VICUG-L Archives

Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List

VICUG-L@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Tom Fowle <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Tom Fowle <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 1 Jul 1999 13:12:06 -0700
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (46 lines)
The article on "computers hurting you"is a fine example of junk science.
the author called all the wrong people, first he should have
called trained professionals who might have actually been able to
find out what was "REALLY" wrong..  First, an ophthalmologist, or perhaps an
optometrist.   A chiropractor has no training in internal
medecine or ophthalmology and is therefore not trained to judge
anything so subtle as the possible effects of magnetic or
electrical fields on the body.

All such effects are under the control of the "inverse square"
law, which states that the power induced by a magnetic or
electric field is inversely proportional to the distance from the
field generator to the effected body. if you are 2 inches away,
you get the square root of the energy at one inch. This puts the
lie to almost all such effects at distances of 1 or 2 feet.

most important is our excessive reliance on anecdotal evidence.
I feel better so it must work. Is bunk, bunk, bunk.
No one understands the power of the mind, it is called the
placebo effect and makes observations made by the person taking
almost anything totally meaningless.

so, although there may be ways computers can hurt you, like
dropping one on your foot, buying a cheap mail order machine
hoping it will work with your specialized access hardware, or
having to use lousy software pushed down our throats by con
artists, electromagnetic fields have not been proven to cause any
measurable harm, in fact all scientifically done, controlled
studies in the legitimate pier reviewed literature show they are
harmless..

Sorry I have to go off about junk science, if we don't learn how to
spot it, it WILL KILL US much deader than the things the idiots tell us to worry
about.

Tom Fowle


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html


ATOM RSS1 RSS2