I am a skeptical apatheist, strict materialist, and avid follower of the likes of P. Z. Myers and James Randi. I also believe in the effectiveness of acupuncture and other traditional Chinese medicine.
I admitted it. Then, I thought ‘Now what?’.
It took me a while to reconcile these positions. The first thing I realized, immediately, is that excuses for how skeptical I can be in all other cases won’t do. To the skeptic who is convinced I am holding a belief irrationally, my willingness to follow the evidence in other cases doesn’t justify the case in which I don’t. I hold that antivaxxer nonsense is dangerous, faith healing illusory, and homeopathy a waste of time. I don’t believe in any New Age superstitions. I’m a strict materialist (everything is either physical or information on a physical medium), and I disagree with any explanations of TCM or concepts of chi that involve magical energies. While I agree that most explanations of the phenomena behind TCM are unscientific, I do believe that there is an actual phenomena there that can be exploited for medical purposes (and eventually explained scientifically). I even have a very limited amateur hypothesis attempting to explain how it can work, that is consistent as I can make it with my layman’s understanding of the science. I have standards and heuristics for evaluating TCM practitioners, and only visit those who are both well versed in Western medicine and referred by members of the martial arts community whom I trust. All of this is besides the point. Those who insist on the strictest consistent standards of proof must say I’m cheering on a placebo. That I degrade other placebos does not change that fact. Moreover, without objective and rigorous evidence, I cannot prove them wrong. There’s still a debate on the efficacy of TCM going on in the academic circles, but in this case “still in debate” means “not enough objective proof yet”.
So, then, why do I not change my opinion? I came to believe in the efficacy of TCM for a reason, after all. A personal history of effective TCM treatment, as well as similar histories with people I knew personally, was where I first became convinced. My practice with the internal (‘soft’) martial arts and studies in cognitive science eventually led me to form a hypothesis of my own on how the mind interacted with the body, and how TCM utilized this. I do have evidence - but it’s anecdotal. I do have an explanatory framework - but it’s personal. What I can use to make sense of the phenomena in a way that convinces myself is utterly inadequate for convincing others. Yet I have no reason so far to doubt my own judgment or senses. Is there a solution? (more…)
