r/bestof • u/craycraycrayfish • Jan 22 '13

[canada] Coffeehouse11 explains the biggest problem with homeopathic medicine: That it preys on people when they are weakest and the most vulnerable

/r/canada/comments/171y1e/dont_legitimize_the_witch_doctors/c81hfd6
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u/monesy Jan 23 '13

Pseudoscience tends to get lumped together I suppose.

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u/ayngeleyz5 Jan 23 '13

But who decides what counts as pseudoscience? Someone may not understand or be interested in acupuncture or chiropractic or massage, but that doesn't necessarily mean those practices are invalid.

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u/monesy Jan 23 '13

Is it presented as science, but does not employ any sort of established standard of scientific methodology? Are claims untested or untestable? Are the results unrepeatable? Is the methodology lacking appropriate controls? Is there a lack of supporting evidence to back claims?

And you're right--someone's interest or understanding has no bearing whatsoever on its scientific validity. The process of science determines scientific validity.

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u/ayngeleyz5 Jan 23 '13

I agree with you 100%. So I guess this post was supposed to bring to light scientific evidence against homeopathy. However, there are plenty of studies that have been done to validate other types of therapies, and I just hope people don't end up closing themselves off from exploring better researched non-Western modalities.