Tag: scientific evidence

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:

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