for chrisitans, the bible is the source of truth, because it's the word of god, right? nonchristians now turn to science, but most don't actually understand the science - they treat scientists as priests who have their knowledge from on high. which is understandable, as no one can possible delve into all that and still have a life, and the scientific method and peer review and integral to science, keeping it relatively honest. i know some branches, but i see physics as voodoo - dark matter? or 'there's a huge problem with all our theories, so there must be this invisible undetectable stuff that's making them work'. but okay.
now, i know that there are several kinds of intelligence: Musical, Verbal, Logical, Body, Visual, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic and Existential. i know i'm genius level at logic, verbal and naturalistic (the individual who is able readily to recognize flora and fauna, to make other consequential distinctions in the natural world, and to use this ability productively). i also know that in several other areas, i rate like a brain damaged baboon. i'm a total fuck up at life, can't interact with society and can't use my abilities to my advantage. fact. i don't see it as being superior - it's just a personality trait.
but i have spent 20 years learning about drugs, starting with clandestine chemistry, through ethnobotany, on to psychopharmacology. when i got out of college, i hacked my way into JSTOR so i could still read journal articles. fuck, most people don't know what JSTOR, etc are (read about Aaron Swartz, the martyr of free information - the US govt hounded him to suicide for this in something that looks like a soviet union kangaroo court). but basically everday i read a new journal article, it's how i find out stuff. it's what scientific knowledge IS. frankly, a degree proves you can look up and understand an answer.
for most americans, doctors are priests. their knowledge is scared and inviolate. the medical profession perpetuates this - seeming confident is more important than being certain. not all doctors - mine in grad school, when i asked a question, opened up our journal server and looked it up, printed me out a paper - from that moment on, he was doc Asclepius in my book. others - i've seen shrinks go into neurotic defensive mode for being questioned. if he can't tell the neuropharmacology of the drug he's prescribing, in my world, he's incompetent and dangerous.
right now i'm running into a brick wall with my boyfriend. he's a long term user of meth. last night he got sick - flushed and clammy, histamine stuff, which i thought was probably early withdrawal. and likely, his dopamine receptors are toast and he could smoke an eightball and it wouldn't help, but i didn't say anything. the next morning he went to my sister, my absolute mortal enemy, for help - she gave him methadone. he's totally opiate naive, never takes pills, and took an unmeasured dose.....so of course, he spent the next day puking his guts out.
if he'd asked me, i'd have given him about 75mg of dxm, which eases most of the bad parts of withdrawal and is generally neuroprotective (it prevents the brain damage associated with MDMA when coadmistered, etc). or a few other thing we might have done. i have gabapentin. fuck - grapefruit juice and pseudofed. and i'd look it up first.
but he WILL NOT take any advise from me because 'you're an arrogant know it all who's really a dumbshit, cause you're not a doctor and you don't know'. to me, what he did was flat out deceptive. he went behind my back to get drugs from some i hate with an immortal passion, hid it from me, suffering the consequences and now blames me for being a controlling ass. because with him, i don't edit my speech like i do with almost everyone, talking on a 10th grade level (not to be superior - it just the language and how to communicate), i'm talking down to him. i know he's a stone cold genius in several types of IQ, so much it scares me a bit, so i talk to him like an equal. for me, that's total respect.
so, am i wrong? how wrong? am i right and still an ass? how can i help? thanks
