You are what you eat.

[Tobin S.]

A friend of mine told me that a long time ago. He wasn't talking about food. It was his metaphorical way of warning me about what information I choose to believe, especially in regards to what I read.

I take pride in having an open mind and being able to consider new ideas. But I do run across a problem with that at times- I sometimes lose my skeptical mind set and become credulous. That happened to me recently and it makes me feel like a fool. I ate up a bunch of ideas that I'd thought of as ground-breaking information without thinking about it critically or looking for evidence to support it.

I think that happens to me every once in a while when I run across ideas that relate to my desire for evidence of existence of some kind of paranormal activity- a desire that goes back to my teen years.

So I've got three skeptic books on order which will hopefully blast this bullshit out of my brain. :)

[TZ]

1. My rule of thumb when reading stuff is

if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If it directly contradicts everything you know or have heard or believed you need to be skeptical. Sometimes data does come along that changes how I view things, but only after I've done a lot of collaborative research. And EVERYTHING I read on the internet, I take with a grain of salt. I may be too paranoid, too cynical, but I've found much more disinformation than educational stuff on the web in the last few years, sadly. Also remember just because at first blush some event does not have a good scientific explanation, it does not mean you can conclude the extrordinary has occured. Extraordinary claims do indeed need extraordinary proof

[Tobin S.]

2. Preciate ya, TZ

What happened is kind of a long story, so I'll just give you the short version. I started reading books by an author who initially seemed to make a lot of sense in regard to psychedelic experiences. I have a history of usage of those drugs although it's been a very long time since I've done any and I don't plan on trying them again. I've got psychiatric meds flowing in my blood, and I doubt street drugs would mix well with those. Those meds have saved my life. Best not be fuckin with that stuff.

I proceeded to read two more books by this author with each becoming more fantastic than the last. After reading the third book I realized how bad this shit was messing with my head. I'd actually started giving those extraordinary claims some face time in my noggin without any evidence being presented. It was all just anecdotes and "take my word for it" kind of stuff. The author used scientific evidence when it when it seemed to support his view and then a few chapters later would be trashing scientists and their "mechanistic" world view.

I think the guy is just a con, but he might actually believe what he's saying.

Anyway, done with that stuff.