  The practice of bloodletting gradually fell into disfavor as a growing body
of scientific evidence showed its ineffectiveness and demonstrated the
effectiveness of various pharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of
certain diseases. At the same time, the patent medicine industry promoted
ineffective remedies at medicine shows featuring entertainment, testimonials,
and pseudo-scientific claims with all the trappings--but none of the
methodology--of science. Today, many producing parties and eDiscovery vendors
similarly promote obsolete technology as well as unvetted tools labeled
"artificial intelligence" or "technology-assisted review," along with unsound
validation protocols. This situation will end only when eDiscovery technologies
and tools are subject to testing using the methods of information retrieval.
