, 11:58:54 AM
Placebo works because body contains mind, they're not separate entities.

What is matter?  Never mind.  What is mind?  Doesn't matter. ;-)

If a doctor gives you a pill, and says to you, you will die shortly ... vs a doctor give you a pill, and says to you, you will recover shortly ... which doctor do you prefer?  This is the difference between hospice and hospital.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Paolo

Quote from: SGOS on May 29, 2020, 08:52:09 AM
Lack of knowledge is the playground of woo.  Woo fills in the blanks of ignorance.  It's an easy fix like patching a rust hole in my old Junker pickup with duct tape.

''Woo'' as in ''woo-doo''? I'm confused.
Oh noes...I think I’m dead....

Hydra009

http://skepdic.com/woowoo.html

Woo is a blanket term for a variety of supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific beliefs.  It's usually used in the context of quackery (a person who pretends to be an expert who uses this fraudulent, unearned elevated status to promote psuedoscientific remedies based on woo)

Baruch

Quote from: Hydra009 on June 11, 2020, 02:54:23 PM
http://skepdic.com/woowoo.html

Woo is a blanket term for a variety of supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific beliefs.  It's usually used in the context of quackery (a person who pretends to be an expert who uses this fraudulent, unearned elevated status to promote psuedoscientific remedies based on woo)

Same applies to political ideology and racism.  Quacks, all of them.

Also applies to lay descriptions of quantum mechanics, because Popular Science is still a magazine for the gullible.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Paolo

Quote from: Hydra009 on June 11, 2020, 02:54:23 PM
http://skepdic.com/woowoo.html

Woo is a blanket term for a variety of supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific beliefs.  It's usually used in the context of quackery (a person who pretends to be an expert who uses this fraudulent, unearned elevated status to promote psuedoscientific remedies based on woo)

Thanks. And I just realized I misspelt ''voodoo''.
Oh noes...I think I’m dead....

SGOS

I associate woo with science fiction of my youth.  Before the aliens appeared on the screen there was often a "woo-ooo" sound with a continually varying pitch.  Think of a guy playing a saw, although I haven't seen a guy playing a saw for 50 years.  The sound was actually made with a musical instrument that could play actual tunes.  It was something recently invented around the time the talkies were showing up in theaters.  I guess some director saw and heard one, and said, "Hey, that reminds me of Martians," and it became adopted by Hollywood to put in sound tracks whenever they wanted to create an eerie atmosphere.  As for the music that it could play, I think it had rather limited appeal.  I don't think any band ever used that instrument, except for maybe Spike Jones. 

Hydra009

Quote from: Paolo on June 11, 2020, 03:33:12 PM
Thanks. And I just realized I misspelt ''voodoo''.
Misspelled :P

Just kidding.  Either is fine.  American/British variations.

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on June 11, 2020, 04:27:36 PM
I associate woo with science fiction of my youth.  Before the aliens appeared on the screen there was often a "woo-ooo" sound with a continually varying pitch.  Think of a guy playing a saw, although I haven't seen a guy playing a saw for 50 years.  The sound was actually made with a musical instrument that could play actual tunes.  It was something recently invented around the time the talkies were showing up in theaters.  I guess some director saw and heard one, and said, "Hey, that reminds me of Martians," and it became adopted by Hollywood to put in sound tracks whenever they wanted to create an eerie atmosphere.  As for the music that it could play, I think it had rather limited appeal.  I don't think any band ever used that instrument, except for maybe Spike Jones.

Perhaps a Theramin ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

Leon Theramin was also a great Soviet inventor, who helped the KGB spy on the Americans ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.