Acquiring information is never bad, in and of itself.
That idea is usually regarded as being incorrect around here—e.g. see here.
For instance, the document states that one example is “to measure the placebo effect”. In that case, if you find out what treatment you actually got, that messes up the trial, and you have to start all over again.
There is a more defensible idea that accquiring accurate information is not ever bad—if you are a super-rational uber-agent, who is able to lie flawlessly, erase information perfectly, etc.
However, that is counter-factual. If you are a human, in practice, acquiring accurate information can harm you—and of course acquiring deceptive or inaccurate information can really cause problems.
Unless there’s a placebo effect placebo effect! Seriously, I think I’ve experienced that. (I’ll take a pill and immediately feel better because I think that the placebo effect will make me feel better.) But maybe it’s too hard to disentangle.
I continue to think that I am blatantly crazy for continuing to not find out how strong placebo effects tend to be and what big factors affect that.
That idea is usually regarded as being incorrect around here—e.g. see here.
For instance, the document states that one example is “to measure the placebo effect”. In that case, if you find out what treatment you actually got, that messes up the trial, and you have to start all over again.
There is a more defensible idea that accquiring accurate information is not ever bad—if you are a super-rational uber-agent, who is able to lie flawlessly, erase information perfectly, etc.
However, that is counter-factual. If you are a human, in practice, acquiring accurate information can harm you—and of course acquiring deceptive or inaccurate information can really cause problems.
Unless there’s a placebo effect placebo effect! Seriously, I think I’ve experienced that. (I’ll take a pill and immediately feel better because I think that the placebo effect will make me feel better.) But maybe it’s too hard to disentangle.
I continue to think that I am blatantly crazy for continuing to not find out how strong placebo effects tend to be and what big factors affect that.