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>It's not empirical I'm going to stop you right there and say that evidence is empirical. I'll believe personal experience and observation over some conclusio

>It's not empirical I'm going to stop you right there and say that evidence is empirical. I'll believe personal experience and observation over some conclusion from a published paper that used obscure statistical methods, possibly lied, got paid to publish a pre-determined finding and found a 2% significance of some occurrence of something with some caveats thrown in. The ADA has no interest in preventing or curing diabetes as curing diabetes would end the institution. The AMA isn't interested in getting people healthy and proper treatment because that would eliminate the need of such an organization. The only reason Snickers isn't in the food pyramid is only because people aren't that stupid... yet. http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/idiocracy_foodpyramid_big.jpg http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/idiocracy...

knowtheory 13y ago
You're both wrong and mongering conspiracy theories. Sure, the Academy has its flaws, and there are bad actors who are out there just for fame and money who will lie to enrich themselves. But that's doubly true for the "health food" industry and people who claim to be nutritionists. Humans are terrible at introspection regarding health matters. Absolutely horrible. This is one of the reasons why double-blind test protocols exist. And so, even if you are so paranoid as to think that the American Medical Association is engaged in some mass conspiracy to keep people sick, unless you are also writing off all health care researchers, you've got to admit that there are people who are trying to help people, and help cure disease (which lets face it, we're actually pretty damn good at, all things considered).
rndmize 13y ago
> I'll believe personal experience and observation over some conclusion from a published paper that used obscure statistical methods Then you are in good company. There are many reports of villages complaining about wireless towers causing headaches and other health issues... even when it later turned out the towers were not even active. I read an interview today with Bill Gates, who noted that one of the biggest problems the Gates Foundation has encountered in its efforts to eradicate certain diseases is that 10-20% of the people hear rumors of vaccines being bad and refuse to take them.
zevyoura 13y ago
I'm a bit confused by your statement; are you saying you trust your own experience (sample size: 1) over any published science? That seems fundamentally flawed.
- skylan_q 13y ago
  It only takes one counterexample to nullify a hypothesis. That is the epitome of science. The t-test isn't science in the strictest sense. It's a statistical method which informs us of probabilities and distributions. If I find that eating fruit makes me fatter while a study concludes that it makes people skinnier, do I believe my own experience or the study?

knowtheory 13y ago

You're both wrong and mongering conspiracy theories. Sure, the Academy has its flaws, and there are bad actors who are out there just for fame and money who will lie to enrich themselves. But that's doubly true for the "health food" industry and people who claim to be nutritionists. Humans are terrible at introspection regarding health matters. Absolutely horrible. This is one of the reasons why double-blind test protocols exist. And so, even if you are so paranoid as to think that the American Medical Association is engaged in some mass conspiracy to keep people sick, unless you are also writing off all health care researchers, you've got to admit that there are people who are trying to help people, and help cure disease (which lets face it, we're actually pretty damn good at, all things considered).

rndmize 13y ago

> I'll believe personal experience and observation over some conclusion from a published paper that used obscure statistical methods Then you are in good company. There are many reports of villages complaining about wireless towers causing headaches and other health issues... even when it later turned out the towers were not even active. I read an interview today with Bill Gates, who noted that one of the biggest problems the Gates Foundation has encountered in its efforts to eradicate certain diseases is that 10-20% of the people hear rumors of vaccines being bad and refuse to take them.

zevyoura 13y ago

I'm a bit confused by your statement; are you saying you trust your own experience (sample size: 1) over any published science? That seems fundamentally flawed.

skylan_q 13y ago
It only takes one counterexample to nullify a hypothesis. That is the epitome of science. The t-test isn't science in the strictest sense. It's a statistical method which informs us of probabilities and distributions. If I find that eating fruit makes me fatter while a study concludes that it makes people skinnier, do I believe my own experience or the study?