Ninja Rants and Raves

Well, just the other day I saw an episode of the BBC’s Horizon programme titled “How to make better decisions”. I nearly barfed! It wasn’t as bad as their “The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schön” episode but it certainly ranks as a very bad science programme.

I don’t want to say too much about the corny equations for decision making or the need to be organised and prepared.

But I do want to say something about the extraordinary claim that Horizon presented with regards to the “scientist” who stated that the human brain could sense the future (about 3 seconds in the future) using some unknown quantum mechanism. It was presented in a way that could lead a significant number of people to think it was all true, and the programme did not go into much detail about how the “scientific” tests were undertaken (eg randomness of the picture slides, use of sequences forming patterns, use of “double blind”tests…was the scientist aware of what the pictures were in advance and was he in the same room as the subject hence offering an unconscious transfer of information? etc).

As is commonly said these days, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And the evidence that Horizon presented was far from extraordinary…it was practically non-existent! No peer-review or independent duplication of experimental results were presented. And it’s been seen over the last few decades how easy it is for scientists to be fooled by so-called psychics and even for the scientists to fool themselves. The James Randi website is a good place to start research into this area. The claims and the lack of detail on the experiments undertaken had a certain “woo” about them. Look at http://www.watchingyou.com/woowoo.html for an idea of “woo” behaviour.

I’m not sure what Horizon were thinking. Their recent programmes have been far from impressive. For example, the recent episode “What on Earth is wrong with gravity?” presented by Dr Brian Cox took over twenty boring minutes to get near to the real point of the programme…that quantum theory likely holds the answers to a true understanding of gravity. Even the last twenty minutes of the programme was mostly window-dressing without much substance. Sigh. I really used to like Horizon but it just frustrates and disappoints these days.

Just noticed on the programmes credits at the end that they reference “The Institute of Noetic Sciences” which has a very questionable reputation and which is strongly associated to quackery. I’m not saying that the Institute is a quackery organisation only that there have been questions raised on the quality of their research. Do your own research and follow the evidence.

Just remember to use Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit from his wonderful book “The Demon Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark” as listed in my other article.

Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved

Just came across an article at the BBC called Obesity ‘not individuals’ fault’. It references a UK government-backed study that, basically, claims that it is not an individual’s fault for being obese but rather that it was the fault of society, and that both society and government needed to be involved to reduce obesity.

I can see some merit in that argument but it is not going to be easy. Take cigarettes as an example. Despite decades of health warning there are still a substantial number of people who continue smoking. It’s good that there is legislation here in the UK restricting smoking in public enclosed areas (and protecting people like me from second-hand smoke) but a lot of people have not stopped smoking; they’ve just moved elsewhere. Now, outside the main entrance to Paddington Station, there is a gauntlet of smokers and it is a real pain-in-the-rear getting passed the dense smoke (hold breath, walk fast!). What I’m trying to say is that legislation and many years of health warnings haven’t made our society smoke-free. Sure, it has made a difference but not much compared to all the effort that has been put in.

Now, when it comes to obesity, how can we change society? What can government do? Yes, it will be a challenge but I do not expect to see anything change much in my lifetime…obesity, or the lack of recognition of obesity, is too well entrenched and accepted in society. A lot of people who consider themselves “fit” may be surprised at being classed as “obese” according to the stand BMI. And they can now excuse themselves “knowing” that being fat isn’t their fault (although perhaps these people would also likely also blame there “genes” and their “metabolism”). The projections showing obesity numbers increase over time are shocking.

The problem with the study is that it can be used as an excuse by individuals for being obese. Individuals need to take responsibility for their actions, but they won’t as this society is lazy and blaming society or the government is easy.

Those who really, really want to lose weight will succeed…through mental strength and determination. Those with even a minuscule of doubt may succeed in the short term but will ultimately fail. There are no short-cuts or easy ways of losing weight; I would recommend this Singletrack article on one way of keeping fit.

I think that we’re all in trouble if people are generally lazy. I don’t really know. Perhaps I’m totally wrong on all this.

Copyright © 2007 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved