homeopathy... aibu to say i think of it's a crock of crap?

[ILetHimKeep20Quid]

Was at my brothers for dinner yesterday. My baby has a touch of eczema. As a chronic sufferer myself I roll my eyes whenever people start on the 'oh have you tried this' thing but smile and nod. I have used steroid creams in the past, of various strengths, to deal with outbreaks. I'm well versed in the treatment.

So, the wee touch my ds has isn't concerning me and I'm moisturizing him regularly.

Cue my sil practically gushing over her homeopath (not just a normal one. He's a gp but does this on the side it seems).

I smiled and nodded. Not wanting to get into the whole thing. But she would not give up. So I asked 'what is homeopathy?'

Apparently, get this, water has a memory. What the actual fuck? How can water have a memory?

Oh, and convincing people that it does work because of all the dilutions is sort of undoing all those years at school, surely? We complain about the state of education and children coming out of school with no knowledge and then we tell adults that water has a memory. Lets not dumb society down any further.

Agree with hop that its offensive precisely because it taps into this kind of "there are things we are not meant to understand" drivel. No, there are things that make no sense whatsoever. Suspending your intelligence in that kind of soppy uncritical way is not communing with the mystic universe.

I really think that this is one of the reasons that there are fewer kids wanting to be scientists. Instead of saying to them, "does this work? How does it work? How can we test it?" we say things like, "I believe water has memory. I believe it, so it's true, don't test it because there are some things we just don't understand".

And even, Darwin help me, things that "we shouldn't test"........

hehe my kid is a scientist preens

curlew, which dimension are you counting in ?

YES MrsTP when people start saying 'well we're all entitled to our opinions' I want to punch the internet. Yes, of course you can have an opinion but you would still be wrong.

**

Or creationism.

Any one I like, beast- after all, it's all a matter of personal belief.......

My local health shops sells remedies for under a fiver.

If they are homeopathic, not just herbal, then they are about a fiver too expensive.

Mrs TP I think that homeopathy has been round a lot longer than the issue with kids not wanting to do science...

And there is still so much science can't answer. There is evidence that accupuncture works but science can't explain why.

hop you want to punch the internet?

it may be time for you to get a little fresh air...

Because science is all about personal belief.

Bizarrely I just had this argument with someone, who then claimed that you could cure terminal cancer with an alkaline diet. Which is quite the claim. I was sad that she had no links or evidence because I would have taken that shit straight to the press, I've always wanted to be obnoxiously rich.

I'm not spending a fiver because I already pay water rates, ta very much.

beast I know, but it's just THIS

I was wondering what makes one person's belief in something worthy of protection and another person's belief open to ridicule.

What if advancements in technology in
the future prove that a religion I wrong? Will its beliefs still retain protected status?

"And there is still so much science can't answer. There is evidence that accupuncture works but science can't explain why."

Yes, there is still so much that science can answer. That's why science isn't finished yet

Oh, and no, there isn't any evidence that acupuncture works. For a while people thought there might be, but then they did more and better trials and it turns out it doesn't.

And there is still so much science can't answer. Luckily for us the question, "does homeopathy work" has been answered with a resounding peer reviewed "NO".

BTW science doesn't seek to 'know' everything and then stop. It seeks to test constantly, to constantly try to see what is not the truth. To chip away at untruths to uncover the beauty of the universe.

There is evidence that accupuncture works

Let's see it, then.

science can't explain why.

As homeopathy "working" would involve tearing up two of the best-tested and most accurate theories we have (quantum mechanics and the standard model), along with the vast majority of pharmacology, chemistry, biology and probably our basic theory of matter as well, it is truly the ne plus ultra of Sagan's "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".

hop my computer refuses to open that link. It is protecting me, bless.

curlew wins the jackpot! we have a quantum reference!

How acupuncture may work for pain relief, but little else.

It is more likely that there is an isolated mountain top in Africa where, in the way of Conan Doyles' "Lost World", dinosaurs and pterosaurs continue to breed and live, than homeopathy working. There's no fundamental reason why the former couldn't have happened, given extraordinarily unlikely circumstances, after all.

Bring on the Loch Ness monster. Lots of "evidence" there.

Well curlew, you are just a delight to debate with aren't you? There are studies that show that accupuncture works for certain conditions.

I don't think I ever implied science was "finished" - how could it ever be?

There are always unanswered questions and religion, reiki, homeopathy or star gazing or whatever fill the gaps for people.