Pseudoscience Debunked: Homeopathy

This is Episode 8 of our Pseudoscience Miniseries

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[ThumpertTheFascistCottontail]

Homeopathy: The air guitar of medicine.

[brotlowskyrgseg]

Homeopathy logic: Since drinking my urine will make you feel sick (presumably), me pissing into a water reservoir will make the tap water cure nausea.

[puirYorick]

...but, but, but my crazy hippie godmother swears by the stuff and she still has more than half her own hair.

[CausalityLoop]

"Like cures like" is literally the thinking of a caveman. And the "smaller dose" thing is obviously a fantastic way to have an infinite product that is indistinguishable from water.

[byteresistor]

Homeopathy helped me with my dehydration.

[Rendezvous]

Lets all convince homeopaths that they need homeopathic oxygen 😉

[papasitoman]

The Amazing Randi has taken containers full of homeopathic "sleeping" pills for years in front of audiences and has never fallen asleep/overdosed. He's 90 now.

[killerfunghoul]

this again?

Queue the ‘but it worked for me’ loons 🙄

[epicurusone]

the best expose of homeopathy is the comedy sketch from Mitchell & Webb "Homeopathy A&E' - it's on Youtube.

[armusc]

"Has to be small and deluded in order for it to work" sounds about right for a homeopathic believers.🙄🙄

[grapeshot]

I guess will be going back to the days Eugenics,
Dowsing and Phrenology
soon.

[hazenoki]

Homeopathy is probably the "alternative treatment" that I have the hardest time understanding both why it (1) became popular in the first place, and (2) still has adherents to this day. It's just so extremely, mind-bogglingly dumb.

[geezzerboy]

A point to consider David. The British Royal Family has had a homeopathic Doctor for decades. Read up on placebos. When people do that, they generally say, "Why don't Drs just prescribe placebos (inert substances).?" I say, "Some Drs do, they are called Homeopaths." Our own placebo reaction is what should be investigated.

[Jane-noid]

A mind is the most powerful organ in our body!

[frederipochard]

Additional facts about the so-called homeopathic treatment for flu symptoms:
1) It's marketed in France as "alleviating flu state symptoms" NOT "curing the flu" or even "alleviating flu symptoms" but "flu state symptoms". What is "flu state"? Well... it's when you "feel" like you might have the flu but... not sure... you actually didn't go to a doctor but you think you have at least some of the symptoms usually associated with the flu. Very vague, right? That's by design: the manufacturer clearly doesn't want to look like they are affirming it's a cure for the flu because... it is not. Hence avoiding any liability.
2) It's not just made from duck liver, it's specifically made out of Muscovy duck livers and hearts which were basically left to rot for quite a long period.
3) It's based on the alleged "discovery" of something called "oscillocoque" (some kind of micro-organism) by a french homeopath in 1918 (during the spanish flu epidemic). He decided this "oscillocoque' thing was the underlying reason behin the spanish flu... and later many others ailments. But... nobody ever managed to actually observe this supposed new micro-organism ever again and the medical community finally dismissed this "discovery" as pseudo-science. So basically it's a "cure" acting against something that never existed and that was pointed as responsible for the flu with any concrete evidence.
And that's just ONE example of what an homeopathic "treatment" is. The rest of them are basically on the same level of utter BS-ery

[Lumors]

If placebo is a formula with the same ingredients except the active agent, how do you make placebo of a homeopathic medicine for your clinical trial?

[thakiusmuckfeather]

Well, if it works as a placedo and brings relief as such, why not experimenting with it?

[ojonasar]

If only people would stop believing crap like this …

[somethingclever]

I admire David for learning some science in preparation for these videos. Still, I think running the script by a scientist would have prevented a lot of imprecise and specious wording, like "molecules of goose liver", "the atoms disappear from the mixture". I know I'm being picky, but it's really important to teach non-scientists that science isn't just about complicated ideas. It's also about careful wording, deference to uncertainty, and using judicious caution when making declaratory statements.

[aryanmallick]

Homeopathy is not pseudo science. It is real