The sound on this is horrible, but the content is good. James Randi talks about woo, the million dollar challenge, and homeopathy.
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CLIFFHANGER!
My favorite debunking of homeopathy was someone explaining that since homeopathy relies on extreme dilution, and that potency increases through dilution, every glass of water we drink should have an extremely potent version of every homeopathic remedy already in it.
On Randi’s site he also talks about reading the claims on a box of homeopathy medicine that claimed to have been diluted one million times. A simple bit of math showed that even if there were a globe of water the size of the orbit of Neptune, that globe would only contain a single atom of the original diluted material.
I find it amazing that this scam actually works on anyone.
I find it amazing that this scam actually works on anyone.
Scientific illiteracy has powers to induce credulity that would make the greatest magician blush.
Combine that with the familiar *trappings* of medicine and science, such as the use of Hellenic and Latinate words, the use of numbers and statistics to bolster claims, and the arrogation of the title ‘doctor’ by practitioners, and you got yourself a claim that would fool a great many people.
I love James Randi to death, but he harps on Homeopathy too much. As sadly funny as it is, I wish he’d address other things sometimes.
Well, that killed a big chunk of time while I was laying abed feeling ill today – thanks, Daniel :-)