Comments on: Twisted Skepticism (continued) http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:22:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Stephen M (Ethesis) http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139861 Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:47:33 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139861 I'd add that trials in Europe determined that there were much better positions for childbirth than the standard one in America -- more than thirty years ago. OBs, for the most part, stick with what is most convenient for them. /Sigh I’d add that trials in Europe determined that there were much better positions for childbirth than the standard one in America — more than thirty years ago.

OBs, for the most part, stick with what is most convenient for them. /Sigh

]]> by: Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » Stoplights, Experimental Design, Evidence-Based Medicine, and the Downside of Correctness http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139632 Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:01:27 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139632 [...] Twisted Skepticism (continued) [...] […] Twisted Skepticism (continued) […]

]]> by: Charles http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139590 Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:39:11 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139590 There's a fundamental difference between the way individual people learn and the way public policies are determined. People learn only through self-experimentation, in which a healthy skepticism is necessary. But if there is too much rigidity in that skepticism, novelty is discarded as anecdote, rather than clue. I think we can learn much from a scientific approach, but not necessarily by accepting the conclusions of scientific investigations as gospel, but rather seeing those conclusions as more data points. And the conventions of the scientific method do yield data points that have a unique, though not exclusive value. I think nutritional data are particularly affected by the fact that we are much more biochemically unique than Nutritional Science posits and assumes. So generalizing investigations of nutrition to larger critiques of science in general is dicey. I've been involved in this kind of nutritional self-experimentation for decades, so I've thought a lot about this. Coherence still escapes me, however. There’s a fundamental difference between the way individual people learn and the way public policies are determined.

People learn only through self-experimentation, in which a healthy skepticism is necessary. But if there is too much rigidity in that skepticism, novelty is discarded as anecdote, rather than clue.

I think we can learn much from a scientific approach, but not necessarily by accepting the conclusions of scientific investigations as gospel, but rather seeing those conclusions as more data points. And the conventions of the scientific method do yield data points that have a unique, though not exclusive value.

I think nutritional data are particularly affected by the fact that we are much more biochemically unique than Nutritional Science posits and assumes. So generalizing investigations of nutrition to larger critiques of science in general is dicey.

I’ve been involved in this kind of nutritional self-experimentation for decades, so I’ve thought a lot about this. Coherence still escapes me, however.

]]> by: Is there an Engineering approach to medicine? « Entertaining Research http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139561 Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:48:04 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-139561 [...] Atul Gawande, in a must-read piece in New Yorker, titled The score: how childbirth went industrial; via Seth. [...] […] Atul Gawande, in a must-read piece in New Yorker, titled The score: how childbirth went industrial; via Seth. […]

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-138801 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:03:25 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-138801 Interesting question. When I interviewed Taubes, he spoke of the importance of skepticism. But since his book was full of data I think by skepticism he meant "value data" (e.g., look at data) rather than "ignore data". I'm not sure, though. Interesting question. When I interviewed Taubes, he spoke of the importance of skepticism. But since his book was full of data I think by skepticism he meant “value data” (e.g., look at data) rather than “ignore data”. I’m not sure, though.

]]> by: Aaron Blaisdell http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-138784 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:17:57 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2008/03/14/twisted-skepticism-continued/#comment-138784 But wasn't Gary's book, Good calories, bad calories, a critique of the problem with NOT using rigorous scientific methods and practices to promote nutritional policy? But wasn’t Gary’s book, Good calories, bad calories, a critique of the problem with NOT using rigorous scientific methods and practices to promote nutritional policy?

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