Homeopathy is becoming a poster-child on the forum for a topic committed 'skeptics' are told to go kick around, leaving more respectable topics in peace (perhaps tongue-in-cheek in some cases). Homeopathy was discussed in a few threads in the old forum but, since it's being used as a laughing stock here, even if jokingly, I thought I'd stick my hand at least briefly into this particular can of worms in light of recent discoveries about water. I humbly offer this thread 'for the record' in the interest of opening minds and raising awareness of this new information - this is an open-minded speculation. I say humbly because I'm barely aware myself - I'm guessing some other members will have more supporting information than I.
Personally, I'm not interested in being told here why it can't be true from the materialist standpoint - I've been hearing that stuff all my life and am well aware of the same-old arguments and ridicule. I have no axe to grind on this topic - I don't really believe in homeopathy myself at this point - but I've learned the hard way not to be too hasty to ridicule things I don't understand. True, I've never had a homeopathic remedy do anything noticeable, not even a noticeable placebo effect, but that says nothing about the premise.
It now seems that water may be a marvelously complex substance with structure and memory. If true, that's the kind of basis homeopathy implicitly requires. Also, it seems chemists have long used solubility tables that remain accurate well below the level of having one molecule of solute per flask of water, loosely speaking. This ultra-weak solution phenomenon seems to me consistent with the quantum mechanical view that matter normally exists as a probability function or wave. A flask may not contain a molecule but perhaps it contains 10% of the probability of a molecule? That's just a speculation; obviously it's not the only possibility, but in any event it seems supportive of the premise that homeopathy is genuine. I have now exhausted my 'expertise' on this topic.
Here's a good starting point, an overview presented by a true expert:
BTW, I should disclose that I try to avoid learning much about cryptozoology so I can point to that field and say, clearly that's ridiculous! I'll no doubt come to regret that
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Personally, I'm not interested in being told here why it can't be true from the materialist standpoint - I've been hearing that stuff all my life and am well aware of the same-old arguments and ridicule. I have no axe to grind on this topic - I don't really believe in homeopathy myself at this point - but I've learned the hard way not to be too hasty to ridicule things I don't understand. True, I've never had a homeopathic remedy do anything noticeable, not even a noticeable placebo effect, but that says nothing about the premise.
It now seems that water may be a marvelously complex substance with structure and memory. If true, that's the kind of basis homeopathy implicitly requires. Also, it seems chemists have long used solubility tables that remain accurate well below the level of having one molecule of solute per flask of water, loosely speaking. This ultra-weak solution phenomenon seems to me consistent with the quantum mechanical view that matter normally exists as a probability function or wave. A flask may not contain a molecule but perhaps it contains 10% of the probability of a molecule? That's just a speculation; obviously it's not the only possibility, but in any event it seems supportive of the premise that homeopathy is genuine. I have now exhausted my 'expertise' on this topic.
Here's a good starting point, an overview presented by a true expert:
BTW, I should disclose that I try to avoid learning much about cryptozoology so I can point to that field and say, clearly that's ridiculous! I'll no doubt come to regret that