Placebo logic
According to a recent study, half of all doctors routinely prescribe placebos, and half don’t. The placebo effect is well-known. Placebos work, and they work well enough that trials for new drugs have to be designed with great care.
I am a consumer of medical services. Since placebos work, I’m better off with a doctor who will prescribe placebos than with a doctor who won’t. I can’t come right out and ask for a placebo, because then it’s not a placebo any more, it’s just a sugar pill.
Can I shop around for a doctor who prescribes placebos? But then I know that whatever he prescribes might be a placebo. Doesn’t this undermine the effect of real drugs as well as placebos?
How about if I find a doctor who is a really good liar? Someone I can trust to lie to me convincingly, with my best interests in mind.
It’s an interesting puzzle. I have to be well-informed to make sure I get the placebo, but the effectiveness of the placebo depends on a certain cluelessness.