Monday, November 1, 2010

VOODOO LOGIC



Denying the antecedent:


If P, then Q.
Not P.
Therefore, not Q


If there is TTX in the powder, there are zombies in Haiti.
There is not TTX in the powder.
Therefore, there are not zombies in Haiti.


Modus tollens:


If P, then Q.
Not Q.
Therefore, not P.


If there is TTX in the powder, there are zombies in Haiti.
There are not zombies in Haiti.
Therefore, there is no TTX in the powder.


Modus ponens:


If P, then Q.
P.
Therefore, Q.


If there is TTX in the powder, there are zombies in Haiti.
There is TTX in the powder.
Therefore, there are zombies in Haiti.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

The possibility still exists that there is a true formula for zombie powder and the sample you obtained was not authentic.

But then again, if I was a participant of a faith that could produce an actual "spiritual" product, I would eventually be swayed enough by capitalism to sell my product to someone or utilize it, in this case zombie powder, to subjugate the local populace with my "powers".

If the stories of scopolomine were correct, the cartels would have an invincible army of drugged civilian soldiers that would have conquered the local populace and anything else they could get away with. The only thing standing in their way would be in securing farms to grow Devils Trumpet, a facility to create the drug, and the chemicals required to produce it.

We know how much cocaine the cartels can produce, so they have the infrastructure in place already. So it isn't possible with scopolomine, therefore it probably isn't possible with zombie powder either.

But it would be nice.

Hamilton Morris said...

"The possibility still exists that there is a true formula for zombie powder and the sample you obtained was not authentic."

Absolutely.

As for the rest, I have no idea what you're talking about. Did you watch the episode, and are you in anyway familiar with Davis' research? The process is not as simple as the administration of a scopolamine containing powder. The essential part is the victim thinking that they have died, and this is induced by TTX. Simple drugging with anticholinergic tropane alkaloids is done around the word, but this is in no way the same thing as zombification.

Hamilton Morris said...

Also enormous fields of datura grow naturally in Haiti, but just because zombification cannot be executed on a large scale does not mean it cannot be done...

Unknown said...

Sorry, I got carried away in my editing and didn't insert a paragraph that would have explained things.

Like I said, I am really interested in the work you presented and the findings of Wade Davis. I am particuarly interested in the effects of the combination of TTX and 5-MeO-DMT from the bufotoxin of bufo Marinus.

Thanks for the heads up on the topic, I am researching as much as I can and am trying to get a copy of Passage of Darkness.

Oh, and would the trip from a combination of 5-MeO-DMT and TTX be as bad as I think it would be? It hardly seems like you could come out of that mixture without some brain damage. With the right kind of brain damage, the scopolomine enslavement makes perfect sense. Hell, it sounds like it could even be perminant.

Hamilton Morris said...

Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy has been observed in the brain of one zombie when scanned with a MRI. It is totally possible that being sealed in a coffin without oxygen would produce the desired effect in the absence of any deliriant.

LMHC said...

So zombification could occur simply by oxygen deprivation in the brain? Why the elaborate rituals and toxins? Just a byproduct of a successful zombifaction event that contained the other elements of the ritual?

Hamilton Morris said...

@ demonfeed

No. Then every person who suffered from HIE would be a Haitian zombi, which is not the case. The victim must think they have died, been buried, then resurrected, and this can only occur within the cultural matrix of Haiti. Zombification cannot be reduced to one action, it is a multifactorial process - an interaction of pharmacology and social conditioning.