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From: friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: biorhythms - example of invalid criticism
Message-ID: <1187@psivax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-May-86 19:26:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: psivax.1187
Posted: Thu May 15 19:26:01 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 20-May-86 05:34:51 EDT
References: <8021@watrose.UUCP> <258@anasazi.UUCP>
Reply-To: friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
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In article <258@anasazi.UUCP> john@anasazi.UUCP (John Moore) writes:
>	Many critics show the following, common, logical fallacy:
>(1) There is a lot of crackpottery in biorythms, so
>(2) Biorythm is crackpottery.
>	This does not follow! It seems to me entirely likely that there
>are various cycles that affect human performance, chemistry, health, etc.
>The most obvious one is the circadian rythm, but a lunar cycle is not
>too silly. That these cycles are started at birth and followed continuously,
>that they are highly precise and the same in all individuals, etc, are
>unlikely. That they correspond to very general characteristics like
>"mental", "physical" and "emotional" is also unlikely... that sort of
>lumping of characteristics is more like astrology. Whether they exist
>at all is a matter of research, not pro or con emotional leanings.
>		
	The problem is that this is *not* Biorythms, it is simply
circadian rythms. You are commiting the fallacy of assuming that
things which have a similar description are equivalent! All of the
things you label as "unlikely" are the central core of the Biorythms
concept. *That* is why we are debunking it. I certainly have *never*
denied the existance of natural biological cycles, since they are well
established by valid scientific study. I do *not* read biorythm charts
or horoscopes.
-- 

				Sarima (Stanley Friesen)

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