Comments for Good, Bad, and Bogus

Comment on BOGUS: Today Tonight on Fish Oil, Weight Loss and Holograms by Antonio Shelvin

Antonio Shelvin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:35:27 +0000

I’ll be sharing this info with my friends. Thanks!

Comment on Pot causes psychosis? Not so fast… by Michael Slezak

Michael Slezak — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:54:59 +0000

blog post: Pot causes psychosis? Not so fast… – http://tinyurl.com/yg9e669

Comment on Bogus science busting at New Matilda by Michael Slezak

Michael Slezak — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:00:50 +0000

blog post: Bogus science busting at New Matilda – http://tinyurl.com/yd9r3t3

Comment on Fish oil: Bogus or not? by re: health benefits of fish oils

re: health benefits of fish oils — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:07:32 +0000

There’s no doubt that some anti-depressants can alter brain chemistry. For some individuals where a chemical imbalance is the cause there may be a place for anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications. Individuals should have an omega 3 screening done to investigate if there is a need for supplementation of omega 3’s through the use of fish oils. These subgroups of patients may respond positively to adding fish oils to their diet. Of course, there is also the problem of determining the appropriate dose that would bring their omega 3 levels to a more normal level.

Comment on February’s going to be a bit slow here at GBnB by Michael Slezak

Michael Slezak — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:44:18 +0000

blog post: February's going to be a bit slow here at GBnB – http://tinyurl.com/yd9f6a3

Comment on #Nuttsack: A scandal with a positive effect by David Lawson

David Lawson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:07:14 +0000

@unstableisotope #nuttsack http://www.goodbadandbogus.com/health/nuttsack-a-scandal-with-a-positive-effect/

Comment on Can unconscious brains think? Coma, philosophy of mind, and the media. by Edward Mariyani-Squire

Edward Mariyani-Squire — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:12:38 +0000

Certainly it depends on the responses to the questions – that is surely enough to say whether or not “that’s the sort of response Mrs X gave [or would have given] before going into a coma”. If one can say this, and we’re still going to doubt whether Mrs X is conscious or not, then why not (to me, absurdly) doubt whether she (and everyone else) was ever conscious.

The rest is just a question of method: i.e., what sorts of questions are asked, how many are asked, how many options (in multiple choice style) are there to choose from, is she unassisted? Etc. One could still reasonably have doubts about Mrs X being conscious if, say, the response-options where binary (yes or no). For a large bank of questions, a machine will get 50% of them right. For a small bank – say, 6 questions – getting 83% right is not ‘out of bounds’. If, however, even for a small bank of questions, where there were 10 options to choose from for each question so there was only a 10% chance of fluking it, one would start to feel more confident. The questions need not be about the patients life either. E.g.,

Question: What did you think of the movie ‘Avatar’?
a) I liked it.
b) I hated it.
c) Strawberry jam.
d) It was seriously deficient in character development.
e) I am opposed to blue people, so draw your own conclusions about that.
f) ….
g) ….
h) ….
i) I’ve been in a coma for the last 5 years you idiot, so how could I possibly have seen it? What – you think I dragged myself down to the cinema on Saturday afternoon? How would I get in? I don’t have any money on me. Hell, there aren’t even pockets in this stupid gown they make me wear.

Comment on Can unconscious brains think? Coma, philosophy of mind, and the media. by Peter

Peter — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:10:39 +0000

Richard, that sounds quite an obscure paper. Is there a scanned copy of it anywhere? Couldn’t find it on JSTOR. Thanks for mentioning it.

Comment on Can unconscious brains think? Coma, philosophy of mind, and the media. by David Bortman

David Bortman — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:05:33 +0000

Can unconscious brains think? Coma, philosophy of mind, and the … http://bit.ly/cnKZAF

Comment on Can unconscious brains think? Coma, philosophy of mind, and the media. by Michael

Michael — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:50:31 +0000

Richard – I think you’re absolutely right! I’ll have to check out that paper.

But to be fair to the other side, when we elicit responses from people (eg. people in a vegetative state), there might, in some cases, be questions as to whether those responses are conscious or involuntary. If the latter, it seems to make sense to say that they are unconscious responses of the brain. Perhaps asking that question is not making the mistake of attributing consciousness (or unconsciousness) to brains.

The type of cases that Ken is referring to seem to be borderline cases of this sort. You know, where someone’s hemispheres are severed and you expose to one eye a card saying “leave the room”. When they leave the room but are unable to explain why (or confabulate) it seems coherent to ask whether that was a conscious decision or not.

And thanks for putting me onto Ken’s blog which I very much enjoy.