>The placebo
>effect is real and beneficial-- that's been scientifically
>proven, and is not a subject for skepticism.
_Of course_ it remains a subject for skepticism, and further study of all types. What tripe....
>And yet it's not
>available to complete practicing skeptics as a therapy, either on
>one side of the doctor's desk or the other. Another conundrum.
The magic of the placebo effect is that the reciever _has no idea it is not a medicine_, and unless one's skepticism is genetic, no-one is that immune. Yes, no skeptic will accept a medicine from a witch-doctor, for instance, but, also, part of the conundrum is, who _is_ the witch-doctor in a specific culture?
Memetics should never be part of a placebo effect.
but of human obligation." - John Fowles
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Wade T. Smith --- morbius@channel1.com