Those of you who read medical literature no doubt cringe a bit at this – “the” placebo effect is just all of the effects unstudied and unaccounted for – it could be anything.

But there is, of course, another usage of the word – a sort of implication of psychosomatic effect.

It gets confusing. Here, someone sheds a little light on the subject.

Just be wary, because soon you’ll doubtlessly see the press claiming “placebo effect better than medicine!” or somesuch.

Amusing, well written, and full of meaningful metaphors.

Also, it had some numbers I was keenly interested in:

Don’t you love the uncertainty. That’s the problem. I have to deal with uncertainties and probabilities of complex systems. I know the estimates are that for every 1000 people who get H1N1, 40 may end up in the hospital and 1 may die. With 300,000,000 Americans, that’s 30,000 deaths (standard for flu) and 120,000 in the hospital. Compare to 598 cases of GBS and 25 deaths in 1976. About as many as are trampled by cattle each year, but no one is getting rid of steak.

Note: GBS is Guillain-Barré Syndrome the terror du’jour for your anti-vaccination enthusiasts.