Xachariah comments on Mike Darwin on Steve Jobs's hypocritical stance towards death - Less Wrong

25 Post author: Synaptic 08 October 2011 03:32AM

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Comment author: Xachariah 08 October 2011 12:43:57PM *  24 points [-]

When people ask, "What's the harm in believing in Astrology/Homeopathy/Alternative Medicine/etc" or "What good is rationality", remember this as an example. Steve Jobs died because he did not make rational choices and because he trusted in sham science.

It's easy for people to brush off numbers from some websites by saying they're inaccurate. But a single example can stick in their minds. I hope that his death can serve to ward others away from such dangerous practices. I hope that the next time someone thinks about abandoning rational decisionmaking, especially in the health field, they remember this lesson paid for in blood: One of the richest and most beloved CEOs in the world died because of alternative medicine. The same thing can easily happen to you if you do the same.

I hope his memory can still contribute to the world by sparing others of the same fate.

Comment author: James_Miller 08 October 2011 05:02:22PM 1 point [-]

Are you sure this is right? Hasn't Robin Hanson taught us that we can't always trust the medical profession's claims about how useful the medical profession is.

Comment author: lessdazed 08 October 2011 07:52:57PM *  11 points [-]

we can't always trust the medical profession's claims about how useful the medical profession is.

One thing that's much more trustworthy than average is the claim: "Early detected disease X? We can totally fix that!" It's a falsifiable claim.

Claims that are deeply tied to statistics, statistical significance, fuzzy definitions, subtle effects, or other things are more likely to be the wrong ones.