homeopathic physics abuse, take two
After reviewing the horrifying evils unleashed on unsuspecting physics equations by Dr. Charlene Werner and explaining just how wrong she really was, I thought that her video would go unrivaled as an example of wild, clinical inanity for a long, long time. And as odd as it may seem, I was wrong. Cancer surgeon and glutton for punishment, Orac, has found a certain Dr. John Benneth who boldly tries to jump the bar set by our airheaded homeopathic optometrist and comes disturbingly close. Yes ladies and germs, we have another desecration of physics on our hands and believe it or not, if homeopathy really worked the way he explains, it would be an extreme weapon that would rival nuclear warheads and weaponized pathogens in any military arsenal…
As anyone who’s familiar with homeopath’s explanations of how their cures are supposed to work can guess at this point, Benneth’s speech is all about energy and how this energy reacts with the cells and molecules in the client’s body. The disturbing thing is where he claims this energy comes from and how it works…
The dilution and succussion process that is used to make homeopathic medicines creates self- replicating hydrate clathrates. These are crystalloid polymers that appear as nanobubbles that are emitting electromagnetic radiation transformed from the natural background radiation. The cells of the body pick this up and react to it.
Why oh why do woo-meisters love to use words like energy and radiation while blissfully oblivious to what the words mean or how the physics behind them actually work? Let’s think about this for a moment. Energy, if we go by the strict physical definition, is the ability of a system to perform work. That’s it. If you direct energy into a body, you’ll be knocking around molecules. And if you’re an organism, that’s a really bad thing because all the particles and ionizing electromagnetic rays will eventually start hitting something important. Like your genome for instance. When exposed to high levels of radiation, living tissues decay and die. So when you’re drinking a radioactive remedy that works by bombarding your cells with energy, you’re effectively drinking poison. Why do you think beams of radiation are used in oncology? They bombard cancer cells and kill off tumors. The irony of an alt med practitioner ranting against the destructive power of modern medicine while promoting radiation as the key to homeopathic remedies would be hilarious if we knew people didn’t fall for it.
Oh and there’s more. The background radiation we experience in everyday life is heat, light and a steady buzz of microwaves from communication satellites, cellular towers and power lines. And all of these phenomena take the form of waves propagating through space, or electromagnetic radiation. So how exactly does shaking up water with a few drops of some mysterious substance transform electromagnetic radiation into more of the same? Could it be that (gasp!) Dr. Benneth has no idea what he’s talking about and that since all releasing a propagating wave of energy in water would do is heat it up, he’s really telling you that if you just warm up water, you’ve effectively made a viable homeopathic cure right at home? No, of course not, the woo faithful will cry in his defense. That’s not the “right form of energy” and it would never work. But since energy is just the ability for work to be done in a system, energy only comes in different levels and vehicles. Under the hood, it’s the same effect working its way through stars, planets and living things via different mechanisms.
As most other skeptics who tackle homeopathy, I’m asked all the time why I can’t just ignore this fluffy woo and let it coexist with modern medicine. What’s the harm in having people do what makes them feel good as long as they’re not hurting themselves or others? For all those who ask, I want to point to Charlene Werner and the other homeopaths who trip over their own tongues when they try to explain what they actually do and make so many gross mistakes, they would fail eight grade science in a heartbeat. Would you trust a doctor who’s totally lost when you ask about the heart’s basic functions? Or one who thinks that your spleen is somewhere below your kidneys, sandwiched between your reproductive system and the large intestine? Why would you possibly trust someone who clearly has no clue how their remedies are supposed to work and why would you choose them over people who actually know enough about anatomy and biology to explain how they’d rather treat you and why they want to do it that way?
It only works if you believe. If it still doesn’t work it is a test of faith. God herself offers no greater promise. All traditional medicine can offer is empirical procedure.
Notice another buzz word here: nanobubbles. String theory and quantum fields are apparently passé, but nano is definitely in this season.
Sadly, I was expecting a point by point dismantling of the theories using citations of solid science. As it stands, you are no better than they, crying foul but offering no methodical process to review.
You, like they, are preaching to your choir with no capacity to reach out and convert the undecided folk seeking healthy solutions. Belligerent ad hominem will only serve to entrench those inclined to homeopathy, effectively painting you as the evil little tyrant of science who offers no actual science, but insults on their notables and by transference, themselves.
If your goal truly is to educate the undecided and influence the believers of homeopathy, then a less insulting and dismissive approach must be taken, one that draws them in with demonstration of the mechanical failures of the claims, not using vague generalizations, but systematic methods.
If your goal is to simply preach to the choir and earn your silver from the ad-revenue that it generates, please, stay the course.
adamant – you suggest a point-by-point dissection, but really, it’s just a string of nonsense words. How can you make a counter argument to an assertion which, really, is just “blah blah blah -fancyword- blah blah blah -fancyword-” ?
Isn’t the best cure for nonsense ridicule?
“Sadly, I was expecting a point by point dismantling of the theories using citations of solid science.”
That’s exactly what I did. It’s just that I didn’t think it was necessary to cite references to very basic middle school science. Concepts like radiation and energy shouldn’t require a big list of citations. Really.
“…a less insulting and dismissive approach must be taken, one that draws them in with demonstration of the mechanical failures of the claims”
So pointing out that how Dr. Benneth described the inner workings of homeopathy will either make a toxic stew that will give you cancer, or just make hot water doesn’t fall into the category of demonstrating the mechanical failures of his claims?
“If your goal is to simply preach to the choir and earn your silver from the ad-revenue that it generates…”
My goal is to challenge people’s ideas, and when those ideas are being used to justify making money from exploiting others with technobabble and quackery, I don’t think I have to be sensitivity and politeness incarnate. Also, as of right now, this blog doesn’t have any ads so it’s hard to see how I’d make money from something that isn’t there yet…
So dear non believers,
read this carefully befor you decide whether it is quack or not. An family member of mine is now for 1 year in semi.coma after the third wasp bite. (the first and second were 15 and 16 years ago)
10 years before she was made immune by it through regular medics.
So you would think no problem?? right. NO BIG Problems.
Now comes the trick: Within 20 seconds she fainted after the bite in her finger tip. After 1 minute she blew up like a ballon. Luckily the paramedics could push a pipe through her throat so she didn´t suffocate.
How do you explain the body reacting so fast. The poison could not have reached the brain within 20 seconds even not in a minute . So how was the response created ?? Not by the poison but by the signals given by the poison to the NERVES.
Why did the body react is such a incredeble way? the normal doctor couldn´t tell my uncle , He told him she was the third woman in existence surviving ther third wasp bite without dying although her hyper allergeic reaction to it (They didn´´t even dare to do a test with diluted wasp poison to check or the immune cure from 10 years ago was still effective.)
Now she is in semi coma and the normal medical world doesn´t know what to except from pulling the plugs so she would die.
Now my uncle has been treating her with, yes homeopathic diluted wasp BEE poison as this is less poisoneous . You people say there is nothing in it right?? Right it is so diluted that not a single molecul is in it Right?? Right. OK now what has happened after he gave her the first drops to have her body to get used to the poison again and have the brains relaxed again so she could move again????
Nothing??? There is no molecul in there right?? right there isn´t.
1 second after giving only one drop she started vomiting and grew like a balloon . But not so severe as with the real wasp bite.
OK could be placebo effect.
Right
Now the second time with this so called nothing water
Guess what happened??
Right vomiting again and ballooning but not so sever anymore.
Could be placebo huh?? OK but how is this placebo effect achieved with somene in coma???
Tell me.
Now she is so far after 1 year that she is able to speak some words again and talk with her eyes. 1 blink is yes ,2 is no, and 3 blinks is yes please.As the talking is to exhausting.
And on command of the care taking people she can relax her whole body for a couple of minutes and is then dressed or washed. The she flips into feetus holding (like an unborn baby)
Normal medicine cannot explain this . She should have been dead 1 year ago.
Now i will not come back on this and please call me liar etc. But how can 1 drop of nothing make her react like she is stung by a real wasp.
Think before you judge about something you have no experience with nor underwenth it.
Best regards ,
and keep your minds open. That will make it a better world.
@DeBaard. But of course, there’s nothing like random anecdotal account on the web to convince us of the powers of homeopathy, especially when framed with absolutely no proofreading and in a long, rambling format.
How do you explain the body reacting so fast. The poison could not have reached the brain within 20 seconds even not in a minute.
Poisons don’t have to reach the brain to trigger the body’s reaction. Your unidentified family member could go into full blown shock within seconds if she’s as allergic to a wasp bite as you describe. The venom just needs to enter her body, period.
Ok now what has happened after he gave her the first drops to have her body to get used to the poison again and have the brains relaxed again so she could move?
Ow. That attempt at an argument made my brain hurt. Many venoms don’t even target the nervous system, i.e. aren’t neurotoxins, so the idea of “relaxing one’s brain” to get patients out of a coma caused by anaphylactic shock is absolutely ridiculous. Only a victim of a brain endema would actually need to have brain swelling reduced. So, the entire premise you detailed here is wrong and you’ve not provided any proof for what you’re saying or any way to verify your story.
Patients in comas can get better on their own and even if your story is a truly accurate account, just a few minutes on WebMD could clear up the “mysteries of medicine” to which you refer and it’s pretty obvious that you’re guilty of confusing correlation with a plausible causation. Often times the two are very different things.
Best regards, and keep your minds open. That will make it a better world.
I’m all for keeping my mind open. However, I don’t want to have a mind so open that my brains fall out and land on the floor with a squishy noise.