Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Scientism vs. Science

Genuine technical advances in medicine — such as the prevention of water and food-borne infections, prophylactic inoculations, the use of antibiotics — are efficient but undramatic. Soon, people take their benefits for granted: The eradication (in advanced societies) of malaria, typhoid fever, trachoma, diphtheria has not made people happier or more grateful to their culture than they were in the past. In contrast, dramatic medical pseudo-advances — such as lobotomy for curing schizophrenia or transplanting the heart of a monkey into a man for curing heart failure — make people feel elated and impressed with the powers of medical science. This illustrates what the Romans had already clearly recognized — namely, that as soon as people have bread in their stomachs, they rank better circuses above better health.
(The Untamed Tongue: A Dissenting Dictionary
By Thomas Szasz :101)



As the MTVeee generation says, "Here we are now, entertain us." For they are here and it is now. It is. How could it be otherwise? They do not know. They only think that they are thinking.

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