Knowledgeable people
Aug. 2nd, 2013 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livOne of my favourite things about DW is that it brings me into contact with people who know things, and sometimes they explain and then I learn.
jjhunter made a really interesting, thinky comment about alternative medicine in my obnoxious opinions post, and then expanded it into a top-level discussion (with citations!) which is well worth reading: The great strength of 'evidence-based medicine' is science; science also happens to be the source of many of its most profound & chronic problems. I want to follow this up and write something serious rather than provocative about my views of alternative medicine, which in fact are more to do with my views of mainstream medicine. But actually jjhunter is covering much of what I want to say from a much more knowledgeable position.
And in the discussion of MBTI related stuff, people were comparing MBTI to astrology, andjenett showed up with a really amazing comment which gives some of the historical context of Western astrology beyond the simplistic horoscopes that are used as a space filler in the backs of newspapers: it is vastly more complicated than just a single sign.
I imagine that some people who identify very strongly as skeptics may just not be able to get through those two posts at all. Personally, I found both explanations thought-provoking and not at all preachy, even as someone who doesn't personally believe in some of the principles behind the systems being explained.
I circledlegionseagle mainly because I needed an antidote to people pontificating about the law who know even less than I do about the topic. Knowing more than I do about law is not exactly a high bar, but legionseagle is an actual lawyer and always writes both informatively and entertainingly. I particularly enjoyed her piece on contract law using Bilbo's contract with the Dwarves as an example: "The whereabouts of the Arkenstone" is a material piece of confidential information in anyone's book. The explanation includes the infamous Carbolic Smoke Ball case, which was part of my family mythology growing up; the reason why I know just enough to get impatient with internet-lawyer ignorance is that both my parents are lawyers.
So, who's learned something they didn't previously know from a blog post recently? Do pass on the links! And is there anything you'd like me to explain that I know more about than you do? It'd be good to do some informative posts of my own, as well as discussion-y ones.
jjhunter made a really interesting, thinky comment about alternative medicine in my obnoxious opinions post, and then expanded it into a top-level discussion (with citations!) which is well worth reading: The great strength of 'evidence-based medicine' is science; science also happens to be the source of many of its most profound & chronic problems. I want to follow this up and write something serious rather than provocative about my views of alternative medicine, which in fact are more to do with my views of mainstream medicine. But actually jjhunter is covering much of what I want to say from a much more knowledgeable position. And in the discussion of MBTI related stuff, people were comparing MBTI to astrology, and
jenett showed up with a really amazing comment which gives some of the historical context of Western astrology beyond the simplistic horoscopes that are used as a space filler in the backs of newspapers: it is vastly more complicated than just a single sign. I imagine that some people who identify very strongly as skeptics may just not be able to get through those two posts at all. Personally, I found both explanations thought-provoking and not at all preachy, even as someone who doesn't personally believe in some of the principles behind the systems being explained.
I circled
legionseagle mainly because I needed an antidote to people pontificating about the law who know even less than I do about the topic. Knowing more than I do about law is not exactly a high bar, but legionseagle is an actual lawyer and always writes both informatively and entertainingly. I particularly enjoyed her piece on contract law using Bilbo's contract with the Dwarves as an example: "The whereabouts of the Arkenstone" is a material piece of confidential information in anyone's book. The explanation includes the infamous Carbolic Smoke Ball case, which was part of my family mythology growing up; the reason why I know just enough to get impatient with internet-lawyer ignorance is that both my parents are lawyers.So, who's learned something they didn't previously know from a blog post recently? Do pass on the links! And is there anything you'd like me to explain that I know more about than you do? It'd be good to do some informative posts of my own, as well as discussion-y ones.
