Tag: pseudoscience

Homeopathy: Just water? – Episode 144

The Story: Are homeopathic solutions nothing more than water?

For many educated people, the argument against homeopathy as a system of medicine is pretty straightforward: it’s just water. That is to say, homeopathy involves diluting substances to a level that you can’t reasonably expect any of the original substance to remain, and therefore any medicinal effect that it has can’t be better than regular water, or a placebo. However, they’re mistaken.

This is a fallacy of composition – it assumes that because water molecules are identical, anything made from a bunch of water molecules must also be identical. A simple analogy to demonstrate the error in this line of thinking would be to say, all Tetris squares are identical, and so any Tetris board formed with 20 squares has the same properties. Or, all oxygen atoms are equal, and therefore any combination of them must also be equal – which is not true, oxygen atoms can form in molecules of O2, O3, O4 and O8.

In fact, there are at least three studies suggesting that homeopathic solutions are not “just water”, but something else – something with a measurable difference. Join me in finding out how in the next watered-down episode of The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

The Links:

Homeopathy: Just water? essay

Physical properties of ice

Luc Montagnier takes homeopathy seriously

Fallacy of composition

Thermoluminesce of ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and sodium chloride – Louis Rey study

The defining role of structure (including epitaxy) in the plausibility of homeopathy – Penn State study

Randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Episode 5 – Morphic Resonance

In this chapter, we discuss the work and ideas of controversial biologist Rupert Sheldrake. We discuss a few experiments and phenomena that might lend evidence to, or be explained by, the idea of morphic resonance, such as the quicker formation of crystals over time, the sense of being stared at, dogs who know when their owners are coming home, inheritance of characteristics, the hundredth monkey effect, the Mandela Effect, spontaneous language learning, and true sight.

To download the audio, right click and press “Save As”.

Please donate to show your support. BitCoin address: 182CzJUbz8xb1JZjuVm2S4YUBfd3xk2XfM

Or donate your Altcoins using Shapeshift: