Real science is all about critically appraising the evidence for somebody else’s position.
BEN GOLDACREThe plural of anecdotes is not data
More Ben Goldacre Quotes
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Data is the fabric of the modern world: just like we walk down pavements, so we trace routes through data, and build knowledge and products out of it.
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If I was writing a lifestyle book it would have the same advice on every page, and you’d know it all already.
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I agree, the world would be a better place if doctors were less enthusiastic about adopting very new drugs.
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But as we will see, even these things are hard to do on your own, and in reality require wholesale social and political changes.
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Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, and live your whole life in every way as well as you can: exercise regularly as part of your daily routine, avoid obesity, don’t drink too much, don’t smoke, and don’t get distracted from the real, basic, simple causes of ill health.
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Children can be disgusting, and often they can develop extraordinary talents, but I’m yet to meet any child who can stimulate his carotid arteries inside his ribcage.
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Transparency and detail are everything in science.
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I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that.
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The placebo effect is one of the most fascinating things in the whole of medicine. It’s not just about taking a pill, and your performance and your pain getting better. It’s about our beliefs and expectations. It’s about the cultural meaning of a treatment.
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I spend a lot of time talking to people who disagree with me – I would go so far as to say that it’s my favourite leisure activity.
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You are a placebo responder. Your body plays tricks on your mind. You cannot be trusted.
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I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that.
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One of the things I always found interesting is the same tricks are used to distort medicine in all of those domains.
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Doctors and patients need as much data as possible to make an informed decision about what treatment is best.
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The plural of anecdotes is not data
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