A skeptics guide to the galaxy

[zorkan]

I don't know where to start, so I'll try chiropractic.

As a kid I was sent to have several sessions. It would cure my asthma.
It didn't work. I still suffer with it decades later.
It makes a living for chiropractors and that's all.

It suggests that long term diseases can be fixed by pressing down on the spine and freeing nerves.
A process called subluxation.
Only chiropractors with special healing hands can do this, so don't try it at home otherwise spinal damage is likely.

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

[zorkan]

Another form of healing is the Japanese art of Reiki.
You can visit a practitioner or even do it yourself.
All the better that this is of alien origin.

https://reikitrainingprogram.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/the-extraterrestrial-reiki-connection/

Reiki is also the chi. It's just spelt with a K. 'Reichi' would not sound quite right.
Tai chi is based on the same idea that healing energy exists in the universe.
All you have to do is to channel it.
Help a teacher by going to a class.

I don't wish to discourage this, but it IS nonsense.


   

[zorkan]

Give thanks for the influence of the British royal family.
King Charles believes in homeopathy:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/17/king-charles-has-appointed-homeopath-why-do-elite-put-faith-in-snake-oil

In his first speech as president of the British Medical Association he told the assembled crowd of doctors that modern medicine was "like the celebrated Tower of Pisa, slightly off balance".

He also believes in talking to plants.

"I just come and talk to the plants, really — very important to talk to them. They respond." (1986 BBC interview)

Should he require urgent treatment he might select this option:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqWieBlI1bA

[Dark Lightning]

^ So true!

[zorkan]

After the decline in spiritualism, popular in the 19th century, we now have the idea that science can keep us alive for many extra years.
Religion still believes we can have immortality.
Animals can't, but humans can if they have faith.

Living to 150 sounds great, but it doesn't mean we will have good health and freedom from pain.
As the author John Gray puts it in his book The Immortalization Commission:
"What could be more deadly than being unable to die?"

This is like the Greek legend of Tithonus.
He asked the gods for immortality but forgot to tell them to preserve his youth.
He grew older and older in ever increasing pain and became envious of others who had the privilege of dying.

Even the universe is dying faster than we thought, but humans still believe they might be exempt.

https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/the-universe-is-dying-much-faster-than-scientists-thought-new-study-suggests

I will be glad to get out of the pain of living one day, and not preserved like Lenin.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-the-quest-to-preserve-lenins-body-helps-the-living

[zorkan]

Above does not mean I won't participate in the yoga industry.
It's worth over $200 billion in the global economy.
Yoga is so good, you will feel like a new person in just a few sessions.
You will feel like a microcosm of the universe.
It will stimulate your hormones, grow your telomeres, make your body elastic.

It's so good I probably shouldn't mention you are more likely to get pain in the back, the neck, the wrists, the knees and shoulders. So keep your doctor's phone number handy.
Best to forget the great guru of American yoga, Richard Hittleman only lived until he was 64, and Larry Shultz the inventor of Rocket Yoga died at 60.
I've also known plenty of people who never did yoga and lived into their 90's and 100's.

Tired with yoga teachers who can't demonstrate the headstand, because they can't do it, I embraced the idea that maybe our bodies work off energy centres called chakras. These are stimulated by yoga poses (asanas) and are colour coded. There are 7 of these, or is it 14, or even 21?

Go into the next room at the sports' centre and someone is talking about the meridians in our bodies.
These are channels connecting our internal parts through which the chi flows.
Freeing up these connections will free you of disease. It's also how acupuncture works.

If only. Would save trillions in global healthcare.

[zorkan]

For my holidays in 2026 I hope to visit the nearest star.
In my Blue-Sky Voyager I'll refuel at the sun, then take the ride to Proxima Centauri.
Hoping that by the time I get there, Alpha Centauri has not become closer.
Depending on the speed I'm going it could take 83,000 years, but if I manage near light speed I won't get any older and it will only take just over 4 years.

I could bridge the gap by travelling by wormhole, should technology be available to push matter through by then.
Another possibility is teleportation which again should only take 4 years.
In the teleporter, my body will be broken down into probability waves and then reassembled on arrival.
Only danger is I might end up dismembered.
Coming back also has its hazards.

To quote Douglas Adams, "I teleported home one night with Ron and Sid and Meg. Ron stole Meggie's heart away and I got Sydney's leg."

[zorkan]

On the subject of ufology.

The evidence of alien presence on or near this planet is precisely zero.
No wonder it is not an academic subject.
I accept that what starts with fiction can become a reality for some.
Arguably that far into the future we could detect alien probes or communications.
Until then it is all bunk.

On the subject of quantum physics.

All the more interesting because we don't understand it.
We give it names like quantum entanglement, quantum uncertainty, quantum decoherence.
There is no such thing as quantum healing, quantum yoga, quantum tai chi.
The mind is not a quantum computer, either, as proposed by authors such a Deepak Chopra.

Chopra doesn't know what ageing is .
https://longevity.choprafoundation.org/feeds/what-if-aging-is-a-mistake?req_type=html&k=bc78b2dd

Then he should read this.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/cell-aging

[billy rubin]

talking to plants might well be a useful thing. plant sensory capabilities and responsive behaviour used to be considered a non-thing. not so much anymore.

for example

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11540076/

anyway plants respond to stimuli from their environment in ways that indicate a much more complex behavioural repertoire than they have been credited for.

it has now reached the stage at which pseudo scientific articles are written to deny plant sentience, whereas in the past it was a non question .

https://biologyinsights.com/are-plants-aware-the-science-of-plant-behavior/

interesting implications for what consciousness might look like in organisms different from us, complete with the usual imposition of anthopocentric blindspots. i recall similar attitudes regarding tool use among non humans

[zorkan]

talking to plants might well be a useful thing.

What might be the preferred language.
A nasal one, perhaps, like French or how about a flat one, like Yorkshire?
True that plants do communicate with each other, but not with King Charles.
"Plants communicate through a host of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be separated into four broad categories, each the product of distinct chemical pathways: fatty acid derivatives, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids, amino acid derivatives, and terpenoids."

The bible tells us that a snake spoke to Eve, but it is not revealed in what language.
"The serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God did say, 'You must not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die."

Also on the subject of the Hebrew bible.
You cannot be a Jew, Christian, or Muslim if you do not believe the Earth is flat and 6000 years old.
Put another way.
Person A: Christians believe the Earth to be only 6000 years old.
Person B: My uncle Ebenezer thinks it's a lot older than that.
Person A: No true Christian believes the Earth to be anything other than 6000 years old.

Same principle could be applied to the great flood.
True Christians believe that fossils are proof that it really happened.
 

[billy rubin]

and yet plants respond to mechanical stimulations. experimental data is sparse, but climbing plants can detect the difference between solid support and a loose support, select one over the other, and change the way they climb to match.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37111821/

plants can detect the difference between the vibrations of a chewing caterpillar and those of wind

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/823605

rice and cucumbers respond to sound waves with changes in growth:

https://academic.oup.com/pcp/article-abstract/32/5/729/1939977

whats different is that plants dont have muscles, and so the behaviour takes a very different form, with chemical changes and cell growth, and turgor pressure and so on. i once asked a botanist to define "behaviour" in her terms, and she said: fast motion.

that says it all, really.

so i find it quite possible that plants might respond to the speaking of king charles. the message is immaterial, the point being that what comes out of his mouth is a physical stimulus that may be within the plants ability to detect. what they do with the information is so far undefined.

personally if charles wants to speak to non-human life forms, i would have preferred he had had a few words with his brother andrew a good number of years ago. a bit late now to control that damage.

[zorkan]

Would different plants respond to the same vocal stimulus?
Why not just play Mozart?
Remember that Andrew is also a royal who has been appointed by god.
Might be evidence that god does not exist, like why didn't he speak to Andrew?

Also on the subject of god and whether he exists or not:

Does god have entropy?
Stars and black holes have it, so why not god?
If yes it suggests god is weaker now.
Why is god hiding 95% of his creation, the cosmos, in the form of dark energy and dark matter?

If god is everywhere, then why should he only be worshipped in a large building?

Why shouldn't he reveal himself to each new generation?

[Icarus]

Used to be a huge chicken farm near Ocala Florida. There were thousands of chickens that produced eggs. The owner of the farm played classical music for the chickens around the clock. He claimed that the chickens laid more and better eggs when hearing music.  He even had records of production that bore out his claim.

People talk to all sorts of inanimate objects, including plants. Here is an example.............

A man and his wife were sitting on the porch one pleasant evening. They were enjoying a some good white  wine. After a period of quiet, She said; "I love you so much, I do not know how I could live without you." He said: Is that you talking or is it the wine?"  She said; "I was talking to the wine".

[Dark Lightning]

Man, that is ate up...but probably true.

[billy rubin]

Would different plants respond to the same vocal stimulus?
Why not just play Mozart?

dont know. thats for a plant neurophysiologist to look into  if there is such a thing.

if you grew up inside a hammermill do you think you might be a different person from your brother who grew up in a quiet country meadow?

plants have sensory capabilities. what they do with them is an interesting question.