As I mentioned in a previous article, our collective expectations for scientific models demand explanatory and predictive power. But, I think we obsess over reasons - attempting to answer the question, “why?” And I think this obsession sometimes causes us to rationalize and oversimplify, rather than explain and predict.
I’ve dealt with a chronic pain in the neck - literal pain in the neck - for almost 20 years now. I’ve attempted to “fix” this through conventional medicine. They can’t fix it, so they explain its existence away with the old “it’s in your head” dismissal. They are reducing what they can’t fix to an underlying psychological issue. In the end, this creates a kind of circular argument.
You can’t deny it, because it’s your head. And only people not in your head could possibly know whether something is in your head. Because lies. Not their lies. Yours. You are incentivized to lie to yourself, so you do - goes the reasoning. They are, for sure, not wrong. And if you argue it, or attempt to physically demonstrate a counter point, then they become even more certain that you’ve got mental health issues.
To be clear - I’m not dismissing authentic mental health issues. Nor am I dismissing the reality of lying to oneself. Both are real and all too common. The issue I’m raising is that nothing is being done to suss out the boundaries of that explanation. They’re the authority, you’re the subordinate, and doctors and scientists have priest-like powers. Questioning them makes you a “science-denier,” the modern equivalent of a heretic.
They’re reducing what they can’t explain to the mysteries of the black box known as your mind. And we’re the heretics?
As the years wore on, I sought “alternative” treatments. The first alternative I tried was an old osteopath that messed around with my ankles. After my first meeting with him, he said, “I’ll see you next week.” I thought, “Nope. No you won’t. My ankles have nothing to do with my neck.” The next three days, I had no neck pain. Not less neck pain. None. So, I did go back. I’ve since moved too far away and haven’t been able to find any osteopaths that are at his caliber.
The next alternative treatments I tried were massage and acupuncture. Massage had faster benefits, but the benefits wore off within a day. Acupuncture was a gradual improvement, but the improvement was essentially permanent-ish (depends on aggravating circumstances, but my neck always returns to the new and improved baseline). And I have NO satisfactory explanation for why these alternatives have the effect on me that they do. And neither does anyone else.
I asked the acupuncturist why I was experiencing benefits from this treatment and not others. The answer: “I don’t know.” Period. Full stop. No interest in offering an explanation. I asked about my having to move across the country. They wrote a list of codes on a slip of paper, and they told me to give it to the next acupuncturist. I asked what the codes were. The answer: “they’re the points that benefit you. It seems your body responds most favorably to the points that effect your immune system.” I was curious. “Why?” The answer: “I don’t know.”
I’ve thought about this a lot since then. The acupuncturist would take meticulous notes about which points benefited me, and which didn’t. Measurement and observation, just like a scientist. And there’s even some estimation for which sub-systems of the body are effected. Probably compiled through millennia of trial and error. But absolutely zero interest in explaining why it worked. And you know what? In the end I don’t care. Will it “work” for other people? No idea. And that’s ok.
There’s a prevailing belief that you can’t predict without explanatory power. Seems reasonable to me. But I’m steeped in the sciences - it could just be in my head. Maybe, just maybe, trial and error in feeling your way around a complex system with meticulous notes can be more powerful than trying to model that system. Or does that make me a heretic?
Complex systems like living beings are notoriously difficult to model, explain and predict. While it’s a worthy goal to get to the “why” of a result for these kinds of systems, I think you’re right that a focus on only that could deter a better understanding of these systems. Empirical studies (trial, observation, possible error, redo) are better suited to solving problems with complex systems involved. Thanks for the story. I’ll add some stuff from my perspective soon.
"They’re the authority, you’re the subordinate, and doctors and scientists have priest-like powers. Questioning them makes you a “science-denier,” the modern equivalent of a heretic."
Yes, and I wonder if this is the whole Covid Show's purpose.
The priest-class are astrologers and the original medicine men- of this there is no doubt. Meditate and medicate share the same etymology.
I've known of the state of medicine for about fifteen years now and have learned curious stuff like iodine vs. fluoride, the true nature of a 'virus', Ayurveda (accidentally) and German New Medicine- the latter states almost all first cause illness is based in the psyche first- the shock of something. It's an interesting idea and seems to work out from personal observation but obviously poisoning and accidental shooting has its own place.
Anyway, I watched first with horror as the realisation dawned at what they were doing all those years ago, tried to warn people, dismissed by family, dropped by an old friend, the usual. But what it did- like in the Terminator when the woman is screaming silently at the children and mothers in the playground as the bomb is about to fall- is force the change in perspective to an almighty degree.
The priest class are teaching us using death as a teacher. We're unfamiliar with the concept in our degenerate culture, but there is such a book in the ancient Proto-Indo-European Vedas. We've ended one age now- one huge cycle. The largest cycle in the heavens is a full 26,000 zodiac years from Aquarius to Aquarius. We're in the Kali Yuga. The end. Thank heavens. But the darkest hour is right before dawn.
These astrologers are welcoming us in to the Aquarian age. Anyone not 'online' will not be 'fished' out of the olde world of Pisces and will go down with it. Hmm, I seem to have gotten carried away... Oh well.
As some metaphysicians say, 'It's not the end of the world, it's the end of an illusion.'