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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024

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I mean it's entirely possible it's more potent than described by medical literature. It's also entirely possible that people who buy into it are more likely to have out of character or excessive manifestations.

I mean it's entirely possible it's more potent than described by medical literature.

The medical literature doesn't actually describe it as impotent. Without cheating, what do you think the medical literature says about the ability of hypnosis to induce orgasm in women? What do you think the medical literature says about the effectiveness of hypnosis for breast growth? How confident are you?

It's also entirely possible that people who buy into it are more likely to have out of character or excessive manifestations

It has nothing to do with buying into it. Hypnotic orgasms do not at all require buy in, and don't require unusually strong manifestation. You might find Richard Feynman's account of trying to call BS on hypnosis interesting.

Here are a couple quotes:

I thought, "Baloney!" She took a match, lit it, blew it out, and touched it to the back of my hand. It felt slightly warm. My eyes were closed throughout all of this, but I was thinking, "That's easy. She lit one match, but touched a different match to my hand. There's nothin' to that; it's a fake!"

When I came out of the hypnosis and looked at the back of my hand, I got the biggest surprise: There was a burn on the back of my hand. Soon a blister grew, and it never hurt at all, even when it broke.

And

The hypnotist made various demonstrations, having me do things that I couldn't normally do, and at the end he said that after I came out of hypnosis, instead of returning to my seat directly, which was the natural way to go, I would walk all the way around the room and go to my seat from the back.

All through the demonstration I was vaguely aware of what was going on, and cooperating with the things the hypnotist said, but this time I decided, "Damn it, enough is enough! I'm gonna go straight to my seat."

When it was time to get up and go off the stage, I started to walk straight to my seat. But then an annoying feeling came over me: I felt so uncomfortable that I couldn't continue. I walked all the way around the hall.

Lots of weird shit causes orgasms, and IIRC people have used hypnosis as a replacement for anesthesia. Dissociation is powerful.

If you are saying hypnosis can make your boobs grow then I'm going to call you a crank unless you have some damn good evidence.

Lots of weird shit causes orgasms, and IIRC people have used hypnosis as a replacement for anesthesia. Dissociation is powerful.

Yes hypnosis is good at pain too. This sounds like a change of tune though?

If you are saying hypnosis can make your boobs grow then I'm going to call you a crank unless you have some damn good evidence.

I'm not saying it can, I'm asking you to predict what the literature says.

What do you think the literature says?

Since you are asking this question I'm sure there is a paper from 50 years ago with terrible research methods that suggests this is a thing, but that doesn't make it not absolute nonsense.

To more directly answer your question, I predict the literature that is the body of scientific knowledge suggests that this is not a thing and does not take it credibly. The existence of crank papers to the contrary does not mitigate this.

Especially since it is now known that many strange papers at the time represented intelligence work.

What about the other question?

I pointed out that the "boring" hypnosis you see in medical training has more to do with what "reputable" people are permitted to do, and gave the example of orgasms as something "less boring" which you won't see there because it's clearly inappropriate not because it can't be done.

Your response was "I mean it's entirely possible it's more potent than described by medical literature", which seems to imply that you think the literature says such things aren't doable, but when I ask what you think the literature actually says on the topic you seem to do a 180 and downplay the significance as if you never thought hypnosis couldn't produce orgasms or anything "powerful".

I'm not really sure what your stance is here. Do you see how this looks like a change of tune?

Since you are asking this question I'm sure there is a paper from 50 years ago with terrible research methods that suggests this is a thing, but that doesn't make it not absolute nonsense.

But that's not the question, right? The question is "how potent is it as described by the literature", not "do you trust what the literature". Do you see why that's the question at play here?

To more directly answer your question, I predict the literature that is the body of scientific knowledge suggests that this is not a thing and does not take it credibly. The existence of crank papers to the contrary does not mitigate this.

What does "I predict the body of scientific knowledge suggests that it's not a thing and does not take it credibly" mean, exactly?

Do you predict that there might be a poorly done study that found some effect, but more studies or the best studies find no effect?

Or do you just mean something like "Even if everything in the literature is supportive, if it's not studied recently I interpret that as the science saying it's not a thing"?

Do you see why I'm asking these questions?

I am supportive of hypnosis as a modality but it has limited utility and that utility is further hampered by susceptibility to hypnosis seemingly being more of an innate trait. Some people it works for and they want it to work for and you can do some great things with it but for the majority it is useless.

However overstating its value in the way you seem to do patterns matches to ....a lack of scientific rigor, and I'm saying this as someone who came into the conversation correction someone to let them know hypnosis is actually a thing.

I've done nothing to even state the effectiveness of hypnosis other than pointing out one thing that is bog standard in erotic hypnosis circles -- which you seemed to agree with as possible, at least after I point it out?

I'm asking you questions about what you think the science says because I don't think you actually know what the science says despite actively taking a strong stance, and you immediately started back tracking and dodging. You apparently can't answer simple questions about how you interpret the science, and you're accusing me of a lack of scientific rigor? The projection is super strong here.

People who can justify their beliefs don't move goal posts and don't dodge questions. Why do you feel the need to?

Dawg I haven't changed my goal posts at all you just jumped down my throat reaallllll harrrrrdddd.

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