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Yes that is right. I make no claims to being a rational being. I am at best pseudo rational. As much as I love computers, I make no claim to being one. I am a h

Yes that is right. I make no claims to being a rational being. I am at best pseudo rational. As much as I love computers, I make no claim to being one. I am a human. And yes, I do also greatly appreciate evidence based medicine. There are many terminal illnesses where there is no evidence that constant screening improves outcomes. My impression is that people successfully market products like this to give people a false sense of control tire through micromanagement where given the state of the art, control is lacking.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
> My impression is that people successfully market products like this to give people a sense of control where given the state of the art, control is lacking. There can be no such evidence for a screening method like this, because it is brand new. We may find that even detection as early as Grail provides is still insufficient, but we don't and can't know yet. Certainly with many cancers earlier detection does lead to better outcomes. You also seem to be focusing on cases where screening has not improved outcomes while ignoring cases where it has.
hans1729 5y ago
That still escapes the main argument: your problem isn't the medicine, your problem is your anxiety. If "this sort of thing would just wreck your day to day existence and destroy your quality of life" (let your own wording sink in), you should work through that exact problem, probably rather sooner than later. Detecting diseases before they actually destroy your life isn't bad, it's good - and so you should perceive it as good. Not because you're a rational acteur, but because it's literally, by definition, in your personal best interest. Take a step back from the panic, just purely observe, and try to see it for what it is: it prevents real suffering - your own very real suffering - and the price to pay is working through imaginary suffering. Getting your blood checked isn't linearly related with fears of death, the exact opposite is the case. Try to see it for what it actually is, instead of intuitively letting panic-mode take over. If your intuition doesn't serve your well-being, proactively go ahead and fix your intuition - you can.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago

> My impression is that people successfully market products like this to give people a sense of control where given the state of the art, control is lacking. There can be no such evidence for a screening method like this, because it is brand new. We may find that even detection as early as Grail provides is still insufficient, but we don't and can't know yet. Certainly with many cancers earlier detection does lead to better outcomes. You also seem to be focusing on cases where screening has not improved outcomes while ignoring cases where it has.

hans1729 5y ago

That still escapes the main argument: your problem isn't the medicine, your problem is your anxiety. If "this sort of thing would just wreck your day to day existence and destroy your quality of life" (let your own wording sink in), you should work through that exact problem, probably rather sooner than later. Detecting diseases before they actually destroy your life isn't bad, it's good - and so you should perceive it as good. Not because you're a rational acteur, but because it's literally, by definition, in your personal best interest. Take a step back from the panic, just purely observe, and try to see it for what it is: it prevents real suffering - your own very real suffering - and the price to pay is working through imaginary suffering. Getting your blood checked isn't linearly related with fears of death, the exact opposite is the case. Try to see it for what it actually is, instead of intuitively letting panic-mode take over. If your intuition doesn't serve your well-being, proactively go ahead and fix your intuition - you can.