[FRIAM] What's so bad about Scientism?

[Frank Wimberly]

About 18 months ago I had an experience which is perhaps not relevant but
it came to mind as I read what you wrote, Glen.  As a result of a dream I
was in a state of anxiety which persisted for days.  One of the symptoms
was an irrational fear that I would stop breathing if I didn't consciously
supervise the process.  My PCP prescribed a tiny dose of Citalopram (10
mg/day).  That cured the anxiety and it has not returned.

----
Frank Wimberly

www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

On Sun, Jul 8, 2018, 4:09 AM glen <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've answered your question so manu times, it doesn't seem worth it to
> answer again. But such is life, eh? Doubt is uncertainty. Our bodies
> (including our minds) deal with uncertainty by maintaining feedback with
> the environment. Such doubting feedback is present even during actions of
> which you are as confident as you can be (e.g. stirring coffee or
> breathing). For actions of which you are minimally confident, such feedback
> will be largely conscious.
>
> Mindfulness is an attempt to keep some of your feedback conscious even if
> it's a deeply ingrained habit. To be mindful is to doubt everything.
>
> When you experience vertigo, it's because your feedback mechanism is
> biased or different. As Marcus points out, you then intervene consciously
> to modify or retrain yourself to use the new mechanism. The uncertainty
> never completely disappears, just increases and decreases as you and your
> environment change.
>
> In cases where you have zero feedback, you won't even be aware of any
> uncertainty because YOU HAVE NO FEEDBACK.
>
> Now, I will concede that cases exist where you may have enough feedback to
> estimate the uncertainty, but not enough feedback for a confident
> prediction of the outcome of an action. In such cases, I posit the TWITCH
> ... a (quite ordinary) sampling process of tiny actions that serve to
> establish more feedback. An actual example I've cited before is the saccade
> in vision.
>
> Even actual paralytics like suxamethonium chloride don't halt ALL feedback
> loops. Feedback stops only when you die. And I suspect some feedback
> persists for a short time after you die. So I have to reject your
> metaphorical 'paralyzing doubt' on all fronts.
>
> And if "I doubt everything" means to you that I do nothing, then you are
> obviously not reading any of my answers to your questions ... which is OK
> of course. 8^)
>
>
> On July 7, 2018 5:35:56 PM PDT, Nick Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net>
> wrote:
> >We are a having a definitional problem.  To a pragmatist (which I seem
> >to be) there can be no doubt in the presence of action (and no belief
> >in its absence).  So when you say, “I doubt everything” that MEANS to
> >me that you do nothing.
> >
> >So, when you put your feet out to the floor in the middle of the night,
> >do you doubt that the floor is there? Do you doubt when you open the
> >door the bathroom that the bathroom is there?  You can entertain doubts
> >on such matters, and such entertainment is fun and sometimes
> >instructive, but in pragmatist terms, you do not doubt them.
> >
> >So.  How are we to adjust terminology.
> >
> >Here’s an example.  Because of my recent bout of vertigo, I have
> >moments of doubting that the world around is stable.  Under those
> >conditions, I cannot walk.  REAL doubt (sensu pragmatico) is a nasty
> >business.
>
> --
> glen
>
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