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Orphaned remarks from 2006
If this article survives AfD it's badly in need of NPOV balance. Most medical authorities agree it's extremely dangerous to stare directly at the sun. It can cause (at least partial) blindness. Durova 00:25, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
It survived. I agree with you and it does state exactly what you say, that most believe you can go blind. At this point I am not sure what else it needs to balance. I am not an expert in this topic, I hope others will help. Perhaps someone can add documented cases of going blind from non-eclipse observation?--Mmmsnouts 04:37, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
Removed material
I removed the following material from the article, as it isn't really applicable to the subject and is better covered at sun. Plus, the Galileo suggestion is unsourced.
- squibix (talk) 15:22, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
What?
"Sun Yoga, Surya Yoga and Solar Yoga, is the practice of staring directly at the sun to receive "nourishment" from it." What the hell is that?
humans produce carbon dioxide
I believe the statement since photosynthesis requires the constant intake of carbon dioxide, any organism which cannot breathe carbon dioxide cannot photosynthesize; as humans do not breathe carbon dioxide, humans are further incapable of photosynthesis. is false, since human beings produce carbon dioxide as a by-product of our processing of oxygen, and exhale it with every breath.
Wikipedia editors are way too mild when handling quackery
This is a hoax in its purest form. Not only this does not work, this is VERY dangerous . It indeed causes damage to the retina. I wonder why is our body trying to defend from bright light by narrowing its pupils, clenching its eyelids, and producing lots of tears? Gee, I wonder. Maybe to avoid damage to the best sensory organ it has? Indeed, one can numb his senses with anaesthetisc and drugs and then stare at the Sun, which will cause a permanent and heavy damage.
This is not controversial, this is a complete hoax. God only knows how many stupid people read this and tried to do it and damaged their vision? It doesn't take a lot to damage the sensitive retina and even the slightest impairment is a big and unpleasant trouble.
Wikipedia should promote health. You can not have a "neutral point of view" on health. You have to protect it. So stand up for yourself and start eliminating bull*hit wherever you encounter it.
I mean, look at yourselves, you are questioning eye damage! Hello?! If someone starts a cult where people jump into volcanoes while drinking cyanide solutions, you would question the health risks of such procedures? Come on!
Endimion17, 6 November 2006, 20:53 (UTC)
It is quackery there is no doubt about that. But it is not a wikipedia hoax, there are actually people who believe this to be true. A well known reference to the practice, was a woman appearing on Wife Swap which aired in the UK some time ago. 13:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Sun gazed
The Scientific viewpoint that Sun gazed keeps replacing the real viewpoint with is unreferenced waffle and Original Research and therefore has no place on wikipedia
"Photon-energy to electricity, can be made by many different processes."
I believe there is only one proceses known to science Photovoltaics The only other way light can be converted to Energy Not electricity is Photosynthesis.
"Electricity can then be used to power other chemical processes."
Prehaps you mean Electrolysis? again nothing to do with human biology.
"The human body is able to change its metabolic processes in many amazing ways (simple empirical support!)."
The human metabolic process is well known to science and does not involve either Photosynthesis or Electricity
"Like: adoptation to many different toxins (see: vaccination), or when fasting: toxins are released into the bloodstream in order to be eliminated."
Toxins are removed from the body during Fasting, but if one intends to fast they must realise that they must supply thier body with Nutrients after the fasting period is over. There is no purpose to stare at the sun during your fasting period.
"So if science can localize a proccess that utilizes the energy of photoreceptors"Photoreceptors detect light, they do not utilize it.
"to perform metabolic processes that allow recycling of the waste-products of metabolic processes -- then we have an explanation."
What utter waffle
"Scientific Background" is botched
While I'm not going to venture a guess as to the validity of sungazing (okay, I'll probably guess "totally false" ;)), the "scientific background" section is so extremely botched that it would seem to lend credance to sungazing for the simple fact that its critics don't seem to understand basic biology!
"one of the most evident is that all known photosynthetic organisms must be green, because photosynthesis cannot function without large amounts of the pigment chlorophyll which gives plants their green color" This is wrong, as can be seen in Red algae, and the Photosynthesis page. Not all photosynthesizers need to be green, or even use chlorophyll. In fact, for photosynthesis to work, all you really need in theory is a way of harnessing the photoelectric effect to fuel a electron transport chain.
"Likewise, since photosynthesis requires the constant intake of carbon dioxide, any organism which cannot breathe and process carbon dioxide cannot photosynthesize; as humans do not breathe and process carbon dioxide, humans are further incapable of photosynthesis". This is also very wrong. Plants, for instance, need Oxygen in the air to provide the fuel for respiration, in addition to carbon dioxide. They do not exclusively "breath" carbon dioxide. By the same token, it would not be inconceivable for a human to breath predominately oxygen for use in respiration, but also utilize carbon dioxide for other processes. One would need to measure the gas intake and exhalation of a sungazer, in addition to their metabolic rate, to make any claims about what the sungazer is or is not breathing.
Also, you do not carbon dioxide to photosynthesize in general. Carbon dioxide is a part of the modern photosynthetic metabolic pathway, but it is not clear that it is required. Primitive photosynthesizers used sulfur from hydrogen sulfide instead of oxygen from water as the electron donors. Other photosynthesizers used amino acids. Making the claim that sungazers cannot utilize photosynthesis because they are not green or breath carbon dioxide is largely a straw man fallacy.
Last, I would propose the following somewhat plausible position that would explain where sungazers derive energy from. The pigments in the eye that allow us to see use the photoelectric effect in a similar manner that chlorophyll uses it to produce energy. It would not be unimaginable that sungazers are somehow changing the primary function of the eye from converting light to sensory signals to converting light to fueling an electron chain.
What I think would be a far more credible position to take is to decredit sungazing based on the amount of surface area that a plant would need using conventional photosynthesis to support a grown human man for a day using only the light received in an hour. I would then compare this to either the sungazer's retinal surface area, or the surface area of their entire body (depending on what you're imagining the source of the energy is), and demonstrate the differences in efficiency between the imaginary plant that supports a single grown man, and the sungazer.
I would imagine the calculations would show that sungazing would have to be tens or hundreds of times as efficient as the hypothetical plant, which would be far more convincing evidence that sungazing doesn't work than saying that humans aren't green ;)
--Numsgil 07:04, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
Biased viewpoint
Ok that last comment go me nowhere other than I was in a trolling mood that day. Anyway, There is no Scientific or Medical background for this article, and therefore concern that the article is biased towards crediting the practice rather than providing equal viewpoints both crediting and discrediting it. Well, I think someone should write a genuine scientific background section. then we can remove the biased tag. --Giles Bathgate 21:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
Sungazing is done by many but they are all experimenting
I have been sungazing for several years and personally know a number of other sungazers either in person or through one of several Internet newsgroups dedicated to the subject. Those who dismiss it as a hoax are wrong. S
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