Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Deus Ex Nihilo Machina

I think often that science is nothing more than bad religion. But I often think religion is bad science. What do I know? Well, I know a few things, as it turns out. I know, for example, that when science reduces people to lab rats and rhesus monkeys science is bad religion-- and bad science, too.

"No volunteers for orgasm implant."

Experts do predict a demand for the device.

A scientist claiming to have invented a device which produces orgasms at the touch of a button can't find women to help him conduct trials into it.

The implant, inserted under the skin at the base of the spine, triggers a reflex response to produce sensation.

Dr Stuart Meloy, from North Carolina, told New Scientist: "I thought people would be beating my door down."

However, British experts said that a surgical implant was not an appropriate answer to women's sexual problems.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved trials of the device, but this cannot go ahead until enough volunteers have been found.

Dr Meloy - originally a pain specialist - stumbled on the concept when he inserted a pacemaker-like device under the skin in a bid to alleviate severe back pain in a patient.

The pronounced side-effects of the electrical current it delivered prompted him to diversify into a different field of research.

The device works because of a natural reflex in the body which produces an orgasm.

Dr Meloy told New Scientist magazine: "I don't see it any differently from procedures such as breast implants.

"But so far I am struggling to find people."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3241138.stm
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Yes, Modernity has its banal side. It has its philistines. But they don't come about because of Modernity. Bad ideas are universal. Does modernity create more bad ideas and make more bad come into being than primitivism? Is it a bad trade-off? We can always reject what is, but we can't take what isn't. Machines for sex? No, that's not Modernity, it's just bad science, and a lack of religion too. It's as empty as the relationship one would have as above. Modernity is living long enough to celebrate a long lifetime; sometimes, for those who try, time to live a long marriage. Machines? It misses the whole point. Hello, dear reader. How are you? I'm feeling pretty fine myself. What are you up to?

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