The previous submission https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5970873 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5970873 received minimal attention from the HN new p

The previous submission https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5970873 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5970873 received minimal attention from the HN new page earlier today. My thought on the overall implications of this article is that the scope of the new era of transparency will be much broader than discussed in the article. Any product or service claim that purports to be based on research may eventually have to be based on TRANSPARENT research, lest consumer fraud be suspected. That would apply as much to "alternative" treatments http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/sense-and-nonsense-about-alternative-medicine-in-usa-today/ http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/sense-and-nonsense-about... as to prescribed treatments ordered by licensed physicians. It would apply to the claims of automobile manufacturers and to the claims of ergonomic keyboard manufacturers. It would apply not just to claims by established big companies, but also to claims by Soylent or DropBox or any other startup that promises benefits from a new product or service. And that would be a good thing, on the whole. If the economy continues to operate on a free-enterprise basis, companies new or old, large or small, might continue to be able to puff their products and services, and consumers continue to be able to buy most that aren't actively harmful. People aren't likely to be required to be rational and evidence-based any time soon. But if consumers decide to only buy drugs, transportation vehicles, foodstuffs, or other products or services that have reasonable evidence demonstrating their safety and effectiveness, that is an exercise of freedom too. I'd be glad to have a lot more data about what data are out there about how well products and services I might pay for actually work. All the startup founders who read Hacker News might well devote some thought to how their business model will develop in a world in which nearly all product and service claims can be tested by independently gathered and analyzed evidence.