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      During the beginning of class, the discussion about the Flat Earth Society has made me think more about our conclusions about ideas being "wrong."  We said that we would define "wrong" as extremely unlikely (e.g. the probability we are made of beans) but that it has its uses in attaining "truth" when used in poetry or in a way that triggers other ideas.  I disagree that useless wrong ideas are that way because they do not spur others into thinking useful/ correct thoughts because some widely held "truths" that are critical in our most basic constructs are considered to be false by others.  In my personal opinion, I think the Flat Earth theory has as much credence as the Creationist perspective.  But there are many constructive members of society who I think have "right" ideas entirely separate from their perspective on the creation of the Universe.  No revelations are triggered in me due to people's Creationist beliefs, especially if they are not vocal about these beliefs, and I don't think they are useless.  Creationism is just the first example I thought of but there are many ideas strongly believed to be wrong and they are critical in the conception of the world to many people.

     On the issue of mental illness, I think David brought up some fascinating questions at the end of his post.  I especially liked his comments about the extent to which illness is defined by the patient and if a happy person could be "afflicted."  I think this is definitely possible, both with mental and physical illnesses.  There are tumors that can grow with no visible symptoms so if that person is cut open and examined, it's obvious that he is afflicted but otherwise he is happy and content.  Many mental illnesses have symptoms like mania which the patient would not recognize as mental illness.  Thus we are forced to tell a happy person that there is something wrong with him and perhaps to even push treatment on an unwilling person. 

     In describing the difference between mental and physical illnesses, I immediately thought of the the huge percentage people of that respond to one depression medication over another and the idea of psychiatry being "behind."  It's almost as though the distinction is that we don't really know how mental illnesses work and can be treated, even if they have a biological basis.  There are also some physical diseases that also lack a clear progression and treatment, cancer being the chief example. There are so many carcinogens and most patients with cancer can't point to X and say that caused my cancer.  Further, treatment is uncertain and imprecise, like with mental illnesses.  And also, we talked abut the ability of talking to change the brain and how we can't "talk away" a heart arrhythmia  but many, many patients who had cancer and went into remission would give lots of credit to the power of prayer and positive thinking.