i like your view. many people keep indeed confusing critic on science as a critic on thinking for themselves and wanting to verify things, which i don’t think is the case. i think you first have to be part of a scientific team to know that not all science is done scientific nor that what is reported or published could be stated out of the research material and finally -in connection to your ref to the pharma. comp- some research have a ‘hidden’ agenda and only report or turn the results in support of their agenda. so always try to think for yourself, indeed even scientists or scientific reporters are human and might be clouded by their own perceptions, which might not be wrong, but you need to keep in mind that it still are perceptions and interpretations. indeed some science are probably just science, but it would be better if one could view and study the material on which they are basing their statements.

plus nicely said, it is not because someone you admire state/says something that you have to accept it as the truth. keep thinking for yourself seems the most impotant thing in my view too.

The corporations can indeed be dangerous and yes, the pharmaceutical industry can be greedier than we’d like to think. Here’s a governmental report titled “The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry”:

“The Department of Health has for too long optimistically assumed that the interests of health and of the industry are as one…”

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/4203.htm

And two more links:
http://www.healthyskepticism.org/
http://www.pharmaware.co.uk/

We should also keep in mind that scientists are mere human beings and they are not necessarily always objective. History has shown that science doesn’t guarantee that the truth will always surface through the filters of the scientific establishment:

http://amasci.com/weird/vindac.html

Sometimes it takes for generations to pass and certain authorities to die for a valid idea to become accepted. That mechanism can hardly be used as an example for how “science is self-correcting”. My point is science, as it is today, is not necessarily self-correcting at all times.

So in short, a blind faith in scientific authorities and science-related industries is irrational. Question everything.

And no. Your brain won’t fall out if you open your mind too much. That’s a myth. Don’t let anybody scare you off of being open-minded, no matter how “cool” they might be. Just be careful about how you open it and everything will be fine.

I understand the frustration of talking to someone who just gives back what she once heard without thinking about it her/himself but still maintaining that they are the educated ones. Frustration bomb.

I am not really sceptical (maybe cynical at times), I notice because I don’t discard things that might seem illogical if they would work. I usually first want to experience it myself then see what it does with me and then try to explain why it gives that feeling to me and then changing the variables to see what changes until I understand it.

Also I saw that when I tested for example the ‘cards’ (whatever be it, tarot and so on) that it is quite psychoanalytic way of working. It gives the possibility to let your unconscious surface. I for example tested it by laying the cards for the same question over and over again and I saw whatever the cards where that I twisted the meaning so that it worked for me and in this way, I actually figured out what I wanted or what I was feeling in a difficult situation. It has the same effect when you flip a coin and say heads I will do A, tails I will do B. You always know what you want after flipping the coin, namely whenever you say ‘two out of three’ it is not the option that is presented to you. Only with cards you have more possibilities than A and B.

I tested it also by laying the cards for others and I saw it had the same effect (I think DB calls it cold reading), namely the person in front of you puts you in the position of ‘master’/'person who knows’ and gives meaning to whatever you are saying. In this the unconscious can surface, because not threatening. It is too bad of course that most people truly think it is more than that and uses it like that, while I think it is a very nice way to surpass your unconscious and make you able to think about things.

I normally had the chance of going to a seance, but the person who invited me, was so into it that I couldn’t bring myself to go. (I somehow almost always get a choking/ anxious feeling when surrounded by -what I call sect members- a group of people who are mesmerized by something and it seems they are no longer present. (I had the same expierience in bible study, I only went once as a child) (ok I also don’t like groups)

Also sometimes I think placebos can have nice effects too and can be used to give strength to someone (even myself). It always makes me think of Dumbo with his little feather. Although it is always better if you don’t need the feather anymore. I have seen in my testing that believing something is real, makes it real in their consequences (I think that is what DB usually works on).

I usually let people do whatever they want to do, as long as they don’t a) ask my opinion, b) pretend to be higher evolved because they have seen the light or c) I am just in a pissy mood or d) they are disturbing me in some way (although this belongs to point c). But then again I can’t stand when someone is mocked in group, but maybe because I was bullied when I was a child. (there are always exceptions)

ultimately, it comes down to making fun of a stupid woman, who fancies herself to be “understanding”. now, that does ring a bell, doesnt it?

If you like that go and get his DVD So F**king Live (the one filmed in London) from HMV and enjoy Angry Feet which is an absolutely marvelous poem too.