Post by uscientist on Jun 8, 2009 23:53:55 GMT -5
www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-schneider/oprah-backlash-in-newswee_b_211673.html
Dear Lee,
Whilst I applaud you for recognizing the rubbish of Jenny, there are errors here. It is true that medicine as you point out, is historically fraught with quackery. But it is science-based medicine that showed this to be the case . This same methodology continues to the present day that is responsible in the advanced in modern medicine.
"The line between courage and dumbness, however, can be slim." True and the same applies to Susan Sommers. However she is not alike with Dr Marshall who performed good science to prove his hypothesis to be true. Sommers has performed no studies that involve the scientific method to examine her claims.
What Oprah does, which is featured in this Time article is to feature people like Sommers and McCarthy, proposing these as "alternative medicine". There is no "alternative medicine", there is only medicine that works.
The "new medicine" you describe has been shown to be a placebo effect. The "breakthroughs" come from rigorous scientific experimentation. As boring as these may be (not involving your "chi" or "zen" or some shaken water (homeopathy)), this is how we will find answers to disease.
The idea that Sommers and others are misunderstood geniuses, is known as the Galileo fallacy.
"...the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."
Dear Lee,
Whilst I applaud you for recognizing the rubbish of Jenny, there are errors here. It is true that medicine as you point out, is historically fraught with quackery. But it is science-based medicine that showed this to be the case . This same methodology continues to the present day that is responsible in the advanced in modern medicine.
"The line between courage and dumbness, however, can be slim." True and the same applies to Susan Sommers. However she is not alike with Dr Marshall who performed good science to prove his hypothesis to be true. Sommers has performed no studies that involve the scientific method to examine her claims.
What Oprah does, which is featured in this Time article is to feature people like Sommers and McCarthy, proposing these as "alternative medicine". There is no "alternative medicine", there is only medicine that works.
The "new medicine" you describe has been shown to be a placebo effect. The "breakthroughs" come from rigorous scientific experimentation. As boring as these may be (not involving your "chi" or "zen" or some shaken water (homeopathy)), this is how we will find answers to disease.
The idea that Sommers and others are misunderstood geniuses, is known as the Galileo fallacy.
"...the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."