Science 
The physical sciences have been stuck - for nearly a century - in a "preferred interpretation" of our universe and its workings. Although mathematically consistent to a reasonable degree, this interpretation of physical reality has little room for progress, for a better understanding of the reality around us and it is time we seriously look at alternatives that better explain our universe
March 27, 2008
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Psychiatry is looking for biological mechanisms to explain what it defines as "mental illness" to justify biological treatments, such as electroshock and mind bending pharmaceutical drugs. One of the more recent trends is to look for genes as a cause of aberrant behavior.
No such luck, says Vince Boehm, who maintains a specialized mailing list, in a recent communication. The search for a genetic cause is failing, according to author Dr Jay Joseph, and even psychiatry's own researchers admit as much. Here's what Vince says:
Well, I've got some horrible news for the true believers out there. Don't blame mom and dad.
Genetics is a cherished "article of faith" in mental illness theory. I've often wondered how this "bedrock of science" went unchallenged. After all, this search for simplistic answers to a complex problem has been going on for the past 100 years, for thousands of papers and books, actually, without coming up with any straight answers.
The genetics hypothesis has been used for decades by drug makers and their "grass roots"(AstroTurf®) advocacy groups to answer the inevitable causation problem. Causation is an unanswerable question. Blame heredity and just leave it at that. The state supported public mental health systems add the mantra of genetics to their litany of disinformation to enforce compliance.
This question bothered me until I met Dr. Jay Joseph in the fall of 2003 at the MindFreedom hunger strike.
Dr. Jay Joseph
I was astounded. Up to that time, the hypothesis had gone unquestioned. It was considered to be unassailable scientific truth, with almost religious overtones.
Joseph exposed how the researchers had perverted science. He detailed the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes to justify the conclusions of the studies cited.
Surely one cannot deny that these things do "run in families". However the answer here cannot be purely genetics. One must consider the multitude of other factors that make up the human psyche. Socioeconomics, ideology, trauma, drug marketing, politics, cultural issues, and a desperate search for answers, any answers, all play a role. Environment is a much stronger argument than genes, per se.
Straight answers to even the simplest questions on this topic are hard to come by.
Dr. Joseph's second book on genetics, The Missing Gene: Psychiatry, Heredity, And the Fruitless Search for Genes (Paperback), rebuts the evidence cited in support of genetic theories. He shows that family, twin, and adoption studies are plagued by researcher bias, unsound methodology, and a reliance on unsupported theoretical assumptions. Basically, he reviews more than a century's worth of psuedoscientific flotsam and jetsam in this book.
An example is the famous "Danish Twins Study" (Kety). Seymour Kety was the first scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). This study was terribly flawed, but still cited as Holy Grail proof that schizophrenia is hereditary.
Of the 18 Kety "schizophrenics" only one had a hospital diagnosis. The rest were "diagnosed" in a series of five minute door step interviews by a cadre of grad students. They had to expand their sample to paternal siblings to get their conclusion. (Joseph, Missing Gene).
Kety's fatal error was accepting "latent schizophrenia", or schizophrenia without psychosis, as a valid diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Merely having unusual notions, like a strong belief in a lucky number, or having a minority sexual orientation might earn a person a schizophrenia label in those days. While the latent schizophrenia concept was accepted when the work on Kety was done in the early `70s, latent schizophrenia was rejected by DSM-III in 1980.
So just 4 years after Kety was published, most of his "schizophrenics" weren't schizophrenic any more.
Today psychosis is a pre-requisite for a schizophrenia label. Fourteen of the eighteen alleged Kety "schizophrenics" were labeled as latent schizophrenics. The remaining four were distributed throughout one large, dysfunctional extended family. (Breggin). This, in itself, is a strong argument for environmental causes rather than pure genetics.
A note about scientific method
Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.
Among other facets shared by the various fields of inquiry is the conviction that the process must be objective to reduce a biased interpretation of the results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so it is available for careful scrutiny by other scientists, thereby allowing other researchers the opportunity to verify results by attempting to reproduce them.
Peer review, the mandate of scientists of equal status to assess, test, and either rebut or affirm any given hypothesis is the true life blood of the scientific method.
Peer review in this field is nonexistent. Replication of results not even considered. This funny business lends itself well to my Dodo Theory.
In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at a certain point in the proceedings a number of characters become wet. In order to dry themselves, the Dodo decided to issue a contest.
Everyone was to run around the lake until they were dry. Nobody cared to measure how far each person had run, nor how long.
When they asked the Dodo who had won, he thought long and hard and then said "Everybody. Everybody has won and all must have prizes."
Now, four leading psychiatric geneticists have made a startling admission.
Their 100 year effort has produced nothing but psuedoscientific gibberish.
From this editorial, this group is going high tech and embracing the Human Genome Project! You might consider buying a pair of hip boots. The doo-doo is gonna get very deep out here in a hell of a hurry!
"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit". (P.T. Barnum)
Vince
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Jay Joseph writes:
I would like to quote from a 2007 article from a group of four leading psychiatric geneticists. They actually admit, after more than two (and in some cases three) decades of intense worldwide research, that they have found virtually nothing in the way of replicated gene findings for psychiatric disorders! They do claim that a "few" findings have been replicated, but fail to name them. In fact, I am not aware of any consistently replicated findings. Unfortunately, many leaders of this field feed stories to journalists about supposed gene findings, and these of course end up as sensationalized reports of "gene findings" that are actually never replicated. It's too bad that the sobering assessments these psychiatric genetic researchers share with their colleagues rarely make it into the popular media.
Here is the quote, from a 2007 article by psychiatric geneticists S.V. Faraone , J.W. Smoller, C.N. Pato, P. Sullivan, and M.T. Tsuang:
"It is no secret that our field has published thousands of candidate gene association studies but few replicated findings."
Jay Joseph, Psy.D.
Licensed Psychologist
The Missing Gene (2006), The Gene Illusion (2004)
www.jayjoseph.net
Continue reading "Neuropsychiatric Genetics fails to find cause of mental illness"
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Thursday March 27 2008
updated on Friday June 26 2009
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February 01, 2008
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A study by the World Health Organization's senior radiation advisor Dr Keith Baverstock, completed in 2001, suggested that the use of uranium weapons in Iraq could pose a unique health hazard to the civilian population. The publication of the study was suppressed by the World Health Organization's hierarchy and only in February 2004 the UK Sunday Herald broke that story.
Dr Baverstock was quoted as saying: “I believe our study was censored and suppressed by the WHO because they didn’t like its conclusions. Previous experience suggests that WHO officials were bowing to pressure from the IAEA, whose remit is to promote nuclear power. That is more than unfortunate, as publishing the study would have helped forewarn the authorities of the risks of using DU weapons in Iraq.”
At the time, the WHO's Dr Repacholi, a corrupt scientist known for his role in hiding any damaging effects of mobile phone radiation on humans and animals, denied that there had been any interference with the report, saying “The IAEA role was very minor,” but the study titled Radiological toxicity of DU which could have saved countless lives in the Middle East, had indeed never been published.
And of course the damage that is being done by depleted uranium munitions and missiles coated with the radioactive metal can hardly be overlooked any more:
Use of "Depleted" Uranium Munitions
Daytona Beach News-Journal Special
DEPLETED URANIUM BURNING: AN E T E R N A L MEDICAL DISASTER
Fast forward to December 2007: Health professionals are CALLING FOR INDEPENDENCE OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.
Their letter to Madam Chan, Director-General of the WHO, makes reference to another case of suppression of scientific data, nuclear contamination after the disastrous accident at the Chernobyl reactor, and the consequent endangerment of human life without adequate intervention. The appeal spells out what is wrong and asks that the World Health Organization rescind its link with the International Atomic Energy Agency and fulfill its stated purpose of protecting human health:
Continue reading "World Health Organization 'Paralyzed by Nuclear Lobby'"
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Friday February 1 2008
updated on Thursday June 25 2009
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December 13, 2007
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Was the disappearance of the dinosaurs from the face of planet earth due to a single huge catastrophic event, such as the impact of a large asteroid or a series of volcanic eruptions that darkened the skies for an extended period of time, or was it a much more gradual process?
Scene from the movie Dinosaur - Image: The Reel McCoy.
Beldeu Singh argues that a gradual change of the level of oxygen in the atmosphere, rather than the direct effects of a catastrophe was to blame. Perhaps it could be both: A catastrophic event or series of catastrophes could have brought about what we would now call a "nuclear winter", killing off much of the flourishing life of the time. The catastrophe would not likely have, by itself, caused the changes we know happened at the time, including the extinction of the dinosaurs and the development of a myriad of other forms of life. A catastrophic event may well have set the stage however for a steep decline in the levels of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere, which in turn resulted in evolutionary changes that favored smaller reptiles and mammals over the large-bodied dinos that had thrived in the previously very oxygen-rich atmosphere.
Today, oxygen makes up about 21 per cent of the atmospheric gases. But historically, that level seems to have fluctuated a lot. Much higher and much lower levels are thought to have occurred in geological times linked to the development of our current biodiversity of life on the planet:
According to recently developed geochemical models, oxygen levels are believed to have climbed to a maximum of 35 percent and then dropped to a low of 15 percent during a 120-million-year period that ended in a mass extinction at the end of the Permian. Such a jump in oxygen would have had dramatic biological consequences by enhancing diffusion-dependent processes such as respiration, allowing insects such as dragonflies, centipedes, scorpions and spiders to grow to very large sizes. Fossil records indicate, for example, that one species of dragonfly had a wing span of 2 1/2 feet.
From: Evolution of the Atmosphere
While oxygen is essential to human life, the flip side of the coin is of course the oxygen radical, formed during metabolic processes, which has destructive and disruptive properties. We counteract these naturally occurring "terrorist" molecules by the use of anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and similar biological substances formed in plants that defuse and largely prevent the destructive effects of oxygen radicals. Much of our health revolves around a balance between supplying enough oxygen to tissues for normal function and blocking the destructive effects of too much oxygen by the use of anti-oxidant mechanisms.
Beldeu Singh has written several articles on the importance of anti-oxidants for the prevention and cure of cancer and the lowered immunity we call Aids. This link is to an article on Aids - scrolling down to the end, you will find a whole list of other articles.
And here is Beldeu's view on how oxygen likely was involved in the extinction of the dinosaurs...
Continue reading "What Really Killed the Dinosaurs?"
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Thursday December 13 2007
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December 14, 2006
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It's been just over two year ago that Georges Monbiot warned us of the dark side of an apparently good idea: replacing petroleum based fuels with others based on bio-mass. My article reporting on this drew some critical comments, but the initial fears seem to be borne out now as we are getting closer to implementing the biofuel option.
In May 2005, US president Bush urged widespread adoption of both biodiesel and ethanol production from agricultural products, as part of a strategy to reduce US dependence on oil imports. What he apparently didn't consider were the knock-on effects of such a strategy on food prices and ultimately on the ability of agriculture to assure a supply of plentiful, affordable food for all.
Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute for Science in Society warns in a recent article titled Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits
that Europe’s thirst for biofuels is fuelling deforestation and food price hikes, exacerbated by a false accounting system that awards carbon credits to the carbon profligate nations. She adds that "a mandatory certification scheme for biofuels is needed to protect the earth’s most sensitive forest ecosystems, to stabilise climate and to safeguard our food security."
Tom Philpott, in an article published by Grist magazine takes the discussion further, showing that a relatively small move towards biofuels in the US has been doubling the price of corn in the space of a year, as the grain becomes a sought-after raw material for ethanol to be added to gasoline.
What the concerns expressed on both sides of the Atlantic show is that biofuels may be far from the magic solution to our energy problems we are looking for. We should direct our attention and support to real new energy inventions. These new technologies under development by an army of private inventors and tinkerers are without public funding and there is little interest in real breakthroughs. Yes, there are some potentially disruptive technologies out there waiting for their day. They could easily upset the billion-dollar fossil fuel energy interests as they are coming into play. But come they will, with or without public funding.
In addition to the more conventional alternatives such as solar, wind and tidal power, there are promising developments on fuelless technologies that tap the energy potential provided by magnets as well as unconventional chemical and nuclear reactions.
If you're interested in following developments in these emerging energy technologies, there is a great site to bookmark and keep track of by getting their "Daily FE_Updates". There is also a Free energy Wiki which allows anyone to contribute with the accumulation and sorting of information about new energy developments.
But perhaps you want to first get a whiff of the pitfalls of using agricultural biomass for fuel production, which Tom Philpott has exposed in his article Feeding the Beast:
Continue reading "'Biofuels' Hard Choice: Want Food or Fuel?"
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Thursday December 14 2006
updated on Sunday March 8 2009
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Neuropsychiatric Genetics fails to find cause of mental illness
March 27, 2008
World Health Organization 'Paralyzed by Nuclear Lobby'
February 01, 2008
What Really Killed the Dinosaurs?
December 13, 2007
'Biofuels' Hard Choice: Want Food or Fuel?
December 14, 2006
Will Nature, Science Allow Aids Discussion?
June 23, 2006
Chemical Poisoning: Brave New World of Zero Risk
December 22, 2005
Will Hydrinos Replace Oil As Power Source?
November 05, 2005
Corrupted Research: Most Scientific Findings Are False
September 16, 2005
Energy: Are Oil And Natural Gas Renewable?
September 02, 2005
GM Food Safety: Royal Society Suppressed Study
August 10, 2005
Life And Gravity: Sleeping In A Horizontal Position May Be Bad For You
August 07, 2005
Where Are The Bodies? - The Exceptional Safety of Nutritional Supplements
May 17, 2005
Exopolitics - Why Are Extraterrestrial Politics Taboo?
April 10, 2005
Court: Second Hand Smoke Agenda Driven - Case For Independent Science
April 02, 2005
The Myth Of Dark Matter - Can Science Change?
March 09, 2005
Cooperative Space Exploration - Linking up with NASA
February 28, 2005
Science Commons: Open The Flow Of Scientific Information
February 21, 2005
New Physics: Debating Einstein, Matter, Time and Space
December 11, 2004
Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Therapy Successful: Paralysed Patient Walks After 19 Years
November 29, 2004
Beyond Einstein's Relativity: Cosmology Dissident Says Big Bang Absurd
November 27, 2004
Schubert: 'Sound Science' Overrides Reality and Common Sense
July 18, 2004
Space Vortex Theory: Einstein and Tewari's 'Cartesian Universe'
May 13, 2004
Gene Mallove: Science Censorship is 'Invisible Evil'
April 30, 2004
Kohei Minato and the Japan Magnetic Fan Company
April 05, 2004
Time, Reality and an Experience of Death
April 03, 2004
Swedish Science Dissident Proposes New View of Red Shift, Global Warming
March 20, 2004
Antarctic Time Warp Discovery
March 02, 2004
Physics - A Unified View
February 19, 2004
Peer Review - Politics of Science?
January 29, 2004
Emergence - a Holistic Theory of Physics
January 16, 2004
Nanotubes, Nanoshells, what are the consequences?
November 29, 2003
Physics and ultimate cause
November 15, 2003
A Universe of Scale - Stars edge closer
September 21, 2003
Dutchman predicts scientific revolution
September 18, 2003
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
These articles are brought to you strictly for educational and informational purposes. Be sure to consult your health practitioner of choice before utilizing any of the information to cure or mitigate disease. Any copyrighted material cited is used strictly in a non commercial way and in accordance with the "fair use" doctrine.
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