Critical Cactus Podcast

We take a critical dive into Circumcision, discuss wind energy, Solar Eclipse.  Tom trys to get Dman to be interested, Adam takes over and he's still not budging.  And NASA gives us some alternative medicine, or is it.

My research for the topic that we are going to critically think and discuss today has revealed something interesting. You know how on the show always bring up the idea that we all build this house in our minds, that it is built by constructing our belief systems into a world-view?  How sometimes someone has a belief on a topic that is important to that house.   Well, today's topic is one of the bearing walls for one of the members of the Critical Cactus here, and this belief holds up a lot of the house.  MRI studies show that when you contradict someone's belief, parts of the brain related to fight/flight light up and they can sometimes dig their heals in and argue from an emotional place.  I think we are going to put that to the test today as we talk about Circumcision. The topic is fascinating, and we get to show our audience how we dig into emotional topics from a critical thinking perspective and hope they see how it can be different from what they find in a typical argument.  I’ll be counting the fallacies on both sides of this one, but who's keeping score.

Adam news:

Video Games and the Brain

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/video-games-and-the-brain/

Thanks Nasa: Light Therapy ( A real thing, taken way out of context is bad for cancer patients that aren't thinking critically).

Reference notes:

Started: first ancient Egyptian mummies of considerable vintage, around 2300 BC. Egyptian paintings date circumcision to centuries prior, depicting ritual circumcision as prerequisite to entering the priesthood

by 1800 BC the Jews were practicing circumcision for religious reasons

Premature babies have to wait, waiting requires anesthesia.

Circumcision does significantly decrease the chance of a UTI.  Which used to be a deadly problem.  10 times greater in uncircumcised

Circumcision may lower risk of penile cancer (rare either way).

Circumcision lowers HIV and other STD chances. 50 - 60%

Circumcision lowers chance of inflammation, irritation, infections.

It may lessen the sensation.

Medical associations recommending circumcision:

the AUA recommends that circumcision should be presented as an option for health benefits

The CDC Conspiracy:

Mutual masturbation when two men dock their penises together under mutual forskin. -Awesome.

Getting it back with specially designed weights.

• “Nature makes no mistakes.”

Arguments FOR:  https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/circumcision-what-does-science-say/

Conclusion:

I see no arguments for or against neonatal circumcision that sway me, if anything the HIV argument is persuasive for.

Doctors are not “pro” circumcision, but they’re not “con” either. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ official policy states:

“Existing scientific evidence demonstrates potential medical benefits of newborn male circumcision; however, these data are not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision. In circumstances in which there are potential benefits and risks, yet the procedure is not essential to the child’s current well-being, parents should determine what is in the best interest of the child.”

NOT GOOD INFO--> The study, by researcher Dan Bollinger, concluded that approximately 117 neonatal deaths due directly or indirectly to circumcision occur annually in the United States, or one out of every 77 male neonatal deaths.

This guy Dan Bollinger, has no study, referrs to nothing, just asserts his estimate of 117/year on bad data that doesn't account for base rate (males alwasy 6% higher infant mortality).

CDC info:

Good stats:

3100 BCE Egypt invaded from the south, attackers bringing circumcision with them.

600 BCE First five books of Hebrew Bible (Torah) compiled, including Genesis with its reference to Yaweh’s command to Abraham to circumcise himself, his sons and his slaves and servants. Circumcision enforced by priests among Jewish people as sign of the Covenant.

ANNO DOMINI or Christian Era Jesus born and circumcised in accordance with Jewish practice.

132 Roman Emperor Hadrian (98-138 CE) extends a previous ban, by Emperors Domitian (81-96) and Nerva (96-98), on the castration of citizens or slaves throughout the Roman Empire, to include circumcision.

1955 (Australia) Australian routine circumcision rate peaks at 90 per cent.

1965 W.K.C. Morgan publishes "The rape of the phallus", the first criticism of circumcision’s murky psychology to appear in a US medical journal.

1999, 65.3 percent of all male newborns born in hospitals were circumcised

We take a critical dive into Circumcision, discuss wind energy, Solar Eclipse.  Tom trys to get Dman to be interested, Adam takes over and he's still not budging.  And NASA gives us some alternative medicine, or is it.

My research for the topic that we are going to critically think and discuss today has revealed something interesting. You know how on the show always bring up the idea that we all build this house in our minds, that it is built by constructing our belief systems into a world-view?  How sometimes someone has a belief on a topic that is important to that house.   Well, today's topic is one of the bearing walls for one of the members of the Critical Cactus here, and this belief holds up a lot of the house.  MRI studies show that when you contradict someone's belief, parts of the brain related to fight/flight light up and they can sometimes dig their heals in and argue from an emotional place.  I think we are going to put that to the test today as we talk about Circumcision. The topic is fascinating, and we get to show our audience how we dig into emotional topics from a critical thinking perspective and hope they see how it can be different from what they find in a typical argument.  I’ll be counting the fallacies on both sides of this one, but who's keeping score.

Adam news:

Video Games and the Brain

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/video-games-and-the-brain/

Thanks Nasa: Light Therapy ( A real thing, taken way out of context is bad for cancer patients that aren't thinking critically).

Reference notes:

Started: first ancient Egyptian mummies of considerable vintage, around 2300 BC. Egyptian paintings date circumcision to centuries prior, depicting ritual circumcision as prerequisite to entering the priesthood

by 1800 BC the Jews were practicing circumcision for religious reasons

Premature babies have to wait, waiting requires anesthesia.

Circumcision does significantly decrease the chance of a UTI.  Which used to be a deadly problem.  10 times greater in uncircumcised

Circumcision may lower risk of penile cancer (rare either way).

Circumcision lowers HIV and other STD chances. 50 - 60%

Circumcision lowers chance of inflammation, irritation, infections.

It may lessen the sensation.

Medical associations recommending circumcision:
American Urological Association,  http://www.auanet.org/guidelines/circumcision

the AUA recommends that circumcision should be presented as an option for health benefits

The CDC Conspiracy:
The idea that it’s a Billion Dollar industry so there is incentive for the CDC to continue allowing it.

Our main topic is Homeopathy, diluted "medicine", alternative therapy.  We like to contrast pseudo-science against real science and see if you can pick-up on some of the differences when it comes to how evidence steers the ship in proper cancer research.

Can you find cancer in blood? Our guest can, and the world is a better place for it. Thanks Melanie O'Donahue for coming on and a shout out to the folks at flowjo.com for making huge strides in cancer research.

Do you believe in Homeopathy? The idea is simple, and we have all the details.

Reference:

http://web.randi.org/swift/2014-was-not-a-good-year-for-homeopathy

http://www.homeopathycenter.org/materia-medica-repertory-database

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

Lame transcript:

We discuss what Sovereign Citizens believe and try to allign those beliefs with the real world. We find it difficult to do if you have a logical skeptical, critical thinking hat on. But we try.

We will post the audio later today:

Intelligence as a Predictor of Cognitive Dissonance https://prezi.com/hozrai1ko2ra/intelligence-as-a-predictor-of-cognitive-dissonance/

Citizen Science: https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscientists

We discuss what Sovereign Citizens believe and try to allign those beliefs with the real world. We find it difficult to do if you have a logical skeptical, critical thinking hat on. But we try.

We will post the audio later today:

Reference:
What it (Sovereign Citizens) is: https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/sovereign-citizen-movement
Judge deals with a citizen who understands the laws wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrB2cHF9lVs
Americas top cop killers: http://www.thedailybeast.com/sovereign-citizens-are-americas-top-cop-killers

Intelligence as a Predictor of Cognitive Dissonance https://prezi.com/hozrai1ko2ra/intelligence-as-a-predictor-of-cognitive-dissonance/
https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/sovereign-citizen-incidents-by-state-2007-2010.pdf
The neurology view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59h4X8eKPVI
The neurology view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SOQduoLgRw
Black Sovereign Citizens, moorish: https://www.facingsouth.org/2016/07/sovereign-citizens-leave-trail-anti-government-violence-across-south
Oregon occupiers: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/03/why-arent-we-calling-the-oregon-militia-terrorists/?utm_term=.d44bfa2957ac

Citizen Science: https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscientists
Planet Hunters: https://www.planethunters.org/

When should we think critically?

Why don't we?

Welcome back,

Being addicted to running/gaming/anything, how the planning is driven by our desires and how our life is molded by these, and why critically thinking can hack this plan -don't do it.  Wait, shoot, it matters, just listen.

Are video Games violent.

Is World of Warcraft a game for the mentally stable?

How much money does Leage of Legend make?

Why does this matter?

https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/19/5123724/league-of-legends-world-championship-32-million-viewers

When should we think critically?

Why don't we?

Welcome back,
Last week we introduced Jordan, a professional Gamer who streams and thinks critically -wait maybe he doesn't.
Either way, this intriguing conversation takes a lot of turns in great directions.
Here's part two, thanks for listening.

Being addicted to running/gaming/anything, how the planning is driven by our desires and how our life is molded by these, and why critically thinking can hack this plan -don't do it.  Wait, shoot, it matters, just listen.

Are video Games violent.

Is World of Warcraft a game for the mentally stable?

How much money does Leage of Legend make?

Why does this matter?

https://www.theverge.com/2013/11/19/5123724/league-of-legends-world-championship-32-million-viewers

Part one of two.

We do a deep dive into what critical thinking is, why we don't do it, how to do it more, and how Professional Gamers do it more than most.

That might be a slight exageration but we do have a professional gamer/streamer on with us who gives us some insight into the gamming culture, and how critical thinking impacts the decisions that turn gaming into a multi-million dollar industry.  Or possibly how not-thinking critically is a multi-million dollar industry, depending on how you look at it.

We'v evolved from apes into gamers, so why not.

Get the critical thinking scoop on League of Legends, Overwatch, WOW and streaming.  How sponsorship and subscriptions make gaming a full time job.  

Next week we post the final half, it takes what we learn from the science, the papers showing the studies, and how it relates to gaming.

Thanks for listening.

Part one of two.

We do a deep dive into what critical thinking is, why we don't do it, how to do it more, and how Professional Gamers do it more than most.

That might be a slight exageration but we do have a professional gamer/streamer on with us who gives us some insight into the gamming culture, and how critical thinking impacts the decisions that turn gaming into a multi-million dollar industry.  Or possibly how not-thinking critically is a multi-million dollar industry, depending on how you look at it.

We'v evolved from apes into gamers, so why not.

Get the critical thinking scoop on League of Legends, Overwatch, WOW and streaming.  How sponsorship and subscriptions make gaming a full time job.  

Next week we post the final half, it takes what we learn from the science, the papers showing the studies, and how it relates to gaming.

Thanks for listening.

 Do we need feelings in society, or should we just go with Evidence?

Are we as a society manipulated by our feelings at every level, or does it just feel that way.

How did people vote -Trump supporter thinking or feeling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elec

Michael Shermer https://www.amazon.com/Believing-Brain-Conspiracies-How-Construct-Reinforce/dp/1250008808

Thanks NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/postsecondary/features/F_At_the_Hostipal_with_NASA.html