General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)Bobbie Jo
(14,341 posts)icymist
(15,888 posts)vi5
(13,305 posts)And why is DU suddenly so enamored of acronyms?
Phlem
(6,323 posts)It's a label used on people who believe in Pseudo Science. Never mind that fact that at some point in the past, a lot of our current science could have been labeled "woo". Homeopathy, Crystals, etc...
-p
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)You weren't saying that, right?
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)...hence the shaming being very called for.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)Jeebus.
I have been into science for years and the one thing I know is you don't beat people over the head with it and scare them off. So fucking what if they're into "woo", I would embrace them and sink some "real" science in there too. We need more critical thinkers in this world and instead taking religions plan of attack, by hunting them down and recruiting them, a lot of scientifically minded people (especially here in DU) most feel intellectually superior by shaming and mocking them. Hence more people with religious propensities than critical thinking.
-p
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)That's why I asked the question. I wasn't sure. There are plenty of people on this site who believe they are real, especially the homeopathy ridiculousness.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)-p
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)Nice, but I don't think you're going to be able to change minds whatever method is used. If one believes you can dilute something out of existence and think the memory of it being there can help you, I believe you are incapable of any logical or analytical thinking.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)So what are you saying exactly. That I think I can dilute religion with science?
Phlem
(6,323 posts)I answered your questions.
So this is your summation of me? "I believe you are incapable of any logical or analytical thinking."
How very typical. And a very shitty insult by my standards.
I believe for a self described logical, analytical, thinker that being closed minded is the antithesis discovery, which is Science.
Have a Nice Day.
-p
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)I am having a difficult time following you.
I was describing homeopathy, and saying there was not hope for those who believe in it.
As I think I understand, you do not believe in it.
I was not taking any shots at you (unless you do believe in it, and I interpreted it wrong).
I think you need to grow a little thicker skin, by the way.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)How thick does my fucking skin need to be?
and I knew it was going to be something like "I was on the can etc....."
-p
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)I'll end this now to prevent more stress for you.
Take Care.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)Or, were you contributing to someone's stress while getting paid for it?
I'll end this now to prevent you getting paid overtime
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)I was trying to understand what he was saying, and of course had no idea of the PTSD until the last post.
So why don't you just stick it....
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)It's late
and I think I've read quite enough frigging posts, thank you.
Have a nice "stick it", then
icymist
(15,888 posts)Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don't. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet -- lots of them.
http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/721/Woo.aspx
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)woo-woo
Woo-woo (or just plain woo) refers to ideas considered irrational or based on extremely flimsy evidence or that appeal to mysterious occult forces or powers.
Here's a dictionary definition of woo-woo:
adj. concerned with emotions, mysticism, or spiritualism; other than rational or scientific; mysterious; new agey. Also n., a person who has mystical or new age beliefs.
When used by skeptics, woo-woo is a derogatory and dismissive term used to refer to beliefs one considers nonsense or to a person who holds such beliefs.
Sometimes woo-woo is used by skeptics as a synonym for pseudoscience, true-believer, or quackery. But mostly the term is used for its emotive content and is an emotive synonym for such terms as nonsense, irrational, nutter, nut, or crazy.
http://www.skepdic.com/woowoo.html
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Take quantum mechanics for example.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)kthxbai
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Mine is that it is a derogatory term coined to make followers of certain spiritual practices and healing methods that are not mainstream look like they are crazy. Unless people are directly affected or harmed by the followers of such beliefs and practices they should mind their own business.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Did you miss that part?
Jesus Christ, that's why these flames keep going. People like you are looking for a fight.
Gore1FL
(21,130 posts)Igel
(35,300 posts)That makes accurate predictions and allows us to explain and extend phenomena that otherwise doesn't seem to have a good explanation.
Or perhaps that we don't fully understand it, in that just being able to describe and predict doesn't constitute "understanding."
I go one step further than most. We shame creationists and anti-evolutionists. I consider that to be a variety of "woo."
Some want to hold other forms of "woo" in high honor. This I find difficult to understand.
athena
(4,187 posts)Clearly, you haven't even taken an undergraduate-level course in quantum mechanics. It's an outrageous understatement to say that quantum mechanics "allows us to explain and extend (sic) phenomena that otherwise doesn't (sic) seem to have a good explanation." Moreover, it is not true that "we don't fully understand" quantum mechanics. You may not understand it, but that doesn't mean we don't understand it.
The current problem in theoretical physics is that whereas three out of the four fundamental forces (the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces) can be understood quantum mechanically, the fourth force (gravity) currently is not. The goal of the best theoretical physicists in the world today is to come up with a quantum mechanical model of gravity. So it's completely nutty to claim that quantum mechanics is what is unsatisfactory in physics.
Quantum mechanics is a mathematical theory. You can't claim to understand it or know anything about it based on a few lay-person books or movies. Such books and movies generally aim to demonstrate how "cool" quantum mechanics is. They are not intended to give you the impression that quantum-mechanics is not a rock-solid part of physics.
athena
(4,187 posts)Do I understand you correctly to be claiming that quantum mechanics is somehow woo-woo or new age? If so, you're wrong. Quantum mechanics is one of the most mathematical, most rigorous, and most successful areas of physics. You use it whenever you check your phone, microwave your food, or get an MRI. You see evidence of it whenever you look at a fluorescent lamp through a diffraction grating. Just because some of its mathematical conclusions appear unintuitive doesn't mean it's woo-woo or new-age.
Salviati
(6,008 posts)So there's that...
Cleita
(75,480 posts)However, think about it. You present the concepts of multiple universes. We only see one. You say there are nine to eleven dimensions. We experience three or four. There are branes. What? So you can see how exotic this is. So you put it through rigorous tests to prove it. However many concepts that are considered woo have not been given the same proof testing.
Remember the sciences of astronomy, mathematics, chemistry etc. all came from what started out as mystical thought and attempts to practice magic. My point is that if people want to believe in what you want to label magical thinking, let them. Why make fun of them unless they are hurting you?
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)For example.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Igel
(35,300 posts)People like Newton believed in alchemy. They developed methods to test it, to try to improve it. But what alchemy was after, the claims it made, the predictions it made, all failed. That this went on for centuries before observation and prediction were considered important enough to count for much of anything is truly impressive.
Alchemy died. The methods that were finally responsible for its death lived on because what they produced was rigorous, predictive, and observationally grounded. They were not, however, derived from alchemy itself.
Similarly, astronomy grew out of the corpse of astrology, but it took a rethinking of the entire meaning of the observations to reach that observation. Astrology lives in, rather unchanged since before astronomy really established itself. Astronomy, however, has produced some rather startling insights.
It's rather like saying we get broccoli from dirt, so nutritionally there's no difference between the vitamin content of broccoli and clay.
Deep13
(39,154 posts)icymist
(15,888 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)RC
(25,592 posts)get the red out
(13,462 posts)I take Glucosamine for my joints and believe in a higher force both.
I drink herbal tea also. I know I am an embarrassment to liberals everywhere, simply an uneducated horror story of a pseudo-person.
I also live in the south.
I've come clean.......
Phlem
(6,323 posts)I might have to shake your hand and have a cup myself.
-p
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)I am currently enjoying a cup of Masala chai tea.
I, however, don't believe that it can cure anything that ails me.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)icymist
(15,888 posts)Looks like they sell some cute things. Nothing to be ashamed about.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)per Madelaine Kahn in Blazing Saddles
http://www.hark.com/clips/wzlksffwnh-its-twue-its-twue
reformist2
(9,841 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)Squinch
(50,949 posts)"woo" here.
But that phrase is seriously hilarious!
Phlem
(6,323 posts)Albert Einstein:
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
-p
Ian David
(69,059 posts)Submission under review
Your entry is under review by editors.
Woo Shaming
Definition: The justifiable ridicule of those so ignorant of how the Universe really works, that they subscribe to nonsense such as homeopathy and crystal power.
Example: There are some things that are so patently absurd as to be unworthy of arguing against; those who believe in these things are lost beyond redemption, and the only thing left to do is engage in woo shaming.
by Ian David on Jan 6, 2014
tags: Science, Pseudoscience, Alternative Medicine, Education, Woo, Homeopathy, Derp, Reality, Medicine, Skepticism, Skeptic, Alt Med
Ian David
(69,059 posts)Someone accusing someone of "woo shaming" someone else over body modifications.
FWIW, I don't think body modifications are woo. They're either art or fetish, unless you think they give you super powers or something.
B2G
(9,766 posts)I had an original thought?
Ian David
(69,059 posts)ProgressSaves
(123 posts)Dished out by greats like George R. R. Martin and not by Dr. Smith that claims to cure headaches by burning sage and drawing pentagrams on my back with needles.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)On a lighter note, my 2nd grader asked Santa for a Chemistry set, a lab coat and goggles for Christmas. Santa delivered 3 different chemistry sets and a Snap Circuits Jr and her lab coat and goggles. It's so fun to do experiments with her and she is so stoked. I'm just the happiest dad around I can't put it in words.
Science Rocks!
-p
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)(and for the record, the word "yummy" is a distant third)
madinmaryland
(64,931 posts)icymist
(15,888 posts)This place gave it three and a half stars:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120531/