unspeakablehorror: (Default)
unspeakablehorror ([personal profile] unspeakablehorror) wrote2022-06-14 06:27 pm

A Logical Fallacy

A fallacy I've seen a lot in assessments of food science is "if we don't know it's bad for you, it must be good for you". I think big business is very motivated for people to think like this--it's really good for their bottom line. But while I can understand having concerns about the limitations of the data available on these issues, if that's really a key criticism given then the conclusion needs to be 'we just don't know', not 'this means this opposing position is correct/more likely'. Because the research done for the opposing position has...the same limitations.

And since medical research also has the same limitations, the position would not just be 'food science isn't science and doesn't tell us anything', but also 'medical science isn't science and doesn't tell us anything'.

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