Comments on: Simon Singh to Appeal Bogus Decision

By: Mojo

Mojo — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:13:12 +0000

"For example, I have never mentioned any prize money. I have no idea where that idea comes from."

Homoeopaths (and other CAMsters) seem to have trouble with the concept of doing anything without a financial incentive. See, for example, their repeated claims that anyone who criticises homoeopathy is being paid to do so.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 08:12:06 +0000

@ Stuart McOwen

"to hound and defame these people is completely unacceptable to most members of the public."

You still seem not to have understood that Simon Singh was not referring not to the chiropractors themselves but to their treatments.

"Some homeopaths appear to be performing miracles with absolutely nothing at all and must be doing something right."

Please find one "miracle" performed by a homoeopath.
Homoeopathy (read "a placebo") may make you feel better but they do not actually cure disease. A "miracle" would be something akin to using homoeopathy (ie a placebo) in place of insulin in the treatment of diabetes.
Good luck with your search.

BillyJoe

By: Stewart McOwan

Stewart McOwan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:03:51 +0000

Thank you for that.
Obviously, many people assumed 100 Dollars was the prize for guessing the remedies which was akin to giving a waitress a 2p tip.

By: Le Canard Noir

Le Canard Noir — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:57:35 +0000

I will construct a new challenge page since there are so many confusions.

For example, I have never mentioned any prize money. I have no idea where that idea comes from.

By: Stewart McOwan

Stewart McOwan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:25:56 +0000

Andy, I don't think that you do make it clear at all on the simple challenge that GROUPS of any size are allowed to spend a long unspecified period, months etc mulling over the identity of the six bottles. It would be better if it could be re-worded.
I don't think it reads as a flexible test at all. Also it would be great if you would reassure potential interested people regarding your method of maximising trust.
I also think it would actually be better if there was no prize money since the sum is so small that it makes it all look like a wind-up.
The ideal place for finding people to do this would be India where there are over 100 homeopathic colleges and many are quite large.

By: Stewart McOwan

Stewart McOwan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:59:36 +0000

Weol, I must add that nowhere on my website do I (to my knowledge / recollection) state that homeopathy is a science. I am well aware that various homeopaths have claimed this. There are even a few homeopathic books with 'science' in the title. I cannot personally be held accountable for this.
There is more than a hint that my integrity is being questioned here which I object to. This is because I have personally seen many homeopaths perform excellent work on many very happy and grateful patients. To hound and defame these people is completely unacceptable to most members of the public.
If homeopathy is placebo as most contributors here insist, it follows that there is inadequate research on how this is best achieved. Some homeopaths appear to be performing miracles with absolutely nothing at all and must be doing something right.

By: Le Canard Noir

Le Canard Noir — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:46:29 +0000

My $100 test of homeopathy would not be expensive. All it needs is willing volunteers, a little thought and about $100 worth of remedies or so. That is why it is called the $100 challenge. Expense is not an excuse. The claims of homeopaths are grand – it should be easy to do.

Calling a homeopathy degree an arts degree would be a cop out and misleading. Homeopaths make truth claims about the world that are testable – science. Hiding behind a BA rather than a BSc does not let them off the hook. It just shows them to be intellectual cowards.

By: Le Canard Noir

Le Canard Noir — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:04:00 +0000

Oh, and Boiron is that big – it spends nearly 20 times as much on marketing as it does on research. For comparison, a typical real pharmaceutical company will as a proportion spend 10 times as much.

http://gimpyblog.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/big-quacka-spend-185-times-more-on-marketing-than-research-big-pharma-only-twice-as-much/

By: Le Canard Noir

Le Canard Noir — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:00:51 +0000

I get pretty sick of homeopaths misrepresenting my challenge in order not to take it. Stewart, in what way could my challenge be more flexible - I leave all the details up the the homeopaths ho want to take it. All I insist on is six remedies, correctly identified and blinded. Take as long as you like, use whatever methods you like, use as many people as you like.

The trust issue is easily fixed and I have describe it. An MD5 hash of the blinded remedies would be publicly posted online before the trial. This would allow anyone to verify the integrity of the remedy coding.

All homeopaths can do is think of weak excuses not to take the trial rather than ways to demonstrate that their magic is real. The fact that so few actually engage and think about how they might do it is indicative of an intellectually vacuous community.

By: John Robinson

John Robinson — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:19:47 +0000

Professor Edzard Ernst has blogged on the Singh case and chiropractic in general, asking whether chiropractors are destroying their own reputation by promoting the technique for conditions for which there's no good evidence, and for dragging Singh into the libel courts.