Zep said:
Some "words of advice" to posters from http://homeopathyforums.hpathy.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=756&PN=1 In other words, agree with us completely or we will kick you off without explanation. So much for "science"...
Well, since they're INVITING skeptics to to join their forum, as long as they have open minds, does anyone want to start lobbing Badly Shaved Monkey's list of ten questions they never answer into their forum? Here are the questions (I don't have the time or expertise in homeopathy that it would take to keep that thread going, unfortunately):
1. Why do the effects of homeopathy, which are quite considerable when described anecdotally, dissapear when testing is performed under controlled conditions ? (I propose rephrasing it to sound like the question of a true Searcher After Knowledge, to something like "I understand there are substantial anecdotal descriptions of the effects of homeopathy. But I am told that none of those effects can be reproduced under controlled conditions. Is this true? If not, could you please explain?")
2. What evidence do you have to support your assertion that "like cures like" is a natural law? (My rephrase: "Is there any evidence that the claim "like cures like" is a natural law? If so, what is the nature of that evidence?")
3. Exactly how does the solvent's "memory" of the active ingredient become selective, to somehow erase the intimate contact it has had with possibly millions of other compounds in its history and since the dilution process is supposed to dilute out the undesirable parts of the remedy's effects, and potentise the desirable parts, how does the remedy know which is which?
4. How is information stored in water? It's no good just saying that unexpected processes occur in solvents they must store energy and information in a completely faithful and stable manner? (Rephrased: "How is information stored in water? I've been told that 'unexpected processes occur in solvents', but that doesn't make sense to me; doesn't the water store energy and information in a completely predictable and stable manner?")
5. How does the memory of water apply when the final remedy is dried onto a lactose pill?
6. (Rephrase: I'm told homeopaths prescribe for animals. Do they actually "prove" the remedies on animals?)
7. Provings are demonstrably nonsense. In the vast majority no attention at all is paid to using controls. So it is vanishingly unlikely that many remedies in use today have the effects claimed for them in provings even if there was some validity behind the principles of homeopathy so that some remedies might truly work. So how come homeopaths using all the dodgy remedies claim success in using them? Doesn't the existence of this mass of defective remedies (even if we cannot identify them from a notional set of valid remedies) completely undermine the homeopaths' claims to make valid inferences from their much-vaunted 'clinical evidence'? (This question, though pertinent, is too challenging and would probably get you thrown off the forum.)
8. What can homeopathy not cure? How do these diseases differ absolutely from all the things they say it can cure. Can it cure genetic diseases? (Rephrase: Are there diseases that homeopathy can not cure? How do these diseases differ from all the diseases homeopathy CAN cure? Can homeopathy cure genetic diseases?)
9. What are the limits of homeopaths' credulity? Are there any alt med therapies they do not believe in? If there are really wild and weird things they do not believe in then please can they explain the rationale for making that distinction? (Don't submit - again, pertinent, but too challenging for the hpathy woowoos)
10. The Randi Challenge Special Question:
Is there any way to tell if a preparation is different from plain water or other solvent? Please do so and earn $1M (and no this is not a single dollar diluted homeopathically (Rephrase - leave out the second sentence - to the hpathy forum, it would be considered proof you're a troll).
