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If only programs like this could be conducted by dispassionate scientists, out of the spotlight, and without the financial angle and the incentive to produce re
by lutusp 11y ago
If only programs like this could be conducted by dispassionate scientists, out of the spotlight, and without the financial angle and the incentive to produce results that investors expect.
When I see a project being promoted by a list of famous, influential investors, instead of the refereed results of extensive and carefully controlled clinical trials, I'm reminded how often this sort of project conceals more than it reveals:
http://www.nature.com/news/over-half-of-psychology-studies-fail-reproducibility-test-1.18248 http://www.nature.com/news/over-half-of-psychology-studies-f...
Let's all remember that, in science, evidence trumps eminence -- or it should.
- niels_olson 11y agoYeah, I was just coming here to actually ask people to please not fund this. Not like this. Use Experiment.com.
- hosh 11y agoUnfortunately, there are certain area of science where there are unexamined biases. Stray too close to there, and they are automatically dismissed as crackpot. In science, evidence trumps eminence, unless it is something like cold fusion. If we can measure this "crackpot bias", I am not sure psychedelic research would have as high of a bias as cold fusion, but it might have been closer say, ten or twenty years ago. No one wanted to touch that stuff or could get grants to do such research.
- lutusp 11y ago> If we can measure this "crackpot bias", I am not sure psychedelic research would have as high of a bias as cold fusion ... Yep. For things like cold fusion, wishful thinking reigns, but for anything health-related, desperation reigns. Neither produces any kind of desirable science, the kind that's curious without being passionate for a particular outcome.
- hosh 11y agoI brought up cold fusion as a great example. There are some very interesting research out there that are fighting against this very bias you are demonstrating right now. Is there wishful thinking? Sure, but perhaps not among some of the serious efforts going on. "for anything health-related, desperation reigns" <-- That sounds like a clever, truthful statement, but it's nothing more than a blanket statement that also demonstrates this bias I spoke of. Are there desperate people? Yes, quite a number of them. Is what Tim Ferris doing a result from desperation? I doubt it. Are there people who will unthinkingly fund this because of Tim Ferris's fame? Sure. Are there people who are open-minded though skeptical and curious about what Tim Ferris is doing? Sure. So what's the problem here?