One for the homeopaths

Worth it just for the slomo water drops at the beggining.

Observable phenomena is observable phenomena… the big question I have with this though is “Structure of a droplet? What’s that?”

I find it hard to get wound up by homeopathy… as far as I can see it’s probably placebo on steroids. Or like… not steroids. I don’t have a problem with placebos… if it works, it’s a good place to start. If your brain can heal you without recourse to toxins, then great… but if it ain’t working after a week (or if it’s not the sort of condition where there’s a week to spare), then chemicals it is.

But you know… the scientific method is the great leveler. I feel similarly about homeopathic mumbo jumbo as I do about skeptic’s scoffing on the basis of “dilution being ridiculous”. Observable phenomena is observable phenomena. If a theory can’t be disproven, it’s not a theory.


2 Comments » for One for the homeopaths
  1. Tom Hall says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

    :-)

    As Richard Dawkins put it, “There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work.”

  2. admin says:

    Much as I like Richard Dawkins, that simply isn’t true – people respond differently to different medicines – things that work for some, don’t work for others… and there’s a whole category again that works without containing any medicine at all.

    Personally, I last less than a couple of minutes listening to the “new age” mumbo-jumbo surrounding homeopathy. On the other hand, the accupuncturist I went to preceded the course with the sharpest diagnostic questioning that I’ve ever come across in my life… better than any therapist I’ve ever had, and certainly better than any medical doctor. As to the accupuncture itself, I couldn’t say – I bailed after 2 sessions. My family doctor back in NZ practiced it though.

    And as far as I’m aware, the “explanation” for accupuncture makes about as much sense as homeopathy… which is to say, either it’s bollocks, or it’s dependent on something we don’t know about yet. I think it would be quite a leap to say we know everything.