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by googlemike 2534 days ago
Please provide scientific proof in the form of peer reviewed research or delete your comment. There is no room for these kinds of wild and ridiculous statements without proof.
1 comments

> Please provide scientific proof in the form of peer reviewed research or delete your comment.

I want to caution against this kind of gatekeeping on a forum like Hacker News.

We all adore the scientific method; nobody wants to dispute its worth and value to the species.

However,

1) As we've seen again and again in a wide array of fields, many of the systems of peer-review have failed to guarantee (or in some cases even provide reasonable assurance) that the results are robust and true. There is an ongoing replicability crisis in a number of fields, including health-related fields.

2) There is still value in logical assertions made without scientific proof; there is nothing wrong with taking personal observation and applying inductive reasoning as part of the toolchain of decision making.

> There is no room for these kinds of wild and ridiculous statements without proof.

I don't find anything wild or ridiculous inherent in the suggestion that the human body is capable of basic self-maintenance, nor that exposure to pathogens or other undesirables is a causal factor in the building of immunity and other defenses.

People can point to epistemology all they want, but from a practical perspective bunk is bunk and if you insist on rigorously refuting every crackpot you come across, your community will be overloaded by bunk.