The DoseNation Podcast brings you weekly news and talk on drugs, science, consciousness, spirituality, politics, and more. Visit DoseNation.com every Saturday at 5PM Eastern (2PM Pacific) to listen live, or subscribe and download the podcast each Wednesday.
Mullis, of course, being celebrated for his acknowledgment of the role of LSD in the development of his scientific consciousness...
This is Kary Mullis, Nobel prize winner for the discovery of PCR, giving a talk. It's long and rambling, and at various points he endorses global warming denialism and HIV denialism, but somehow thinks maybe there is something to astrology. It's a terrible, awful, embarrassingly bad talk from a prestigious kook. Mullis has one point of pride with me: when anyone asks me to name a book by a legitimate, successful scientist that demonstrates that even smart people can be awesomely stupid, Mullis's Dancing in the Mind Field beats out even Collins' Language of God.
There are funny moments in the video, but they're mostly funny because they expose the inanity and hypocrisy of Mullis. For instance, he says that he will not take statins to control cholesterol because they might damage his brain…but anyone who knows Mullis's history knows he's been extraordinarily indulgent in mind-altering recreational pharmaceuticals.
That's a terrible title for this post. I think the lecture was delightful, smart and honest. It doesn't surprise that dogmatic mainstream science bloggers attack him but DoseNation is more open-minded than that.
Cooper. : 2010-02-15 03:17:45
Science is changing. You should really keep up because you're embarrassing yourself.
primordialstu : 2010-02-12 18:13:19
I've watched about half of this so far, and I think it's an excellent lecture on the fundamentals of science. Dissenting opinions have an important place in that history. Mullis' opinion on global warming seems no different than George Carlin's, which I always found enlightening: "The planet is fine - the people are fucked."
Mike. : 2010-02-12 13:38:54
I think there may be something to Astrology as well. Open the mind and do the research,
Fonzy4ever. : 2010-02-12 05:29:23
Mullis could be wrong about a lot of things, but one of the reasons he won the Nobel and you didn't is that he was willing to take a contrary view to established viewpoints. PCR was considered a pipe dream until he pulled it off and you can bet his peers in the scientific community weren't happy about it one bit.
Kasvoi. : 2010-02-12 03:27:06
I somehow don't find this a fair treatment.
Daniel. : 2010-02-12 02:46:21
Also - where is it proven that psychedelic compounds are in any way damaging to the brain? I think we'd all like some unbiased sources from you on this point.
Daniel. : 2010-02-12 02:44:17
Psychotrophic - are you convinced your map of the world stands on perfect, immovable foundations?
The comments posted here do not reflect the views of the owners of this site.
The comments posted here do not reflect the views of the owners of this site.