Friday, July 10th, 2009
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12:26 pm
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 Naturopathic "medicine" is an approach to healing that eschews drugs in favor of herbs and roots and promoting the body's own defenses to illness.
My view of naturopathy is pretty simple: you could dig a tunnel under the Korean Demilitarized Zone with a spoon, but really, this thing works a lot better and may even finish the job in your lifetime.
With so many reasons to loathe naturopathy, why are people attracted to the idea in the first place?
The most obvious reason, of course, is that people who are suspicious of authority in general and Western Medicine in particular will view alternatives as somehow more credible or well-meaning. Implicit in this state of mind is deep, intense cynicism about medical scientists, drug developers, doctors, nurses, and lab technicians -- and the administrators who keep all of those people employed.
There is another, equally interesting (and equally irrational) aspect to naturopathy: the idealization of nature.
People who champion naturopathy argue that even if the body needs help repairing damaged tissue, fending off invaders, or calming autoimmunity, aid is somewhere out there, and in the form of something vaguely inanimate, such as a rock, a plant, or fungus. Naturopathic cures never appear in the form of something natural but aesthetically disturbing, such as animal tallow or spoor. Isn't that a little suspicious?
Now, as anyone who seriously studies biology or medicine can tell you, nothing in nature -- and I do mean nothing -- is ideal.
That isn't to say nature doesn't produce impressive things. Sharks' Pits of Lorenzini, the human brain, photosynthesis, etc., are all damn impressive. But to see even these three things as ideal or in some state of perfection is patently ridiculous. One of the themes of biology and medicine is this: "shit is messy, and if it was just slightly messier, it wouldn't work at all."
Last, naturapathy's supporters refuse to look at the body mechanistically, that is, as a machine with parts that can be understood at a biochemical or molecular level. Naturopaths rely on meta-level explanations for how things work, perhaps invoking the name of an organ or organ system, but never getting at the heart of why things actually happen (e.g. this gene is always on, or this receptor is not functioning properly). The easiest way to frustrate or invalidate the claims of a naturopath is to question them on mechanism with lots of "How does..." and "What is causing..." questions.
I don't mean to cast total doubt on the possibility that there are plants or fungi out there that contain substances helpful to human medicine. That is clearly false. But there is a right way and a wrong way to determine the effects of such things. The wrong way is word of mouth. The right way is scientific experimentation.
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(27 responses | What?)
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| Thursday, July 9th, 2009
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9:59 am
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People I love, in ascending order of intensity
Cantankerous essayists
Canadians
Constitutional lawyers
Asian toddlers
Italians
Harrison Ford, ca. 1980
The organic food farmers profiled in The Omnivore's Dilemma
Scientists
Classically trained musicians
My father
Mom and Bob
Dea
Myself
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(30 responses | What?)
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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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1:40 pm
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| Monday, July 6th, 2009
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11:45 am - The saddest part of a broken heart isn't the ending so much as the start
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 It may seem surprising that Sarah Palin perseveres as a political entity despite her (a) bizarre comments, (b) stupid comments, and (c) quitting politics.
And to be sure, many folks eagerly await her political death. But Sarah Palin is not going away. At least not yet.
Yes, she is a good-looking woman. In fact, it seems to me she's more attractive now than she was when she was younger. More importantly, if Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article, "It Came From Wasilla is to be believed, Palin understands how to use her looks to great photographic effect.
But it is not her attractiveness that explains why she resonates with millions of Americans.
My country has long been ambivalent toward smart people. Sure, smart people invent stuff, say smart things, and make sick people feel better. But they also use fancy language just to confuse us, keep their riches to themselves, and perhaps most importantly, talk 'bout things that piss Jesus off.
Dumb people, on the other hand, thems we likes.
Palin is not stupid, exactly, but she's intensely un-curious about the world, as evidenced by her wide-ranging lack of knowledge of subjects beyond Aleeyaska, snow "machine" racing, and hunting. She doesn't portray herself as a smart person or as an authority. Instead, she says she's "normal" or "real America" and uses folksy language (droppin' the letter g, invokin' sports analogies, and insertin' cliches) to emphasize the point.
The 2008 election demonstrated that America had mostly tired of a president with whom we'd feel comfortable drinking beers. But there will always be a segment of American society that craves leaders who look like them, talk like them, and most importantly, are neither more sophisticated than them nor uppity.
Which is why Palin is such a danger to herself. To date, she's done a pretty good job of manifesting a political outsider of unexceptional intelligence. But one thing we also know about Palin is that she's deeply ambitious. If she sets her sights too high -- and she will -- she risks leaving in the dust her ground-bound rabble of anti-authoritarian idiots, effectively damning her political prospects forever.
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(15 responses | What?)
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| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
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10:46 am
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An Eaud to Water
Of all the molecules that circle Earth,
You are most ubiquitous and unique.
You are 80 percent of Colin Firth
But more like 70 percent of Mo'nique.
Nitrogen and oxygen gases bore;
Their symmetry yields no dipole moment.
But you, lascivious water, with your
sp3 orbitals, doth sighs foment.
And noble gases? What's so noble, then?
The curves of your frame do more to please
Lords and ladies, who recognize the Zen
Arete of 104.5 degrees.
Your arched shape explains so many things:
Your meniscuses, your thirst for salts,
Your heat capacity and snowflake rings,
And, of course, your nucleophile assaults.
Life on Earth happens only with your grace.
When you are removed, most chemistry stops.
Lest we let our true feelings be effaced,
Here they are, water: We think you're the tops.
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(10 responses | What?)
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