The 3 rules of anti-woo™
1) Scientific papers > personal experience > second-hand experience
2) Symptoms over syndromes
3) Explainable mechanism
2) Symptoms over syndromes
3) Explainable mechanism
Rule 1: scientific papers above all
I am not going to pretend that scientific papers are the be-all and end-all, but they serve as the best heuristic to figure out which information corresponds to reality. This is true by definition because information that maps onto reality ought to be testable, and the information that is published in a scientific journal has been subject to valid and reliable testing.
Coming in at a distant second is personal experience. If I can get a repeatable result for myself, I can say definitively that it is something that had an effect for me. I cannot make claims about the same effect for you. It does, however, raise the Bayesian inference of the probability that a certain substance X has a certain effect Y on you.
Finally, if I am told that a certain substance X has effect Y on you, I cannot recommend that substance with very much confidence. That is why I will try to work quickly to move as many things from the second-hand evidence bucket into the first-hand experience bucket.
Please forgive me if it takes a while to get to Ayahuasca. I'm working up to it.
Coming in at a distant second is personal experience. If I can get a repeatable result for myself, I can say definitively that it is something that had an effect for me. I cannot make claims about the same effect for you. It does, however, raise the Bayesian inference of the probability that a certain substance X has a certain effect Y on you.
Finally, if I am told that a certain substance X has effect Y on you, I cannot recommend that substance with very much confidence. That is why I will try to work quickly to move as many things from the second-hand evidence bucket into the first-hand experience bucket.
Please forgive me if it takes a while to get to Ayahuasca. I'm working up to it.
Rule 2: symptoms over syndromes
In medicine, every diagnosis can be broken down into two categories: diseases (or disorders) and syndromes. Diseases and syndromes are similar in that they are constellations of symptoms, lab values, or imaging findings that are well-defined and discrete. The main difference between diseases and syndromes is our understanding of their mechanism. Diseases typically have well-described mechanisms; syndromes are a bit more nebulous. This makes the diagnosis of a syndrome more of a challenge, which makes their treatment more of a challenge, too.
I am making it my explicit goal to target symptoms over syndromes. I feel strongly that the best way to sift the effective plant medicines from the snake oils starts with identifying a clear cause and effect. By starting with a symptom rather than a syndrome (e.g., insomnia rather than depression), I hope to be able to better triangulate cause and effect, and thus explain why a medicine is effective. Where possible, I will focus on a specific symptom over a syndrome.
I am making it my explicit goal to target symptoms over syndromes. I feel strongly that the best way to sift the effective plant medicines from the snake oils starts with identifying a clear cause and effect. By starting with a symptom rather than a syndrome (e.g., insomnia rather than depression), I hope to be able to better triangulate cause and effect, and thus explain why a medicine is effective. Where possible, I will focus on a specific symptom over a syndrome.
Rule 3: Explainable mechanism
how can we help?
We have a team of highly trained members ready to help. From picking out the
perfect watch to updating your account details. Our team is here for you.
perfect watch to updating your account details. Our team is here for you.
|
|
|