Re:The User Is Drunk
by mistercow on Wednesday March 25, 2015 @11:27AM
(#9263553)
> because AA helped save me from life-threatening alcoholism
Given that there's pretty good evidence at this point that AA doesn't work on average, either a) AA didn't actually help you (you would have done it on your own anyway) or b) AA did help you, but that is balanced by an equal amount of harm so that the average still comes out as "not effective".
In either case the conclusion is unescapable that AA should not be relied on at all. At best, you're going to get nothing out of it and you're wasting psychological resources you can't spare. At worst, you're gambling that you're the kind of person it helps, rather than the kind of person it makes things worse for.
I don't want to sound harsh here, but people who have both used AA and recovered from alcoholism seem to have a rationality blindspot around it. From an objective perspective, this is not all that different from a cancer survivor crediting their remission to the "energy crystals" their guru recommended.
I'm super glad for you that your cancer cleared up, but I'm going to keep telling people that those crystals are bullshit.
Re:The User Is Drunk
by mistercow on Friday March 27, 2015 @11:14AM
(#9276743)
Nope, I concluded that it either didn't work for him OR it works for some people, but causes enough harm to others that it balances out any good it does.
Given that there's pretty good evidence at this point that AA doesn't work on average, either a) AA didn't actually help you (you would have done it on your own anyway) or b) AA did help you, but that is balanced by an equal amount of harm so that the average still comes out as "not effective".
In either case the conclusion is unescapable that AA should not be relied on at all. At best, you're going to get nothing out of it and you're wasting psychological resources you can't spare. At worst, you're gambling that you're the kind of person it helps, rather than the kind of person it makes things worse for.
I don't want to sound harsh here, but people who have both used AA and recovered from alcoholism seem to have a rationality blindspot around it. From an objective perspective, this is not all that different from a cancer survivor crediting their remission to the "energy crystals" their guru recommended.
I'm super glad for you that your cancer cleared up, but I'm going to keep telling people that those crystals are bullshit.