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I have almost the opposite reaction to it. As an article designed for an educated but non-scientific audience, it's only nominally about neuroscience, but real

by nkurz 11y ago

I have almost the opposite reaction to it. As an article designed for an educated but non-scientific audience, it's only nominally about neuroscience, but really about conceptions of self. I think the point of the article is that despite considering herself an expert, she has no particular insight into her own disease. This is intended as a parable for other experts, suggesting that they may be wiser to trust in the collective wisdom of others rather than assuming they understand the world better than others. It's not quite an anti-science article, but it seeks to "cut science down to size", by (correctly) showing that its practitioners are all too fallible and human. What are the specific ways in which you find it troubling?

Alex3917 11y ago
I suppose this isn't as egregious as, say, some guy writing a book saying that God is real because of a dream he had and you should totally believe him because he's an MD. That said, what's to say that her experiences (which perhaps highlight the limits of science) are more valid than anyone else's experiences which do the same. The reason I find it troubling is because it fits into a multi-hundred year paradigm of, say, indigenous people not being believed about their medical knowledge until some white guy flies down to South America and puts his stamp of approval on it. Or, say, some western religious studies scholars flying to Japan and teaching them what their religious beliefs really are, or whatever. I'm all for experts when they have real expertise and something to add. But what I find troubling is when a supposed lack of credentials is used to systematically invalidate the knowledge and experiences of certain groups of people, especially when those credentials have no actual relevance to the issue(s) at hand.
- im3w1l 11y ago
  There were a lot of false indigenous beliefs. If people just listened to some random native dude and took his stories at face value, they would have been convinced of a lot of wrongness. Basically you need a big institution that can exert quality control over issued statements. Not necessarily a white one.
  - Alex3917 11y ago
    > There were a lot of false indigenous beliefs. Sure. There's a lot of false non-indigenous beliefs also. I realize that a lot of the time there is a real value add happening. But there are research universities down there also that can do the same work. And as often as not the research done up here isn't really any better than the research that's already been done.

by nkurz 11y ago

Alex3917 11y ago

I suppose this isn't as egregious as, say, some guy writing a book saying that God is real because of a dream he had and you should totally believe him because he's an MD. That said, what's to say that her experiences (which perhaps highlight the limits of science) are more valid than anyone else's experiences which do the same. The reason I find it troubling is because it fits into a multi-hundred year paradigm of, say, indigenous people not being believed about their medical knowledge until some white guy flies down to South America and puts his stamp of approval on it. Or, say, some western religious studies scholars flying to Japan and teaching them what their religious beliefs really are, or whatever. I'm all for experts when they have real expertise and something to add. But what I find troubling is when a supposed lack of credentials is used to systematically invalidate the knowledge and experiences of certain groups of people, especially when those credentials have no actual relevance to the issue(s) at hand.

im3w1l 11y ago
There were a lot of false indigenous beliefs. If people just listened to some random native dude and took his stories at face value, they would have been convinced of a lot of wrongness. Basically you need a big institution that can exert quality control over issued statements. Not necessarily a white one.
- Alex3917 11y ago
  > There were a lot of false indigenous beliefs. Sure. There's a lot of false non-indigenous beliefs also. I realize that a lot of the time there is a real value add happening. But there are research universities down there also that can do the same work. And as often as not the research done up here isn't really any better than the research that's already been done.