Denis:
> >It has always been my opinion that Burger did not start his reflection from
> scratch, or from a red cabbage as recounted in his book. Anybody whith
> little exposure to philosophy or history of ideas knows that it is
> impossible to write "La guerre du cru" with as little reading as listed at
> the end of the book. What happened to the rest of the references ? Since
> all or nearly all the quotations refer to first hand reports and original
> research , and not reports on reports on other people's research, one may
> guess that the work accomplished to put up "La guerre du cru" has been
> tremendous . Where does this appear in the bibio ? And what about the other
> people involved in finding out the necessary references ? Did BURGER look
> into this prime research litterature all by himself ? If he did, he didn't
> pick up the right books by chance.
> >My conviction that Burger could not have overcome two first category
> paradigms with his own wit and reasoning power, however sharp these might
> be, started to emerge after several short discussions with him on
> unrelated topics. I had expected to meet a man of overflowing culture,
> ready to share the tale of his intellectual victories . I found none of
> that . ON the contrary. The gap between the book and the man was the first
> thing which set me thinking about the actual origin of Burger's theories.
Since I do not know the man, my comments will be even more speculative.
Someone told me Burger has the reputation of being bright, but a bit
dogmatic. It wouldn't surprise me that his role of "guru" pleases him,
or at least that he is proud to promote his ideas.
The fact that Burger claims his theory stemmed from a red cabbage only
adds to the legend: in the public's mind, that anecdote has something
mysterious, as the birth of other major scientific theories (remember
Archimedes' "Eureka" and Newton's apple). But contrary to Newton, who
just discovered _everything_ in classical mechanics (the three fundamental
laws, the law of gravity, and also differential and integral calculus),
Burger's ideas are relatively simple, even if bold:
1) Feeding instinct comes from taste change;
2) Instinct doesn't work with cooked food because humans have not yet adapted
to culinary arts;
3) Wheat and milk are not original foods;
4) RAF is useful, and probably necessary;
5) Abnormal molecules cause auto-immune diseases;
6) Beneficial Microbe Theory: under normal conditions, the purpose of the
immune system is to eliminate abnormal molecules, not viruses.
We also should point out that scientific discoveries are not limited to
the "Eureka" but involve many stages, as shown in J.P. Changeux and
A. Connes' "Matiere a pensee":
1) The scientist states the problem, thinks about it but is unable to
find a solution.
2) "Incubation": his mind wanders around related and unrelated problems.
3) Illumination: "Eureka"
4) Then follow hours of hard work: "genius is 1% inspiration and 99%
perspiration", as someone said.
Moreover, only God has the ability to create "ex nihilo". All the human
discoveries have historical and personal backgrounds. For instance:
1) Einstein wasn't particularly bright as a student. Besides, he only
spoke at 4 years old (maybe that's why he has kept some naivete regarding
notions considered as "obvious" by adults, such as time and space).
2) Einstein didn't discover the laws of transformations of space-time
coordinates (Lorentz transformations): he only understood their physical
meaning.
3) Descartes said his famous "cogito ergo sum" after being alone for months.
4) Buddha was illuminated after years far from human civilization. Same
thing for Moise.
Concerning Burger, we should mention that:
1) Burger had been following for a long time a strict diet. Hence, he was
aware that many dieteticians of his time already stressed on the
benefits of eating raw.
2) He has a revenge to take against dairy: remember the huge amounts of
yoghurt he had ingested.
3) He had a cancer, in spite of his dietary restrictions.
4) His mother was an excellent cook.
5) He was aware that overeating is harmful, and had understood that
cooking make the meals too attractive (remember the episode of boiled
spaghetti).
6) Shelton already considered that illnesses weren't caused by microbes
but by toxemia.
7) He is a physicist, so he has some scientific background.
8) The Essene Gospel of Peace presents very similar ideas. Maybe he
wasn't aware of these at the very beginning of instincto, but it is
quite possible that he has been influenced afterwards.
9) Scientific studies about energy regulation and feeding behavior had
already been carried out (but I don't know if Burger has read about
them).
Finally, remember that "La guerre du cru" was written after 20 years of
trials and errors, numerous conferences and discussions during which
he was confronted to many arguments. Meanwhile, many scientific
experiments were carried out concerning feeding preferences and
aversions. All of that probably helped him write a very convincing
book (although some weaknesses still remain IMO).
Best,
Jean-Louis
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