What conspiracy theories and pseudoscience did you used to believe in?

[Sava]

Even though the (or some) science is still out or inconclusive regarding the benefits of taking omega-3 supplements, I'm a big advocate of it.

just anecdotally (I know, worthless), it has helped me and still does

I think a lot of the claims that are dubious are that it helps protect against heart disease and that sort of thing. But for mental health and weight loss (and strength training), I would recommend it.

Not sure if that qualifies. If presented with conclusive evidence saying it is worthless, I'd change my mind. Certainly.

[Sava]

Back on-topic, I was a staunch Republican until I was 16.

We all make mistakes.

[Jon Miller]

I was raised to be a Creationist. Not the sort that believed that God created the 4.X billion old earth approximately ten thousand years ago which is at least a possibly rational belief system. The sort that believed that scientists were hiding some of the data and that the flood caused the dinosaurs to be extinct and so on, claptrap.

JM

[Sava]

Before I smoked weed, I was deathly afraid of it and thought it would turn me into a crack head. I admit that I smoked before knowing the facts. Still thought I would end up a crack head. Smoked anyways. Haha

[ricketyclik]

I used to believe that international free trade would raise the living standards of the developing world by introducing better working conditions.

I now see it was a ruse to get first world workers to compete with third world lowering us all to the lowest common denominator.

[Lorizael]

I have always been a big "believer" in essentially everything alien/UFO (ancient aliens, Roswell, Area 51, etc.). Believer is in square quotes because I fully recognize that there's no good evidence for any of this crap, but I want it to be true. No amount of evidence to the contrary will prevent me from wanting it to be true and thinking how awesome it would be if any of it were true. But beyond that, I recognize the belief is crazy and don't let it actually affect any of my actions (except that one time I "tried" to get into Area 51...).

[DaShi]

PS if anyone wants to argue about this I have one of my statistics textbooks recommended to me by my advisor (who is both a PhD statistician and a licensed medical doctor) already open to Section 3.1.2: The Effects of Agent Orange on Troops in Vietnam -- An Observational Study. Fight me

I'd rather go back to the original thread where you humiliated yourself with your poor knowledge (but certainty) of basic statistics. I don't care about Agent Orange, but that was hilarious.


On topic: Christianity.

[Colon™]

I used to believe that international free trade would raise the living standards of the developing world by introducing better working conditions.

I now see it was a ruse to get first world workers to compete with third world lowering us all to the lowest common denominator.

So free trade is a big conspiracy then?

[Sava]

So free trade is a big conspiracy then?

Uhm. Yeah.

"Conspiracy" certainly is a loaded term. But yes, when a group of people get together and make policy designed to screw everyone over... that's your basic conspiracy

[-Jrabbit]

There was a brief period in the mid-70s when I went down the rabbit hole with Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus trilogy.

Yeah, freemasons, the Trilateral Commission, Aleister Crowley, long-term conspiracy theory with paranoia to the max. Looking back, it's hard to believe. But then again, there may have been drugs involved.

In my defense (and in Wilson's own words 20 years later) --

"You simply cannot invent any conspiracy theory so ridiculous and obviously satirical that some people somewhere don't already believe it."

[Cort Haus]

There was a brief period in the mid-70s when I went down the rabbit hole with Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus trilogy.

Yeah, freemasons, the Trilateral Commission, Aleister Crowley, long-term conspiracy theory with paranoia to the max. Looking back, it's hard to believe. But then again, there may have been drugs involved.

In my defense (and in Wilson's own words 20 years later) --

The thing is that the Illluminatus trilogy was supposed to be a pisstake on conspiracy theory, but yet people read it and wanted to believe. And yes, the drugs may have had something to do with it.

[Alexander's Horse]

I'd like to say I don't believe in any - as an Australian politician (Mick Young) memorably said - if you have to choose between a ****-up and conspiracy, choose the ****-up every time. Another good related saying from Aussie polly (Jack Lang) was - in politics as in the race of life, always back self-interest - at least you know that horse is always trying!

But I also happen to be Roman Catholic, so many would say my head is just chock full of nonsense

[Hauldren Collider]

I'm not going to fight you, I'm just going to think you're a ****ing revolting person. Or have you forgotten how you and Reg kept insisting this insulting bull**** was true when MTG was here, despite the fact he'd lost friends to that ****? You need to stop making sweeping offensive statements about things you know ****ing nothing about. Either that or admit you're an ******* who pisses on the memory of veterans.

It's very sad that he lost friends but it wasn't to Agent Orange.

I don't particularly care either way, but as usual, I suspect you are wrong.

Brief google search confirms... once again.

I think you need to be the title holder of "always wrong" over Oerdin... quite frankly.

As I said, I don't care. So don't (or do, if you want) waste your time arguing. Anyone interested in actually learning about the topic is free to do the research.


But basically (for those interested in actual facts and not what HC's advisor thinks ... I'm almost tempted to ask if he's also an actuary )

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/intheworkplace/agent-orange-and-cancer

also, from the same document



BUT I'M SURE YOUR ADVISOR KNOWS BETTER



idiot

It's actually a pretty clear cut case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

Once again... I'll trust the science.

Thank you for doing my work for me. Both of these rely on the presence of dioxin in Agent Orange. As it turns out, while dioxin is a carcinogen, its concentration in veterans of Vietnam is not higher than in other veterans. Furthermore, the cancers that were found to be more prevalent in agent orange exposed veterans were extremely rare--EXACTLY the sort of thing you would expect to be nothing more than random variance in a small population subsample. There is insufficient statistical evidence due to small sample sizes and extreme sampling bias.
I'm reading this right out of the book, and looking at the data. You can disagree, but you're wrong

In addition there's the stuff from the other thread, such as the fact that the concentrations of dioxin in agent orange are pretty small. Bottom line: Yes, dioxin is a carcinogen--no question. But the dioxin exposure to veterans in Vietnam, even those who worked closely with Agent Orange, was too small to measurably increase risk of cancer. There has never been any proper study which has found otherwise to my knowledge.

[Hauldren Collider]

PS No my advisor isn't an actuary. He is, however, a doctor who spent over 15 years doing medical research (of this nature!) before switching over to statistics. But you don't need to take his word for it. The data is enough.

[Saras]

I was born in the USSR. I used to believe everything the loonie left believes. Until I turned 13, that is.