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Tin Foil Hat Audio

As I read the discussions about questionable tweaks I often have to remind myself that just because I can’t hear it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Just because there is no instrument capable of objectively quantifying a difference doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Just because there is no generally accepted physical mechanism to account for a difference doesn’t mean it isn’t there. 

I think I owe an apology to psychics, mediums, and witches among others. Maybe they also perceive things I just can’t. 

Is it shiny side in or out when making a tin foil hat? How many layers? 
cat_doorman

Showing 3 responses by zm

zm
121 posts
 
On the other hand, if a person is not responsive to placebos, they should not be derided as people who can't hear, or people who only care about measurements, or people who only judge by price, etc.
I agree with this as well.  I think it’s best to avoid telling people what they ought to be hearing, whether it’s on the basis of past experience, observation, hearsay or measurements.  I can only report what *I* hear.  I am a case study of one, and make no claims to generalizability!
zm
121 posts
 
Completely agree with this:
I'm having too much fun with my placebos to quit now!
Placebo effect is a real, documented thing of course, but if it works, it works.  If a doctor prescribed me a medication and said something to the effect of, "now, this medication works at solving your problem for 99% of the population, but we absolutely know that's due purely to the placebo effect of just taking something", it's not like I would reply, "no, doctor, I can't take it because I object to placebo effects on principle."  I'd be taking it in a heartbeat!  (Those of you in the medical field may actually know of some extremely commonly prescribed medications that according to meta-analyses achieve no better results than placebo...)

zm
121 posts
 
Mijostyn, I think of placebo and subject-expectancy effect as essentially the same thing, or at least closely related, but that may have not been the main thrust of your point and I agree with you about expectancy bias.

The only thing I would add about your observation that some placebo effect is coincidence and that most issues would self-resolve with conservative (or no) treatment is that simply coming into the office at all is probably enough to trigger the effect for some people.  

I would like to think of myself as not very gullible, and if companies want to play to my expectation bias with overhyped marketing, well, that doesn’t particularly bother me.  Hell, it may even work, in which case they make money and I am stupidly happy for no empirically valid reason, which strikes me as not a bad outcome for either party.



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