Comment

Comment by Ajita Kamal on October 2, 2009 at 8:22pm

Thanks, Heidi! I agree with you that belief may have some real influence over recovery from treatment, even aiding it in cases. However, we must be careful to not exaggerate the extent of the placebo effect. I recently interviewed skeptic Steven Novella and he is of the opinion that the effect is limited. He says that the beneficial effect is mostly psychological and is beneficial in a few cases, but can cause real harm in many serious cases. For example in cases where there is a physiological condition such as infection, physical damage or genetic/systemic disorders, a small placebo effect that can make one feel better temporarily is not worth dying for.

Anyway, thanks for watching the video and glad you liked it!

Comment by Heidi Guedel on October 2, 2009 at 12:40pm

Very well made video, btw. I just realized that my earlier comments about Chopra's ludicrous statement at the end of the video failed to include my favorable impressions of your video production itself. It was excellent.

Comment by Heidi Guedel on October 2, 2009 at 12:08pm

Chopra: "If you believe in the rock, you are automatically believing in god."

Yeah, right. And Socrates is a cat. Aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhh.

I believe in intuition. I have learned to trust the "sixth sense" information which sometimes comes through to me. I believe that the mind has significant influence on the body (placebo effects, stigmata, voo doo and faith healing effects on those who believe in such things... and belief seems to be the key), but I do not believe in "god". Whatever this apparent influence of mind on biological systems is, it is not "god". It happens quite subjectively on an individual basis, and often affects persons who are associated with each other. This might explain the perceived effects of Chopra's healing practices: belief itself, and the evident power of the mind.

Comment by Фелч Гроган on July 2, 2009 at 2:50am

Excellent. Nice to see you putting in time to create original content.

Comment by Ajita Kamal on July 1, 2009 at 2:38pm

Thanks, Ashish, Sydni!

Comment by Ajita Kamal on July 1, 2009 at 8:11am

Thanks, Rich! The one obvious thing is that the sound is not properly balanced, but this is because I had to use the shittiest editing program and it wouldn't do what I wanted it to. I'll be using some better tools next time. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. I plan on doing one on the fundamentals of Naturalism, next month. I'll have to keep it under 10 mins so I can put it up on youtube.

Comment by Richard Lawrence on July 1, 2009 at 8:07am

Excellent video, even more so for a first attempt!