• Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        6·
        11 hours ago

        Triple twist: They’re all just cartoon drawings, and we’re the research subjects.

        & we don’t get to see the psych researchers.

        • ContriteErudite@lemmy.world
          3·
          11 hours ago

          This thread reminds me of an Asimov short story where someone discovers that humor is just a vehicle for psychological experimentation being done on humans by an extraterrestrial intelligence. Now that humans know where jokes come from, it’s no longer a useful tool to the observers and is removed from the testing environment…

          “The gift of humor is gone,” said Trask drearily. “No man
          will ever laugh again.”
          And they remained there, staring, feeling the world shrink
          down to the dimensions of an experimental rat cage—with
          the maze removed and something, something about to be put in its place.

          http://blog.ac-versailles.fr/villaroylit/public/Jokester.pdf

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
    302·
    22 hours ago

    Sometimes I think about the opposite where a patient is given placebo and then is cured. Imagine living the rest of your life knowing for certain that your body could cure whatever ailment it’s going through but it’s like naaah

    Would legit drive people to deep spiritualism if not religion.

    • MyCatIsDumb@lemmy.worldOP
      20·
      16 hours ago

      Well, not if they understand how double-blind studies work and can distinguish causality from correlation. People constantly get sick and get better without medication. The aim of such studies is to find out whether the medication performs better than no medication. In other words, the aim is to rule out the coincidence that illnesses often get better without treatment.

      Of course, this does not mean that your body can cure “whatever ailment.” Self-healing, chance and coincidence do exist. There is no reason to become religious over it.

      • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        16 hours ago

        Yeah, I’m very well aware how double blind works and my point is exactly related to your 2nd paragraph. Be it coincidence or actual real placebo caused healing (which happens) it would be a major perspective trauma and it definitely happens!

        Personally I do think that mental states absolutely impact biology through many invisible forces like hormone production and behavior. So getting a placebo and believing that it works can stimulate specific hormone production or healthy behaviors like going for a jog which ends up legit healing the person. It’s easy to see how this could lead someone to a more spiritual or religious point of view because in this experience something like “faith” is legitimately healing them tho not in the way they think.

        • CXORA@aussie.zoneEnglish
          2·
          13 hours ago

          Mental states are biology. That there can be broader impact on the rest of our body is hardly surprising.