I haven't looked properly at the article about placebos, and I doubt this is a very solid analogy, but I'm reminded of an explanation of Löb's Law that I read on Lesser Wrong some years back, which suggested a statement which they argued to be related to the theorem:
>If I believe that (if I believe that this chocolate chip will cure my headache, then this chocolate chip will cure my headache), then I believe that this chocolate chip will cure my headache.
Years later, I'm still trying to wrap my head around assertions like this, but I guess it's the way a significant number of people function.
"over-focus on philosophy [...] which doesn’t follow common-sense morality."
Reminds of Isaac Asimov: "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right."
I haven't looked properly at the article about placebos, and I doubt this is a very solid analogy, but I'm reminded of an explanation of Löb's Law that I read on Lesser Wrong some years back, which suggested a statement which they argued to be related to the theorem:
>If I believe that (if I believe that this chocolate chip will cure my headache, then this chocolate chip will cure my headache), then I believe that this chocolate chip will cure my headache.
Years later, I'm still trying to wrap my head around assertions like this, but I guess it's the way a significant number of people function.