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AlexSchell comments on I've had it with those dark rumours about our culture rigorously suppressing opinions - Less Wrong Discussion

26 Post author: Multiheaded 25 January 2012 05:43PM

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Comment author: AlexSchell 26 January 2012 05:40:06AM 3 points [-]

Which soft sciences do you have in mind? (I'd say "name three" but that would come off as confrontational.)

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 26 January 2012 05:50:28AM 13 points [-]

For example: economics, psychology, sociology, possibly even medicine (see Hason's discussion of it).

Comment author: AlexSchell 26 January 2012 09:10:29PM *  28 points [-]

On any reasonable operational definition of "less entangled with reality than most religions", you are ridiculously wrong in claiming that medicine fits the description, and I think Hanson might agree. (I'm less certain about this with regard to certain subfields like stroke rehabilitation, certain sub-subfields in nutrition, etc., but I'm talking about the weighted accuracy of the sorts of activities that Western MDs perform, that are taught in Western medical schools, etc.)

EDIT: Full disclosure: I'm a pharmacy student, so it would be moderately devastating to my sense of worth if you were right. Still.