so amazing when your magic/energy/occult theory just so happens to be perfectly shaped to avoid any empirical testing whatsoever
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Can we run a study on it?
no, because if you don't believe in it won't give you results.
So can we run a study where we see if believers get different results than nonbelievers?
well no, the effects are personal and hard to predict and rely on individual interpretation.
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It's a big red flag for your worldview if the entirety of it lies just beyond the border of empirical testing, it's like pointing to a ring of dirt just beyond where the mop reaches and going "yes, an organic discovery of a natural structure that has nothing to do with the mop"
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If your theory has any impact on the real world at all, then it should be testable! it's in the domain of testability! It might be really hard to figure out a test, and the test might not be perfect, but it's possible. That which can be cleaned by the mop, should be.
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Unclear who you're subtweeting, but the discussion after Tyler's post was about how to run EEG or fMRI studies for this stuff
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One of you needs to convince a Bay Area billionaire pal to spend 10% of their net worth to prove it and change the world twitter.com/TylerAlterman/…
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I didn't see that! was reminiscing on this one hereticon talk and also the discourse with the astrology people
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I think you’d like the book The Awakened Brain, it has lots of scientific findings on the positive impact of having a sense of spirituality
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Problem is when you are observing the result changes.
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The next level is theories that have enough free variables or vagueness that allows them to pass almost any empirical test. Many social science theories fall into this camp.
"Yeah I know my prediction was off, but see this error term that's the only reason why!"
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