• Raltoid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      Yeah, more people should be aware that Doyle was basically the opposite of Sherlock Holmes in many ways.

      He seriously believed in faries, spirits, psychic powers, telepathy, etc. and claimed many mental illnesses was the result of being possessed by spirits. He held multiple public debates to defend this, and published several books on the matter.

      He actuall believed Houdini used real magic. Despite knowing him and having Houdini repeatedly try to explain that it was just tricks and illusions. To the point where they had a pretty public falling out after Doyle absolutely refused to believe him and insisted that it had to be magic.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        I like this story, along with the one about Houdini and his wife agreeing on a secret code that they would relay to their living partner so as to confirm the existence of ghosts, etc., if one were to die before the other. His wife died, he never received her message, and then dedicated the rest of his life to debunking supernatural bullshit.

        Houdini was a real one

      • shneancy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        2 days ago

        that is some advanced belief if the man himself revealed his secrets and yet you insist that no actually, i know better than you, it was magic!

        • dustycups@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          2 days ago

          “I reject your reality & substitute my own”
          Adam Savage? Probably lots of other people nowadays.

          • MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            2 days ago

            “I reject your reality & substitute my own”

            I’m fine with Adam Savage’s version, it’s the

            “I reject reality & substitute some crap someone (or something) told me”

            that all too many people do nowadays, and it shits me to tears…

    • abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      2 days ago

      In Edinburgh, the city where he was born, the centre for spiritualism is named in his honour.

      When I found out that Arthur Conan Doyle debunked Robert Koch, I was surprised. Like imagine if Gwyneth Paltrow absolutely eviscerated and ended the career of RFK Jr with evidence to back her up on every single point.

      • emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        2 days ago

        I mean this is a super unfair characterization of both of them. While Arthur conan doyle may have believed in the supernatural, he was also a practising doctor. And according to the article, Koch, who had many other accomplishments as well, didn’t present his discovery as a cure at all, and was quick to retract his statement when it didn’t show much therapeutic value. It seems like this was more about the hype over his treatment getting blown out of proportion.

      • aramova@infosec.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 days ago

        Like imagine if Gwyneth Paltrow absolutely eviscerated and ended the career of RFK Jr with evidence to back her up on every single point.

        Aiming to set the bar low eh?

        • Squizzy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          2 days ago

          The bar is precisely where it was placed, he is the highest ranking medical official in the US. Another proud moment.

          • Pips@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            2 days ago

            No? The Surgeon General is the highest ranking medical officer. The HHS Secretary does not need to know medicine to do their job, though I imagine it helps for part of it.

  • faltryka@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    2 days ago

    Ahh I wonder if someone else also recently read John Green’s “Everything is Tuberculosis”.