[extropy-chat] prayer and healing again

[Eliezer S. Yudkowsky]

Spike wrote:

> Duke Scientists Test God's Healing Power
> 
> Duke University Medical Center cardiologists put God to the test to find
> out if prayer helps to heal the sick. The controversial results: There
> is no scientific evidence that prayer heals, reports The Telegraph of
> London. The three-year study, which involved 750 heart patients in nine
> hospitals, as well as 12 prayer groups of different faiths located
> around the world, was conducted after earlier, but less extensive,
> research from the University of Wales in the late '90s suggested prayer
> has a measurable beneficial effect on healing...
>
> 
> I can explain this just from this just from what
> little info is in this paragraph.  The verse says
> "...The fervent prayer of the righteous man
> availeth much..."  The study used 12 prayer groups
> *of different faiths*.  They were different from
> each other, so clearly they couldn't all be right,
> but they could all be wrong, which means they were
> not believing correctly, which means they were not
> in the truth which means their fervent prayers would
> not availeth much.  Simple explanation for the
> negative result: they didn't include members of
> the *true* believers. 

Of course!  All we need to do is repeat the study using atheists.

-- 
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky                          http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence