overload Wrote:homeopaths
given, the scientific base is lacking fundamental logics, but i believe not enough is known about psychological effects of placebos and/or holistic approaches to warrant an overal dismission of therapies like homeopathy od traditional chinese medicine
most alternative therapists today will only use their methods in a complementary way and not as a complete substitute to pharmaceutical/surgical medicine.
to be frank, in some cases, i believe pharmaceutical medicine is a bit lost.
bombing every viral outbreak with antibiotics will turn out to be timebomb in the long run.
finding methods that could trigger the body's own defences (which essentially, is what homeopathy is about, once you see throgh the cloud of hazy mysticism it still harbours due to its short existence) should be a way to handle sickness and disease in the future. much in the same way as a virus like h5n1 adapts to the defences of its hosts, the human body's defences could be taught to adapt to new viruses faster and better.
the trouble is, it is quite easy to scientifically pick apart something as vague as homeopathy, hence it reappears in the news every now and then as an example of quackery, with quotes highlighting the hardcore-stuff like high potencies (remedies in such a low concentration, that they equal a single drop of essence in the entire ocean) and such.
if you'd highlight max planck's views on why women shouldn't be scientists (he tried to apply thermodynamics..) you'd believe he was a bit of a dunce too, unworthy of scientific work.
(it's not an elegant argument i know, but you get the point..)
this just shows, that critical thought is one of the most important things that should be taught in schools. too much today is taught as vague "knowledge", when in reality it's concepts that apply under certain conditions. if you have no real knowledge of the factual basics underlying these concepts, you have no chance of examining the conditions and eventually finding your way to a relevant and plausible conclusion (i'm rambling...)
i wonder if it all just boils down to an economic profit from keeping the public uncritical and as you rightly say "dumb".