#1390: Gary Blier

The principle behind Advanced Cell Training (ACT) is that your body “can heal itself,” which is generally true for a lot of issues, though you feel that the ACT people – Gary Blier, the guy behind the sordid affair, for instance – is soon going to take things beyond the realm of the reasonable. Indeed, according to them, they can train you to cure yourself of almost anything by “training” a part of the brain that “governs” immune function and telling it to fix the body. And to back up the claim they offer the following familiar, completely false and idiotic quote (probably falsely) attributed to Schopenhauer: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident” – sounds snappy, but you’ll be hard pressed, for good reasons, to mention a single good idea that has followed anything resembling that trajectory. But the presence of that quote always signifies that some serious, serious pseudoscience is going to follow, and ACT delivers in spades.

How does ACT work? After misrepresenting some science and referring to discoveries that have “sent the scientific community reeling” (in language strikingly similar to your standard spam mail), Blier refers to Hulda Clark and her Zapper and Royal Rife and his device as examples of the kind of things upon which his ACT is based. You hardly get more lunatic woo than that this side of whale.to. Nonetheless, ACT is apparently a skill that Blier can teach you through teleconferences and seems to involve, to a large extent, applied kinesiology.

“Once the codes are read, participants then listen to a CD. This CD has more instructional codes embedded in music at a faster rate of speed. This locks in the intent of correction toward Lyme pathogen or other inflammatory agents. After the CD is heard, participants call in for an outside thought of intent which we call a ‘prayer.’” A prayer? “Though controversial,” admits Blier “many scientific studies have shown prayer to be effective for many serious illnesses,” a claim that is not controversial but rather clearly and distinctly false.

But yes, ACT is zappers, applied kinesiology, the law of attraction and intent-based prayers (described in more detail here). It changes your brain. According to Blier “Relatively little is known about the human brain, as scientists admit we use only about 2 to 3% of our capacity.” Yes, Blier actually claims that.

And how does Blier know his techniques work? Will it surprise you if we reveal that it is not through clinical studies? Nossir. Blier’s got testimonials, including “notarized testimonials,” which apparently makes them more valuable as evidence.

Diagnosis: Blier does, admittedly, look like a true believer, though his spam-style presentations may not lead the untrained eye to conclude that he is. In any case, his claims are so astoundingly ridiculous that the proper response is to point and laugh.