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> It provides me with a certain comfort Does the fact that some idea provides comfort have any effect on whether that idea is actually true? If I find the ide

> It provides me with a certain comfort Does the fact that some idea provides comfort have any effect on whether that idea is actually true? If I find the idea comfortable, say, that I will inherit a million bucks next year, does that have any influence on whether I will in fact inherit a million bucks? > I'm not too proud to accept placebo benefits, if that's what this is. But (a) does the possible existence of a placebo effect for some belief actually make the belief true? (b) what have you done, if anything, to ensure that there aren't negative side effects to your possible "placebo treatment" that might outweigh the benefits of the placebo? Analogously to how responsible medical practitioners should not prescribe a placebo if the placebo treatment conflicts with treatment of a more fundamental condition, even if the placebo would have some positive effects.

dctoedt 9y ago
> Does the fact that some idea provides comfort have any effect on whether that idea is actually true? Actually, yes, but not in the sense you might mean: I'm not the least bit comforted by explanations of life that sound nice but also assume facts not in evidence. For example: I take no comfort in the notion — because I've seen no evidence and have no reason to believe — that a divine "being" has a plan for my life; that when I die I'll go to Heaven if I'm good or to Hell if I'm not; etc. > what have you done, if anything, to ensure that there aren't negative side effects to your possible "placebo treatment" that might outweigh the benefits of the placebo? A valid question. The main thing I do is discuss these matters with others — such as you — and try to keep an open mind to new evidence and new insights, in part because I like to know how things really work. (A corollary to the First Commandment is: Face the facts: Live in the world that the (hypothetical) Creator wrought, as opposed to the world we imagine, or wish, existed.) In that vein: I used to be a total agnostic, until our then-rector asked an insightful question about physics that got me thinking and studying for several years, which eventually led to my working around to my present set of conjectures. See generally "Why I Still Call Myself a Christian and an Episcopalian (2005) (self-cite) http://www.questioningchristian.com/2005/05/why_i_call_myse.html http://www.questioningchristian.com/2005/05/why_i_call_myse....

dctoedt 9y ago

> Does the fact that some idea provides comfort have any effect on whether that idea is actually true? Actually, yes, but not in the sense you might mean: I'm not the least bit comforted by explanations of life that sound nice but also assume facts not in evidence. For example: I take no comfort in the notion — because I've seen no evidence and have no reason to believe — that a divine "being" has a plan for my life; that when I die I'll go to Heaven if I'm good or to Hell if I'm not; etc. > what have you done, if anything, to ensure that there aren't negative side effects to your possible "placebo treatment" that might outweigh the benefits of the placebo? A valid question. The main thing I do is discuss these matters with others — such as you — and try to keep an open mind to new evidence and new insights, in part because I like to know how things really work. (A corollary to the First Commandment is: Face the facts: Live in the world that the (hypothetical) Creator wrought, as opposed to the world we imagine, or wish, existed.) In that vein: I used to be a total agnostic, until our then-rector asked an insightful question about physics that got me thinking and studying for several years, which eventually led to my working around to my present set of conjectures. See generally "Why I Still Call Myself a Christian and an Episcopalian (2005) (self-cite) http://www.questioningchristian.com/2005/05/why_i_call_myse.html http://www.questioningchristian.com/2005/05/why_i_call_myse....