Noted without comment: Cars and Biology

We understand automobiles. There are no homeopathic automobile repair shops, that try to repair your car by putting infinitesimal dilutions of rust in the gas tank. There are no automotive faith healers, who lay their hands on the hood and pray. People reserve such superstitions for things that they don’t understand very well, such as the human body.

–Leslie Lamport, July 2003

14 thoughts on “Noted without comment: Cars and Biology

    • Well, hmm. That’s a good point. But I have to wonder–the folks selling these fuel additives know they’re bunk, right? I mean, anyone with a degree in chemistry should have the background to know that he’s selling bullshit in a bottle, right?

      The folks who do things like homeopathic “medicine” seem to sincerely believe their own bullshit. I question whether the folks who sell fuel additives do.

  1. Well, hmm. That’s a good point. But I have to wonder–the folks selling these fuel additives know they’re bunk, right? I mean, anyone with a degree in chemistry should have the background to know that he’s selling bullshit in a bottle, right?

    The folks who do things like homeopathic “medicine” seem to sincerely believe their own bullshit. I question whether the folks who sell fuel additives do.

  2. Well… I have a friend who, upon request, would walk around a car and install a guardian at each corner. He called himself a druid at the time. I don’t know if he still does. But i think this does not fit your meaning. This was more about people safety than car healing. Which, you know, is bad enough.

  3. Well… I have a friend who, upon request, would walk around a car and install a guardian at each corner. He called himself a druid at the time. I don’t know if he still does. But i think this does not fit your meaning. This was more about people safety than car healing. Which, you know, is bad enough.

  4. This is the difference between engineering and reverse-engineering. Medicine is like a broken robot trying to reverse-engineer itself without taking itself apart too much and shutting down, car repair is like a perfectly good robot fixing a broken machine it designed and built itself.

  5. This is the difference between engineering and reverse-engineering. Medicine is like a broken robot trying to reverse-engineer itself without taking itself apart too much and shutting down, car repair is like a perfectly good robot fixing a broken machine it designed and built itself.

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