Many years ago, in 1986, a musician friend, before he was famous, said the reason he chose to return from Europe and make his career in Australia was because he’d been to a fortune-teller, who told him to. Alarmingly, at the same time in the 1980s, a rumour was circulating that another musician, even more well-known than my friend, was refusing treatment for a life-threatening illness due to his religious beliefs. The rumour may have been unfounded, but it was a major alert to the dangerous ideologies that were gaining traction and which I considered necessary to counter in the interests of those who may have been influenced by them against their better interests and the interests of those who cared for them.

I thought the musician’s appreciation of music from non-western cultures to be a commendable quality. However, from the fortune-telling business and other comments he made, it became apparent that, for his musical ability, intellectual philosophical scholarship was not his forte. As a scientist, I was mortified, and, as a friend, I advised him against making such statements in public. He was a musician, not a philosophy intellectual and I considered a fine musician’s career shouldn’t be thwarted by unwise utterances unrelated to his talent. I didn’t think his lack in other areas should reflect on his musical promise, so, as a friend, privately, I filled in a few gaps in his education relating to some basic philosophical concepts in an effort to steer him toward a more educated perspective and successful career. Due to his appreciation of “cosmic” concepts, I steered him toward Spinoza and made the same comments any scientist does and I always did, pointing out the lack of scientific basis to such things as “fortune-telling”, not with personal comment, merely as well-meaning enlightenment. Fortunately, he took my advice not to speak of his private beliefs publicly and when he died several years later, I’m sure it would not have been with the great reverence he had gained within his musical career, had he not. As it happened, being in Australia at that time had been fortuitous and with other incentives to stay and good public support as a local figure, unlike many of our talented own, he enjoyed an excellent, if unfortunately, brief career, ended only by an AIDS-related illness in 1991.

Oddly, a certain party took great exception to the advice I gave, people who perhaps had much to gain from exploitation of gullibility and ignorance, and they responded to it with malicious attack on my character, spreading rumours and misinformation about myself, but in ways I couldn’t do anything about. The musician himself recognised my benevolent intentions. He assured me it wasn’t him doing it and he and I stayed friendly against all attempts to poison our friendly regard, resisting the vile assault on our friendly association. Fortunately, I fought off the several physical attempts on my person, including one by a man at my window with a gun, threatening to shoot me if I didn’t do what he said, an encounter, which, equally fortunately, I was able to record, fortunate, as, not all, but some, attempts to report stalking previously had been met with dismissiveness, a response which, of course, merely emboldened the attackers. Thus, I survived reasonably inact, although not without some physical injury, including to my throat.

Why anyone would believe gossip about someone they had never met or even been in the same room with is beyond me, and that they’d tacitly accept the activities of such people as normal goes beyond that. Of course, people who actually knew me, had, at least, met me or knew better than to fall for gossip about someone they’d never met or heard of, gave these attempts at sabotage short shrift and, of course, such extreme conduct as displayed by the attackers is the exception. Just as with my very religious friends, other friends, past and present, have been “into” esoteric beliefs and, needless to say, our lively discussions over wine and good food do not end with bodies strewn around the room! Nor, I suspect, were “philosophical differences” the real motives behind the attacks. [Can’t imagine why I think that! 🙂 ]

For the record, it didn’t deter me from my more scientific ways. If anything, it confirmed my resolve against those exploiting ignorance, superstition, licentiousness, improper methods and false information as means by which to take advantage of others and enact malevolent interference in people’s lives. When such practices are more a quest for power and money than a genuine quest for knowledge or personal well-being, all such applications are as much prey to unscrupulousness as any other business. That they are merely devices of misinformation renders them of no value at best, extremely dangerous at worst.

Importantly, again, in our time, we are in danger of a regression to the Dark Ages, in every field, from environmental science to medicine. As the attack on science is regaining momentum, it’s all the more important to address dangerous misinformation drawn from ideology or ulterior motives rather than fact. Not everything about science and technology is great, but it was science that warned of the major issues we now face. While modern medicine may not have all the answers and even fails occasionally, it’s because of scientific medical advances that people are enjoying longer and healthier lives than at any other time in history. Do take vaccines, do get treatment for serious and life-threatening illnesses beyond prayers and faith healing. Importantly, take care with medicines that are more magic belief than genuine cure. “First Do No Harm” is indeed a code that must be observed. That includes not doing harm by way of promulgating dangerously ignorant misinformation that could deter people from accessing life-saving treatments. Yes, drug companies are unscrupulous *******s, but even more so are those manipulating people into buying snake-oil instead of medicines that provably save lives and improve the quality of daily life for millions of people around the world. Paracetamol, for example, is a totally safe drug when used responsibly and those pushing hype to the contrary are those posing the real danger to your health. Doing no harm also includes that done to animals. Aspirin may have been refined from willow bark and there are many similar plant sources of potential, all the more reason not to destroy the natural environment and to pay attention to native peoples, but rhino horn, tiger tooth and bear bile do nothing but torture animals. There’s nothing environmentally friendly or nature-loving about “medicines” that inflict cruelty on animals or destroy entire species, which only increases the danger of deadly virus creation. It’s not a matter of throwing all things “non-western” or “non-modern” under one roof without discernment as though “they all look alike”. On a planet of billions of people on several continents with thousands of years of history, they really don’t. And, yes, I do disapprove of vivisection in modern medicine as unnecessary cruelty, especially today when science has provided its own alternatives and there’s no need for live experimentation, which has no more scientific value than any practices whose “value” is invisible, while its damage is not.

Ironically, or rather, hypocritically, for those supposedly rejecting all things scientific, as technology has evolved, so too, have the means by which unscrupulous parties enact their craft. So, as I imparted to my friend at the time and still do to everyone, by all means, do Tai Chi and meditate, go on retreats, love nature, enjoy the wonders of the cosmos at a deep and spiritually-meaning level, but don’t entrust life-affecting decisions to what is really only ever charlatanism, whatever new tools are employed to enact it with. However much strangers claim to know you or others better than you do yourself, whatever they do know, they most likely have it by way of the extensive data-mining technologies now prolifically available. In earlier years they played parlour tricks with hidden microphones and binoculars. Now, they can access a person’s entire history and habits just by buying advertising lists held by online agencies. They excel at exploiting elevation of the unknown and belief in the powers of “Lady Luck” but are no more insightful than any gambling agency that operates on the same principles. Remember that, before you get as fleeced as if you were throwing away your money on any scammer with a headscarf, looped ear-rings and a crystal ball, claiming to know the secrets of your soul. Such belong only to you and your God.