Do Phiten Necklaces work?

bashful encounter wrote:

well if your an atheist, then yes, it definitely could be said about your religion.

Actually no, it still couldn't. Even if you set aside the fact that atheism is not religion, not that that has stopped anyone before.

, the bracelet (which i don't know much about), probably doesn't claim to inject aluminum into your body. It probably works on the principle of interacting with a chemical in your body that moves through your bloodstream, the same was magnetic bracelets are believed to affect iron in the bloodstream.

I suppose they could also claim that it clears your body of "thetans" letting you become "clear" as Scientologists do. Or that it draws the "evil spirits" out of you as a witch doctor might. That doesn't make it so. It merely makes it ridiculous -- all the more so in the glaring lack of anything resembling proof.

Hucksters have been coming up with these things for hundreds of years and gullible people have kept buying them. Five years from now it will be something else.

Why are you so worked up over this? If someone spends 20 bucks on this product and in their mind it helps them why do you feel you are the chosen one to pass judgment on them?

Did you equate a willingness to respond with being "worked up"? I can't say I recall that this or any other gimmick has ever had me worked up. It sure does make me sad though.

you seem worked up.

bored by morons wrote:

Did you equate a willingness to respond with being "worked up"? I can't say I recall that this or any other gimmick has ever had me worked up. It sure does make me sad though.

This is the classic letsrun response. "I'M not worked up!" That's after spending 2 days replying to posts on a subject he supposedly has no interest or belief in.

Wow. You sound really worked up about this.

bored by morons wrote:

Actually no, it still couldn't. Even if you set aside the fact that atheism is not religion, not that that has stopped anyone before.

believed to affect iron in the bloodstream.

I suppose they could also claim that it clears your body of "thetans" letting you become "clear" as Scientologists do. Or that it draws the "evil spirits" out of you as a witch doctor might. That doesn't make it so. It merely makes it ridiculous -- all the more so in the glaring lack of anything resembling proof.

Hucksters have been coming up with these things for hundreds of years and gullible people have kept buying them. Five years from now it will be something else.[/quote]

You're right about atheism... it is the lack of belief in anything. if you're not a theist your an atheist and as such it is not a relgion. My point still stands though, that you're foolish for buying into a system of belief (or lack there of in this case) in which there is no proof for, and significant evidence to suggest the contrary.

anyways, to the point at hand though; the bracelets. I have no doubt that many hucksters have sold useless things in the past, but are you suggesting that because of a few anecdotal cases of fraud that every piece of equipment claiming to help people is based upon false claims?

The evidence is clearly there that it COULD work. The princple makes sense. Things outside the body can influence things inside the body. I've seen pictures of a kidney stone inside me and after having a big peiece of plastic and medal pointed at my back for a couple 15 minute sessions I saw pictures of my kidneys with no stones. it must have been all the praying i was doing to the flying spaghetti monster though.

Since you actually seem to be a reasonable person, I'll take some time to respond to this.

Atheism is not "a lack of belief in anything." It is the lack of belief in the existence of God. The foundation of this belief is that there is, in fact, NO signficant evidence to the contrary. Atheists do not consider the bible, Quaran, Talmud, etc as "evidence". They do not consider questions like, "Well then who created time then, hmmm?" as evidence either

No. I am suggesting that when people selling a product make claims about its benefits, they should actually have something beyond anecdotes to back them up. They should be able to demonstrate the effects. Repeatedly.

Anecdotes only are the hallmark of the huckster.

What evidence? The fact that it makes sense to you is not evidence. And what "work"? Do you realize the the people selling these things don't even tell you how they work. They just talk about the "healing benefits". What benefits? What do they do?

Of course "things outside the body can have an influence on things inside the body". But these "things" are based upon demonstrated scientific principles. The effects can be repeated over and over.

Doctors who use ultrasound or some other technique to break up your kidney stones don't need to rely upon your testimonial. They can show people the before and after X-Rays or MRIs. They can point to countless clinical studies done for years before such instruments as were used on you were ever even approved.

And why did they have to get them approved? Why didn't they just put their machines out on the market and start selling them? Well for starters, for all the theory they had, nobody knew for sure what effect they would have on the human body. It's possible to HURT the body with ultrasound. Perhaps that might have been the result. So they test.

So even if you actually assume these silly necklaces are somehow affecting your body, how do you know they aren't harmful? Again, the answer is that you test them. Scientifically. But of course, none of these companies would ever actually do that. They'll sell them until the fad is over and move on to the next one. And people will keep buying them because "it sounds reasonable".

That's what hucksters count on.

Nah, you aren't too worked up.

It's funny how a question in search of a yes or no answer turned into something of a philosophical showdown. It seems to me that if a product makes a person feel better then what's the difference between if it's the result of the placebo effect or if it actually does something to their body? I'm not the world's most religious guy, but it probably works in about the same way that people believing in a higher power helps them deal and cope with the twists and turns in life. In my humble opinion, if it makes someone feel better, even if it's all in their head, are those results not real to them?

Interested Onlooker wrote:

It's funny how a question in search of a yes or no answer turned into something of a philosophical showdown. It seems to me that if a product makes a person feel better then what's the difference between if it's the result of the placebo effect or if it actually does something to their body? I'm not the world's most religious guy, but it probably works in about the same way that people believing in a higher power helps them deal and cope with the twists and turns in life. In my humble opinion, if it makes someone feel better, even if it's all in their head, are those results not real to them?

The answer is more complicated than yes or no. The answer is, yes, phiten necklaces work...the same as sugar pills work for cancer patients. I wouldn't recommend either.

Man, it was a question similar to this a while ago that spawned the birth of my new trolling hobby. I asked a question once.. got attacked.. and now I come in here for fun and am a vindictive a-hole with the simple goal of wreaking havoc on a bunch of losers. It's kind of therapeutic actually.. not as much as my phiten bracelet is though.

Personally I prefer Pooka shells.

It's not okay to sell false hope to people.

pickupthesoap wrote:

Man, it was a question similar to this a while ago that spawned the birth of my new trolling hobby. I asked a question once.. got attacked.. and now I come in here for fun and am a vindictive a-hole with the simple goal of wreaking havoc on a bunch of losers. It's kind of therapeutic actually.. not as much as my phiten bracelet is though.

50% of what's on here turns into a philosophical showdown or religion bashing thread.

Check out the PGA championship. Ernie Els has one on.

I'm seeing a lot of baseball players wearing these things. Anyone else tried this stuff.