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Comment by sebleon | Hacker News Reader

Yes, if someone has a home remedy that gets great results, why switch to a substance from someone in a lab coat?

Exactly, that's what I keep saying about my bear repellent rock I keep on my front porch. Haven't seen a single bear yet.

People whose reactions when confronted with something new, unknown, and unexpected are to laugh at it or respond sarcastically, instead of to accept the surprise, approach with curiosity and humility, and question if there is something they're not understanding, are unlikely to ever discover anything new.

Everything that we call science today was once alternately laughable or mysterious.

Because science isn't about belief, its about reasoning. One person having a good response to something doesn't say anything about that something, that person, or that good response.

Only after things have been repeatedly tested, and alternative explanations thoroughly ruled out, can a claim be considered accurate. Everything was once alternately laughable or mysterious, until it was thoroughly proven to be true. There is a reason why we aren't letting your blood because you have a cold anymore.

Yes, but one person repeatedly having a good response to a thing is good evidence that thing is helpful to that person.

While it's good for society to find and recommend things that are beneficial to most people, we shouldn't prevent people from doing the things that they find helpful.

Your employer wins because you're spending less time worrying about bears.

My employer wins because I spend less time thinking about whether I would benefit from a sit/stand desk...at the very least. I suspect I get a real productivity advantage from it at times.

And both of you lose because you're purposefully dismissing the value of research and making decisions based on ritual and conformity.

I think you meant your reply to go to the homeopathy comment. Unless you have specific research into the effectiveness of bear-repellent rocks.

A closer analogy for a remedy to an illness would be: Whenever your yard gets overrun with bears, putting a rock on the porch makes them go away for an unknown reason. Don’t let yourself be limited by science, which is bounded by human intelligence.

One person randomly having a favorable outcome doesn't tell you if a result is great, let alone even exists.

Fair - correlation does not mean causation. That being said, countless experiments show placebo can have empirical results; even the simple belief in a remedy can improve healthcare outcomes.

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