I mean a person who holds self-deceptive beliefs that serve as the basis for a moral code of some sort. Church attendance is irrelevant.
I know there are some people who act religious and call themselves religious but aren’t religious at all, but I don’t think that’s the kind of person you were talking about, since such a person couldn’t benefit from the placebo effect. You’re talking about the kind of person who has successfully fooled himself into holding religious beliefs, and yet is still so fully aware that it’s all self-deception that he calls it “a load of garbage”.
There may be real religious believers who would say something like what you’ve written, but I’m certain that it would just be a rationalization for them, a way to hide the ridiculousness of their beliefs behind a veneer of fake instrumental rationality.
Considering I’m currently unemployed and have very little money left in my bank account, I would bet a thousand Canadian dollars that you can’t find a real religious believer who will say those words and honestly mean them.
EDIT:
And if you were talking about people who completely fake being religious, well, in my experience most of them don’t ever admit to themselves that they’re really atheists in their heart of hearts. I suppose there must be exceptions, though.
Relevant article in Wired: Placebos are getting stronger—researchers are starting to study the placebo response to see how it can be better utilized to aid in healing.
I’m guessing that by the word “know” you mean “acknowledge that the evidence is strongly in favor of”, which doesn’t necessarily entail belief, as many religious believers have demonstrated.
If that isn’t what you mean, I have no clue what you’re talking about
No. I mean you can swallow a sugar pill, in full knowledge of, belief in, and acknowledgment-of-evidence-for the fact that it is a sugar pill, and still improve relative to not taking a sugar pill. It’s not obvious to me why psychological “sugar pills” wouldn’t work the same way.
It’s not as strong an effect as taking a sugar pill while thinking it’s a useful drug (or taking an actual useful drug), but it’s sure not nothing. The brain is a complicated thingamajig.
I’m going to have to distance myself from Alicorn on this one. (Surprise, I know.) I think she’s confusing the general meaning of “placebo effect” (any positive effect manifesting in a control case) with the specific meaning (curing of a condition attributable at least in part to believing a treatment to work).
The general meaning of it clearly exists and is mentality-independent. For example, after an oil spill, if you dump oil-eating bugs on one part of the affected area, and not the other (the latter being the control), oil will dissipate even in the control, just by natural processes and not because of the bugs. That’s a placebo effect baseline against which to compare the bugs.
I endorse the stronger claim that the specific kind exists, and withstands conscious non-belief, so long as you use other modes to trick your body/brain into believing it. This shouldn’t be surprising: you behavior is often hard to consciously modify. For example, it’s easier to look confident by having a social group you belong to than by trying to control all the micromovements of muscles necessary to give off confident signals.
If that’s what Alicorn meant, I apologize, she didn’t err, and I agree with her.
Considering I’m currently unemployed and have very little money left in my bank account, I would bet a thousand Canadian dollars that you can’t find a real religious believer who will say those words and honestly mean them.
Okay, see, we’re going in circles here: I’m trying to ask about the existence of someone who knows “it’s all a load of garbage”, heck, maybe even contributes to this very board, but cynically joins a church to get the social benefits.
And then you keep saying, no, such people don’t exist, if you mean people who are also really religious. But that’s the very point under discussion: how many people go through the motions of formal religions for the benefits, say the right applause lights, etc. for the social benefits while holding the conscious belief that there’s no literally God in the sense the people there espouse, etc. ?
And if you were talking about people who completely fake being religious, well, in my experience most of them don’t ever admit to themselves that they’re really atheists in their heart of hearts. I suppose there must be exceptions, though.
I don’t see the difference. If you take the LW rationalist position on God, doesn’t that mean you’re an atheist? So what does it matter if you admit it to yourself. Is there some internal psychological ritual now? If you believe you’re a duck, you’re a duck...self-believer.
Okay, see, we’re going in circles here: I’m trying to ask about the existence of someone who knows “it’s all a load of garbage”, heck, maybe even contributes to this very board, but cynically joins a church to get the social benefits.
All right. I was misled by the fact that your first commend was a reply to Wei Dai, who was talking about real religious people. I thought you believed that (most?) intelligent people who say they’re religious aren’t really religious.
I don’t see the difference. If you take the LW rationalist position on God, doesn’t that mean you’re an atheist? So what does it matter if you admit it to yourself.
It’s the difference between your average forthright atheist and someone like Karen Armstrong, who believes that God “is merely a symbol that points beyond itself to an indescribable transcendence”. If you look past the flowery language she’s no more a theist than Richard Dawkins is. However, she likes to think of herself as a religious believer, so you’ll never get her to admit the true reasons for her profession of belief, no matter how much alcohol she drinks, because she doesn’t even admit it to herself.
All right. I was misled by the fact that your first commend was a reply to Wei Dai, who was talking about real religious people. I thought you believed that (most?) intelligent people who say they’re religious aren’t really religious.
Aren’t religious in the sense of consciously taking it all literally, correct, that’s my position.
It’s the difference between your average forthright atheist and someone like Karen Armstrong, who believes that God “is merely a symbol that points beyond itself to an indescribable transcendence”.
So, let’s see, she gets benefit of approval from the numerous religious groups by saying all of the applause lights, while maintaining rationality about the literal God hypothesis.
Does that count as intelligent or foolish? I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Just to clarify, what do you mean by “religious” here? Do you define it by whether they’re active in a church?
If so, how much money would you bet I can’t find you a counterexample?
I mean a person who holds self-deceptive beliefs that serve as the basis for a moral code of some sort. Church attendance is irrelevant.
I know there are some people who act religious and call themselves religious but aren’t religious at all, but I don’t think that’s the kind of person you were talking about, since such a person couldn’t benefit from the placebo effect. You’re talking about the kind of person who has successfully fooled himself into holding religious beliefs, and yet is still so fully aware that it’s all self-deception that he calls it “a load of garbage”.
There may be real religious believers who would say something like what you’ve written, but I’m certain that it would just be a rationalization for them, a way to hide the ridiculousness of their beliefs behind a veneer of fake instrumental rationality.
Considering I’m currently unemployed and have very little money left in my bank account, I would bet a thousand Canadian dollars that you can’t find a real religious believer who will say those words and honestly mean them.
EDIT:
And if you were talking about people who completely fake being religious, well, in my experience most of them don’t ever admit to themselves that they’re really atheists in their heart of hearts. I suppose there must be exceptions, though.
You can benefit from the placebo effect even if you know you’re taking a placebo.
Relevant article in Wired: Placebos are getting stronger—researchers are starting to study the placebo response to see how it can be better utilized to aid in healing.
I’m guessing that by the word “know” you mean “acknowledge that the evidence is strongly in favor of”, which doesn’t necessarily entail belief, as many religious believers have demonstrated.
If that isn’t what you mean, I have no clue what you’re talking about
No. I mean you can swallow a sugar pill, in full knowledge of, belief in, and acknowledgment-of-evidence-for the fact that it is a sugar pill, and still improve relative to not taking a sugar pill. It’s not obvious to me why psychological “sugar pills” wouldn’t work the same way.
… and belief that sugar pills don’t cure diseases / alleviate symptoms?
I thought the placebo effect had to do with belief.
Yup, that too.
Geez.
It’s not as strong an effect as taking a sugar pill while thinking it’s a useful drug (or taking an actual useful drug), but it’s sure not nothing. The brain is a complicated thingamajig.
I’m going to have to distance myself from Alicorn on this one. (Surprise, I know.) I think she’s confusing the general meaning of “placebo effect” (any positive effect manifesting in a control case) with the specific meaning (curing of a condition attributable at least in part to believing a treatment to work).
The general meaning of it clearly exists and is mentality-independent. For example, after an oil spill, if you dump oil-eating bugs on one part of the affected area, and not the other (the latter being the control), oil will dissipate even in the control, just by natural processes and not because of the bugs. That’s a placebo effect baseline against which to compare the bugs.
I endorse the stronger claim that the specific kind exists, and withstands conscious non-belief, so long as you use other modes to trick your body/brain into believing it. This shouldn’t be surprising: you behavior is often hard to consciously modify. For example, it’s easier to look confident by having a social group you belong to than by trying to control all the micromovements of muscles necessary to give off confident signals.
If that’s what Alicorn meant, I apologize, she didn’t err, and I agree with her.
If we really understood the placebo effect, it wouldn’t be the placebo effect.
Okay, see, we’re going in circles here: I’m trying to ask about the existence of someone who knows “it’s all a load of garbage”, heck, maybe even contributes to this very board, but cynically joins a church to get the social benefits.
And then you keep saying, no, such people don’t exist, if you mean people who are also really religious. But that’s the very point under discussion: how many people go through the motions of formal religions for the benefits, say the right applause lights, etc. for the social benefits while holding the conscious belief that there’s no literally God in the sense the people there espouse, etc. ?
I don’t see the difference. If you take the LW rationalist position on God, doesn’t that mean you’re an atheist? So what does it matter if you admit it to yourself. Is there some internal psychological ritual now? If you believe you’re a duck, you’re a duck...self-believer.
All right. I was misled by the fact that your first commend was a reply to Wei Dai, who was talking about real religious people. I thought you believed that (most?) intelligent people who say they’re religious aren’t really religious.
It’s the difference between your average forthright atheist and someone like Karen Armstrong, who believes that God “is merely a symbol that points beyond itself to an indescribable transcendence”. If you look past the flowery language she’s no more a theist than Richard Dawkins is. However, she likes to think of herself as a religious believer, so you’ll never get her to admit the true reasons for her profession of belief, no matter how much alcohol she drinks, because she doesn’t even admit it to herself.
Aren’t religious in the sense of consciously taking it all literally, correct, that’s my position.
So, let’s see, she gets benefit of approval from the numerous religious groups by saying all of the applause lights, while maintaining rationality about the literal God hypothesis.
Does that count as intelligent or foolish? I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.