So painful that celebs go down this pathway.
So much Placebo effect in the world.

I tell people about the ineffectiveness of C as a cold treatment whenever I have a good opportunity. Note that when they're actually taking it is NOT what I consider such an opportunity, as the placebo effect can still be real and I'd rather not fuck that up for them. I will tell other people nearby though, once out of earshot of the sicko. Would be nice if people stopped wasting their money on snake oil.

ugh...watching that was painful.
reminds me of my time running a metaphysical shop with my girlfriend at the time.

she had got it in her head that she wanted to take the shop in a new direction which was in the form of similar "miracle" cures such as this.

the arguments we had were epic!

i just didnt see a need nor a reason.we already had massage therapy,aroma therapy and reiki.we made our own lotions and soaps and had a massive line of candles.why would she want to delve into supplements? that were unproven and possibly dangerous?

well,i lost that argument and after a few months i understood her reasoning=money.
good lord our customers would spend a fortune on these supplements,which made all kinds of claims (all with zippo research to back those claims up),and all unregulated.

and our customers SWORE that these bullshit remedies worked and that they felt better,more energetic and clear-minded.placebo effect on steroids.

of course my girlfriend would never actually admit that profit was her motive.that would go against her own professed morality,but that is what it was:greed.

that was the beginning of the end for our relationship.i was sincerely attempting to help people and her behavior was a disillusionment that my moral compass just could not assimilate.

i am a man of faith,and every aspect of my life is directed by that faith,from politics to personal interactions,and i had lost faith in her.

i find it reprehensible and disgusting to profit off of people when they are the most fragile and vulnerable,and i refuse to engage in that form of vile practice.

*promote the grifting!

The Strange Science of the Placebo Effect has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals on that post.

Disclaimer: I love me some wine, so feel free to dismiss what I say as one of those brain-washed wine snobs.

So in other words, taste is both subjective (different people rate wines differently) and subject to preconceptions?

Get outta town!

If you can't tell the difference, great! Buy the cheap stuff and enjoy yourself. You're not "wrong" for liking it. I've been to wineries where I've bought the "$15 easy drinking wine" over the "$30 complex cellaring wine" because I preferred it.

Personally, I've almost never bought an "expensive" (>NZ$50) wine without tasting it first (aside from a few occasions where I know the wine maker and know it's going to be good). If you like the wine and can afford it, who cares?

Once again, it's a subjective thing. It's wine, not medicine. If spending an extra $10 gives a placebo effect of enjoying it better, then it's worth the $10.

OTOH, great food, good company, a happy occasion.... all of these can make an ok wine seem great.

@deedub81

I think you're missing the point. She's not saying that positive thinking has no advantages whatsoever. She even points out that people can be delusional in a negative way as well. And of course the placebo effect is (bizarrely) real, and so is the nocebo efffect. (side note: some cool research into the nocebo effect exists where people who were getting positive results from a placebo pill also suffered the negative side effects of said pill even though they were only taking sugar pills. Pretty cool stuff!)

Bah, I'll finish this later.

The most interesting part of this was the least talked about...the nocebo-blocker. For the rest of it, there really is no such thing as a nocebo. It's just a placebo with negative effects. But a chemical that can block this effect is a -really- valuable research tool...solve the issue of -why- it can block it, and maybe you can make the placebo effect reliable and predictable.

I've seen it called the nocebo effect, the placebo effect's evil twin.

Having spent a lot of time in and around hospitals because of cancer that kept coming back I have a strong belief in the ANTI-Placebo effect with lots of second hand experiences (stories from health care professionals to back it up).

What I mean by anti-placebo effect is when someone thought they would get worse/die and had no hope it very often came true even when the diagnosis wasn't that bad.

Actually, I think people have been pretty good about attacking your arguments. I'm sorry if you feel persecuted, but you can't expect to make blatantly wrong statements and not get called on it.

The placebo effect is real, but it is also limited. Show me a study where the placebo effect has managed to make someone with type 1 diabetes produce insulin. I did actually look for one, but couldn't find anything.

As to your assertion that traumas can "point to something the individual should learn about how to live their lives", that is nonsense.

What lesson should a pedestrian that was hit by a drunk driver learn?

Or maybe people who play contact sports should learn to just sit on the couch?

Thanks for all the personal attacks and presumptions. It's... distracting.

If the term 'controlled' is more fitting for you, then so be it. But yes, even type 1 diabetes can be eliminated. Look into the placebo effect - the power of a peron's beliefs. It is a very real, demonstrable, repeatable effect. And it has far more efficacy than most medications being produced.

In a way, the diabetes isn't the problem, but is one more symptom of the actual root of the problem. Runny noses, fevers, sore throats, lesions, pain - even traumas such as broken bones, cuts, and bruises - none of these are the problems themselves, but mere symptoms which point to something the individual should learn about how to live their lives.

Diabetes is no exception. Nor is cancer.

If you treat the 'issue' as something that's intrinsic, genetic, inevitable, and beyond the power of the individual to control or cure, you've essentially doomed that person to blind random fate. I prefer to place the power and thus responsibility for healing squarely on the shoulders of the one who's experiencing the problem. That makes far more sense to me than placing that power and responsibility into the hands of insurance companies, governments, congressmen, doctors, or choas.

Oh, and since you bring it up, Cacao (not chocolate) may in fact help diabetic symptoms! :-D Not really sure, haven't done much research on that one.

What you have a problem with is simply his presentation, correct? Or am I right in thinking you're upset that he's simply telling you how to properly eat sushi?

Sometimes there is actually a correct way and a wrong way. I know, shocking. But then there's also taking liberties. If I have no utensil's I will eat with my fingers even if it's "not the right way." Or more aptly, if there's no wine glass, I'll still use a solo cup. If I had a choice, I'd choose the wine glass. Why? Because it's the proper way. Does it really add to it? Not really. It's demonstrably mostly placebo effect. Then again, does a plate make food taste different? Technically speaking, no. It should in absolutely no way effect the taste of food. But in reality, it makes a substantial difference in the way food tastes. Those who do not take the time to properly plate a meal for another person is simply wasting their time and effort. You might as well buy them a McDonalds hamburger.

But in essence, what you're saying is "because you know more than me, it's wrong for you to use it because it means I'm inferior and you're a dick because of it." Why yes Ayn Rand, I'll keep that in mind. You must hate pretty people too?

I make my coffee from a French Press because it IS better. I use local "fancy" honey because it IS better. If I keep it on my shelf where others can see doesn't make me a douche. It could mean I don't have a cabinet, or I use it often. Which I do. Now who's being a dick?

You're assumption is simply that "I'm dumb, and you're smart, therefore you're gay." Or, I'm sorry, a hipster. Right now, the hip thing is to make fun of this video. Much like the people who hate popular music just because it's popular. That's what your argument sounds like.

Just because someone enjoys something doesn't make them a hipster, a douche or a dick. And because you can't understand their enjoyment of "proper etiquette" only makes you a hipster, dick, douche when you complain. No one here is "forcing" you to eat sushi anyway differently. No one is holding a gun to your head telling you to not put soy sauce all over your rolls. I know, it's strange, but you didn't even have to watch this video. So please explain to me what exactly the problem is again?


Chamot said:
Welcome to 'How to properly make a video' by Videosift community. -- Best comment yet on here.

@shinyblurry, I don't care about scripture. I don't believe in it. I don't believe it was written by God, directly or through man. I believe it was written by man, alone, and has been translated, manipulated, and copied for centuries so even if it had any truth, it would be long, long gone. The scripture you quote is all about trying to fool yourself anyway. God could prove his existence in a millionth of a second, why is he so insecure that he needs to play games with us?

I used to pray, but I have never ever heard of one single prayer actually having any supernatural effect. It always comes down to confirmation bias or the placebo effect. Not once has a single prayer done a damn thing, yet people fool themselves into not only believing that it works, but that it always works.

Again, I have considered this at great length. I was Christian, I was probably baptised, I believed in God and I tried to talk to him. But I grew out of having invisible friends.

Everything, every possible set of circumstances, is "consistent with the bible", because your interpretation morphs to fit whatever reality you can't manage to pretend doesn't exist. When childish nonsense like "God works in mysterious ways" is considered a valid argument, absolutely anything will confirm your belief that the Bible says God is true and that's reliable because God says the Bible is true and that's reliable because the Bible says God is true and that's reliable because God says ...

"The claim that homeopathic arnica is efficacious beyond a placebo effect is not supported by rigorous clinical trials." http://archsurg.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=211818

sometimes the control, in studies like these, have active ingredients, so instead of sugar pill, participants receive dexadrine or something similar which, even in mild doses, enables the placebo effect to do most of the 'heavy lifting' on one's perception of having received the drug.

I don't know these specific studies in particular so can't speak to whether that was the case here or not.>> ^deathcow:

Funny... "each patient got LSD... or a control treatment."... geeze... I wonder if the patients were aware who got the LSD?