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Originally Posted by Open Mind   Paul that sounds curiously like holism and you are a physicalist? I don't know what you mean .....I think you have missed the point, I was asking how the placebo effect could have evolved....
If our immune system can destroy the bacteria more effectively, why does it hold back and wait for a pill, belief or hope to work better? It seems like nature/immune system is rewarding feelings of belief, faith, positivity and hope (placebo effect?) and punishing feelings of despair and disbelief (nocebo effect?) , how did this evolve (or emerge as a byproduct) via natural selection? What is the chemical formula of hope? How do we program it into a computer? |
I read a suggested explanation for this somewhere. The idea was that the full internal healing process is expensive and is only deployed if the person feels completely secure. I.e. it is no use sitting curing your cancer while being stalked by a sabre tooth tiger! I don't know if this is reasonable or not.
This does not, of course, relate directly to the nature of such mechanisms.
David