The Sugar Pill That Keeps Winning
American placebos have grown so potent they are quietly bankrupting drug development.
By
J. Miro
— 16 May 2026
The mind, read closely.
The Mind edition is about the moments when consciousness catches itself in the act — déjà vu, the placebo response, the Dunning-Kruger curve, false memory, the gap between certainty and competence. What cognition actually feels like from the inside.
Filed by J. Miro, Mind Editor.
All essays filed in this edition, newest first.
American placebos have grown so potent they are quietly bankrupting drug development.
Déjà vu was once dismissed as mysticism. Neuroscience now suggests it's the brain auditing itself.