Semmelweis Reflex

[Tom Wetmore]

How strong is your Semmelweis reflex? And does it adversely impair functioning in a forum environment?

Your reaction and response to the following true statements will test your Semmelweis reflex:

Alcohol consumption does not destroy or kill brain cells.

It is a myth that you only use 10% of your brain.

[Liz]

I don't know what a Semmelweis reflex is but that first one was not a true statement.

[Tom Wetmore]

You may not know what it is but you just demonstrated it very well. You seem to have a strong Semmelweis reflex.

[Liz]

I just googled it, and I know that that was not a compliment. But I don't care.

[Tom Wetmore]

It is not really an insult (And I certainly did not intend it as such with regard to you personally...) so much as a fact of life and really how many people's brains work. This is how the mind tends to process information and reconcile it with previously acquired conflicting information on the same topic.

[Outta Here]

It seems rather odd, doesn't it, that it be called the "Semmelweis" reflex, when indeed, his thoughts steered in the opposing directions. At any rate, I wash my hands of this and still proclaim that sugar is sweet.

[Amelia]

Quote:

Semmelweis reflex

From Wikipedia

The Semmelweis reflex or "Semmelweis effect" is a metaphor for the reflex-like rejection of new knowledge because it contradicts entrenched norms, beliefs or paradigms. It refers to Ignaz Semmelweis, who discovered that childbed fever mortality rates could be reduced ten-fold if doctors would wash their hands (we would now say disinfect) with a chlorine solution. His hand-washing suggestions were rejected by his contemporaries.

There is some uncertainty regarding the origin and generally accepted use of the expression.

One source defines it as "the automatic rejection of the obvious, without thought, inspection, or experiment" and attributes the expression Semmelweis Reflex to author Robert Anton Wilson.

Sporadic use of the expression can be found on other webpages and blogs which may or may not be mainstream. One such website attributes Timothy Leary with the following polemical definition of the Semmelweis reflex: "Mob behavior found among primates and larval hominids on undeveloped planets, in which a discovery of important scientific fact is punished" from his book The Game of Life.

The expression has found way into philosophy and religious studies as "unmitigated Humean skepticism concerning causality".

Other writers define the Semmelweis reflex as: Automatic dismissal or rejection of scientific information "without thought, inspection or experiment".

[LifeHiscost]

Alcohol killls....

I was so happy to find that out. I'm sure I will remember it the next time I see an automobile accident with the brains of the occupants spread profusely over the windshield of the car. Although it is comforting to know that seatbelts have eliminated a large percentage of that loss.

Regards!

[Tom Wetmore]

I am thinking maybe that your Semmelweis Reflex is weak...

[Neil D]

How strong is your Semmelweis reflex? And does it adversely impair functioning in a forum environment?

Your reaction and response to the following true statements will test your Semmelweis reflex:

Alcohol consumption does not destroy or kill brain cells.

It is a myth that you only use 10% of your brain.

My first reaction was "Tom, what the...? Where do you come off...? "

My second reaction was, "Oooh, Semmelweis Reflex, eh? Gotcha...."

My third reaction was "What the heck is a Semmelweis reflex"?

After reading, and looking....my reaction to your statements is a "strong- yer off yer roccker"...but tempered with the ol' query..."Just what information are you seeking again, Tom?"

[BobRyan]

Quote:

alcohol dilates the channels in the cellular structure that regulates the flow of calcium. More calcium than normal flows into the cells and stimulates increased activity. Somehow this abnormal "turning on" of activity causes a loss of the end segments but does not kill the whole cell. Losing the end segments, however, means losing incoming messages, which disrupts brain function.

The good news is: the damage to the brain cells, for the most part, isn't permanent. The brain repairs itself but the recovery process does change nerve-cell structure. So most function returns to normal but some does not.

Well what do you know - alcohol is the slow poisonous drug we always knew it to be!!

Of course if you are about to have surgery or you are in the throws of a painful death - I suppose that the drug is better than nothing.

However Let's suppose that a person is determined to engage in drug abuse -- you have to admit that compared to some of the stronger drugs on the streets today - alchohol has the advantage of being a slow poison, socially acceptable and legal.

Sadly for some (and happily for others) those are not "Bible criteria" for approved practices for a Christian.

in Christ,

Bob

[Outta Here]

Wait a second, is this thread about the Semmelweis Reflex, or is it about the two random "hooks" used as experimental variables?

[BobRyan]

Indeed - the surface point or the underlying point -- which is it?

[LynnDel]

Is there a similar name for the reflex that afflicts many who tend to believe every forwarded WARNING! -- CONSPIRACY! -- POISON IN YOUR FOOD! -- HILARY IS REALLY A MAN! -- BAD GUY IN YOUR CAR! -- email they receive and send it on to everyone on their email list?

LD