Detecting New Age baloney

Here are some common statements found in self-help and new age books, films and web pages and what they really mean.

1. I have excluded any scientific evidence to make this book more understandable

Real meaning: I do not have any scientific evidence for what I am saying.

2. The theories described here are outside the realm of science.

Real meaning: I just made this all up and am hoping you will be gullible enough to buy into it.

3. Evolution is just a theory.

Real meaning: I understand neither evolution nor the meaning of a scientific theory.

5. You don’t have to understand it. Just try it.

Real meaning: You have time to waste on something I can’t even explain clearly.

6. Don’t let negative people discourage you from trying out new things.

Real Meaning: Don’t listen to people who criticize my methods. In fact, if you Google my name and the word “sucks” after it, you will likely find more than a dozen hits providing real evidence why I am a fraud.

7. These are natural methods that have been used by our ancestors for generations.

Real meaning: I don’t have scientific evidence that these methods work, so I will resort to a logical fallacy in which I appeal to your sense of tradition. Tradition is not evidence!

8. This method of healing/meditation etc is scientific.

Real meaning: (Common Deepak Chopraish BS). I am presenting ancient religious BS and am trying to modernize it by calling it scientific.

Scientific claims appear in peer-reviewed journals and can be verified or falsified. Many new age Eastern spiritual gurus are notorious for attempting to align themselves with science (especially quantum physics), yet their teachings are far from scientific.

9. This book contains a secret that has been kept away from the public for centuries.

Real meaning: Please buy my book. It contains some “law” that is mentioned in hundreds of other books that are now in the public domain and can be downloaded free online.

10. Big pharmaceutical companies have suppressed this product because it will get them out of business.

Real Meaning: I do not have evidence of any kind that this works. I am trying to appeal to the popular, often mindless, criticism of big business.

Also check out Michael Shermer’s Baloney Detection kit.

Of diesel rocks, miracle babies and other enchanted spirits

There are many challenges that Africa faces as we try to rebuild in the 21st century. I will focus on one of them, which is the hanging on to ancient, often tragic superstitions. In ancient times, humans did not know better, so they made up explanations to explain confusing natural phenomena. For example, before the germ theory of disease, diseases were often considered curses from gods or higher spirits. Our limitations in controlling our own environment (drought, floods, hurricanes) led to the creation of superstitions, many of which we, unfortunately, still hang on to today (even though we should know better). I define “voodoo thinking” as any belief in the suspension of the laws of the universe (whether it is for or against you). While some of these beliefs are decidedly harmless (one may argue that a person who summons the gods to intervene in his favor in a lottery is not really harming anyone, although he might require a lecture in basic statistics). But at some stage we will have to confront the reality that this is not how the world works. You don’t perform rituals to win a soccer match. You outplay the opponent!

In Kenya, Archbishop Gilbert Deya was involved in child trafficking while claiming to be mediating “miracle babies” (see full story here). Tanzania has been haunted by albino killings for various reasons, the least of which is the claim by some witch-doctors that they can make people rich using albino body parts. This is the same country in which old women with red eyes have been killed on charges of witchcraft. Witch-hunts are common in many parts of Africa. Years ago in Zimbabwe, stories of an old woman who could kill people by just greeting them spread across the country, leading to some of the most cruel treatment of seniors ever experienced in the country. Also in Zimbabwe, the famous tsikamutandas still travel the country, allegedly exorcising witches. Governments often turn a blind eye to these proceedings, and, in some cases, they participate.

For example, in 2007, a woman called Rotina Mavhunga convinced senior members of the Zimbabwean cabinet that she could, under spiritual guidance, produce diesel out of rocks in Chinhoyi. The gullible government, out for straws in a collapsing economy, set up a task force including State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi. Yes, you read that right – a taskforce to ‘investigate’ the claims of a ‘spirit medium’ that she could produce diesel from rocks. Really! Can such a minister who expected diesel through a spiritual healer be serious about promoting science and technology? How optimistic should we be with our leadership in pushing us forward into the 21st century if they are haunted by 12th century beliefs?

Going mystical in 2007! Then governor for Mashonaland West Nelson Samkange takes a “diesel bath” from bogus n'anga Rotina Mavhunga while Security Minister Sydney Sekeramai, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Didymus Mutasa and others look on. Picture and caption from zimdaily.com

Some stories, as the one above, may evoke good laughs and ridicule, but the truth is that most of the stories are not that funny. Targeting children as witches as has happened in Nigeria is not funny. Poisoning people under the guise of witch-hunts is not funny. Killing people for body parts is not funny. When a church denies modern medical attention to young children, preferring healing by “miracle water,” the laughter stops. But should we wait for the extreme life and death cases to say enough is enough? It is the responsibility of everyone to confront “voodoo thinking” with critical thinking (and, probably, to vote for less embarrassing government ministers). When you hear anyone wishing for a suspension of the laws of the universe on their, or someone else’s behalf, be kind enough to tell them the world does not work that way. That we wish it sometimes does doesn’t make it real.

Everyone today has access to the tools of scientific thinking. For most of us, when we get sick we seek real medical attention. We don’t expect to get anything that we did not work for. When our cellphone battery dies out, we don’t perform rituals and assume the gods must be angry at us. We get another one. Yet many people keep a bag of beliefs that they argue is outside the realm of science. But as the late American astronomer Carl Sagan said in his book The Demon Haunted World, science is not just a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. When we think scientifically, forcing evidence over delusion, we will conclude, not only that nothing is outside the realm of science, but that we face serious problems whenever we try to navigate the world without scientific guidance.

Do hot climates create sluggish economies?

Countries with hot climates tend to be the most economically challenged ones. For most of us, the explanations are routed in the world history of slavery and colonialism. But for MIT economics professor Ben Olken, the story may not be that simple. Olken and his colleagues have examined the temperature-income relationship not just between countries but within countries. What did they find? A negative relationship between temperature and income does exist, although it is much weaker than that between countries. A full paper of this work can be found here, and a full report on the NPR website (including an interesting discussion with many interesting suggested explanations).

Don’t forward that message! Confronting the spam demons among us

Email is one of the greatest connectors of the modern times. But it can also be one of the greatest nightmares. The cause? Evil spammers and scammers out to collect our valuable information, right? Actually most of the time it’s just our good, well-intentioned friends. Ever received that long religious message that then asked you to forward to ten people in order to be blessed by the end of the week? How about that message claiming Microsoft was giving off money to people who forwarded the message to as many people as they could? We all receive them; from self-help pep articles to tips on losing weight or preventing heart disease (most of them not written by health professionals); from the endless social site invitations to proclamations of spiritual or “energy” healing. Some workplaces even have their own version of ‘workplace spam;’ unsolicited, mostly never-opened announcements of birthdays, births, parties – even an occasional email fight copied to the unconcerned. But that is not the worst part. The worst is that most of us actually fall for the tricks and participate in spamming our internet community by forwarding useless messages to our friends. If you rarely invite someone to a party by word, what makes you think they will respond to an evite?

Now, there is nothing wrong with sending an occasional uplifting message or slideshow to a good friend (as long as they don’t object). I have found some of them quite interesting. And frankly sharing inspiring stories with people outside of your circles is indeed one of the pluses of the internet age. But like all good things, it can be overdone. It ceases to be an exercise in sharing if  you become a forwarding center, sending off anything and everything to everyone in your address book. I had to abandon one of my email accounts because I had become part of a vicious forwarding network. Most of the people who do this do not even have the courtesy to blind copy the messages, so each one of their recipients, if they are into the forwarding business, harvests the email addresses, broadening their community of mostly unwilling victims.

If you regularly send forwarded messages to uninterested people, you are a spammer, period. If you send group messages when the message only concerned one person, you are a spammer, and therefore part of the problem in the “E-universe.” Many good email services offer efficient spam filters. In addition, you can create your own filters. I use gmail and have filters that trash all social site invitations as well as mail from certain forwarding culprits I know.  But the ideal would be if the spam filters are reserved for true spam, not from our own colleagues. So, to be a good citizen of the world wide web, have a little respect and don’t be click-happy

1. Only forward messages to your ACTUAL friends. Most of your workmates and business contacts are actually not your friends and many people are too polite to tell you to stop.

2. As a rule, don’t forward messages to people you don’t regularly mail or talk to, don’t assume that others belief the same things you do. There are very few (if any) givens in this world.

2. Never pass on messages on unscientific health schemes, ponzi schemes, natural healing voodoo and superstitious nonsense. If you do, you are merely participating in the disinformation of the world.

3. If for some reason you have to send a message to many recipients, be kind enough to use the BCC (blind copy) to make sure your recipients’ privacy is protected.

To a better internet experience.

“Yes YOU can,” Obama tells Africa

In a speech in Accra, Ghana, on the 11^th of July, US president Barack Obama challenged African to take more responsibility for their affairs. “We must start from the simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans,” he said before continuing to relate to his audience with his own story; a story of his African grandfather, his father and the challenges they faced in the broader context of the African story.

One of the common themes coming out of Africa, especially in the politically-troubled nations is an attitude of blaming the western world for the political and economic hardships. While acknowledging the hand history has dealt on Africa, Obama challenged Africa to accept a bigger share of the blame for some of its problems, citing recent problems in Zimbabwe.

“It is easy to point fingers, and to pin the blame for these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father's life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for far too many.”

On the question of aid and cooperation, Obama had this to say. “As for America and the West, our commitment must be measured by more than just the dollars we spend. I have pledged substantial increases in our foreign assistance, which is in Africa's interest and America's. But the true sign of success is not whether we are a source of aid that helps people scrape by - it is whether we are partners in building the capacity for transformational change.” And indeed, building capacity for transformational change is Africa’s biggest challenge in the 21^st century. Harnessing technologies to achieve food security and improve health delivery, improving infrastructure and connectivity through information technology are no small challenges. “Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions,” Obama said.

In the final analysis, the progress of Africa will depend to a large extent on how quickly and efficiently African political systems will evolve from sloganeering dictatorships and patronage politics to real functional democracy that creates opportunities, respects human rights and celebrates talent and creativity rather than suppress it.  It will depend on young people getting more and more fed up. And so Obama’s last message was to the young people of Africa.

“You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.”