The snarky take on the Wired Magazine article "Placebos are getting more effective. Drug makers are desperate to know why," is that it's just more evidence that people are becoming more gullible.

Actually, the full-length article is more nuanced and thoughtful. But it delves into a topic that is profound. As Steve Silberman reports, drug makers report that they are having more trouble finding drugs that are more effective than placebos.

"It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger,"Silberman wrote.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. If the placebo effect were better understood, perhaps it could be harnessed to help the human body heal itself.

As hinted in the article, the reason the placebo effect, or placebo response, as one researcher prefers, may be that the tests involve conditions, such as depression, are so subjective themselves.

For a vigorous discussion of the article, complete with profanity and flashes of intellectual brilliance, check out the Collective Imagination blog.

My personal opinion is that public gullibility is demonstrated not so much by the placebo response as it is by the widespread acceptance that ordinary, predictable sadness and melancholy are illnesses that should be treated with a pill.

Making the topic even more fascinating is the possible conflation of rising gullibility with increased stupidity engendered by heavy use of the Internet. Remember that story in the Atlantic: "Is Google making us stupid?"