smeggy
Member of the Trade: ThunderpantsTP1
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Quote:
It's true for homeopathy, voodoo, acupuncture, chiropractors et al. One persons medicine is anothers quackery. The thing most of these have in common is the dismissal of science in trying to explain them, or misrepresentation of same. Pretty much the whole 'wellness' industry is viewed that way, you either believe or you don't.
While we're on the subject of placebo, we should also be aware that placebo is not necessarily a bad thing. I wished more of it worked on me as I'd probably be happier. Placebos are well known in science to often have the same effect as the real thing in many instances. If you expect a thing to work, your brain can fill in a lot of what you need.
We tend to treat placebo as bad, in actual fact placebos can be extremely effective. Doctors often prescribe them, and they can be used to prove or disprove something in scientific studies on effectiveness. At worst a placebo can displace proper treatment leading to dire consequences. At best it is inert and benign while potentially providing mental and/or spiritual satisfaction.
In Head-Fi terms, even if we are getting placebo effects, the most harm it generally does is cost us some cash and cause some disgruntlement. At best, provide a transformative experience. And how bad it that, really? We live, we learn. If your cables/ipod/whatever sound better to you, money well spent. If not, one less thing to worry about.
Originally Posted by mbriant /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think acupuncture would be a better analogy. Many people don't believe it works...in fact, the very premise of it seems ridiculous to many. However, many people claim it does work, including some very intelligent, credible people. But science can't really tell us why it works. I've had several acupuncture treatments performed on me in the past in the attempt to releive back pain. Didn't work for me. Maybe in my case, it wasn't being done correctly. Maybe I don't have the correct physiology for it. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. Maybe I created a self-fulfilling prophecy by having a preconception that it wouldn't work. Maybe that same reason prevented it from working as a placebo on me. But that doesn't stop the fact that huge numbers of humans who couldn't care less what i think, swear by it. |
It's true for homeopathy, voodoo, acupuncture, chiropractors et al. One persons medicine is anothers quackery. The thing most of these have in common is the dismissal of science in trying to explain them, or misrepresentation of same. Pretty much the whole 'wellness' industry is viewed that way, you either believe or you don't.
While we're on the subject of placebo, we should also be aware that placebo is not necessarily a bad thing. I wished more of it worked on me as I'd probably be happier. Placebos are well known in science to often have the same effect as the real thing in many instances. If you expect a thing to work, your brain can fill in a lot of what you need.
We tend to treat placebo as bad, in actual fact placebos can be extremely effective. Doctors often prescribe them, and they can be used to prove or disprove something in scientific studies on effectiveness. At worst a placebo can displace proper treatment leading to dire consequences. At best it is inert and benign while potentially providing mental and/or spiritual satisfaction.
In Head-Fi terms, even if we are getting placebo effects, the most harm it generally does is cost us some cash and cause some disgruntlement. At best, provide a transformative experience. And how bad it that, really? We live, we learn. If your cables/ipod/whatever sound better to you, money well spent. If not, one less thing to worry about.