[tpoacher]

Hah. You remind me of almost every other intervention in medicine.

I remember e.g. when heart failure was treated with beta-agonists (every doctor at lectures: "It makes sense! The heart is struggling, so we give it a boost!").

Then they did some studies and found that while the heart output increased, people were dying faster. So they decided to do the exact opposite and switch to beta-blockers (every doctor at lectures: "It makes sense! A dimmer candle burns for longer!").

Then they found out beta-blockers made things worse too. I have no idea what they do nowadays, but I'm sure doctors still have a rationalisation-by-analogy explanation for it, whatever that is.

[kazinator]

No rationalization or failed hypotheses here; I'm describing what I tried and what actually happened.

[tpoacher]

Yes, absolutely! Sorry I didn't mean to imply there was rationalization at play in your case. I just made the mental link with doctors supporting one hypothesis thinking it all makes perfect sense, and then you find out actually the exact opposite is the actual solution, and it typically also makes perfect sense.