Posted in Government, Health, Science on Feb 22nd, 2010
Despite some £4m a year being spent on homeopathy, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said today that using public money on the highly diluted remedies could not be justified. The cross-party group said there was no evidence beyond a placebo effect, when a patient gets better because of their belief that the treatment [...]
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Posted in Health, Human Rights, Morality, Science on Dec 9th, 2009
The Merseyside Skeptics Society have produced the following open letter which I re-publish below in full:
An Open Letter to Alliance Boots
The Boots brand is synonymous with health care in the United Kingdom. Your website speaks proudly about your role as a health care provider and your commitment to deliver exceptional patient care. For many people, [...]
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Posted in Existential, Faith, Psychology, Religion on Mar 14th, 2008
There were two stories yesterday illustrating both the power of self-delusion and the potential costs.
I have written elsewhere about the human ability to go to extraordinary and illogical lengths to create meaning (see Nessie, God, and the Creation of Meaning). In many cases it could be argued that this harms no-one, although I would [...]
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