>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^Gallowflak:
Pavlov's dogs were trained to salivate because a certain sensory experience was always, every time, followed by them being fed, so it was a reasonable observation and reaction. Superstition is the irrational connection of an actual or potential effect and an imagined cause, which then governs future behaviour.

Hope is irrational as well. There are many cases for irrationality, rationally speaking of course, err wait.


Do you actually think that is true; that hope is irrational? I would contend that, depending on the statistical probability of the outcome that you are hopeful for, hope is almost a default position because no one can entirely know what the future holds, so in that way, there always is hope.

I would also contend that individual hopes might be irrational, but not hope as a concept itself.

Just wanted to clarify what you meant. Obviously the hope that I'll see my dead mother again in an afterlife is an irrational hope but is the hope that I'll get the promotion that I applied for also/equally irrational?

I love this man! No homo... -_-

Wow, that was really good.

This should have been one of the trailers!

Hey, no worries. I just read (and responded to) it. I think you should take me up on the offer, I'm totally serious.

In reply to this comment by enoch:
hey bud.
i responded to your comment.
no ill intentions in my post regarding you.
we have already talked at length and i totally understand the whole "spiritual/new-age" stuff is not your bag.
but i felt it prudent to address some things you brought up concerning the mental health industry that has always gave me fits.
so i thank you for giving me that vehicle(your words basically) and i didnt use one new age term or any jargon in my entire post.
my gift to you.(ok..now im just being a sarcastic dickwad).
anyways..just know my response was not an attack or a slight towards you at all.
much respect.
namaste.

I was going to attempt to respond to as many items as I can but I decided to instead try something different.

There are two books that I think you should read and that I think you'd greatly enjoy. One is called "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Siddhartha Mukherjee and that other is called "Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks and Big Pharma Flacks" by Ben Goldacre.

Look into them a bit, read the descriptions. I recommend The Emperor of All Maladies because it is contains an extremely good account of the progress of the medical industry and it uses cancer research as a cornerstone. Though, I think you'll particularly like Bad Science, especially the section where the author goes into a scathing critique of where mainstream medicine has it's problems. It's actually a really funny book too.

Hell, I'll even buy Bad Science for you and have it shipped where ever you want.

Ok, I will say one thing in response to what you've said. I don't like the idea of a humanistic take on this issue because these problems aren't limited to humans. There is a range of mental conditions that humans experience that have been observed in other animals as well. In the case of mental illness, as in most cases, humans aren't special; we just think we are because we have the perspective that we're looking on everything from the outside.

The reason why I tear apart videos like that is because it's based on flawed reasoning, logical fallacies, misrepresentations and misunderstandings of science and scientific facts, and generally irrational modes of thought. The solution that I'm providing is that the video's topic, and the presenter are full of nonsensical ideas and that real evidence based research should be valued to a higher degree than some guy with his untested and/or unsupported hypothesis.

Ugh, he doesn't understand evolution at all... He keeps saying things like "During a certain part of evolution...", it's pathetic how newage-y non-sense likes to attach scientific sounding terms in attempt to legitimize their ideas.

At the beginning, he posses the question, why can't mainstream psychology and psychiatry heal bi-polar disorder. The answer is because we don't understand exactly what it is, just that it tends to happen.

Plus, I can almost guarantee that the 'statistic' that bi-polar disorder had gone up 4000% percent in 10 years two decades ago is a exercise in both failing to correct for clustering and misrepresenting the data. Read one book on how statistics can be easily manipulated to support your bias and a number like 4000% immediately becomes highly suspect thus making the assumption behind his belief also suspect.

Spiral dynamics is little more than a rehashed "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" which has been found to be useless as a way of measuring people.

Damn! I want to see David Mitchell and Bill Maher do a dual rant. That'd be effing sweet!

Someone should remix his exclamation into a dubstep track right before the drop!

Aww shit son! Thanks!!

OMG! I want to see the parallel landing!

I'm consistently impressed by how well designed and developed the Unreal engines really are. They go beyond expectation for me, every time.

This is a great documentary! I just saw it in it's entirety the other night. I recommend it to any lazy ass American who thinks his life is hard... and to everyone else

Opeth is one of the greatest bands in history. Truly among the best. Their collection of works is amazing in it's diversity, the lyrical writing spans from simple to Shakespearean, the musical composition is hard to compare to anything else.

Watch these two kids become friends after this whole thing.