Things that never happened
 

Like Bogey never said "Play it again Sam", Kirk never once said "Beam me up Scotty", the phrase "Big Brother is watching you" was never spoken in Nineteen Eighty-Four and yet these things have come to be associated with, and identified with, these movies and there are no doubt people who would say they heard them or knew they were spoken. Any other examples of what I guess you''d call factual fallacies maybe? Doesn't have to be from film or TV.

I did notice, to my surprise, recently, that in the book "Alice in Wonderland" the character is never once referred to as the Mad Hatter, only the Hatter. That was news to me.

Trollheart stopped making threads. :p

No astronaut has ever seen the Great Wall of China from space with the naked eye.

Homeopathy never worked.

Captain Beefheart never threw John Drumbo French down a flight of stairs.

Vitamin C never cured anyone's cold.

Berenstein Bears.

Don't know where you're getting your information from but I can tell you from experience, having some Vitamin C in my diet when i'm sick definitely helped me get better.

The Vitamin C Myth : NPR

It basically boils down to the placebo effect. There are people who swear by acupuncture, chiropracty, magic super foods, and a lot of other things as well, regardless of the fact that there's little scientific evidence to support them.

Drink a glass of OJ every morning and you will avoid colds better than the person next to you who doesn't.

Only an idiot would argue against this.

Vitamin C is obviously good to have in your diet but directly curing a cold? Nah man, nah.

There is more than Vitamin C in a glass of orange juice. Drinking healthy things like orange juice for nutrients and hydration makes you a healthier person. There's still the fact that if you live off of healthy foods that don't have vitamin c, you're no less likely to avoid or get a cold. Only an idiot would argue against this without being able to back it up with evidence that's better than hearsay and anecdotal evidence.

Not to mention magically being cured by some guy who lives in a house in the sky... :laughing:

No no, no houses, just streets paved with gold. Expensive streets. The tax rate must be outrageous.

Religion has never been proven to be more effective than the lack there of at providing comfort, but rather the thought of having religion is.

But yet having Vitamin C in your diet has proven to make people feel better when they're sick. Clears up their sinuses and things like that. Just because there's no scientific evidence to support it, doesn't mean it doesn't help.

He explained why this happens. It's called the Placebo effect, do some reading on it. There are dozens of studies on it, for example people were given beers that were 0% alcohol, and after drinking a few the person was acting drunk and genuinely believed they had consumed several real beers.

It's been proven but there's no scientific evidence to support it? Sounds like anecdotal evidence to me.

So basically what you two are telling me is that whenever I get sick, I just shouldn't bother taking in Vitamin C? Even though when i'm sick to the point of needing to see a doctor, they recommend fluids with Vitamic C, and sleep, I should just not listen to them?

I mean it's by no means going to hurt you, but if you would actually read the damn studies posted by Frown and Freebase they pretty clearly say that there has never been a correlation found between consuming Vitamin C and getting healthy. Might as well just drink water to be frank

The fluids will definitely help, just don't think that the Vitamin C is what's helping your cold when you're doing things like staying hydrated and resting.

Would you happen to have any evidence for your side apart from saying 'because everyone else says so?'

Cracked, listverse and the wikipedia list of common misconceptions probably ruined this thread for me.:(

No. I only know that from experience it has helped and I'm not going to write an article to prove that.

Placebo effect is quite powerful. If you'll only be using testimony to assert your claims I think my assertion is better to put your trust in.

@grindy Me too. You should help me ruin other people's paradigms.

Albert Einstein never failed math.

This is the definition of anecdotal evidence, which is something that is not accepted as valid in any intelligent conversation

We've already had this discussion in another thread. There is NO cure for the common cold.

How To Cure A Cold - Business Insider

Learn to science. While Vitamin C may help to prevent colds it doesn't cure them. A healthy immune system and body fueled by nutrition does that.

So my own personal experience isn't considered intelligent? Good to know.

Nah, it's only fun for me in real life, where people can enjoy the smugly condescending tone of my voice.
But I'll have fun watching you do it.

I wouldn't put it as crassly as YD did, but proving a point in a scientific debate with personal experience is a no no. How do you know that there wasn't a confounding factor that helped you get better or if the placebo effect is at play or something else along those lines? Scientific studies work to reduce that uncertainty that comes from a single person's observations since we tend to come at these types of things with a bias whether we like it or not. Proving it on a grander scale would be enough to sway my opinion, but so far that hasn't happened in a non corporately funded study yet as far as I know. That's why I asked if you had any evidence that wasn't anecdotal.

Pretty much. The multiple semester-long classes I've taken on how to conduct research and how to differentiate valid vs invalid evidence has drilled this into my brain so deep that when someone tries to pass off anecdotal evidence in a discussion like this it just boils my blood.

My parents never had sex.

YD never made a post when he wasn't pissed off for some reason.

Well I certainly wasn't pissed off last night whilst tripping on mushrooms

Didn't it give you some perspective on things and lead to generally lower levels of pissed-offness?

In my experience, taking loads of shrooms several days in a row made me a lot less angry of a person, I don't care what any other evidence says.

Nope not really. Fun way to spend 6 hours though

Too bad. Gaining some perspective is one of the best aspects of hallucinogens.
But writing that made me pissed off at myself, because I sound like a goddamn hippie. Still true though.

Not even sure what "gaining perspective" from a drug means

I guess if I dug deep I could conclude that when I was staring at the ceiling seeing images of space and the universe that I felt small and insignificant, but that's something I already realized about a year ago when I went through a bit of an existential crisis. I guess now that I've come to terms with it the topic fascinates rather than terrifies me. The experience is one I'll never forget but I don't feel like a changed person or anything

Obviously it's not about mystical cathartic experiences and all that esoteric bull.
You just totally step out of the usual circle of thoughts you have and realize how ridiculous they often are. At least that's what I often felt and it added to my enjoyment of the trips and the strength of my laughing fits. Haven't done it for years though and have no idea how it would be now.

@Trollheart: I'm so sorry for derailing your thread. Seriously. I'll stop now.

Ah, but he did steal the idea for the theory of relativity! Here's evidence you cannot refute.

Nah don't worry; you're not the only one and at least it's kept the thread alive. My carefully-worked ploy to set Ki and Frownland at each other's throats has worked! Again. ;)

That's true, son.

The Batlord saying something witty — never happened.

ftfy