Welcome to the center of the universe, population: You.
Published by violet April 28th, 2008 in Punkass!, "Science"
I saw this in the aisle at Sunflower market, an organic grocery store that operates around this here parts (this, at an organic grocery store? shock!).
“Guess what’s at the center of the universe? It’s you! Also, let’s talk about Deepak Chopra and those wacky atheists, eh?”
I have, on occasion, the urge to bonk people with frying pans (lightly).
I didn’t have a lot of time to read the article, but what I got from it… well, it didn’t exactly support the cover picture. They had one scientist talking about her work on dark matter, and how she’s developing “wacky ideas,” like the notion that elementary particles might be multi-dimensional manifolds in spatial dimensions too small to perturb the ordinary world. Whatever you think of string theorists, they hardly suggest that consciousness (and, specifically, human consciousness) has a privileged place in the realm of physical laws.
The reason that I want to bop people making these arguments with a frying pan isn’t that I think that their fundamental beliefs are stupid—I actually buy a lot of these same beliefs. It’s that I think that appealing to psuedo-science is fundamentally flawed. It’s that I don’t think you need to twist quantum mechanics to support your spiritual beliefs. Because when you do that, you aren’t making arguments about anything quantum mechanics, or string theory, or any physical theory actually says, you’re trying to support your unrelated beliefs with that authority.
If you want to argue that belief is fundamental and important, make that argument. If you want to argue knowing-the-world is the most potent force of change or self-actualization, make that argument. But don’t say, “Well, this is true because quantum mechanics sez so!” Because then you’re just making a mockery of yourself, and anyone who might otherwise be inclined to agree with you.
Does that seriously say “Atheists: a field guide to the new enemies of God”
And this was at an organic grocery store?
*cries*
Yes.
Yes, it does, and yes, it was. (That’s the checkout conveyor. I dropped it down to take a picture. Website goes here.)
I should point out, in the interest of fairness, that I am just as annoyed when scientists do the thing I mentioned above. It’s rather more rare, but it does happen, and in that case, the frying pan comes at them. Let your findings stand on their own; don’t imbue them with all sorts of bizarre spiritual and societal relevance that they don’t have. Evpsychs, I’m looking at you.
My graduate department does free lectures to interested groups, and we got a rock and mineral club one day. Nice people, pretty smart. So we show them some sheets of paper made with the same material as a mood ring - basically temperature-sensitive material. You can do something called “ghost hands” with it where you put your hand on a table for a few minutes and then put the sheet where your hand had been and a thermographic image of your hand appears. Children love this, by the way. Anyway, damned if one of these guys didn’t want to talk about using this stuff to see your aura.
At the crunchy granola place where I sometimes get massages, the services get more expensive the further from reasonable they get. Massage? $50/hr. Being hooked up to a machine that reads your aura? $200. A vaguely defined session in which a German woman with a tragic past helps you connect with “Angels of Light” for reasons left hazy? $400.
A field guide to the “enemies of God”, eh? Well, might be good for these ever so openminded folks to know the different types of atheists for quick identification on the go so they can send bad karmic energies our way with their telepathic superconscious mind rays. You know, the same ones they use to channel aliens and spirits from beyond.
New Age wackos poorly understood quantum mechanics = new realms of delusion.
I hate seeing quantum mechanics abused this way too. No doubt if string theory becomes a household synonym for “cool-sounding sciencey stuff I don’t understand,” we’ll start hearing about how god lives in Calabi-Yau spaces.
I hate seeing spiritual beliefs abused this way.
“a household synonym for “cool-sounding sciencey stuff I don’t understand” ”
–junk science
“Quantum physics” already is that, as evidenced by this (in no way even remotely unique) article.
I wish people would stop insisting on having their gods and their science — and, for that matter, everyone else’s gods and sciences — live (or die) in the same world. Then the creationi - er, intelligent design theorists, could stop insisting that we can’t have our science, the neocons could stop insisting that the middle east can’t have its Islams, certain atheists could stop insisting we can’t have our gods, and certain new agers could stop insisting that those atheist science people are ruining their vibes.
I have a dream, that one day, people will fucking relax.
Aho Mitakuye Oyasin.