We are suckers for visual effects
It really troubles me when something which is either illogical, irrational or of pseudoscience gets positive feedback.
To start with I’m going to refer to anything which is illogical, irrational or of a pseudoscience nature as BS to save time.
Secondly I like accurate definitions so what do I mean by BS according to the Oxford Dictionary:
Illogical: lacking sense or sound reasoning
Irrational: not logical or reasonable
Pseudoscience: beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method
The fact that BS gets positive feedback usually means it’s in a guise, usually pitched to pray on human emotions and to those who are quite happy to take things at face value and don’t require empirical evidence.
Why do I feel such discord?
I joined up to the ‘Neuroscience and Brain Studies’ and ‘Cognitive Science’ facebook groups and started a new discussion group on each asking for recommendations on books which will give me an introduction to the brain, it’s parts and their functionality to aid me in understanding consciousness. The first response I got is and I quote “Evolve Your Brain: Joe Dispenza (he’s also featured in the movie What The Bleep.)”
The first thing that came to my attention was ‘What The Bleep’, this is an abbreviation of the film What The Bleep Do We Know or more popularly known as Bleep which I saw a few years ago. It’s supposed to be about Quantum Physics and Consciousness, and how we can effects the material world with thought alone. An interesting premise but totally refutable with no scientific evidence.
I looked up Dr Joe Dispenza’s book ‘Evolve Your Brain’ on Amazon, it’s not out yet in the UK but in the US it has received 48 reviews with an average of 4.5 stars. As you may know Amazon also offer the ‘Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought’ options and you guessed it Bleep was there also with 1190 reviews averaging 4 stars and another Pseudoscience film/book combo, The Secret, 1679 reviews, averaging 4 stars. Note this was on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk also offers the same average for The Secret but only 3.5 stars for Bleep so that’s one up for the UK.
The Secret is another film I saw a few years back, roughly at the same time as when I watched Bleep. Its premise is similar to Bleep but with the guise of The Law of Attraction. If you want something, think about it lots and it will happen is basically what it conveys. Again there is no real science involved.
Both The Secret and Bleep are well made, a lot of time and money has gone into them hence they are visually entertaining but when it comes to the crunch there isn’t any empirical scientific evidence to make me believe their convictions and I’m just left thinking it’s all about the money.
Will I be reading the recommended book Evolve Your Brain?
No. In my humble opinion I think Dr Joe Dispenza is a fraud. The fact that he states “out of nowhere little things happen that are so unexplainable I know that they are the process or the result of my creation” in Bleep I can only feel bemused at the fact the he is a doctor. If you’re interested go check out his website, it’s rather eliminating.
All of this positivity coming out of pseudoscience just adds another couple of point with what’s wrong with Homo erectus, we are suckers for visual effects and we don’t question what we want to be real.
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