&gt; <i>I&#x27;d generally put higher odds on you being wrong, than of an entire field being so completely off base, at least a field as large and well researched as this.</i><p>I generally would too. But we know now that it is indeed possible for a very large and &quot;well researched&quot; field to be wrong - just look at the state of soft sciences. A lot of evidence came up recently show that 90% of research in those fields is bullshit (often intentional). It&#x27;s not beyond realm of possibility that a big part of advertising industry forms a self-contained system of moving money around with zero relation to the real world.