Medicare to pay for some acupuncture

[Mopsus]

Nice. I don’t know a lot about acupuncture specifically, but I’m inclined to think it’s reputable, as the ancients didn’t have the luxury of a professional scientific class, and thus couldn’t afford to believe in things that didn’t actually work.

[Mopsus]

Nice. I don’t know a lot about acupuncture specifically, but I’m inclined to think it’s reputable, as the ancients didn’t have the luxury of a professional scientific class, and thus couldn’t afford to believe in things that didn’t actually work.

are you really arguing that acupuncture probably works because there wasn't science 2000 years ago?

Sure. Why would people do the same thing for 2000 years unless it worked?

[Mopsus]

Nice. I don’t know a lot about acupuncture specifically, but I’m inclined to think it’s reputable, as the ancients didn’t have the luxury of a professional scientific class, and thus couldn’t afford to believe in things that didn’t actually work.

are you really arguing that acupuncture probably works because there wasn't science 2000 years ago?

Sure. Why would people do the same thing for 2000 years unless it worked?

I don't know, but it doesn't work as science has shown.  Like most everything else in "eastern medicine", it's old and doesn't work.  If it worked, the rest of us would have been using it for hundreds of years like we have with other, good ideas, that came out of the same part of the world (printing press and gunpowder to name two obvious ones).


I didn't know we were so anti-science here.

The point is, you don't know if acupuncture works: you don't have any personal experience with it. But Science says it doesn't work, so even when other people do have positive personal experiences with the practice, you're obligated to dismiss their experience out of hand. Our predecessors didn't have the luxury of such a bias. They had to do what worked.

[Mopsus]

Some people have "positive personal experiences" with lots of stupid sh**t that doesn't work.  Do you think that argument works for astrology?  Or copper bracelets?  Or essential oils?  Or ear candaling?  There is a never ending list of things people have a "positive personal experience" with that are total bunk.

And if those things weren't bunk, you wouldn't admit it

[Mopsus]

Nice. I don’t know a lot about acupuncture specifically, but I’m inclined to think it’s reputable, as the ancients didn’t have the luxury of a professional scientific class, and thus couldn’t afford to believe in things that didn’t actually work.

are you really arguing that acupuncture probably works because there wasn't science 2000 years ago?

Sure. Why would people do the same thing for 2000 years unless it worked?

There's a circumcision or religion quip to be had here.

If those things get enough of a reaction out of you to cause you to make a joke, then they're still doing their job.

[Mopsus]

Two different strains of right-wing imbecility in this thread: the Penn & Teller-style libertarian positivist and the social collectivist woomeister. Far from being opposed however, the former enables and empowers the latter (as when the "libertarian moment" of 2010-11 bled over into Trumpism).

Hi, Einzige.

[Mopsus]

Nice. I don’t know a lot about acupuncture specifically, but I’m inclined to think it’s reputable, as the ancients didn’t have the luxury of a professional scientific class, and thus couldn’t afford to believe in things that didn’t actually work.

are you really arguing that acupuncture probably works because there wasn't science 2000 years ago?

Sure. Why would people do the same thing for 2000 years unless it worked?

There's a circumcision or religion quip to be had here.

If those things get enough of a reaction out of you to cause you to make a joke, then they're still doing their job.

People worship deities and remove foreskin to own the libs?

The outward signs of faith are outward for a reason.