Some supplemental, complementary and alternative medicines, or SCAMs for short, are based on observational science. Examples of this include gingko or ginseng. Observations were made based on people who used these natural products, and medical benefits were inferred. These observations don't always hold up in experimental science, but at least they're trying. Deep, deep down there may be some grain of science. Unfortunately, that usually isn't the case. Today, I'm talking about the dumbest of the dumb: homeopathy.
Homeopathy has a larger following in Europe than America, but is still a fairly popular SCAM. They believe that you can cure a disease by giving a drug that simulates the symptoms of that disease. If someone is suffering from, say, insomnia, they should be treated with caffeine. I won't even begin to say what's wrong with that. But here's where things start to get really crazy. Instead of giving them the drug straight, they believe a small amount of drug should be dissolved in, say, a liter of water. Then, one drop of that solution should be diluted with another liter of water. Then one drop of that solution mixed into another liter of water. This process should be repeated several times. Now, science and mathematics say that after 15 such dilutions (a standard homeopathy serial dilution), it is almost impossible to have any of the original drug actually left in the solution. You have a better chance of winning the lottery three times in a row than having just one molecule of drug in the final solution (I'll leave the mathematics to you). You essentially have pure water. However, homeopathy proponents believe that the water retains the memory, or "essence," of the drug (no, really), provided the solution is properly shaken and you are wearing the right glove (really, look it up). They also believe that this "essence" can be transported over the phone to another glass of water (I'm not kidding, that's what they believe). Needless to say, there is no science to support this claim. In fact, science pretty much proves it is impossible. This is just another newage SCAM. But, on the other hand, homeopathy cures are very good at curing one condition: dehydration.
17 April 2008
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2 comments:
This seems like something they'd show you on Bullshit. But it'd be the fake one at the end they do just to show how stupid people are. This could go right next to the Mucas Mask, and I wouldn't be able to tell which is more authentic.
One thing I should emphasize is how popular this actually is. Again not really in America, although they do have nation-wide conferences and conventions, and even their own journal. But in England, homeopaths have their own clinics and hospitals. This isn't like magnet-therapy or colonics. For what this actually is, it's amazingly popular, and they use that popularity to make the "argument from authority."
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