Alternative medicine conference hoists self
Some readers (do I have more than one left?) may recall the 1996 Sokal Hoax, in which a physicist submitted a patently ridiculous paper to a postmodernist literary journal and had it accepted, thereby demonstrating the journal's lack of objective standards and rationality.
Now it has been done to so-called "alternative medicine." John McLachlan, a professor of medical education in the UK, submitted an abstract for a nonsensical and absurd procedure to the Jerusalem Conference on Integrative Medicine. He was subsequently invited to present his findings at the conference.
The author rightly points out that this is one instance and one conference. But there is already plenty of evidence that practitioners of "alternative medicine" are open to any old nonsense that sounds vaguely plausible, and don't demand objective evidence of claims. Would-be patients beware!
Paper: Integrative medicine and the point of credulity
Now it has been done to so-called "alternative medicine." John McLachlan, a professor of medical education in the UK, submitted an abstract for a nonsensical and absurd procedure to the Jerusalem Conference on Integrative Medicine. He was subsequently invited to present his findings at the conference.
The author rightly points out that this is one instance and one conference. But there is already plenty of evidence that practitioners of "alternative medicine" are open to any old nonsense that sounds vaguely plausible, and don't demand objective evidence of claims. Would-be patients beware!
Paper: Integrative medicine and the point of credulity