# data[].attributes.headline
Post 10 - Critical Thinking Process Responses

# data[].attributes.subject
Post 10 - Critical Thinking Process Responses

# data[].attributes.body
I chose to evaluate my post #2 which covers the video: 'Inside a Flat Earth convention, where nearly everyone believes Earth isn't round'

Define the Problem: Is the Earth really flat?

Gather Information: The video follows an interviewer going around a 'Flat Earth Convention' asking attendees their thoughts and opinions on the matter of the Earth being flat as they argue phenomena that would prove otherwise cannot be properly observed.

Evaluate Evidence: The subjects interviewed do not bring forth any concrete evidence in favor of a flat Earth theory and instead commit to discrediting the most common evidence surrounding a round earth. Their counterarguments ignore the physical evidence behind these points such as satellite imagery and tidal patterns, to instead form a counter argument through verbosity alone stating these are not reputable evidence.

Recognize Assumptions, Emotions, and Biases: I think the most important thing to note is that this video takes place in a flat-earth convention where it is highly likely that everyone in attendance has a strong bias towards the flat-earth theory that the event is promoting. This bias can be enough to skew opinion-based data and cause people to have more emotion-driven results than to adopt skepticism and critical thinking when faced with opposing opinions.

Synthesize Evidence, Identify Alternatives:
Alternative #1: The earth is flat, as supported by former historical maps and records and distrust towards the evidence proposing a round earth

Alternative #2: The Earth is round as supported by satellite imagery, devices, debris currently in our orbit, tidal patterns, and gravitational forces along with various studies that follow the scientific method and process.

Select the Best Alternative:
I conclude that the Earth is round.

# data[].attributes.body
Made by Justin Collier (working individually)

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: The red flag of 'proof by verbosity' involves using complex phrasing and long-drawn-out arguments in an attempt to intimidate listeners into believing your ideas regardless of if they are right or wrong scientifically.

Connection: While this video actually contains multiple red flags, it most notably demonstrates proof by verbosity multiple times. Most of the people interviewed in the video boldly state their claim of the Earth being flat and structure their points in a manner that makes them sound like they should be common sense to those listening. When all of the fluff and filler are removed however you are left without any real points being made and a sheer abundance of the scientific method being applied and demonstrated in their arguments. They ironically mention themselves as 'skeptics' in the video, but don't demonstrate any sense of critical thinking or skepticism within their own theories and are very dismissive towards the commonly accepted fact of our Earth being round, with one man just brushing it off and saying: 'this ain't it" while holding up a round globe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inside a Flat Earth convention, where nearly everyone believes Earth isn't round

# data[].attributes.headline
Post 7 - Reason for Belief: Unexplained (Article)

# data[].attributes.subject
Post 7 - Reason for Belief: Unexplained (Article)

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: Sometimes our modern tools and technology cannot currently provide an explanation or reason behind a phenomenon and it is deemed to be 'unexplained' giving rise to those who seek belief in such a phenomenon due to its mystical nature.

Connection: The placebo effect is a phenomenon that involves someone's medical symptoms being lessened or cured through the power of suggestion. This typically involves a flavorless sugar pill that is passed off by a medical authority figure as a treatment for one's illness. A Pseudoscience watchlist connection would be: 'convinces by faith and belief' as there is no real scientific explanation or evidence as to why one's symptoms are being eased through this form of treatment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The placebo effect is a mysterious phenomenon that happens when someone's medical symptoms are lessened through the power of suggestion and expectation - for instance if someone's illness improves after taking a "medicine" known to be ineffective.

We don't know how it happens, but it can be seen in many different conditions, including chronic pain, nausea, high blood pressure and immune disorders, and can be triggered by pills, injections, surgery, or even just an authority figure predicting that a medical treatment will help. It is an impressive demonstration of the power of mind over matter.

Careful experiments have shown that the power of the placebo effect depends on surprising factors like the appearance of the tablets and the doctor's bedside manner. Coloured pills work better than white ones; injections and more-expensive-looking products are also more potent. People can experience the placebo effect even when they are told the tablets they are taking contain no medicine, sometimes called honest or open-label placebos.

The placebo effect has long been exploited in a minor way by canny doctors or parents nursing sick children. But its importance has grown in medical research, as scientists realised it was essential not to be misled by the placebo response when measuring the efficacy of new drugs.

In rigorous clinical trials, half the participants get the real medicine, while the rest get fake treatments in the form of sugar pills that look and taste the same - these should invoke the same placebo effect, but not the drug's biological effect. Trials of new operating techniques should - but don't always - use a placebo surgery arm, where an incision is made but nothing else happens, to fool the patient into thinking they have had the procedure.

The placebo effect may be why so many people are convinced they recovered by taking alternative therapies, like homeopathy or herbal medicines, despite these being unlikely to really work. Some argue we should use them anyway, as the mechanism is irrelevant as long as they work - however, for most people receiving a placebo, the effect is small and inconsistent.

One study found that any cognitive boost from illicit use of stimulant medicines such as Adderall is mainly down to the placebo effect. The drugs are designed to improve concentration in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but some people without ADHD also use them in an attempt to boost their focus.

What is the nocebo effect?

The nocebo effect could be seen as the evil twin of the placebo effect: instead of thinking yourself well, you are thinking yourself ill - although not deliberately or even necessarily consciously. At its extreme, the nocebo effect may explain why people have died after having a voodoo curse placed on them - as long as they are voodoo believers, of course.

Clinical drug trials must also carefully account for the nocebo effect, to make sure we don't think new drugs have worse side effects than they really do.

Another term for the effects of thinking ourselves ill is psychosomatic symptoms. These can mimic the effects of every condition known to medicine. Most research has been done on this phenomenon in neurology, the medical specialty concerned with the brain and the rest of the nervous system. An estimated one in six hospital appointments in neurology are for people with psychosomatic symptoms. They can take the form of tremors, paralysis, seizures, even blindness.

But doctors need to be careful before concluding that anyone's symptoms are psychosomatic as there are numerous cases where they have done so and the real explanation turned out to be different.

What causes the placebo effect?

There may be several different mechanisms at work behind the placebo and nocebo effects in different contexts. It isn't so surprising that for medical symptoms with a subjective component, like depression, anxiety and fatigue, a person's expectation that they will improve or worsen can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We have also discovered in recent years that the intensity of any pain experienced isn't determined solely by the amount of injury to the body. Unconscious processing in areas of the brain can amplify or dampen the incoming pain signals, as can be seen in brain scanners. So the expectation that a medicine provides pain relief could change how incoming nerve signals are processed - an effect known as placebo analgesia.

Expectations can also change the immune response. If rats are given a sweet-tasting drink laced with a drug that suppresses their immune system multiple times, and are then given just the sweet drink, their immune system reacts as if the drug had been administered too. This process, known as immune conditioning, is being investigated as a way to reduce the dose of immune-suppressing drugs needed for people with diseases where their immune system attacks parts of their own body, like rheumatoid arthritis.

The placebo effect could also simply be the removal of a pre-existing nocebo effect. Psychosomatic processes don't happen only in people who were well to begin with; they may also worsen people's experiences of existing symptoms with a known medical cause. A placebo medical intervention could remove this psychosomatic overlay, leaving people with only the medical component of their disease, resulting in symptoms lessening.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The placebo effect is a mysterious phenomenon that happens when someone's medical symptoms are lessened through the power of suggestion and expectation - for instance if someone's illness improves after taking a "medicine" known to be ineffective.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post 8 - Reason for Belief: Patternicity (Article)

# data[].attributes.subject
Post 8 - Reason for Belief: Patternicity (Article)

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: Our brains have evolved to see and handle patterns through our various senses and through this it is easy for us to give meaning and form to things that aren't truly present.

Connection: An interesting statement in this article was how a form of patternicity was Paranormalists hearing the voices of the dead speaking to them through radio receivers when investigating cases of the paranormal. I thought this actually tied in well with the Pseudoscience Watchlist Connection: 'often appeals to emotion' for the sole reason that in my own personal experience watching ghost hunter shows they tend to create a lot of emotional buildup and tension to these moments which makes you more vulnerable to hearing something meaningful in the jumbled and static-filled sounds their receivers pick up vs just being played an audio clip and asking if you heard anything from it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Post 9 - Reason for Belief: Agenticity (Article)

# data[].attributes.subject
Post 9 - Reason for Belief: Agenticity (Article)

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: Agenticity occurs when one's beliefs and ideals are given meaning through invisible entities such as gods or spirits with no physical proof or form.

Connection: Mediumship is a psychic practice in which it is believed that the medium can take on foreign energy or spirits into oneself to understand past, present, or even future events. This could be simplified into the pop-culture definition we have of 'spiritual possession' and relates to agenticity through a foreign and invisible entity giving meaning to the mediums' claims and revelations. This connects to the Pseudoscience Watchlist through: 'convinces by faith and belief (in spite of evidence)' as it relies solely on spiritual beings being present to support its claims.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Another important distinction is that while psychic readings often focus on predicting future events, mediums primarily tune into past and present issues. It's my opinion that predicting the future, while sometimes helpful, runs the risk of disempowering people. Always remember that you do have a say in how your future unfolds. Despite what any psychic or medium may "see" in your future, it is important to remember you were given the gift of free will when you came into this world, and at any moment in time you can absolutely redirect your course and create the life you want by changing your thoughts and actions. Psychic information is often just insight into what potentially could happen based on the road you are currently traveling-and it should be used only as a guideline to help you make the best choices for yourself.

Just as in any profession, mediums have specialties and areas of expertise. Unlike Allison Dubois in Medium, I don't work with the police in solving crimes. Or, unlike Melinda Gordon in The Ghost Whisperer, I don't help tormented souls cross over. Over the years, it has become very clear that my job lies in working with souls who have happily crossed over to the other side and, for the most part, are at peace. Sure, they may have regrets or unresolved issues, but they're not haunted or lost. Oftentimes, it's the living that are not at peace. The main goal of your deceased loved ones and spirit guides is to assist you in moving on, free of grief and struggle, so you can fulfill your life lessons and enjoy your time here on earth.

Some people ask if I, much like a doctor, chose this specialty as my service. On a basic human level, the answer is no...it chose me. On a soul level, though, I am certain this is what I signed up to do in this lifetime. My responsibility lies in simply acknowledging my "gift" and what comes naturally for me, and embracing the calling to serve as a messenger for Spirit.

From time to time, it may be helpful to seek out the counsel of someone objective for guidance or connection with spirit, and/or to gain a clearer read on your life. If a psychic, medium or any other intuitive healer speaks to you, I encourage you to set your intentions and then simply let go and go with the flow. Spirit will guide you as to who and what is in your highest and best good in that moment. Also, please remember that no one knows you better than yourself, and no one has a closer connection with your deceased loved ones and spiritual guides than you do. By learning to go within, listen to and trust your own inner voice, you gain access to everything you'll ever need to know. And what could be better than that?

Rebecca Rosen has served as a bridge between this world and those who have crossed over to the other side for the past 10 years. Her work has led to many guest appearances, including Entertainment Tonight, The Rachael Ray Show and Nightline, and her first book, Spirited: Connect to the Guides All Around You (HarperCollins). Due to the high and growing demand for spiritual truth, she has committed herself fulltime to serving as a medium and also educates thousands of people around the country with her seminars, lectures and workshops. Learn more about Rosen by visiting her website.

Keep Reading:
How Rebecca Rosen connected with the other side
A call from beyond
The power of your intuition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
oprah spirit inspiration rebecca rosen psychic medium mediumship intuition intuitive guidance other side talk dead afterlife future past death ghost present presence distinction job profession clair senses clairvoyance clairsentient clairaudient claircogn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Another important distinction is that while psychic readings often focus on predicting future events, mediums primarily tune into past and present issues. It's my opinion that predicting the future, while sometimes helpful, runs the risk of disempowering people. Always remember that you do have a say in how your future unfolds.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: The red flag of something being 'All Natural' involves relying on a product's natural origins instead of the actual benefits or proven effects it may provide.

Connection: This article covers the more recent trend of using charcoal hygiene products, more specifically charcoal toothpaste, to whiten one's teeth in a natural and healthy way. The article goes on to mention how charcoal is a very effective and natural purifying agent that has many uses in modern medicine but however does not have any proven use for the whitening of one's teeth. Charcoal toothpaste is typically advised as being a natural alternative to traditional toothpaste with its harsh chemicals, but an interview with a dental professional within the article states that by skipping out on traditional toothpaste you are missing out on the recommended doses of fluoride that your teeth need to stay strong and protected from plaque and cavities. The lack of skepticism toward this trend has given Charcoal toothpaste and other similar products a lot of momentum on social media platforms and has likely caused a number of dental-health-related deficiencies in those who were swept away by the grand claims of teeth whitening magic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You brush your teeth and floss on the reg. You've tried everything from the latest toothpaste to whitening strips, gels, and trays but nothing seems to give you that 100-watt smile. So what's the best way to get gleaming pearly whites?

According to Pinterest and YouTube, the path to whiter teeth is covered in a pitch-black paste. Bloggers and vloggers claim that brushing with activated charcoal is an all-natural way to remove surface stains caused by coffee, tea, or red wine without bleach or abrasives. To prove it, they're flaunting soot-covered teeth straight out of a horror movie. The result? Fluorescent white teeth after as few as one use, proponents say.

While you may have used charcoal in your skincare and juice routine (see the pros and cons of ingesting it here), should you replace your toothpaste with the powdery black substance? We checked in with dental professionals to find out whether activated charcoal is a safe and effective way to whiten your teeth-or if it will just leave your mouth full of dust.
Activated Charcoal: The Whitening Promise
"Activated charcoal has been used for many things. It's a purifying agent that absorbs impurities," says Dr. Mark Wolff, DDS, Professor and Chair of the Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care at the New York University College of Dentistry. While you'll find activated charcoal in air filters, traditionally, hospitals and poison control centers use it to treat accidental poisoning or a drug overdose. Unlike the bricks you use for your backyard barbecue, activated charcoal's enormous surface area is dotted with the numerous nooks and crannies that draw in and trap toxic substances in your gut like a sponge, preventing them from being absorbed by the body by approximately 47 percent. The bad stuff is then carried out with your next bowel movement.
Related: How to Do a Sugar Detox (Without Going Crazy)
More recently, though, the superfine powder has made its way to the health and beauty market, popping up in everything from face masks to cleaners to detox regimens. And the latest body part to get the black magic treatment is your smile. After all, if activated charcoal can remove toxins from our body and skin, can't it remove those pesky stains from your teeth and get them squeaky clean?
Is Black the New White?
Proponents say yes. And the prescription is simple: First, break open capsules of activated charcoal, mix the powder with water, then brush the thick black paste directly onto your teeth. Others recommend swishing the powder around in your mouth or using a special toothpaste containing charcoal. After three to five minutes, rinse away the charcoal (and stains) and voilà! Whiter teeth. In theory, at least...

Your teeth may become discolored due to a variety of factors from poor dental hygiene to the food you eat to just getting older. "If you eat a blueberry, it could stain it blue," says Dr. Wolff. "Those are the types of stains that they think if you brush with charcoal, you can clean off."

But Minneapolis-based dentist and spokesperson for the American Dental Association Dr. Kim Harms, DDS, says to hold off. "There's no evidence at all that activated charcoal does any good for your teeth," says Dr. Harms. She worries about the potential damage the grainy substance can do to your teeth and gums. "Like any abrasive, we're worried about the effects on the gums and enamel on the teeth. We don't know about the safety and effectiveness of it," she says. And according to Dr. Wolff, attempts to use charcoal in toothpaste haven't been met with tremendous success.
Related: Could Eating Charcoal Help You Detox?
Dr. Harms also notes that activated charcoal shouldn't replace everyday teeth cleaning and regular visits to the dentist. "The important part of brushing and flossing is the physical removal of plaque. The toothpaste you're using, from a dentist's point of view, delivers fluoride to teeth," she says. "We're concerned about practices where people are using products without fluoride. Fluoride is nature's cavity fighter and can cut tooth decay by up to 40 percent."
Charcoal Toothpaste: The Gritty Truth
"There's no scientific indication that [activated charcoal] actually works and there are better options out there that do work," says Dr. Harms. If you want a gleaming white smile, both Dr. Harms and Dr. Wolff recommend talking to your dentist about using traditional whitening toothpaste for surface stains or over-the-counter treatments for deeper stains.

"Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," says Dr. Wolff. "I still recommend any of the mainstream whitening toothpastes or seeing the dentist. The mainstream whitening toothpastes are going to be safe. There are a number of products on the market that can be too abrasive." If you do go the DIY charcoal-route, he advises using it sparingly and discontinuing its use if your teeth become sensitive.
Related: Are Teztoxes the New Juice Cleanses?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Activated Charcoal: Teeth-Whitening Secret or Total Scam?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You brush your teeth and floss on the reg. You've tried everything from the latest toothpaste to whitening strips, gels, and trays but nothing seems to give you that 100-watt smile. So what's the best way to get gleaming pearly whites? According to Pinterest and YouTube, the path to whiter teeth is covered in a pitch-black paste.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: the red flag of Ancient Wisdom involves using dated techniques and practices in modern times solely because it is knowledge that has been passed down over many years and not because it is actually effective or scientifically proven.

Connection: This article takes a skeptical look at another article defending Traditional Chinese Medicine and applies critical thinking to a lot of the points made in the original article that use the red flag appeal of ancient wisdom to state that because some common practices are over 1000 years old they must have merit behind them. I believe this connects well to the Pseudoscience Watchlist Connection: 'does not progress' as the practices commonly have no changes since inception. It's also interesting to note that the allure of ancient wisdom is tightly tied to one culture as is common with Traditional Chinese Medicine it can be hard to take a skeptical approach to such practices, especially if they have been passed down and ingrained by parents or grandparents who vouch for its effectiveness without any real evidence to support said claims. While most practices in TCM are not very dangerous to one's health as opposed to some other treatments that appeal to this red flag it is important to always maintain a skeptical outlook on these things so people always receive the best treatments and information when needed and aren't being mistreated for serious ailments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One of the themes of science-based medicine is to be suspicious of any form of medicine that is not science-based. In other words, beware of dodgy qualifiers placed before "medicine," such as: "alternative", "integrative", or "complementary" - those that imply that something other than science or evidence is being used to determine which treatments are safe and effective. I would also include "traditional Chinese" medicine in the dodgy category. A recent article defending Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) provides, ironically, an excellent argument for the rejection of TCM as a valid form of medicine. The authors, Jingqing Hua and Baoyan Liub, engage in a number of logical fallacies that are worth exploring.

Their introduction sets the tone:

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a history of thousands of years. It is formed by summarizing the precious experience of understanding life, maintaining health, and fighting diseases accumulated in daily life, production and medical practice. It not only has systematic theories, but also has abundant preventative and therapeutic methods for disease.

It may be trivially true that TCM has a long history, but it is hard to ignore that the placement of this statement at the beginning of a scientific article implies an argument from antiquity - that TCM should be taken seriously because of this long history. I would argue that this is actually a reason to be suspicious of TCM, for it derives from a pre-scientific largely superstition-based culture, similar in this way to the pre-scientific Western culture that produced the humoral (Galenic) theory of biology.

The next line is an admission that TCM is largely based on anecdotal information, described as the "precious experience" of life. This is a point that is often overlooked or not understood by proponents but central to the scientific/skeptical position - what is the value and predictive power of "precious experience" in developing a system of medicine?

I maintain that there are many good reasons to conclude that any system which derives from everyday experience is likely to be seriously flawed and almost entirely cut off from reality. Obvious short term effects, the lowest hanging fruit of observation, are likely to be reliable. Uncontrolled observation is a reasonable way to discover which plants, for example, are deadly poisons. This is likely to produce some false positives but few false negatives, which is fine for survival.

Other obvious effects, like nausea, diarrhea, and psychedelic effects are also easy to discover. Similarly it was probably obvious that people need to eat, breathe, and drink in order to stay healthy and alive. But records of pre-scientific thinking about health and disease shows that little else was.

Pre-scientific doctors thought, for example, that pus was a good thing, a sign that a wound was healing. They also did not realize that removing blood from the body was harmful, because they did not understand the vital physiological effects of blood and had fanciful superstitious notions about its role in the body.

So there are severe practical limits to what uncontrolled life experiences could figure out about health and disease. Every culture figured out some basic things, like local plants that had some uses, how to treat some forms of trauma, and to midwife childbirth, but could not figure out the complexities of biology, physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, infection and disease pathophysiology and epidemiology.

Understanding health and disease took a more sophisticated method of observing nature - science.

How, then, could a pre-scientific culture without any knowledge of modern biology and without the methods of science develop a valid and effective system of medicine? The answer is - they couldn't. In addition, there is now a large body of psychological research showing the many ways in which people systematically deceive themselves when it comes to finding correlations and making assumptions about cause and effect.

There is nothing about the Chinese culture or the Chinese people that should make them exempt from these documented psychological effects, or that would make their culture unique among the world's cultures in stumbling upon notions about health and illness that were actually correct. It is extreme cultural hubris to think otherwise. When the institution of medicine in the West incorporated scientific methods as the standard of determining which treatments were safe and effective, and in understanding disease, over time almost everything that constituted "traditional Western medicine" was overturned. The "precious experience" of centuries of Western medicine resulted in largely worthless or harmful treatments, from blood-letting to toxic mineral-based treatments.

The same is true for every other culture, including Asian culture. As evidence for this, in my opinion, is the very description of TCM given by the authors. They give a description of TCM philosophy, breaking it down into three components. The first is yin-yang:

According to the theory of yin-yang, all opposite matters in the universe, which are interrelated with each other or two opposite aspects within one matter, can be defined as yin or yang.

This is a "push-pull" philosophy of health - but it is just that, a philosophy. Nothing has been discovered in physiology that correlates with yin-yang, that would lead to the prediction that a yin-yang systems exists, or supports the existence or effects of yin-yang. It is just a made-up notion without any basis in physical reality - just like the balancing of the four humors of Galenic medicine.

Defenders of yin-yang, however, will often make superficial comparisons to any system in the body (and other areas of science) that has a basic duality or dichotomy. They then argue that this is "yin-yang". However, such an interpretation renders yin-yang vague and non-specific enough to be worthless. As with the predictions of Nostradamus, humans are good at retrofitting - finding apparent correlations. Many systems in the body exist in a certain balance, and many systems are interrelated. Some of these systems may have two dominant components (sympathetic vs parasympathetic), but others have three or more (such as the complex interplay among the various neurotransmitters in the brain).

Any variable (blood pressure, heart rate, GI motility, temperature, etc,) can be either increased or decreased - an inherently dichotomous situation. So it is trivial to call any such variable evidence of "yin-yang". But yin-yang does not have any specific existence, nor does it provide any specific insight into physiology. In has no more of a relationship to actual biology than Galenic medicine, which can be said to have contained the insight that the body contains a balance of various fluids. This is also true, but trivially and non-specifically so.

Next is the five phases:

The five phases theory defines the nature of matters based on the related characteristics of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The five phases maintain the generation and restriction relationship among them. TCM uses five phase theory to describe the relationship between five zang and their physiological function, five zang and structure and function of various parts of the human body, and also the correlation between each part of human body and nature and society.

Your liver, apparently, has the aspect of wood. This is an elaborate belief system, just like astrology, and has as much validity. It is rather poetic, also like astrology, and one can understand how a pre-scientific society would develop such ideas in order to attempt to understand something as complex and mysterious as the human body and illness.

There is no reason to presume, however, that such a description offers any insight into how the body functions or how to approach or treat any particular ailment. The authors give an example:

In the treatment of the syndrome of disharmony between the heart and kidney caused by deficiency of kidney-yin and hyperactivity of heart-fire, according to the law of 'water restrains fire', we can use the therapy of reducing fire and reinforcing water.

I would rather treat a problem with heart or kidney function based upon a good 'ol reductionist view of heart and renal function, understanding the role of blood pressure, body fluids, kidney function and regulation, electrolytes, etc. The notion ("law"?) that water restrains fire does not seem to offer any insight into how to treat a pre-renal syndrome.

Finally there is the visceral and meridian theories, which constitute an alternate (meaning incorrect) way of understanding the organs of the body:

Also, combining visceral manifestation theory with yin-yang and five phase theory, TCM has formed its own understanding towards the law of physiological and pathological changes of the human body. For instance, the liver matches wood, and the spleen belongs to earth. The over-acting of wood will lead to over-restraining on earth. Thus, we can see patients with transverse invasion of the stagnated liver-qi attacking the spleen.

How exactly does stagnated liver-qi attck the spleen? How would this be diagnosed? What I am saying is - what is the reductionist understanding of these concepts? It is common for proponents of such alternate ways of knowing to denigrate reductionist science, but if a way of "understanding" how something works reflects reality, then it should make sense and hold up to the evidence all the way down.

"Reductionist" really just means deeper levels of understanding how the world works. It should not be confused with "hyperreductionism" which means ignoring or minimizing higher order levels of organization and function. You cannot, for example, understand how the body works just from biochemisty, or even from studying single cells. You have to understand how tissues, organs, and the whole body works together.

Science, actually, takes the most holistic view of health and disease, for it attempts to understand how the body works at every level of organization, and recognizes the folly of ignoring any level. You cannot ignore how the system works together, nor can you ignore how the individual parts work all the way down to their most basic components.

Ancient philosophies of medicine, however, either ignore the deeper levels of function, or make up fanciful underlying concepts, like wood and earth, that have nothing to do with reality.

Finally they describe the meridians:

The meridians transport qi and blood all over the body, link up the upper and the lower, the inside and the surface of the human body, response and conduct the information.

Except, there is no evidence that the meridians actually exist. At the risk of sounding redundant, they are as made up and fictional as the ether, flogistum, Bigfoot, and unicorns. The linking of qi and blood is reflective of the fact that the notion of qi is historically tied to blood, and techniques such as acupuncture and cupping were also closely related to bleeding techniques that we are more familiar with from Galenic medicine.

This leads to the next section on therapeutics in TCM. Of course they discuss acupuncture and also moxibustion and massage, but give very quick descriptions. They state multiple times that these techniques "treat disease" - which is an odd and extraordinary claim for several reasons. There is, of course, no evidence that acupuncture or moxibustion alters the course of any disease. You have to believe in the notions of qi etc. described above to believe that there is any plausibility to the use of acupuncture for disease. Even for symptomatic treatment (the bulk of scientific acupuncture studies) the evidence is weak to negative.

The authors also describe TCM herbalism, stating:

Currently, there are over 12,800 types of Chinese medicinals known by people, including over 11,000 medicinal plants, over 1500 medicinal animals, and over 80 medicinal minerals. Also, there are approximately 1 million TCM prescriptions found.

This relates to my main point above - how could practitioners have sorted out the risks, benefit, side effects, interactions, indications, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics of one million preparations without using any systematic scientific methods? This would be a challenge for a modern scientific institution, and would have been impossible for any pre-scientific society. One has to either ignore this issue, or assume preternatural abilities on the part of TCM practitioners, at the very least making them immune to all the mechanisms of deception and bias that seem to plague modern ordinary humans.

All of this background is just a long windup to what appears to be the main point of this article - the challenge of studying these therapies and ideas with modern scientific methods. Those of us familiar with this line of reasoning can see the massive special pleading coming a mile away.

They outline four challenges to scientifically studying TCM - that TCM considers overall health (I guess rather than just one condition at a time), therapies require ongoing assessment and adjustment, multiple therapies are given simultaneously to work together, and there are multiple targets of therapy.

Let me turn this around a bit - assuming the premises of this reasoning are true (that TCM must include these higher levels of complexity) then it is true that TCM treatments would be difficult to study systematically. At the same time, however, they would make it very difficult (likely impossible) to derive any reliable conclusions about therapy from "precious experience". I would argue that the same features that make TCM difficult to study in a controlled setting make it impossible to assess in an uncontrolled setting.

So how, then, can TCM practitioners have any practical knowledge about what therapies work and are appropriate in specific situations? Something akin to "magical intuition" is the only answer.

That point aside - it is difficult, but not impossible, to study such treatments. First, I disagree with the premise and believe it is just special pleading, an excuse for the lack of scientific evidence for TCM. In modern medicine we often use multiple treatments working together to address a complex syndrome. Each individual component, however, should contribute to the overall benefit, and should be able to demonstrate its contribution in controlled studies.

Any contribution too small to detect in clinical trials is probably too small to be of clinical significance. Also, even if we accept the premise that multiple treatments only work when given together, you can still study this in a controlled setting - by individualizing a holistic treatment plan and then giving it or a placebo substitute in a blinded fashion.

You may have noticed that I left off the fifth "challenge" to studying TCM (which is often used as an excuse for a lack of evidence). The authors write:

Finally, the cultural characteristic embodied in traditional Chinese medicine requires more consideration on ecological features of data in TCM when conducting statistical analysis.

I'm not sure what to make of that statement, and the authors give no further explanation. I would just point out that science - and reality - has no cultural characteristic. If something is true about the world, it is true no matter what culture you come from. The point of science is to be transparent and universal, so that anyone doing the same experiment, no matter what culture they come from, should have the same result.

Conclusion: TCM is not medicine

TCM is a pre-scientific superstitious view of biology and illness, similar to the humoral theory of Galen, or the notions of any pre-scientific culture. It is strange and unscientific to treat TCM as anything else. Any individual diagnostic or treatment method within TCM should be evaluated according to standard principles of science and science-based medicine, and not given special treatment.

Founder and currently Executive Editor of Science-Based Medicine Steven Novella, MD is an academic clinical neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also the host and producer of the popular weekly science podcast, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, and the author of the NeuroLogicaBlog, a daily blog that covers news and issues in neuroscience, but also general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society. Dr. Novella also has produced two courses with The Great Courses, and published a book on critical thinking - also called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? | Science-Based Medicine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Traditional Chinese Medicine is not actual medicine, and should not be treated as such. It has more in common with Galen's theory of the four humors than anything a doctor would recognize today.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: The use of a celebrity or other focal point to impress or distract from the reality of a product, service, etc.

Connection: While I can't personally vouch much for the quality or performance of Dr. Dre's Beats headphones vs those of its competitors I believe that the company has relied heavily on his personal image as a method of using the red flag of 'Appeal to Authority' to market and promote the product over its actual technical feats. By centering the product name and its initial advertisements around the rapper/producer that founded the company it creates a situation where you begin to care more about celebrity label that comes attached to the product vs the actual performance and quality you are paying for. I believe for this reason that it connects to the Pseudoscience Watchlist Connection: 'often appeals to emotion.'

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: Confirmation Bias is the tendency to only recall or bring forth evidence that backs up your personal claims while excluding any that bring with them skepticism or valid counter-arguments to your claim.

Connection: This article and the video embedded within cover former US president Donald Trump's take on exercise and how it is a misguided practice that drains a person of the finite energy they were born with. In the video portion of the article, he mentions that he regularly eats fast food and doesn't work out often yet his doctors informed him that his regular tests only showed "positive results." The narrator is quick to state right after that in medicine 'positive results' are not always a good thing which I believed was an interesting use of the confirmation bias as he is using a word that typically has a beneficial connotation to it to defend his argument while leaving out the context behind it that would paint the full picture. I think this connects well to the Pseudoscience Watchlist Connection: 'Results cannot be reproduced or verified' as there is both no scientific method and the way he words his claims ensures that they cannot be accurately measured

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Donald Trump has a very strange theory about exercise | CNN Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
President Donald Trump has a number of unorthodox theories about politics. But his theory of why exercise is bad for you is the strangest I've heard yet.