Fwd: Re: Skepticism - its uses and abuses

I hit the wrong reply button and replied only to Iain rather than to the list.
As Iain says below, in life you must make decisions based on incomplete
information. So you estimate probabilities and try to maximize the probabilty
of being correct.

--- Iain Strachan <igd.strachan@gmail.com> wrote:

> Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:38:10 +0000
> From: Iain Strachan <igd.strachan@gmail.com>
> To: Bill Hamilton <williamehamiltonjr@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Skepticism - its uses and abuses
>
> Bill,
>
> Your suggestions are very sensible. But I think you meant to post them to
> the list rather than just to me (which is indicated on the address list).
> Please feel free to send the post to the list. (Along with my own reply).
>
> I think when you say "complete skepticism can result in paralysis" it
> depends on what you mean by skepticism. If by that you mean that you reject
> anything for which there is no certain outcome, then I accept that this kind
> of "complete skepticism" indeed "throws the baby out with the bathwater".
> But my form of skepticism involves making a decision when faced with
> uncertain data. And the decision you make means choosing the most probable
> outcome ( in vernacular terms "the best bet"). So you have a choice that is
> (in your best estimation) 60/40 biased in favour of a good outcome, they
> you'll go with it rather than the 40/60 option. Since (by and large) we
> can't see into the future, choice of the "best bet" seems the only logical
> thing to do.
>
> Best wishes,
> Iain.
>
> On 12/14/05, Bill Hamilton <williamehamiltonjr@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > This may be interpreted as slightly off topic, but it's really just the
> > flip side of skepticism. My mother, who has a high school education, has
> > been interested in health foods for years. She used to have us take all
> > kinds of vitamin supplements, snuck wheat germ into pancakes, etc. And she
> > swore by Adele Davis. Back in the 50's, when no one else was speaking up,
> > Adele Davis warned about the harmful effects of saturated fats. She warned
> > about other things too, many of which she turned out to be correct on. Fast
> > forward to the mid 1970's. At a Christian camp I witnessed a discussion
> > between a university nutrition researcher and a health foods advocate, both
> > Christians, which became quite rancorous. Finally, not being able to stand
> > it anymore, I observed that while they had their fun arguing with one
> > another, my health and that of others was at stake. What were we to do?
> The
> > point is that one has to make decisions with incomplete information, and
> > complete skepticism can result in paralysis. But a gullible acceptance of
> > everything some quack tells you is likely to cause harm (Adele Davis is
> > alleged to have died of bone cancer, allegedly brought on by the huge doses
> > of iodine she took)
> >
> > *Iain Strachan <igd.strachan@gmail.com>* wrote:
> >
> > I'm writing on a new topic that I hope will provoke some useful
> > discussion.
> >
> > I'm sure we're all aware as scientists that we always need to evaluate
> > data and theories critically, and to beware of falling into the trap of
> > believing what we want to believe.
> >
> > I'm writing this against the background of the trouble a couple of my
> > Christian friends are in. I'm kind of closely involved having been the
> > "best man" at their wedding. The wife has very bad depression, for which
> > nothing seemed to work, and so as a couple, they sought the help of
> > "alternative medicine" to try and treat her symptoms (some of which are
> > physical). Since then, she has not got better, but has got steadily worse,
> > being convinced, because one of these "alternative" doctors told her so
> that
> > she is sensitive to electric fields, resulting in the fact that she's put
> > herself beyond the help of her friends because she won't come into your
> > house unless you unplug all the electrical appliances at the mains, and she
> > won't walk with you unless you switch your mobile phone off. Everything in
> > my understanding of science tells me that this is all bunk. However, the
> > most helpful websites that support my view come from self-styled
> "Skeptics",
> > notably the best one being http://www.quackwatch.org which does a lot of
> > debunking of alternative medicine (in fact most of the treatments that she
> > has had). However, I find that quackwatch is linked to the so-called
> > "skeptic ring" of internet sites, many of which like to bash Christianity
> > (and not just the creationist kind).
> >
> > This kind of makes me uneasy - one has to be skeptical to a degree about
> > these things, especially when it comes to health matters as there are a lot
> > of people out there who want to make money out of you and will feed you any
> > old pseudo-scientific gobbledegook. But at the same time, it seems to me
> > that skeptics want to blow everything away. Another very useful site is
> > skepdic.com, a Skeptic's dictionary, which has lots of useful stuff about
> > the placebo effect etc. But it also dismisses things like glossalalia
> > (speaking in tongues) as a load of rubbish as well, and I don't know how I
> > feel about that.
> >
> > I guess what I'm saying is why can't one be skeptical but selectively so -
> > the package seems to be that you have to be critical of everything, and
> > corrode away faith and everything else.
> >
> > What do other people think?
> >
> > Iain.
> >
> > --
> > -----------
> > After the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.
> >
> > - Italian Proverb
> > -----------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Bill Hamilton
> > William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
> > 586.986.1474 (work) 248.652.4148 (home) 248.303.8651 (mobile)
> > "...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Shopping
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>
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> -----------
> After the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.
>
> - Italian Proverb
> -----------
>

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
586.986.1474 (work) 248.652.4148 (home) 248.303.8651 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

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Received on Wed Dec 14 22:16:03 2005