a couple of slightly related things.

first of all, the book Island by Aldous Huxley is phenomenal. it talks about a utopian society on an island in the pacific in the 60’s, and one of the key elements of that society is the spiritual enlightenment provided by mushrooms. highly recommended.

second of all, this relates more to the discussion earlier in this thread about pseudoscience, i’ve come across a really good, unbiased and objective look at various kinds of pseudoscience:

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&lpg=PP1&ots=bCwDaMDyVn&dq;=“skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience”&pg=PA262#v=onepage&q=“skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience”&f=false

if you get an idea of what i mean by the difference between ‘real’ science and pseudoscience, this is the book to read. PM me if you want me to send you an e-book version.

right now Island is my absolute favorite book, if only it was madatory for everyone to read that and Ishmael at least once in their life I think the world would be a much better place.  As far as science vs. pseudoscience goes, they are just labels to me.  The kind of science you are talking about is an extremely important way of trying to make sense of all this but its not the only way.  Im just saying that you shouldnt immediately throw an idea out the window just because it cant be observed or tested with real science yet. From what I understand a psuedoscientist sounds a bit like me, somebody that likes to use solid scientific theory as a starting point, and fills in the blanks with their mind and other techniques.  Maybe they are not right about everything but you cant say that real scientists are either, everything is just theory.  And you have to admit that even widely accepted scientific theorys always have holes in them.  Especially with quantum physics, all of the thoeries seem to make sense but theres always one thing that just doesnt add up or fit into the picture.  I refer to this as the edge of reason.

ishmael sounds really cool, i will add that to my reading list

I think it fits in with Island perfectly, Ishmeal tells you how to get there, Island tells you what its like when you get there.

highly recommended TED talk by the father of fractals, benoit madelbrot

http://www.ted.com/talks/benoit_mandelbrot_fractals_the_art_of_roughness.html

sounds cool thanks for the link, cant watch it at work but ill get to it sometime soon