But we are not australopiths with iPhones.
We are quite sophisticated really. Not only do we habitually generate and distribute false information, we also recognise and avoid it where we can.
This is a lot of the problem as, whenever we hear a message we can be pretty sure that there is someone out to make a profit or other gain from us acting on it. Even this can be exploited, so people just latch onto a wrong idea and can't be shaken from it - taking supportable facts to be part of a conspiracy against them.
There is of course the 'clutching at straws factor', when - for instance - conventional medicine has not come up with any relief for one's particular health problem. I speak from experience: when suffering unrelenting horrible pain, I sought help from all avenues of the NHS without relief, and then turned to acupuncture and shiatsu and 'cranial osteopathy'. In the first instance it made matters worse, and altogether emptied my bank account - without relief. Fortunately, it was the NHS and a new consultant and diagnosis which eventually resolved my problems.
Of course, there are problems with conventional science - or its application. "Follow the money" is always a useful axiom to keep in mind, with great drug companies and agricultural giants like Monsanto trying to monopolise the market. These factors in themselves can give many people the incentive to turn their backs on scientific rigour for the supposedly 'natural' alternatives instead.
Everyone who is inclined to think that science has got it all wrong, and the 'natural' way is always best should certainly read "Snake Oil and other Preoccupations" by John Diamond, written while he was dying of cancer (in this case he was certainly the 'better half' of his marriage to Nigella Lawson, however much I admire her twin peaks).
Still, nothing wrong with eating lots of garlic, lemon or beetroot. Don't expect miracles from them, though.
