I’m feeling physically ill this morning; stayed up late subjecting myself to the content of a “scientific” paper that is the worst pile of crap I’ve ever encountered – published in a serious British journal. The subject: Social evolution of humans. The “line of thinking” is so outrageous, so intellectually offensive, that I would call it pornographic: intellectual porn.
A criminal use of the human brain.
I intended to expose this paper, but it had such a disturbing effect that I couldn’t continue with a critique. My point is, that I’ve discovered this “feeling” in myself of “insult by intellectual attack” and I have no word for it. (I bet the Germans do)Something like a meltdown; an attack on sanity delivered by “thought pollution” and not by sensory overload. And I don’t mean a personal attack, but that the assumptions and assertions made and represented as “scientific” work were published by a top journal, as if no one noticed the absurdities.
I even thought momentarily that the paper was an intentional monstrosity, “planted” to test the (corrupt?) review process of some science publishers…so went looking for more papers using search words that were “ungoof- upable” even by google. OMG! The paper was not a “fluke”.
I did encounter a review of the paper and its ideas by a scientist in the same field and it was “politely” scathing – about as close to a tirade as a review can get. It should have made me feel better. It didn’t, because the paper’s writers are established “prestigious” academics, not “ancient alien” conspiracy crackpots – but crackpots within the sciences.
Am I overreacting? I would say not, because this paper served as the “trigger” for the cumulative response to a lifetime of encounters with “nonsense” as the prevailing trend in modern thought. That is, it is the difference between “studying” earthquakes and being in the zone of destruction when the earth “slips” violently – and suddenly, physically, viscerally one experiences the full meaning of danger.
It’s a “Bhuddist” moment for me.
Asperger: The HypoSocial Human 
I am very sorry to read that you were ill. After reading bullshit. But, c´mon, why not make it a “Zen moment”? Laughing a lot instead of being ill because of Homo Sapiens´s stuff? Discuss the crap that made you ill with your dog and she will have the right advice (I mean that, both parts of it). But please do expose the paper you wrote about, some day. You are aware that you announced some holy grail of NT-bullshit? 🙂
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Thank-you for wanting to “cheer me up” and also for more German words. I think there must be one of your compound words to describe how I feel; it’s not a frivolous pain to be laughed away. Yes, it is a Holy Grail of NT BS – as only the British could possibly commit. What twits! They are hiding behind ancestors of great ability…and wear nice suits.
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Must not forget – beautiful accents as well. =) But yes, please. When you are able to face the BS again, please dissect it publicly.
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And the best TV! I was being cranky —
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Weltschmerz, perhaps? (World-pain – the feeling that you bear the fate of existence upon your shoulders, and that upper milstone is acting *like* a millstone?)
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I have a similar response at times, and all I want to do is hit my head against a wall. If the demands to get published were stringent at one time, they are no longer that. Even in so-called prestigious and serious magazines. The demand to publish is simply too high. I have friends who have been in Academia for years, and many of them express worry over the insanity of it all.
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It’s odd. Even tho I know that there’s “no one” in charge of Earth; it’s fate, I still have some sense of “order” underneath our feet and all around us. And then, something happens to shake that – it is worrisome. Our illusions are so tricky…
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