Homeopathy is Stupid

Homeopathy is stupid.  It doesn't even make sense conceptually, and when you factor in that it has been shown to NOT WORK, it amazes me that there are supporters out there for it.  People willing to believe in it because of anecdotal evidence... which in my mind isn't really evidence.  Peer review (review by other people trying to cure diseases in this case) and the ability to replicate the results (the ability to cure people of various ailments with homeopathy) are what you'd need to show that homeopathy works.  But it doesn't.  It fails those tests.  There are plenty of people claiming that it works... but unsubstantiated claims don't mean homeopathy is credible.

But first lets be clear.  Just to be sure those of you reading this blog post know what homeopathy is.  Imagine you have a cold that you want to get rid of.  You could just buy cold medicine.  You could eat lots of oranges or other foods high in vitamin C.  You could relax in a steam room to help clear your sinuses.  Or if you believe in homeopathy, you find a substance that is bad for people but which can cause the same symptoms as a cold.  I don't know such a substance off the top of my head, but what they do with it is to dilute it in water.  They go through a process that dilutes it even further over and over again.  And when they're done, they have a liquid that is... water.  That's it.  They dilute it so much (by definition) that the substance that causes the similar symptoms is effectively no longer present.  It is no longer an "active ingredient" in the dilution.  And homeopaths claim that drinking this dilution will have beneficial effect against the cold or whatever other ailment you're trying to deal with.

I'd just like to point out that the definition of homeopathy does not include herbal remedies, or home care.  It does not represent all of "alternate medicine".  It is very specific to using diluted materials that CAUSE bad symptoms to cure maladies that have similar symptoms.  Not only is that a stupid idea to begin with, but diluting it to the point of not being anything more than pure water means that the bad substance isn't even a factor.

I don't even need to read medical articles that test this to know that drinking water won't cure cancer or malaria.  but just in case you want to do further reading on the subject...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

Pay special attention to the parts where it points out that homeopathy doesn't work.

Now if you want to say that herbal remedies can work, and that alternative medicine can be effective... then yeah... I agree with you.  But homeopathy is a very specific practice that very specifically does not work.  At least... not any better than placebo does.  So it has psychosomatic effect going for it I guess.

Anyway, I just wanted to write this to express my horror at the thought of otherwise intelligent people arguing that homeopathy works... and more importantly that these people are part of society and presumably have a bearing on its future.  What else do they accept as truth despite evidence to the contrary?  How many people will die because someone insists that homeopathy works to cure cancer?  I suppose I don't care if it's people dying because they believe... but what about kids with parents who won't let them make use of real medicine?

Homeopathy is stupid.