Physician's Odyssey-Chapter 886 - Debate
Chapter 886 - Debate
Su Tao was long prepared for Nicholas. He knew that there would be a problem with the online conversation, so he wasn’t surprised at all.
“Since you mentioned science, then may I ask what’s science?” Su Tao smiled.
Science is a huge concept, and there was no way it could be explained in a few words. James smiled. “In short, science is based on facts and laws, not fantasies. TCM emphasizes vitality, so may I ask where is that located? Is there a basis to prove it? Also, what about the five elements in TCM? What do you mean by gold, wood, water, fire, and earth? Are you able to explain it? If not, it only shows that TCM is nothing but pseudoscience.”
The audience began discussing among themselves. James’ point of view was sharp. TCM was nothing but pseudoscience in the eyes of foreigners and mysterious in the eyes of Chinese. Because modern people had been exposed to biology, physics, and chemistry. So the theory of TCM was difficult for them to understand.
For example, many people knew about the Book of Dao by Laozi, a great philosophical work. But only a few people know about the content.
So in the next second, James’ questions resonated with the audience.
Although Su Tao had proven TCM by treating others, he still couldn’t convince the audience that it was a trustworthy medical skill. There were many theories that made no sense to them.
However, the audience was disgusted with James’ arrogance. Su Tao represented TCM, the fruit of China’s history. For a foreigner like James to question TCM was equivalent to questioning China’s civilization. Anyone with a sense of nationality would be unhappy with James and choose to stand with Su Tao.
Su Tao was also surprised by those questions. He never expected that James would have some knowledge about TCM to even know about the five elements and vitality. With a smile, he replied, “I never expect you to be so arrogant.”
Su Tao’s words immediately dropped a bomb among the audience. Many people knew about James’ name, the best general practitioner in America. Whenever any doctor prepares their thesis, they would always refer to James’ point of view. James could be named as one of the greatest contributors to western medicine in the past hundred years.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be receiving such a high salary from Ferry Pharmaceutical Conglomerate.
But now, Su Tao was calling James ignorant. When James heard Nicholas’ translation, his face became dark. He was furious that he was being insulted by a youth.
Since Su Tao had called James ignorant, he naturally needed to give a reasonable explanation. After a brief pause, he smiled, “You’ve studied mathematics, right? Then can you tell me about addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in mathematics? Have you also studied physics? If so, what image can be used to express the law of conversation?”
Listening to Nicholas’ translation, James was stumped. He found out that he couldn’t answer Su Tao’s words at all.
“You’re changing the concept. TCM is nothing but the witchcraft of primitive society. You can’t dispute this fact, right?” James replied solemnly.
Seeing that James was going on with his verbal insult, Su Tao smiled. He had clearly won the first round of confrontation. He asked, “Isn’t western medicine also based on witchcraft? Western medicine came into China more than a hundred years ago. Some missionaries came into China to spread doctrines, using medical skills to make people accept their religion. Those missionaries are no different from witches. Furthermore, western medicine was also very ignorant a hundred years ago. You guys are using barbaric methods such as letting out blood. When the founding president of your country fell ill, the doctor released 2500 milliliters of blood from the president, which resulted in the president suffering from hemorrhagic shock. This has never happened in the history of Chinese medicine.”
TCM had thousands of years of history and no one had heard of Emperors dying from the treatment.
James initially wanted to make things difficult for Su Tao, but he never expected that Su Tao would have such a deep understanding of western medicine. In the end, he became a little anxious, “Please don’t be so one-sided. Western medicine was ignorant in the past, but it has changed now. Releasing blood has also been abandoned. However, it’s undeniable that TCM is regression. Western medicine has a higher penetration rate compared to TCM, which proved everything.”
“That’s because Mandarin isn’t an international language. Western culture has dominated for nearly a century, so everyone thinks that western culture is the best. But with the rising international status of China, foreigners are now considering Mandarin as their first foreign language. TCM will slowly infiltrate into other countries and become mainstream sooner or later. TCM isn’t popular because people don’t understand it. But I believe that in the future, TCM will surely be able to influence on a global scale.”
Su Tao’s brilliant debate had instantly won applause from the surrounding. Most of them might be western medicine doctors, but they were Chinese. Su Tao’s words had ignited their passion for their own countries, so they supported Su Tao unswervingly.
You could even hear some people speaking out disdainfully, “What shitty specialist is this? Your vision is too low. TCM might not be popular, but it has its own uniqueness.”
“Can’t be helped. They think that they’re superior. The history of their country is only three hundred years. They don’t have their own cultural heritage and it’s rude to belittle other countries.” A person next to the previous speaker agreed.
James still had no idea that he had aroused public outrage and continued his argument, “I admit that western medicine once had a dark side, but we’ve progressed from that. We abide by scientific ideals such as experiments, statistics, and demonstrations. However, TCM is only using their personal subjective experience to diagnose the problem, using frictional idealism as a theory. TCM and western medicine may be the same in the past, but western medicine is now leading.”
With a disdainful smile, Su Tao replied, “The treatment of TCM has been proven in China a few days ago. We’ve gone through observation, experiment, statistics, and demonstrations. As for western medicine, it’s too superficial nowadays. The efficiency might not even be faster than TCM. Let me give you an example. For a slightly more complicated disease, you need to test things like blood and liver function. One day might not even be enough for the examination. On the other hand, TCM has nothing that complicated.”
James did not expect that Su Tao would mention the efficiency between the two medical studies. He immediately became energetic and smiled, “You’re saying that western medicine has less efficiency than TCM? You’re too arrogant. Western medicine is ahead of TCM in an emergency. Don’t you even know this common sense?”
“Let me ask you a question. Have you tried TCM?” Su Tao questioned.
“Of course not!” James responded. “Since I know that it’s something regressed, why would I try it instead of advanced western medicine?”
“You’ve never tried TCM, so how do you think that it’s inferior in terms of emergency treatment? In my opinion, you’re committing an idealistic error. You have a prejudice for TCM, and that’s how you come to a conclusion.” Su Tao counterattacked.
Nicholas acted as James’ translator and sighed inwardly. He could tell that Su Tao wasn’t easy. He was on even par with James in the debate.
After listening to Nicholas’ translation, James replied, “Since you say that, I will experience TCM for myself. Don’t physicians say that they can tell a person’s condition by looking? You can prove to me now then. Tell me if there’s anything wrong with me.”
“TCM diagnosis isn’t only through the face, but also the pulse. I can’t even see your face accurately through the video call.” Su Tao replied solemnly.
Stretching out his hands, James replied arrogantly, “It’s too much of a pity then. I wanted to experience it for myself but you’re not giving me this chance. What a disappointment.”
Su Tao was furious by James’ arrogance. But he just made a mistake. Like Jin Kang, who refused to admit his condition and put him in a disadvantaged position.
But Jin Kang was physically around and he could get someone to prove his point. But James was in America, and even if he could diagnose James’ condition, there was no third party to prove his words. So there was no way he could accept this challenge.
Pretending to be a little flustered, Su Tao replied, “It’s mainly because I’m afraid that you might deny it. If that’s the case, won’t I be in a disadvantageous position?”
“I can swear that I will not lie. But let me remind you that I have been going for weekly examinations and I’m healthier than an average person.” James laughed.
Su Tao was confident, but he seemed helpless as he shook his head with a bitter smile, “You’re not healthy at all. You have a serious problem. But because this involves your privacy, I will write it to you. Since you don’t understand Chinese characters, I’ll translate it into English for you. Please give me your email.”
The communication between the two of them had been done through Nicholas as the translator.
James had no idea what Su Tao was planning and gave his email address to Su Tao.
Su Tao wrote a message and sent it to James’ mailbox. When James opened it up, he had astonishment written on his face. When the audience saw James’ expression, they all knew that Su Tao had diagnosed James’ condition.
“You’re slandering!” James lost his composure and became irritable.
This caught Nicholas by surprise as he asked, “James, what’s the matter? Did he say something nasty to you?”
“He’s a liar! There’s no way I can communicate with someone like him!” James roared as he cut off the video connection.
Nicholas was dumbfounded. He never expected that the situation would develop in this manner because James had been in the dominant position during this debate.
In America, James looked haggard as if he had grown old. It was hard for him to imagine that Su Tao actually managed to see through his secrets through a video call.
He had once looked into TCM. There was a physician, Bian Que, who saw through a King’s condition through his eyes. He took it as a legend and myth because there was no way a person could make a diagnosis by relying on the eyes unless their eyes contain ultrasound, X-ray, and MRI functions.
But he now began to waver when Su Tao saw through his secrets.
It was something that he kept hidden well. Even his wife and daughter did not know about it.
