I just want to point out that it is impossible to prove a thing doesn’t exist.
However, when things exist we expect certain observations, and we don’t find them that is, in fact, evidence that the thing we are looking for doesn’t exist. It isn’t particularly strong evidence (unless the “thing” absolutely must cause the effect we’re looking for in the experiment). Not finding any effect in these studies really should shake your confidence in the theory quite a lot unless a.) there is already a large body of evidence contradicting these findings (doesn’t sound like there is) or b.) there are some methodological flaws that invalidates the findings in the study (doesn’t sound like there are, just disagreement with the conclusion). More studies would clarify both issues.
In other words, the lack of findings do, in fact, show that there is no such effect. It’s just weak evidence, that’s all. If various experiments are repeated over and over looking for the self-limiting control and never find them, well, we still haven’t proven it doesn’t exist. However, we can be pretty damn sure that it either doesn’t exist or is so insignificant as to be meaningless.
I’m not saying this has happened at all, I haven’t read any of the papers on the subject, I’m just saying your reasoning has a flaw. If you’re really attached to the self-limiting theory for some reason, it could be a case of looking for evidence that allows you to believe in what you want to believe, rather than looking at whether or not the theory has a decent probability of being right and adjusting your views accordingly.
I just want to point out that it is impossible to prove a thing doesn’t exist.
However, when things exist we expect certain observations, and we don’t find them that is, in fact, evidence that the thing we are looking for doesn’t exist. It isn’t particularly strong evidence (unless the “thing” absolutely must cause the effect we’re looking for in the experiment). Not finding any effect in these studies really should shake your confidence in the theory quite a lot unless a.) there is already a large body of evidence contradicting these findings (doesn’t sound like there is) or b.) there are some methodological flaws that invalidates the findings in the study (doesn’t sound like there are, just disagreement with the conclusion). More studies would clarify both issues.
In other words, the lack of findings do, in fact, show that there is no such effect. It’s just weak evidence, that’s all. If various experiments are repeated over and over looking for the self-limiting control and never find them, well, we still haven’t proven it doesn’t exist. However, we can be pretty damn sure that it either doesn’t exist or is so insignificant as to be meaningless.
I’m not saying this has happened at all, I haven’t read any of the papers on the subject, I’m just saying your reasoning has a flaw. If you’re really attached to the self-limiting theory for some reason, it could be a case of looking for evidence that allows you to believe in what you want to believe, rather than looking at whether or not the theory has a decent probability of being right and adjusting your views accordingly.