The Huffington Post tells us why skepticism is bad...

[Richter]

I'd pay to see that.

Not that he's necessarily going into full traditional yoga practices, but it could get REALLY good...  (Nigel will get a kick out of this.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhauti_(Hatha_Yoga)


Edit for link fix

If Oprah bahiskrita dhauti's on live TV....

[Triple Zero]

in other news, holy damn, WOMPing might in fact be quikcer than using ROFLbot (this being my first proper MS Paint WOMP, ever)

[President Television]

I'd pay to see that.

Not that he's necessarily going into full traditional yoga practices, but it could get REALLY good...  (Nigel will get a kick out of this.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhauti_(Hatha_Yoga)


Edit for link fix

If Oprah bahiskrita dhauti's on live TV....

Chakshu dauti looks like fun too, especially if Oprah provides the "solution" herself.
Of course, she'd just use saltwater, but one can dream...

[Iason Ouabache]

No skeptic, to my knowledge, ever made a major scientific discovery or advanced the welfare of others.

WTF?


"Skeptic" doesn't mean what you think it does, Deeprick.

TITCM. The entire article is one giant Strawman argument. He paints everyone that dares to disagree with him as a mean old fuddy-duddy who hates the universe. Skepticism is about witholding belief until evidence is presented. It's not our fault that the only evidence he has is a very deep misunderstanding of quantum physics.

[Iason Ouabache]

The only response ever needed to Choprawoo:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/12/my_response_to_chopras_latest.php

Woo woo woo woo woo Dawkins woo woo. Woo woo woo woo woo materialists don't understand woo woo. Woo woo woo woo Materialists say evolution is random woo woo woo. Woo woo woo anthropic principle. Woo woo woo consciousness woo woo can't be explained by DNA woo woo. Woo woo consciousness all around woo woo. Woo woo universe is conscious. Woo woo woo quantum theory woo woo. Woo woo woo evolution information theory. Woo woo. Woo woo universal consciousness intelligent design. Woo woo woo. Woo woo woo God woo woo field of consciousness woo woo pervades universe woo woo. Woo woo arrogant skeptics woo woo versus dogmatic fundamentalists woo woo. Woo woo Chopra find middle ground in woo. Woo universe experienced through consciousness woo woo consciousness is God woo woo woo.

[Freeky]

The only response ever needed to Choprawoo:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/12/my_response_to_chopras_latest.php

Woo woo woo woo woo Dawkins woo woo. Woo woo woo woo woo materialists don't understand woo woo. Woo woo woo woo Materialists say evolution is random woo woo woo. Woo woo woo anthropic principle. Woo woo woo consciousness woo woo can't be explained by DNA woo woo. Woo woo consciousness all around woo woo. Woo woo universe is conscious. Woo woo woo quantum theory woo woo. Woo woo woo evolution information theory. Woo woo. Woo woo universal consciousness intelligent design. Woo woo woo. Woo woo woo God woo woo field of consciousness woo woo pervades universe woo woo. Woo woo arrogant skeptics woo woo versus dogmatic fundamentalists woo woo. Woo woo Chopra find middle ground in woo. Woo universe experienced through consciousness woo woo consciousness is God woo woo woo.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'd pay to see that.

Not that he's necessarily going into full traditional yoga practices, but it could get REALLY good...  (Nigel will get a kick out of this.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhauti_(Hatha_Yoga)


Edit for link fix

If Oprah bahiskrita dhauti's on live TV....

d. Moola shodhana (rectal cleansing)

            * Moola shodhana, cleaning the rectum with the middle finger or a turmeric root.
            * Bahiskrita dhauti, a very difficult technique, involves pushing the rectum out and washing it in the hands.

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

i hoped deepak chopra was a bollywood star but he isnt and now im sad 

[Jean-Lustine d'Hadamard]

Oh, not just the meme, but the pseudoscience nutjobbery that heralds Western civilization sliding back onto the muck.

And that whole "'Western' science is so fucking complicated and difficult to understand, I'll take some fluffy crap from 'The Mysterious East' instead" thing.

I am polite to such people's faces, and throw screwed up balls of paper at them when they're not looking.

[Iason Ouabache]

And now for the responses:

Steven Novella: http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=1327

What this article demonstrates is that Chopra is unequivocally anti-science. That is the reason he attacks skeptics and skepticism. He wants his woo to get a free pass. He wants to be able to speculate wildly, without ever having to justify his claims with logic and evidence. Chopra laments being called "the emperor of woo-woo" – probably because he knows that this emperor has no clothes.

Phil Plait: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/12/01/deepak-chopra-redefining-wrong/

And then he makes his biggest mistake, one that is all-too-common by people who think skepticism is the same thing as cynicism:

    Skeptics know in advance — or think they know — what right thought is.

Bzzzzt! WRONG. We don't know necessarily what the right thought is. But we do know when we see a failure in the process of thinking. And in the case of one Deepak Chopra, that failure is lit up like a neon sign and draped in the open for all to see... if they're willing to think about it.

And Orac: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/12/deepak_chopra_and_his_choprawoo_take_my.php

And there's Chopra's problem. He thinks that questioning the status quo is a good thing, and so it often is. However, he does not understand that just questioning is not enough. Anyone can come up with a half-baked "challenge" to the status quo. I could make up a half dozen challenges to various scientific theories in the next couple of minutes without breaking a sweat. Does that mean my speculations should be taken seriously, particularly if I have no evidence to back them up and little understanding of the issues involved? No! But Chopra engages in nothing but special pleading, apparently thinking that his views and those of woo-meisters like him, should be held to a different standard of evidence and taken seriously because they challenge the status quo. He thinks his pseudoscientific or even unscientific views of medicine and science should be considered on par with science-based medicine and existing science because...well...because he does.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Oh, not just the meme, but the pseudoscience nutjobbery that heralds Western civilization sliding back onto the muck.

And that whole "'Western' science is so fucking complicated and difficult to understand, I'll take some fluffy crap from 'The Mysterious East' instead" thing.

I am polite to such people's faces, and throw screwed up balls of paper at them when they're not looking.

More succinctly:  "I wish to be held up as an expert, but do not wish to do the work required to gain that status."

I am not polite to such peoples' faces.

[Kai]

I wish some of these nutwanks would learn the science, so they can be scientists and mystics at the same time. Barbara McClintock showed that damn well, she was both a mystic and the greatest geneticist of the last century. Ever heard of transgenics? That wouldn't be possible without her discovery of transposable elements. Yet she was very much in awe of life and the universe, and couldn't say where most of her discoveries came from, they just sort of appeared in her mind. She was connected to the universe, and that connection did not require being a muddle brained woo.

[Iason Ouabache]

I wish some of these nutwanks would learn the science, so they can be scientists and mystics at the same time. Barbara McClintock showed that damn well, she was both a mystic and the greatest geneticist of the last century. Ever heard of transgenics? That wouldn't be possible without her discovery of transposable elements. Yet she was very much in awe of life and the universe, and couldn't say where most of her discoveries came from, they just sort of appeared in her mind. She was connected to the universe, and that connection did not require being a muddle brained woo.

But science is hard work, Kai. It's so much easier to make shit up as you go along. The pay is usually better too.

[Kai]

I wish some of these nutwanks would learn the science, so they can be scientists and mystics at the same time. Barbara McClintock showed that damn well, she was both a mystic and the greatest geneticist of the last century. Ever heard of transgenics? That wouldn't be possible without her discovery of transposable elements. Yet she was very much in awe of life and the universe, and couldn't say where most of her discoveries came from, they just sort of appeared in her mind. She was connected to the universe, and that connection did not require being a muddle brained woo.

But science is hard work, Kai. It's so much easier to make shit up as you go along. The pay is usually better too.

[Freeky]

I wish some of these nutwanks would learn the science, so they can be scientists and mystics at the same time. Barbara McClintock showed that damn well, she was both a mystic and the greatest geneticist of the last century. Ever heard of transgenics? That wouldn't be possible without her discovery of transposable elements. Yet she was very much in awe of life and the universe, and couldn't say where most of her discoveries came from, they just sort of appeared in her mind. She was connected to the universe, and that connection did not require being a muddle brained woo.

But science is hard work, Kai. It's so much easier to make shit up as you go along. The pay is usually better too.