Nick -
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who take Gullibility
to excess and those who take Skepticism to excess.
I happen to be of the third kind, one who tends to take *both* to
excess... I'm not sure if that helps me get on the world, but I'm not
sure I have a choice anymore than the hardline Gulls or hardline Skepts
do here. In deference to Glen's "twitch", I guess I twitch both ways.
Just don't tell me you look it up every time someone tells you
"Gullible" isn't in the dictionary!
- Steve
Yes but .....
I didn't believe Watergate the first few times I heard about it,
either. "You aren't telling me that a president that was going to win
an election in a walk actually sent Burglars into the Democratic
Headquarters?" I just could not believe that they could be so
stupid. I fell for Colin Powell's thing at the UN; my wife didn't
buy it for a moment. I have to say, that in most contexts, I believe
in gullibility. I think a little bit of gullibility is the best
program for getting on in life. But I have been known to carry it too
far.
Nick
*From:*Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Douglas
Roberts
*Sent:* Thursday, April 04, 2013 3:39 PM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: [New post] The Loud and Clear Message that
the TED Controversy is Sending
There are a surprising number of them on facebook, Nick. To nobody's
great surprise, I guess.
--Doug
On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 3:35 PM, Nicholas Thompson
<nickthomp...@earthlink.net <mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net>> wrote:
Doug,
Somebody laid the chemtrails thing on me the other day ... an
otherwise perfectly sensible neighbor ... and I was left standing in
the street with my jaw hanging open. What do you say when somebody
your sort of like, touches you on the upper arm, points skyward and
says, "Call me nuts, but ...."
I guess, "You're nuts!"
N
*From:*Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com
<mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com>] *On Behalf Of *Douglas Roberts
*Sent:* Thursday, April 04, 2013 12:14 PM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: [New post] The Loud and Clear Message that
the TED Controversy is Sending
Well shoot, as long as we're talking about irrational belief sets, how
about if we throw chemtrails into the mix. There is a not
insignificant segment of the US population who fervently believe that
"they" are poisoning us, on purpose. But only on those days that the
jets leave con ... er ... chemtrails. No proof necessary, just *look*
at those chemtrails.
--Doug
On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 11:57 AM, Ron Newman <ron.new...@gmail.com
<mailto:ron.new...@gmail.com>> wrote:
But you're missing the point.: *something* is working for them if
they believe it is, and is not for you or anyone who doesn't believe
it is. The question is how does it work? No, that's not good enough,
because it too easily leads back to premature assumptions. The
question is: how can placebo be improved. Not set aside but improved.
On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 11:47 AM, glen <g...@ropella.name
<mailto:g...@ropella.name>> wrote:
Barry MacKichan wrote at 04/04/2013 10:29 AM:
> I've heard it is very effective, but only for a time until the
> patient discovers it is a placebo. Call it the Lincoln effect ("You
> can fool all of ....").
A friend of mine announced that she's now getting acupuncture for her
chronic back and neck pain. There's a zealot in our local CfI
(http://www.centerforinquiry.net/) group who continuously and loudly
shouts about acupuncture being as quackish as homeopathy. (Seriously...
is there anything as quackish as homeopathy?) The tiny amount of time
I've spent looking into acupuncture indicates that it's mostly nonsense
with some slight possibility of truth in regard to certain _pressure_
points and nerve clusters. But nothing that an evidence-based masseuse
couldn't achieve more effectively.
But I kept my mouth shut and let her talk about how well it's worked so
far. My dad also used acupuncture for a racquetball associated injury.
He claimed it worked very well... [ahem] ... even better than his
chiropractor. I didn't want to introduce any doubt that might interfere
with her placebo effect.
Interestingly, I was trying to apply the Golden Rule in a post-hoc
analysis of my lack of action. Would I want someone to burst my placebo
effect bubble? If so, when? Immediately? Or perhaps after some window
of time as the placebo effect decays and it bumps up against the hard
biophysical/physiological limits?
--
=><= glen e. p. ropella
I can't get no peace until I get into motion
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Ron Newman, Founder
MyIdeatree.com <http://www.Ideatree.us>
The World Happiness Meter <http://worldhappinessmeter.com>
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505-455-7333 - Office
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