LESSWRONG
LW

All of reg's Comments + Replies

Practical Advice Backed By Deep Theories
reg40

ok, but it's still merely a 'just-so' story with no worthwhile evidence behind it.

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Practical Advice Backed By Deep Theories
reg20

"Roberts knew the experimental science that let him interpret what he was seeing, in terms of deep factors that actually did exist."

As these the same kinds of deep factors that show that watching talking heads on TV in the morning will cure insomnia because "Anthropological research suggests that early humans had lots of face-to-face contact every morning "? - Roberts' solution for insomnia as described in NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/11FREAK.html

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0HCE
watching life-sized talking heads in the morning is roberts' way of lifting his spirits, not his cure for insomnia.
The Unfinished Mystery of the Shangri-La Diet
reg160

So you have a theory personally developed and promoted by an enthusiastic individual, a whole slew of positival anecdotal evidence, but no actual proper experimental verification. Sound much like - ooh any complementary or alternative medical treatment you'd care to mention? Are you sure you're being fully rational here?

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6johnlawrenceaspden
A difference is the considerable rat-based theoretical/experimental justification for why it should work. Seth Roberts claims that he came up with the theory first and then invented the diet, which he then found to work for him. Most alternative medicines/practices have clearly insane theory behind them. I don't know anything about nutrition, so I can't tell you whether it makes sense or not, but I can spot most pseudoscience a mile off. That was enough to raise it out of the background lunacy. So I tried it and it seems to work for me. I couldn't agree more that a proper test is needed!
1mytyde
And if this sort of evidence can be overlooked/ignored for large clinical trials, what other sorts of partially or totally valid alternative treatments might be receiving similar improper treatment?