I subscribe to historical materialism, which is apparently a pseudoscience according to that Wikipedia article.
this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
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I do suspect Qi is a useful abstract concept for focusing and activating parts of our physiology. But while it feels like a single thing ("energy"), it is more a very complex bunch of processes the same way our consciousness feels like a single thing, but is actually a very complex bunch of processes.
Like you, I ain't reading the list.
However, I'm not dismissive of stuff that's woowoo, but the stuff you listed has pretty much been shown to be nothing better than placebo effects, with the partial exception of the cycles of some things in nature matching the moon. But it isn't about the phase, per se (at least, the last serious publication I saw on it indicated it wasn't).
Thing is, woowoo placebo effect isn't a fake thing. Hence me not being dismissive. If something A: helps get someone through shit, B: doesn't hurt anyone, and C: isn't being used by someone as a tool to manipulate, it ain't my business to correct anyone.
Some shit, like acupressure has benefits beyond the placebo, even though it isn't for the claimed reasons. When stuff like that works, it's very often the touch itself combined with the idea it will help that makes it effective enough to be worth keeping around.
But, with that kind of thing, that's only okay if it's conjunction with evidence based beat practices. That's when woowoo really shines. To help someone decrease stress, handle the horrible, and get through another day. Because it really does help in that regard.
See, it's known that religion serves that purpose. It's a psychological coping tool in one of its aspects. It doesn't matter if the same effect happens because of faith in a deity or not. It's that we can, to a limited degree, improve our selves by how our minds are functioning. So, if someone gets through their divorce, or being sick, or grieving by burning incense and playing with pretty rocks, IDGAF, I'll lie to their face and tell them that it's great, as long as they're also working on whatever it is more holistically with something evidence based.
Even then, I'd just try to convince them to add to, not abandon.
That being said, I wish some of that shit worked. It would be so fucking nice.
It is impossible to communicate pain effectively. Pseudoscience acceptance causes harm because it greys the line when situations are high risk and complicated. I am quite literally collateral damage with my entire life thrown away in this grey area. Not offended at you, just saying it is not harmless.
When someone says it's quiet at work, suddenly all these emergencies come in...
The full moon does something to people's brains and makes them act weirder than usual.
There's been more than one time when I've been out and thought people were driving crazier than usual or people on the bus were being more psycho than they normally are, and I've looked it up and it's been within like 2 days of the full moon on either side.
People are ~70% water and the moon does move the entire ocean around, so maybe it's something to do with that?
I like all the ones you listed and I love βwoowoomancerβ as a description. Other than those, I have a good feel for future sight.
Osteopathy.
I thought it was scientifically proven, it seems that's not the case π¬
Tell that to my back/arm pain I had for months after a Ski accident... After 4 session and one good knack I literally felt how everything got back in place.
I felt so exhausted and somehow strange like a little bit drunk... But after a few weeks the pain went away ! Like magic !
So yeah, science can't prove everything but that doesn't mean it doesn't work or has some positive benefits ! Science has also been wrong numerous times or has been controlled by conflict of interests... What ever, choose your poison !
Acupuncture, to a certain extent. There's obviously something to it (a friend of mine went there because of various issues, and it helped), but the actual science isn't nailed down yet.
My insurance pays for it which I find shocking. I do find it helpful whether it's placebo or something else, and since it's covered I do it.
Goodness, that's a lot to read.
I don't know if I believe any of them with actual faith instead of just chalking coincidental things up to some beliefs like that. The Lunar phase one comes to mind as something I'll often reference, but I don't actually believe in lunacy.
However, there's one about grounding methods in the health section. I definitely don't believe there's anything about elecron alignment or whatever bull that all is. But being on the ground helps me a lot with anxiety and relaxation in general. To the point where I prefer sitting in front of my couch vs on it, lol. So maybe I believe in that one, but not in any pseudoscience way??
I work in 911 dispatch, and I don't have hard stats to back it up, I'm not even really sure how it could be objectively measured, and I'm sure I have a whole lot of bias and such, but I'm pretty sure everyone I work with agrees that we just get weirder calls on full moons.
Not necessarily busier, or more severe, there's just a certain something that's hard to explain about a lot of our callers that seems to get a little strange on a full moon.
It's not something we're actively keeping track of, it's not like we have a reminder set on our phones for the full moon, but when we have one of those nights where everything just seems to be a little off and we check the moon phase, it seems like it's full or nearly full more often than not.
Although personally I think we see a bigger difference for a couple days after the clocks change for daylight savings time. My pet theory on that is it throws people's medication schedules off by an hour and it takes them a few days to readjust. Plus throwing off sleep schedules, and dementia patients who sundown may be up and acting up at a time they would otherwise be asleep.
If you know the future you should be doing good with this power! There's so many things we need to stop before they happen, falling down stairs, health conditions, the questions we're gonna be asked in court!