Re: ::scr The Geek Syndrome

[David Cantrell <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Dec 10, 2001 at 03:47:06PM +0000, Earle Martin wrote:
> So what do you call it when someone has some symptoms, looks them up, and
> matches them to an existing condition? A diagnosis, surely?

Frequently, a MISdiagnosis.  First, having some - or even all - the symptoms
does not mean you have the disease.  And second, there's a load of diseases
and non-diseases which look nigh-on identical without the proper diagnostic
tools.  I have absolutely no doubt that armed with a suitably weighty text-
book, I could self-diagnose all sorts of rare and wondrous conditions given
your definition above.  But I know perfectly well that I am disgustingly
healthy, both in body and mind.

That's not to say that *all* self-diagnoses are wrong, but they need to be
taken with an enormous pinch of salt.  One would have thought that one of
the first things taught to those hypochondriac medical students was that if
a patient comes in and says "doctor, doctor, I think I've got rabies" to
ignore that and perform their own diagnosis and ask what the symptoms are.
It's like "wah! I can't print, reinstall Word for me!" when the correct
solution is to turn the printer back on.

(maybe this is getting back into (void) territory? if replying there, please
quote *all* of my message so that people get the context)

-- 
David Cantrell | david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

  Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced