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Comment by Dilettante_ | Hacker News Reader

You have a one-dimensional view of your "opponents". Not everybody who is into spiritual BS is preying on suckers, or a sucker being preyed upon.

The thinking that preceded our current understanding of physical elements was very loose and woo-woo(Water, Earth, Wind, Fire), but we refined.

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I never claimed that everyone is doing this. Are you reflecting?

You did though. You said "those nutheads". Not "some of those nutheads"

Yes, those nutheads who are twisting it, not all nutheads who are in spiritual stuff. There are many old and ancient creeds which are barely changing for decades and centuries. Those can be also problematic, but usually their believers are more pragmatic and won't tell you how you can cure cancer by just praying hard enough while sipping the 200 dollar tea they sell you.

Sorry, I muddled together your reply and the one I originally replied to in my head and seem to have arrived at the strawman "Auras are bs and people who take this article as a hint to them are grifters/victims".

I guess it's a charged topic for me (badumm-tss).

Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma fit the woo-woo explanation of earth, water, air, and fire quite well though. It's actually eerie how well it fits.

We have discovered way more exotic states of matter though. And for a preindustrial society there are only three phenomena that involve plasma: the sun, the aurora borealis, and lightning.

Fire is not a state of matter, it's a process. Sadly, my prog rock band "Solid Gas and a Process that Creates Heat and Light" never really took off.

Liquid is not literally only water either, so I don't think it contradicts the comparison.

Hey, never thought of it like that!

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