I think that a lot of “woo” - a broad term that includes things like chakras, energy healing, Tarot, various Eastern religions and neopagan practices, etc. - consists of things that have real effects and uses, even if many (though not all) of their practitioners are mistaken about the exact mechanisms and make unwarranted metaphysical claims.

Now, a woo practitioner might explain what's happening in a way that doesn’t fit any sensible scientific model of the world. Some of them seem to bastardize poorly understood pop-explanations of quantum mechanics, or, in the opposite direction, outright reject “the thinking mind” and science as valid sources of truth. That makes it easy for a scientifically-minded person to reject all of the practitioners as delusional.

But consider meditation. In the 1960s and 1970s, the scientific establishment mostly thought of it as nonsense, and not without reason. Proponents of Transcendental Meditation (TM), for instance, made a variety of bizarre claims.

For instance, they claimed the existence of “the Maharishi Effect”. According to them, if one percent of a population practices TM, this would significantly increase the well-being of everyone in that population. A more advanced practice was “Yogic Flying”, where the participants hopped [...]

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Outline:

(03:02) Tarot

(07:30) Different camps within woo

(11:29) Chakras and energy

(22:06) Energy healing

(24:27) Energy as an abstraction within a system

(28:55) The science of woo

(34:56) What about other forms of woo?

(37:48) Should you do woo?

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
May 4th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/oMqx9D9EEW9AMDsbf/taking-woo-seriously-but-not-literally

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Body maps showing physical sensations associated with different emotions using color-coded heat patterns.

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“Taking woo seriously but not literally” by Kaj_Sotala

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Taking woo seriously but not literally” by Kaj_Sotala