DO CABLES REALLY MATTER?

chemman

@geoffkait
I disagree as it seems highly unlikely that someone would pay money for something they expect to provide an enhancement and not expect it to work. The "hope" that it will enhance is correlated with the pleasure in the brain. Moreover, confirmation bias is not ordinarily found in an experiment that focuses on empirical data. It is found in pseudo science that seeks to pass itself off as veracity. Much like your skilled listener experiment-- you can’t control variables properly. There is your logical fallacy. You can’t quantify listening skills, just as glupson described above. You can give hearing tests to determine the frequencies people can hear, but you certainly cannot attach a number to what they can hear when listening to subtle music which is comprised of always changing frequencies from multiple different instruments.

Not quite sure where to file that one. Maybe under one of the following,

a. Whoa!
b. Whatever
c. Please, not another glupson sympathizer!
d. Examples of Strawman arguing
e. Look who’s calling someone a pseudo scientist
f. OMG, not another pseudo neuroscientist!
g. OMG, not another pseudo physchologist!
h. All of the above

cleeds is correct on the point about being able to scientifically quantify abilities such as "skill in listening." 


Human variability is quantified all the time in the sciences, from variations concerning what people are good at, to what people like.  All you have to do is first determine what it is you want to measure. 
If you define "skilled listener" for the purposes of a test to be someone who can reliably detect subtle differences between A and B, then you can certainly set up a test that would select from a test group which subjects produce positive results.

geoffkait,

Two "what about this" questions that are off the thread topic, but that came to me after reading your list above.

Don’t you sometimes, maybe secretly, wish that you do find someone who agrees with you? Do you ever wonder how that would feel?

 Having to fight all those windmills alone must be exhausting.