I stopped posting here and am now at medschneverends

Hi. Welcome to Epiblast! The name is partly inspired by PZ Myers famous blog, Pharyngula partly by the fact that the epiblast, a simple tissue in a developing embryo (labelled 5), gives rise, eventually, to virtually everything inside our body. It's a metaphor for how some of our simple, fundamental ideas vastly affect the other aspects of our life. This blog covers my interests; usually science, medicine, atheism, religion. I might sneak in a bit of philosophy or magic if I feel like it. I warn you, the discussion gets uncomfortable and I come to conclusions which are unconventional, maybe contradictory to yours. Don't go crying to someone if you are offended.

The Spectre of Death

One morning, I was walking past a cubicle in the wards. There was someone wailing inside. Usually there is a nameplate with the patient's name on it, but it wasn't there outside this door. I remembered her name though. I had seen her yesterday. I kept walking till I reached the nursing counter. There was a pad of forms, the first one was half filled. It was a Death Certificate. I wasn't entirely shocked. The old lady had taken a turn for the worst, yet there was something ...

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I promise, to Follow the White Rabbit

I'm finally getting down to writing this because I met a bunch of Belgian students in school. When I was in Brussels on the way back from the US, I walked around the airport and and I saw this at Duty Free :

I don't really know what the Duty Free marketing department intended when they made that their slogan.

The phrase, as far as I can tell, originates from The Matrix. The video clip (it won't allow me to embed the video) will give you a better idea, rather than me narrating the story.

It was extremely amusing, watching that movie on the plane ride and then bumping into that poster at the airport. I recalled the scene from Alice in Wonderland (the Tim Burton version) where Alice is being harassed by her relatives to marry that chump from her childhood. It seems like such an apt metaphor and when it all clicked, I smiled, and promised to follow that White Rabbit.

A lot of times, we live in our own little bubble when moving in the world around us. There's a tunnel vision that restricts what we can see, what we can imagine, and hence, the opportunities available to us.

I don't think Alice would have noticed the Rabbit if she was caught up in that conversation with her future Mother-in-law. She first saw it from the corner of her eyes, and even then she wasn't sure. It was clearly a non-event to the other lady, who tried to bring Alice back into the conversation, she also threatened to send her dogs behind the rabbit. That is precisely what other people (and sometimes we) do to our rabbit. A lot of times we simply ignore it and focus on "more important" things.

Yet she persists. Later on in the scene, the rabbit's near a bush, just out of everyone else's sight but clearly visible to her. He's frantically pointing to his watch. Time is running out and she needs to make a decision. It's not an easy decision, there's a garden full of people pressuring her into accepting a wedding proposal, there's a chump on his knees with an expectant expression on his face.

It's an uncomfortable situation. It's not a clear cut decision, but Alice (and later Neo) decides to take a plunge, and she runs after the rabbit like she's never run before. And the Rabbit takes her to a world beyond her wildest dreams.

I just rewatched that scene from the movie and, keeping in mind all those little nuances, it's a powerful message. In every aspect of our lives, our careers, relationships, hobbies, there's a little, mischevious rabbit lurking just outside our field of view. Everything conspires to distract us, make us ignore him, our "priorities" stop us from trying to follow him. It's sometimes uncomfortable because it means getting off the beaten track. Sometimes, we also have to compromise on something else, or someone is going to disagree (or worse, shout) at us. We do not have forever to make a decision. Yet, he dangles in front of us, a possibility of taking us to another dimension. When you follow the White Rabbit, be prepared for an adventure.

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The Tibetan Diaries : Day 5 Nyalam

We've been slacking enough at the little town of Nyalam. I've had two days to settle down and adjust to the altitude and I'm ready to get some action.

The other groups are going for warm up hikes and my friends and I decide it'll be a good idea to join them. I jump into my trusty army boots and pick a nice episode of Tiesto's Club Life and I'm off.

There's a hill right behind the guesthouse and that's the one we're climbing. It looks like no big deal, the length of the slope is about four hundred metres, but you climb in a zig zag to make it less strenuous and easier to balance.

It's an odd feeling. Here you are far away from civilisation and you're listening to club music. The Electronic kind, you expect to hear on the second level of Attica.

Photo by Ravi Shankar Karedla

The climb itself is relaxed and enjoyable. Relaxed because the air so high is thinner and you really don't want to push it. Every once in a while, I'll turn back and soak in the view. I am no rush to reach the top, but eventually, I'm there. It's one of those things about a Himalayan hike. You are absolutely not concerned about reaching the top because you are taking your time and enjoying the journey. Every step of your trek, you turn back and have a slightly different view of the landscape.

Photo by Ravi Shankar Karedla

At the top of the hill is a plateau, rolling hills and in the background, five or six snow capped peaks framing the slightly cloudy sky. The sheer vastness of that scene is so contrary to the expectations you form as you are climbing that small, generic slope.

While I'm walking further on the plateau, I notice a few of my group members sit down, close their eyes and meditate. This initially strikes me as natural but there was something odd about it. And then it hits me, "if you're in the fucking Himalayas, you don't close your eyes to meditate. You OPEN your eyes wide and meditation happens".

Of course, I'm polite and don't actually say this out to anyone. I'm just standing there in awe and smiling to myself. I help my friends take a couple of photos and we're back down.

Later in the evening, news spreads around that I'm a medical student (some mistake that to mean doctor, or feel that some qualification is better than none). People start coming to me with all sorts of problems, diarrhoea, vomiting, existential angst, boredom, allergies and I promptly direct them to my friend, who though not medically trained, takes these trips regularly and is more familiar with those conditions. I think I manage to cure some of their boredom by doing magic tricks.

One incident stands out. This gentleman (not so obvious at first), perhaps in his thirties or forties, comes over, asks for the "doctor saab" and tells me he has a dog bite. His long story of how he go bitten by a dog but his teeth didn't penetrate his flesh, and so he doesn't need an injection drowns out my pleas to stop treating me like a doctor, because I'm absolutely not qualified.

He wants me to take a look at his wound and I think I might as well. In the corridor outside my room, in full view of everyone, he proceeds to drop his trousers and show me a little bruise at the back of his thigh. I believed medical school would have adequately prepared me for this, but I am still mildly amused and am just able to suppress a smirk. I of course, direct him to my friend, find an excuse and go to bed.

This is going to be a fun trip.

You can view some of the photos from this trip on my Facebook page.

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quit calling it western medicine

Modern medicine is “Western” only in the trivial sense that its historical roots were found in Europe and North America. It is distinguished by its reliance on science. The principles of biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology do not vary according to location, nor does the capacity of science to follow evidence wherever it may lead, whether to new discoveries or to discrediting long-held opinions. Many of those discoveries—statins, for example (see below)—have been made in non-Western settings. Modern medicine is thus universally applicable. It is no more Western, in any important medical or scientific way, than the physics of Einstein was Jewish.

from “CAM” Education in Medical Schools—A Critical Opportunity Missed, Virtual Mentor

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M for Magic Ep VI and sneakiness in the Maldives

The episode features Godwin and Timothy, founders of Red Dot Magic . I'll let their performance speak for themselves.

I'm reminded of an amusing anecdote. This happened in about March '06. I was overseas on a community service trip to the Maldives. Apart from the thrill of the sheer beauty of the country, there was this guilty pleasure of skipping an exam :). I was the tallest, biggest of the lot and the locals affectionately called be bodu-be, big brother.

One warm night after dinner, we were chilling with one of the local boys. This was a period where I was rediscovering magic after a hiatus and I nervously suggested performing a magic trick. I did one or two simple ones to "warm up" and I moved on to the climax where a card disappears and appears in my pocket.

As I was talking, making my moves, the card disappears and I look at him, smile and point to my pocket. He's got mixed feelings; surprise and skepticism.

When he puts his hand in my pocket and takes out this warm, slightly bent card with his signature on it, I expect some kind of silent shock, but he quickly snaps at me, "Bodube, are you a messenger?", and stares at me.

I, reflexively blurted out, "No".

Maldives is an Islamic country so Mohammad, believed to be a messenger from god, is held in high esteem. Although you might call him gullible for jumping to that conclusion, I wouldn't.

There is a natural appetite for astonishment in even the most rational of people. Myself included. With the kind of blogs and news outlets I subscribe to, every once in a while, someone claims they have found a miracle cure, som berry that magically makes you lose weight or an herb that can cure cancer. I would really love for that to be true. In fact, I think in an ideal world, doctors would be unemployed, pharmaceutical companies would be poor because people lead healthy lives, have perfect genes and do not fall ill much. Yet, I must defer to the evidence and investigate whether these treatments actually work.

In a similar fashion, the layperson who sees a magic trick may be placed in an uncomfortable position of knowing that someone is performing some conjuring and there is no supernatural force involved, yet wanting to believe there is. I think part of the fun in watching magic, even for myself as a performer, is the tension between the rational and the emotional, and hence my advice to people who might end up watching some live magic for the first time is to simply relax, and enjoy the moment. To take delight in the mish-mash of logic and emotion the performer so skillfully takes you on.

About the Project : Sinema is an independent arts company based here in Singapore. The arts scene here is beginning to flourish and Sinema did their part by coming up with SinTV, an online arts channel. M for Magic is their first installation featuring 14 local magicians. Here's their facebook page and main site.

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M for Magic Ep V and Women in Magic

Watch Ep V on Youtube

In the previous post, we talked about charlatans. I was intending to share a relevant anecdote but this episode is special and I'm going to postpone that.

Today, I'm thinking about women.

Yeah. Women. The lack of women in magic, and also the larger context of female representation in other fields. Even in medical school, I think the gender ratio has increased from women being a minority in the past to the ratio being about fifty-fifty right now. I do not have specific statistics apart from heresay from tutors.

I've seen an informal survey on why this is so and the responses ranged from the usual nature vs nurture; about why women (in general) might be psychologically less suited to magic, to the fact that magic being male dominated, every aspect of it is geared towards men and thus women might feel out of place.

I believe that is actually what happens in many fields . People once said that that science was unsuitable for women because, perhaps they thought differently. Over time as more women entered the field both men and women got over those biases. Same with education. I forsee that the same might happen with magic.

I find "sex appeal" being thrown around a bit when it comes to women in the performing arts. Women (and men) are definitely free to garnish their performances with sex appeal as they feel fit. As a performer with lots to learn, I would, however, want to look beyond the sex appeal. In the context of Singapore, I am happy to say that the handful of women I have seen performing magic have been extremely skilled in their technique.

Getting back to the video, is Adeline going to be the next Magic Babe Ning? No, I think she has a different style. Could Adeline be the next big thing in magic? That's a resounding "hell yeah!"

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M for Magic Ep IV and Popoff

Watch Ep IV on Youtube

In the last post, we concluded that magicians have a special appreciation for the art of magic. A sense of wonder which is, for various reasons, inaccessible to lay people.

The episode opens with JC turning water to ice. I just noticed that about two thousand years ago, a similarly initialed man turned water to wine. In this video, Harapan does some sweet card magic while Matthew bends spoons. With the right kind of story and in a slightly less skeptical audience, Matthew would might have been labelled some kind of psychic with supernatural powers. In 17th Century Massachusetts, he would have been tried as a Witch and hung.

It simply happens that since the show is presented as as conjuring, people expect some kind of trickery. We have been in a sense, immunised by anecdotes of previous charlatans. As such, our criteria for what constitutes a miracle is very much different from what it could have been many years ago.

Peter Popoff is a very classical case. In the 1980s he organised huge Faith Healing rallies, where he could apparently tell people's addresses and their ailments simply by looking at them. Sort of like Dr House. Upon investigation by skeptics (including the famous James Randi) a rather mundane explanation emerged. The faithful filled out prayer requests before the show, from which his wife was feeding him information via a wireless microphone.

I would at this point want to draw a parallel with science prodding nature to reveal its rather fascinating secrets, but that's a long topic for another day.

For now, I'm leaving you with a quote.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C Clarke

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Epiblast!

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What do you not already know about me that you want to know more?

I stopped posting here and am now at medschneverends

The Spectre of Death

I promise, to Follow the White Rabbit

The Tibetan Diaries : Day 5 Nyalam

quit calling it western medicine

M for Magic Ep VI and sneakiness in the Maldives

M for Magic Ep V and Women in Magic

M for Magic Ep IV and Popoff

Epiblast!

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