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SCIENTISTS CAN USUALLY RUN CONCEPTUAL RINGS around those with non-scientific beliefs or who have had paranormal experiences because science has come to occupy the high-ground of objective truth in the minds of both scientists and non-scientists alike. So scientists only have to appeal to contradiction with scientific theory and belief to be able to authoritatively brand non-scientific beliefs as creative fantasy and paranormal experience as delusion or illusion.
Realitymapping is more art than science; and that includes scientific realitymapping. The art of scientific realitymapping is to map a selected small set of predictably repeating physical aspects of reality that allow us to create predictable (and therefore useful) physical systems. We call these systems technology. In order to maintain all illusion of control, such a physical realitymap is build from the bottom-up or on a reductionist base — explaining the behaviour of high level systems from the collective behaviour of those systems’ components. This helps to exclude holistic properties of complex systems that are notoriously uncontrollable and difficult to understand rationally. (In technological systems, collective component behaviour is often called “noise”.)
Here are some general strategies when defending ourselves from scientific criticism. The scientific realitymap is targeted here because it is the one that is most easily confused with reality itself as it so successfully models certain physical characteristics of that reality in the form of modern technology. So every use of our mobile phone, for example, is a reminder that science works. So most people in modern democracies believe that science is not just another arbitrary belief system, like religion, because it seems to have more “reality” to it. So the map making process is least transparent in science. Therefore, if we can understand the contrived nature of the scientific realitymap, then understanding the nature of other realitymaps such as religious realitymaps becomes a doddle. (Writing “How to defend yourself against a religious fundamentalist or New Ager” would have been A LOT less challenging… and a lot less instructive.)
But we must never forget that there are many individuals throughout the world who are legitimately criticized by scientists through their own stupidity at presenting their experience, beliefs and modified realitymap in a way that is not authentic or honest. Humans will often try to manipulate other humans, whether they are scientists or non-scientists, and we need to watch for this tendency in ourselves as well as in others. So we can stand by for our experience of alien contact, for example, and look to understanding some of the mystery associated with this experience (one that is shared by many people), but as soon as we start claiming that we are receiving messages from Venusians through our adapted radio and foil helmet because we are their chosen Earthling commander, then the realitymap becomes trite and self-referencing, and whilst it might be of use as a personal mythology, it is not helpful to others — except emotionally to the type of person who wants to be told by some “master” what to believe. It is surprising how many addicted followers there in the world whose insecurities in their own experience only serve to keep up demand for abusive gurus and self-important New Age teachers.
So now let us look at some of the general strategies used to defend ourselves against scientific criticism. The first two are entirely preventative strategies used to avoid becoming a easy target for such criticism. The other strategies are little more offensive. However, some of these strategies have a flip side: if you look for a specific weakness in your scientific opponent then you better not have it yourself. If you do, then everything will backfire and descend into a flame-war. These will be pointed out as we go through the list. [And please note, this list is not exhaustive… you can probably think of a few others yourself.]
- Do not try to pass off your new realitymap as fringe science by filling it with unnecessary scientific terminology. Science is a very precise language, and its terminology has very precise meaning. Unless you really know what you are doing, window dressing a theory to look scientific in order to impress yourself and others will not only incite the derision of scientists, but is misleading and dishonest. If you are going to take that route, and some have successfully done it (usually maverick scientists, but scientists nonetheless), make sure you are competent in mathematics and logic. It is astonishing how many New Age teachers not only dress up their theories in pseudoscience, but have no shame when their mathematical and logical mistakes are uncovered, continuing right on with their epistemological abuse. This abuse tarnishes the whole New Age and slows down the acceptance of new ideas due to the polarisation it causes.
- If you cite scientific references, make sure they are legitimate and accurate. This ensures you do not give your scientific opponent an easy target. Citing research incorrectly or misleadingly brings every you say and write into disrepute, even if parts of it are legitimate. There are some New Age teachers that have built whole careers on misleading scientific claims, parading themselves around as fringe scientists when they struggle at even rudimentary science, mathematics and logic. Once again, this tarnishes the whole New Age as pseudoscience. (Soft “scientists” such as biologists and medical doctors are guilty of this one as well.)
- Avoid professional debunkers. Scientists are busy people who are more interested in science itself than in uncovering what is not science. However, there are a few individuals around, usually associated with the soft sciences for reasons stated earlier, who have made it their life’s purpose to attack anything that remotely threatens orthodox science. And the irony is that debunking to that level is akin to religious fundamentalism. You would not bother to reason with a religious fundamentalist so avoid the unpleasant and useless experience of trying to reason with a debunker. Remember, if society had ever taken debunkers seriously, scientific revolutions like the one involving quantum theory would have been stifled at the onset and we would still be in the Dark Ages.
Flipside: If you avoid all criticism you can end up with new theories of reality that are more personal fantasy than anything else. There is such a thing as helpful criticism, and you should always be aware of how far you are sailing from the scientific shores. (It is okay to sale for out to sea so long as you are a good navigator, and that requires some conceptual spacial awareness.) - Find out if your scientific opponent has commercial interests. The scientific world today is run more as a business than anything else, with most scientists strongly focused on pursuing research funding and boosting their personal bank balances. After all, scientists are normal human beings pursuing self-interest like most other human beings. So there is often some financial conflict of interest going on in any situation where “truth” is defended too vigorously. Find that conflict of interest and you undermine the scientist’s position. For example, those scientists who claim that genetically engineered food is safe because it passes safety legislation do not tell you that the legislation is drawn up by the biotech companies themselves; and the doctors who escalated the Swine Flu scare and tried to convince us that the vaccines are safe have strong financial interests in vaccine sales.
Flipside: If you have commercial interests in your alternative realitymap then it might be a good idea to declare this right from the start so that it is not used against you later. - Check for statistical/mathematical misuse. The old saying goes: “There are lies, damn lies and statistics,” and it is as true today as it ever was. Non-scientists tend to be ignorant of statistics and can fall for the tricks scientists play on them, from data cherry picking and overgeneralization to relative percentages and false causality. Scientists are generally mathematically literate (unless they are biologists or medical doctors), so much of this number-abuse is unfortunately deliberate. So it is always worth studying rudimentary statistics in order to be able to spot the more common abuses. One great defense is to defend statistical criticism with statistical criticism. So for example, if a doctor attacks you by saying that your alternative treatment is ineffective, you can throw back at him that chemotherapy success rates are, at best, around 2 or 2.5%, and that it was reported in the Lancet in Nov 2007 that 46% of orthodox medicine is of unknown effectiveness, with a further 10% being harmful or unlikely to be beneficial. Another example might be the misuse of statistics with climate change models. Weather is affected by so many complex factors and variables that it is very difficult to point a finger at a single causal effect for climate changes, but political pressure can demand that single causal effects are focused upon. This is bad science.
Flipside: Turning this one on its tail, if you use statistics yourself to justify your realitymap, make sure you do not abuse the maths. - Ad hominem attacks. When a scientist (or anyone for that matter) starts attacking you personally it is likely that he or she is unable to find serious fault with in your alternative beliefs. So in this situation you need to keep trying to bring it back to the issues and away from you as a person. You stand by your experiences, beliefs and realitymap; but your experiences, beliefs and realitymap do not depend on you. This is far better than just attacking the scientist personally back, a move that only descends into a pointless flame war. Just keep reminding yourself, if the attacks are personal, that you are probably in the stronger position.
Flipside: If you have stacked the truth of your beliefs and realitymap on yourself as a person — whether it is an enlightened being or unrecognized genius maverick scientist — then ad hominem attacks are perfectly valid. Realitymaps backed by this sort of dictatorial authority appeal only to those who enjoy being submissive, and there is no point interacting with scientists (just stick with the company of those stupid enough to follow you). - Move the focus as quickly as possible away from the physical detail and onto the realitymapping process itself. We fight only over what we believe to be reality, not over what we believe to be perspective. Therefore, it is important to draw the scientist away from his usual literal interpretation of his scientific theories and back to a more sophisticated mapping perspective of science, by reminding him or her that the map is not the territory. By doing this, rather than reality being defined by science, science becomes just one perspective of this big unknown called reality, leaving room for the unexpected and the unexplained. This move is likely to immediately put the scientist on the wrong foot, making his or her years of education redundant as most orthodox scientists are pretty ignorant regarding realitymapping.
Flipside: This is not a good idea to do if you are largely confusing your own realitymap with reality, because you then expose your own mapping ignorance. Realitymaps are always easy to spot when they are not your own realitymaps — the blind spot is always closest to home. - Take an historical view of science, pointing out that science is still rapidly evolving and only a few hundred years old at best (modern physics is less than 100 years old) and so it is exceedingly unlikely that the scientific laws the scientist is using to bash your theory are going to be around a hundred years from now. For example, physicists believe that photons can never travel faster than the absolute speed of light which sets limitations on systems. But new experiments already are starting to hint that this may be wrong. If a scientist rejects this, claiming that modern physics is almost complete, just remind him or her that back in 1894, leading scientist A. A. Michelson, who had earlier demonstrated along with E.W. Morley the constancy of the speed of light, claimed that the future of science would consist of “adding a few decimal places to the results already obtained.” Little did he know that a complete revolution in physics was just around the corner! So pointing out that science itself is a work in progress undermines a scientist’s use of it as an absolute framework to judge the truth of experience. You could flippantly add that we would still be in the Dark Ages if we all took the position that events are impossible if they cannot be described by the current laws of physics. Finally, a little Shakespeare quote is always nice to throw in: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Flipside: If a scientific realitymap can be dismissed using historical perspectives, so can any other, although it has to be said that religious realitymaps tend to have been more enduring. New Age realitymaps are on very shaky ground as they are so new, so it is important to take the position that the new realitymap may be incomplete or wrong too. - Remind the scientist that from a classical physics perspective, only 5% maximum of the universe is known. Given that 70% plus of the universe is dark energy we know almost nothing about, and that 25% plus of the universe is dark matter we also know almost nothing about, physics and chemistry — the bedrocks of science today — therefore describe a maximum of 5% of our universe. And these figures are probably quite optimistic! Therefore to use such incomplete and specialist systems of knowledge to dismiss something unknown is both arrogant and stupid.
Flipside: It is very easy to have the same level of arrogant faith in alternative realitymaps as well. As a general rule, leave the door open for any possibility — that does not mean you have to embrace every strange notion going around, only that you keep an open mind and do not dismiss anything outright. - Insist on a consciousness-centric perspective, rather than a material-centric scientific perspective. After all, awareness underlies every perception we have and thought that we think. By doing this we put “experience” back into the driving seat which “concept” occupies from the scientific perspective. If a scientist can be forced to admit that experience is primary, even to the basic laws of physics, then his position of rejecting your paranormal experience because it is out of step with scientific concept is weakened. You could even throw in that the rejection of direct experience, for whatever reason, is a recipe for psychosis! Extending this tact further, you can say that science has almost nothing to say about consciousness itself (arguing that it is an emergent property of a complex system is just a scientific-sounding admission of ignorance) and so it has to be incomplete by definition, and certainly cannot have anything to say regarding the experiences of that consciousness.
Flipside: Take this too far, and you end up with a dream-reality position which might get you labeled as a fantasist. - Mind-over-matter considerations. If the mind can affect matter then putting in such a wild card opens up infinite possibilities in all closed systems. Science is usually formulated in clinical settings of laboratories and deep space, where systems can relatively easily be conceptually simplified and isolated for mathematical mapping. However, if you introduce mind in the equation, suddenly the system is no longer an isolated clinical one and scientific modelling becomes more of an approximation. And there is certainly bone fide scientific evidence for mind-matter interactions. (Read one of Dean Radin’s books.) Having mind-matter interaction, justified perhaps by the quantum theory philosophy, means that there is even more room, in even simple systems, for other possibilities — for the unexpected.
Flipside: There is no point introducing mind-over-matter considerations to break up closed orthodox systems if you yourself are trying to promote a quasi-objective realitymap that excludes the interaction of mind. (This tends to happen in some alternative science realitymaps.) - Emergent properties of complex systems are generally unexpected and unpredicted. Even if you accept a bottom-up material perspective of the universe, the complete unpredictability of emergent properties of complex systems means that the whole can function in unpredictable ways, and as human experience almost always involves very complex systems (and systems within systems) then science has no logical basis with which to dismiss any experience involving complex systems (i.e., most things in life). And if you take it further and argue that because of the ultimate “quantum” unity of the entire universe created from a single Big Bang, then the whole universe can be classified as an interrelated complex system, making consciousness not just an emergent property of brains and nervous systems but an emergent property of the whole universe. This allows you to place consciousness back into the heart of the universe without having to reject too strongly the bottom-up material perspective.
Flipside: This unpredictability also applies to alternative realitymaps. - Remind the scientist that in real life situations events usually do not repeat themselves because of the complexities involved. Sure, the planets and stars follow repetitive paths in the sky, but events in your life are always slightly different and always a bit fuzzy and uncontrollable. As science is the systematic study and induction of repeatable, measurable and controllable happenings — i.e. those characterized by lab conditions on Earth and isolated systems in space — it is wholly unsuited, by definition, for being used to determine the veracity of almost all real-life happenings (and beliefs based around them) which are non-repetitive, unmeasurable and certainly uncontrollable.
Flipside: If real-life happenings are mostly one-offs then any sort of realitymapping becomes very difficult. After all, how can you put something on a map that has only been seen one time by one person? - Quantum theory gives possibility to everything. You can use quantum theory to argue that there is a slim but finite chance of anything happening in the universe, including all the paranormal activity, and so it is not so easy to dismiss. The scientist may come back to you saying that the probabilities of such unusual things happening is almost infinitely small, but you can then ask him to prove this (which of course he cannot as the system is too complex). Based on human experience, paranormal activity seems to happen relatively often; whereas the scientist can only deduce from blind theory using mathematical assumptions and simplifications that the probability of paranormal activity happening is vanishingly small.
Flipside: Do not get drawn into an exposition on quantum theory too much if you do not really understand it, as the scientist may end up running rings around you in that area. So try to keep things brief and focused on that one aspect of quantum theory. - Make comparisons with the illogic of quantum theory. If the scientist is deriding your beliefs or experience because there are aspects of it that are illogical, just remind him or her that, although this may be the case, a hard science like physics itself is predicated on quantum theory which, as anyone knows, goes entirely against logic and expectation. So just because there are illogical or contradictory aspects to a realitymap does not necessarily invalidate it. If you want to take it further, you can mention Bell’s Theorem which proves that the illogic of quantum theory cannot be explained by local hidden variables and is therefore endemic to the system. If you want to take this even further and make it more general, you might also bring up Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem which proves that any mathematical system of logic (which is what physics essentially tries to be) will not only have contradictions and inconsistencies, but an infinite number of them. Therefore, as illogic saturates even scientific beliefs and mathematical systems, there is no shame in finding it in an alternative or spiritual theory or belief. Finally, you might mention that quantum physicists have to fudge the mathematics of quantum theory to avoid the infinities, a process called renormalization (and which Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman called “hocus-pocus”), but this somewhat contrived nature of quantum theory does not make it any less useful and accurate.
Flipside: Only argue these points if you really read up on quantum theory, Bell and Godel. - Remind the scientist that there are scientific experiments that prove beyond doubt that the laws of physics, at best, are incomplete. You can recommend, for example, one of Dean Radin’s books or Michael Brooks’ 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense. If the scientist retorts that he is not interested in these tiny exceptions, remind him or her that it is such tiny exceptions to accepted theory that spark scientific revolutions, as happened with the problems encountered with black-body radiation at the end of the 19th Century which raised the curtain on modern physics. So ask the scientist to critique the experimental setup of some of these unusual experiments, and if he or she refuses to do so, then tell him that he is acting more as a high priest defending dogma than a scientist, and therefore should not be representing the scientific perspective.
Flipside: If there are exceptions to your own New Age theory, these can invalidate it too unless you argue that your map is more descriptive than prescriptive (which it will probably be anyway.) - Attack the assumption of the time-space invariancy of scientific laws. Some scientists have put forward the argument that the laws of physics may have evolved over time or be different in different parts of the universe. This is almost impossible to prove but so is the assumption that scientific laws and constants are space-time invariant. Therefore, if you really want to annoy a scientist who is, for example, dismissing your theory because of carbon-dating issues, you could counter that this rests on the assumption that radioactive decay rates have always been constant, something that cannot be proved. Most assume that potential mistakes in carbon dating are to do with contamination, when in fact the process itself can be questioned.
Flipside: You have to accept, however, that your own realitymap may also be valid only for specific space-time regions. And you would be surprised how many alternative investigators kowtow at the altar of radioactive decay dating, including the lesser known uranium decay dating for long geological periods of time. - Look for the tautologies and redundancies in scientific arguments. Scientific reasoning in specific areas (invariably in soft sciences like biology and medicine – evolution, ecology and even epidemic models) can be redundant. For example, take biology’s “survival of the fittest”: it is actually a non-statement as we define the fittest as those that survive. In other words, only the experimental results can predict the experimental results, so we have a theory that is not empirically falsifiable or capable of prediction, which means it is not, by definition, science. The same applies to ecology which builds models that are not predictive but (post hoc) descriptive. This is indicative of science being taking “off-road” into complex systems where it cannot really function.
Flipside: Much of the New Age is even softer than soft sciences and so many of the arguments in New Age philosophy are also redundant. For example, using a muscle testing or pendulum system for measuring the vibration/truth of a statement or person and then defining any 3rd party measurement that disagrees with this measurement as corrupted, in the interest of attaining pseudo-objectivity, means such a measuring system is not falsifiable and therefore is not science. Also, saying that those with high vibration are spiritually evolved is tautological, masquerading as an objective assessment of spirituality. - Holistic system are impossible to understand deductively. The problem with holistic systems (non-linear systems) is that simple deductive cause and effect reasoning just does not apply. As scientific education focuses on bottom-up linear deduction (non-linear systems are notoriously hard to mathematically deal with and so science tends to ignore non-linear aspects hoping they are insignificant). This explains why ecology was such a late bloomer for science — so much of it is counter-intuitional to the linear deductive mind.
Flipside: If you argue this one, do not turn around and start spouting off on your beliefs about holistic systems as you are falling into the same trap. If you refer to them just refer to your experience of them, rather than conceptual models of them, and always keep the door open that nothing is entirely certain. - Affirm a carrying medium for vibrational memory. The main argument against a lot of vibrational medicine (like homeopathy and flower remedies) and other non-matter mediated energies like ghosts and departed spirits etc. However, even orthodox science is beginning to admit that the so called empty vacuum of space is actually a seething energy of quantum interactions — the so called zero-point field — that give a medium to sustain non-matter vibrational information. Even water has some very unusual properties and, due to its morphic crystalline structure, could potentially hold vibrational information. (There are some scientific studies that do show that homeopathy works, although there are other studies that disagree with the results.) So by having empty space able to contain information and energy, we have the possibility of hidden universes and other dimensions. This opens up the physical universe as described by scientists and allows for consciousness to be everywhere and in every time.
- Non-Local considerations. Due to quantum entanglement, different parts of the same quantum system, even if separated to opposite ends of the universe, can communicate with each other instantaneously, breaking the limits imposed by the speed of light. So wherever there is a situation where a scientist argues about limits to information transfer, make a reference to quantum theory’s entanglement. However, do not fall into the trap of labelling your system a quantum system (see 1 above) — only bring up quantum entanglement as a means to show the scientist that arguing about the limits of information transfer is futile even from his or her own perspective.
Flipside: It is surprising how many alternative realitymaps are equally mechanistic and local. - Archeological Inaccuracy. Reject ancient-historical “scientific” assumptions on the basis that archeologists, anthropologists and other historical “scientists” are notorious for being inaccurate and manipulative with regards to their treatment of historical data. (Also see 16 above.) The problem with history is that it just does not fit the prevailing belief in a gradual civilization process, but instead strongly hints at cycles of civilizations, some extremely evolved, interrupted by great cataclysms. This is backed up by water erosion evidence, consistent myths from completely different parts of the world, and the many ancient artifacts and building abilities that defy the orthodox view of what “primate” societies were capable of (for examples, read Forbidden Archeology). Archeology and anthropology are more akin to a creative fiction exercise than it is to bone fide scientific investigation, and are hugely influence by culture and politics.
Flipside: If you are going to reject archeological and anthropological “science” then it is better not cherry-pick orthodox theories that agree with your own alternative historical theories. Instead only use orthodox data that is entirely descriptive and reject all orthodox assumptions that have been based on that data. - Science is now so large in scope that scientists have become super specialisers. There is a saying that scientist now specialize so much that they know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. When we specialize to this degree, we are notoriously poor at understanding the reality mapping process because that requires a broader vision. A narrow focus turns a scientist more into a technician, and technicians whilst maybe brilliant in their own field, have little experience on anything outside their narrow expertise. We make a serious mistake when we assume that a university academic can automatically speak intelligently about matter outside the narrow scope of his or her specialty.
Flipside: Make sure you are not a super specialist yourself, caught in your own narrow vision, albeit an alternative vision, of reality. - Dismiss science itself as unscientific. If a scientist dismisses your theory as unfalsifiable and therefore unscientific by definition, a good retort is to point out that The Scientific Method itself, which is the philosophy at the core of the scientific realitymap making process, is unfalsifiable, and this brings an element of subjectivity into science. Also, the philosophical tool used by scientists to choose between two or more competing models of reality — Occam’s Razor — is equally fraught with subjective interpretation, and therefore also erodes the absolute-objectivity that science and scientists pretend to have.
Flipside: If you are going to do this, make sure you have not presented your own realitymap as an alternative scientific or objective one. Objectivity is just too easy a target. - Ignore attacks. This is an obvious solution but one that only really works if you are confident in the realitymapping process. If you still confuse your theories with reality, believing them to be truth rather than merely your own map of truth, then ignoring a scientific attack is more difficult and requires a thick skin. But if you are conversant in the process of realitymapping, then scientific attacks start to become laughable and are easily ignored (unless you want to be entertained by using one of the techniques above).
Flipside: The annoying thing, however, is that scientists in the pockets of big business have the ear of our governments, so that our legal systems tend to reject alternative realitymaps. For example, you would soon find yourself in jail if you advertised alternative cancer cures because the medical profession has managed to encourage legislation that gives it a monopoly in this area, despite the fact that their lucrative “treatments” such as chemotherapy have a dismal success rate. So ignoring attacks is not helpful if those attacks are coordinated to legislate against alternatives, especially when they present more effective solutions.
https://realitymaps.com/2010/08-mentalkungfu.html