Page 31 - What Doctors Don't Tell You - AU-NZ (February-March 2020)

digital technologies and
r
Feedomisoneofour
mosttreasuredrights—one
that’stightlyalliedtoprivacy.
Andwhilemanyofusrejoice
atlivinginsocietiesthat
supposedlyrespectboththese
rights,wewoulddowellto
ponderjusthowfreeandprivate
ourlivesreallyare.
Focusespeciallyonwhat
relatestoourfreedomand
privacywhenusingtheinternet
andtherapidlyexpanding
“internetofthings”—allthe
interconnecteddevicesbeing
incorporatedintoourdailylives
thatsharedigitalinformation
andguideusinouractions,
portendingafutureofdriverless
carsand“smartcities.”
Allwellandgoodifyoulike
thatkindofthing,butnotif
theinformationisfiltered,
biasedordistorted,sowhen
welinkourselvestothe‘net,we
seeaviewoftheworldthatis
nonrepresentative—selectedfor
usbasedonourpastsearch
histories,assumedinterests,
locality,gender,age,socio-
economicstatus,perhaps
evenourethnicity.
It’salsoabigconcernifthe
viewwe’regivenisonethat’s
notreallyintendedforour
benefit,butratheronethat’s
designedtolinethepocketsof
specificbusinessintereststhatlie
behindtheinternet.
Thisisn’tthestuffof
conspiracytheory.Thisisjust
plainoldconspiracy,supported
byfacts.Ofcourse,it’snobig
secretwhothecorporateplayers
are.Theyincludethelikesof
Alphabet(Google’sparent
company),Microsoft,IBM,
OracleandAmazon,andsocial
mediagiantslikeYouTube
(ownedbyGoogle),Facebook
anditssubsidiary,Instagram.
Theydotheirdarndesttotrack
youreverymoveontheinternet,
Robert Verkerk PhD is the executive and scientific director of the Alliance for Natural Health International,aconsumergroupthataimstoprotectourrighttonaturalhealthcareandnutrition. Formore
information and to get involved, go to www.anh-europe.org, or check out ANH’s Facebook and Twitter pages (www.facebook.com/ANHInternational and www.twitter.com/anhcampaign).
FACEBOOK.COM/WDDTYAUNZ
Rob Verkerk The Politics of Health
A GOOGLE
DETOX
Break free from Google for a more balanced search,
says Rob Verkerk
theywatchwhatshoppingyou ‘healthoptimizers’—arapidly
might do, they see where you live growing group, often young and
and look at any information they well educated, who are keen to
can amass about your personal manage their health themselves.
profile, family and friends. They don’t like the idea of
They use artificial intelligence eating the way governments
to make decisions about what advise and waiting for a chronic
content you should find in your degenerative disease to catch up
searches and, just as importantly, with them, only to have no option being massively disadvantaged.
what content should be hidden but to ask their doctor for a pill or
from your view. two when the time comes.
This is where it hits really Biohackers know that this kind health website in the world,
close to home, because there is a of reactive healthcare is too little,
definite anti-natural health bias too late, and that prescription
being metered out through these medicines are the third biggest
conspirators. killerinsociety.Instead,they
This isn’t the stuff of
conspiracy theory.
This is just plain
old conspiracy,
supported by facts
One common form of bias is prefer to engage proactively with
called “downgrading,” and it’s their health.
done with algorithms that can They’re more likely to eat
change search results from one nutrient-dense foods, take state-
second to the next. of-the-art dietary supplements
You may look up a topic one and engage in regular physical
day and find a particularly useful activity.
link near the top of your search. But, equally important
The next day, after the algorithm to them is connecting with
has been tweaked, the same link nature and keeping their minds
has fallen off the first page—and clear through meditation,
may be hard to find at all. mindfulness practice or even
This causes a huge loss in some “forest bathing” (known as
traffic for affected sites.Take shinrin-yoku in Japan).
one community with which we Oh, and let’s not forget, this
work closely, ‘biohackers’ and community is highly reliant on
many strategies to minimize
its negative effects, such as
blue light-blocking glasses,
bioenergetic devices, radiation-
proof cases for portable devices
and so on.
But as Dave Asprey—
biohacking guru and founder
of the Bulletproof brand—
announced last September at the
Health Optimisation Summit
in London, where I was also
honored to be a speaker, the
terms “biohacker,” “biohacking”
and related phrases have just
been downgraded by Google.
Think about that. A
community that is trying very
hard to minimize its burden
on the healthcare system—to
engage proactively with concepts
that the mainstream has long
called “prevention” but paid little
more than lip service to—is now
Add to that the same treatment
for the most popular natural
www.mercola.com (as well as
this magazine’s website), or the
permanent ban on our ability, at
the Alliance for Natural Health
International, to use Facebook
ads to extend our reach, with no
reasons given.
Well, here’s the revelation
that I’ve been enjoying for the
last few weeks. It’s called Google
detox. I’m using DuckDuckGo
for my internet searches, and
it’s wonderful—privacy, no
tracking, no biases, and I’m once
again finding things that are of
much greater interest to me.
The world appears more
balanced. The voices that run
contrary to the establishment’s
can be heard more clearly.
Try it—life free from the
manipulation of the dark forces
behind the internet seems
potentially addictive, but at least
it’s one of those few addictions
that are actually good for us.
For more information on this
topic, see “The Last Word” in our
Dec/Jan 2020 issue.
ISSUE 04 | FEB/MAR 2020 | WDDTY 31