Is Homeopathy a Placebo? | Richard Dawkins Questions Homeopath

Tickets available at richarddawkins...
I shall be spending the whole of September, and the first week of October, in North America, speaking in ten different cities from Dallas to Vancouver. I am 83 years old, and travel is more irksome than it was. The maxim, “Quit while you’re ahead” has recently received a welcome boost, and I anticipate that this will be my last American tour. My swansong. My final bow.
There’ll be a Q & A at every event. And I’ll be signing any or all of my 19 books, including The Genetic Book of the Dead, which will be just published. This will probably be your last opportunity to tell me how profoundly you disagree with everything I’ve written and said. Or the reverse if that is the case. Either way, I look forward to seeing you.
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In this episode, Richard Dawkins has a conversation with Dr. Peter Fisher, who is a physician and homeopath. They discuss the efficacy of Homeopath, controversy regarding funding homeopathy, and the scientific (or non scientific) nature of the field.
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[@ftumschk]

Apologists for homeopathy really annoy me. I can only take them in small doses.

[@altosack]

My step-mother, who ran a health food store, was an apologist. Since she professed to know a bit of anatomy and physiology, I challenged her to posit a mechanism by which homeopathy works, and of course she could not. But, she also couldn’t explain the mechanism for souls, or anything about her religion, but she wasn’t stopped believing nonsense there, either.

[@Wildrover82]

Very good. I see what you did there.😅

[@csn10]

Funny that his first and only example of evidence was acupuncture, not homeopathy (by the 7 minute mark). Why would water retain the memory of the molecule on further dilution, but impurities and toxins somehow don't?

[@menglish83]

I find them rather ineffective.

[@artharrison9586]

This particular comment makes me feel unwell.

[@philippkemptner4604]

My mum was very much into homeopathy and therefore I strongly believed in it as a kid. But still I had no benefit and no placebo effect when my asthma was treaded with homeopathy. I was quite happy when I found out that there is actual medicine that actually helps.

[@WayneLynch69]

Twain is credited with "history doesn't repeat but it often rhymes" Dawkins presents under the "Poetry of reality". NOTHING is as poetic as him getting his ass seriously destroyed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnqrfqF6Z6t3m7s 2 Nobel laureates & Craig Venter ALL SAY TO HIS FACE;"It is impossible that humans will ever know life's origin" HE SAYS NOTHING! His entire CV, sine qua non and he sits mute/deaf/sub-moronic--TF??

[@dsgio7254]

I have seen the opposite experience with more severe conditions diseases .. which homeopathy worked while conventional drugs did not ..

[@Sauvenil]

@@dsgio7254 "I have seen the opposite experience with more severe conditions diseases .. which homeopathy worked while conventional drugs did not .." This points to the fact that the "conditions" that this worked with were mental, not physical.

[@fredfish4316]

​@@dsgio7254He had a real case of asthma though. Not some imaginery serious disease.

[@Simple_Slmon]

Indeed, when i was a child a GP told my mother my asthma was psychosomatic, I had asthma from 3 months old and nearly died from asthma when I was 6 months old. Many cancer and other severe illness patients have died because of mumbo jumbo medicine like homeopathy. It should not be funded by the NHS and should in fact be banned as it can be very dangerous.

[@Puppacha]

Talk about an intimate interview! I've seen less invasive dental X-rays. If the camera got any closer, it'd need to buy the doc dinner first.

[@Wildrover82]

I love Richard. Learnt a lot from him over the years. Hope he's doing well. Homeopathy is nonsense obviously. Peace.✌️

[@JosephCymrank]

It's nonsense until you feel it working.

[@tmck2000]

Your comment doesn’t make sense. If patients derive benefit from homeopathic treatment then it’s quite the opposite. The curative / restorative / alleviation mechanism is not understood but points to a placebo or psychosomatic principle & no doubt will eventually be decoded. Lister was pilloried by some of the establishment in relation to antiseptics & germ theory. Eventually he was proven correct. Same for other “heretics” who proposed models or theories that went against the established conventions of the time.

[@davidjones8965]

Considering all of the ‘dilutions’ involved…..if you miss a day of your meds,it would be an overdose

[@DC-zi6se]

😂

[@Jules-hn6un]

There’s a term for alternative medicine that actually works. Medicine.

[@altosack]

It’s not quite that simple. Some alternate medicines are “alternative” because the pharma industry is making too much money on their cures (or non-cures) and don’t want the competition.

[@mikedonnarumma5337]

im sure Tim would agree with you

[@rinkydinkfretboard8737]

Brilliant, I’m going to repeat this to a friend of my SO whom has bought into all the nonsense.

[@fretbuzz59]

One doctor put it this way: There's no such thing as alternative medicine; there's only medicine. If something is effective, it's used.

[@Peter-f2m]

Um no. Look at the American health care system and tell me it’s based on helping people. You’re out of your mind if you think modern healthcare is about making people healthy

[@JohnSmith-fg6ll]

Any remaining doubts I may have had about the sheer quackery of homeopathy were dispelled by watching 0.000000001 seconds of this video.

[@flamingburitto]

As an indian who has taken Homeopathy. It is. Atleast in my opinion. Because it has never worked for me. I am pessimistic and skeptical by nature. But it did work for my dad. And my mom. And my grand father, and my uncle and... you get the point. I don't think its ineffective, because placebos work. I just think its a placebo.

[@DeconvertedMan]

what is amazing about real drugs is that they work no matter if you believe they will or not!

[@frankengstfeld5934]

I agree with them. But the nocebo effect experiments with opiates are also interesting.

[@catkin-z8g]

@@DeconvertedMan hard to say without any control experiments.

[@DeconvertedMan]

@@catkin-z8g the effect of placebo is known, the problem of homeopathy is all the nonsense attached to it.

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

@@catkin-z8g Which is why they test real drugs.

[@mdesm2005]

I purchased a bottle of homeopathy sleeping aid at a drug store in Long Beach CA, about 10 years ago to make a point. I consumed the entire thing at a lunch, in front of a dozen coworkers. Those who lost their bet with me never payed.

[@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095]

Did it work or not? {:o:O:}

[@mdesm2005]

@@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095 I would have sued if it had. There isn't supposed to be any active ingredient in homeopathic remedies.

[@7rich79]

You would have slept a bit better if they did pay up 😅

[@homewall744]

You took too much. Zero is the correct amount.

[@Tinker1950]

Meaningless gobbledygook.

[@davidwensboposaric5498]

Placebo - a sweet dream that has to be shared by both parties for effectivness to emerge.

[@BuildNRoll]

The second the doctor says it believes it is placebo, he's out of a job. He must deny until retirement.

[@ald7157]

The woman in the waiting room who was given a cup of tea and a biscuit said it was the best treatment she ever had.

[@VaughanMcCue]

Tea! That's what she thought, and the Shroom crackers were out of this world.

[@PhaseControlDNB]

Plot twist: Dr. Peter Fisher is fully aware that homeopathy is placebo and keeps being serious so he doesn't ruin that and keep the placebo running for his patients 😀

[@alexanderktn]

This dribble is impossible to listen to. If homeopathic "drugs" would cost what they are worth in terms of ingredients I wouldn't have a problem with them, but as it is they are a cash grab. Even worse when there is public money involved!

[@pardalote]

I agree. It's the pricing that bothers me.

[@peterwhyte-zl1kv]

@@pardalote Pure water is very expensive!

[@noteda6361]

A pretty bottle and a price tag are a part of that "this must be the real shit then" symbol that makes it more real in the eyes of those people.

[@alexanderktn]

@@noteda6361 Probably yes and they can keep buying it if they want, but no public funds should be spent on this kind of snake oil.

[@Tinker1950]

@@alexanderktn It's 'drivel' not dribble.

[@johnthewlis3920]

Your rationale is exemplary, sir. It is good for a 72 y/o such as I, once exceptionally rational, to readjust my own. Retired from the UK to Jamaica, sadly I will not be able to see you on tour, but I will be following with a not inconsiderable awe. Thank you for you.

[@janice2911]

I honestly love you with all my heart! Wish you healthy and happy life for many years to come! ❤️

[@Tinker1950]

Who the hell are you referring to?

[@knowledgeckr786]

Thanks for the video. This homeopathic expert is very realistic as compared to the other ones who are constantly producing videos claiming strange things. I hope if there is any theoretical and experimental Ideas support in favour of homeopathy, please make it public.

[@battuta870]

Thank you richard dawkins 🙏😊 you opened my eyes 💡

[@ddlsmurf]

Sweet lords of Kobol does this camera person love close ups of faces and swivelling around, it's very uncomfortable, makes me feel way closer than I'm comfortable to

[@MrAwesomeSaucesome]

I find it a bit claustrophobic as well . I've seen it on some other Dawkins videos, i think it's just the style for this show

[@arandorapress7561]

This is very badly filmed. The person with the camera should have taken some lessons and learnt what they were meant to be doing. It is very distracting.

[@fraserct533]

Dr Fisher is great example of - 'could sell snow to an eskimo in winter'‼ Has the manner of a sharp, fast talking sales man with a well practiced pitch for a dodgey product ... & looks to be just that❗- or a sharp, fast talking lawyer arguing a dodgey case ... & so on ... or any other in the list of better known charlatans.

[@markaxworthy2508]

I always ask whether homeopathy supporters would like a drink and then, whatever their reply, give them water. Few get the point.

[@EstuardoAlmavarez]

When I was in the Army, I injured my ankle during a run. For some reason, they sent me to the acupuncturist. It didn't help and I still don't know why they sent me!

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

Like my mum used to tell me, when I hurt myself, to pinch the skin between finger and thumb. It gives you a different pain to think about, and takes your mind off the original one. A different treatment is required for broken bones!

[@mikefischbein3230]

The dose of homeopathic medicine was " an ultra-molecular dilution... There were no molecules." 22:34. Literally not a single molecule of the "active ingredient."

[@Jay-ft3xh]

The tricky part is the placebo effect is irrefutable. Even when given a known placebo, subjects have positive benefits. (Remotely administered non-deceptive placebos reduce stress, anxiety and depression - Guevarra, Webster, Moros, Kross, Moser)

[@selfthinker]

I always thought in addition to the placebo effect, the way homeopathy "works" is also by spending quality time with the patient. That can make a huge difference, feeling heard and feeling cared about. And that psychological difference can obviously have a big physiological difference. Furthermore, the fact that you might not get some of the more harmful medication, and therefore not their side effects and subsequent damage either, can make another big difference.

[@AndrewSmith-uc4ys]

That may be true - but can for actual medicine as well. Has nothing to do with whether the mechanism for homeopathy is valid. The true question is whether homeopathy is legit. With even a modicum of understanding - it’s obviously absolute garbage.

[@karatekid7640]

Not for me, when i went to the homeopath (back when i thought it as actual medicine) ,i went to get medicine and get better, not to get familiar with doctor or lighten my heart or get psychoanalysis or any other bs. Just to get medical treatment. This new bs of giving time to patient otherwise hurried off by doctors is just grasping at any excuse to rationalize the scam as useful when it so clearly is not.

[@Tony11442]

Thank you Prof. Dawkins for a spectacular lifetime

[@rudolphteperberry3888]

I stayed in an unmanned mountain hut a couple nights ago. The first aid kit had a label "This kit contains homeopathic medicine. Keep mobile phones away!" Do you think it would have cured the golf ball size swelling and bruise on my shin?

[@mikedonnarumma5337]

placebo, the power of the mind is still not understood

[@wearemany73]

When he says “I always allow patients to talk to the television people because they’re supportive” is one of the many confirmation biases.

[@rob.parsnips]

I remember reading about an experiment where people were given a placebo, and were actually told it was a placebo, and they still experienced a beneficial placebo effect.

[@BangsarRia]

If I lived near that hospital I'd open a homeopathic coffee shop. I wouldn't have to spend a penny on ingredients or training baristas. I'd make a fortune! Why stop there? I'd bid on the cafeteria contract and propose opening a homeopathic weight loss clinic in the hospital. And according to the head of the hospital, I wouldn't need a license to treat patients.

[@Vancha112]

Homeopathic weight loss methods are proven to work: you eat calories, just in veeeeeery small quantities...

[@SchwarzenWinter]

For anyone who is curious, this interview is from the 2-part Channel 4 documentary "The Enemies of Reason" from 2007. This is raw footage and only about 2 minutes from this interview was included in the documentary.

[@MarianneHMiettinen]

The clothing ad is hilarious! XD

[@devroombagchus7460]

I think it is not safe to claim that homeopathy is safe. Not only in cases where patients should have received regular treatment. I can’t image that any substance that produces changes in the body limits itself to beneficial changes only. And how do you know if a particular patient doesn’t react in a different way?

[@Vancha112]

What would be the substance that produces changes here? I don't think there seems to be any, which should make it "safe", like water. It's just useless(because there's no active ingredients), but they can claim it's safe.

[@pardalote]

My mother-in-law was seriously into homeopathy. If one of my kids fell over and hurt their knee or something she would chase them around trying to give them "rescue remedy ". They just needed a hug and perhaps a bandaid. They were reassured so much faster with a bit of love, reassurance, and some simple first aid.

[@williamtaylor9966]

The act of ‘chasing them around’, was perhaps the remedy?

[@pardalote]

@@williamtaylor9966 not when they were crying and needing comfort.

[@BlacksmithTWD]

Love, the most powerful medicine there is, pharmacists hate the fact it can't be commercialized.

[@VaughanMcCue]

@@williamtaylor9966 Tried to exorcise them.

[@garyt123]

Quick answer: No, it should not exist, its a total con.

[@ykakoneTS]

Yes. Also a bit rich from the doc saying that it's important to get your terms right... He has no 'patients', he has 'customers'.

[@1Connaisseur1]

In Germany, homeopathy can be covered as a service by health insurance companies 🤦‍♂️.

[@felixmidas2020]

Yes, it's a shame.

[@Durzo1259]

Good god, they're actually giving away people's tax dollars to con men. That's one thing that I hate about many governments, they think tax dollars are just a theoretical abstraction they can toss away at will.

[@arandorapress7561]

It would be great if Richard interviewed Professor Angus Dalgleish when he returns from the US. Professor Dalgliesh describes the effects of catastrophic or difficult life events on his patients, and the issues of immune response and inflammation on cancer.

[@willhovell9019]

As Charlie Battenberg is a great supporter , it must be good, just like his views on on architecture , "God " and marital fidelity. Defender of the faiths,, give us strength and roll on the 2nd English republic. Good rational discussion and intelligent questioning by Dawkins

[@markaxworthy2508]

If homeopathy effectively has no active ingredients, why do we need expensive specialists to administer it?

[@markaxworthy2508]

@@Greylobster So patients are paying for a four-year Masters Degree in Dramatic Arts? The "Dr." is an abbreviation for "Dramatist"?

[@markaxworthy2508]

@@Greylobster If society leaves a space to make money, there is always somebody who will fill the ecological gap to do so.

[@robertmajewski4486]

I love you - mr Dawkins.

[@GeorgePapademetriou]

This close-up in faces is a crime against my mental health....

[@alohahejahe___]

Love to Professor Dawkins. Thank you for this channel and everything

[@lordcharfield]

I think the camera man must be Captain Richard’s parrot 📷 🦜

[@gijs4824]

Thanks for your smarts!

[@InkyPlinky]

Tthe place is already more pleasant than a hospital or clinic. That helps

[@timsullivan4566]

Despite having never believed in homeopathy, I have on 3 occasions experienced extraordinary benefits when, after much hesitancy, (not to mention great skepticism) I agreed to partake of homeopathic remedies. So, although I remain unconvinced of any definitive connection between those treatments and my otherwise seemingly inexplicable improvements, I am nonetheless viewed by some friends and family as a kind of reluctant poster boy for homeopathy

[@williamtaylor9966]

Although you may never have ‘believed’ in the efficacy of homeopathy, you clearly are someone who is susceptible to ‘belief’. And it’s ‘belief’ that’s the ‘key’ here.

[@timsullivan4566]

@@williamtaylor9966 Don't see how disbelief made me susceptible to a belief I did not - nor do now - hold... (...unless you are suggesting I am susceptible to other's beliefs)

[@markanstrom2981]

Homeopathy is a most excellent cure for thirst. Admittedly, the dose is rather large.

[@buddhistsympathizer1136]

If Homeopathy worked then (according to the rules of Homeopathy) a single drop of sea-water would cure all ailments

[@markaxworthy2508]

A very good and civil conversation, but perhaps not terribly productive.

[@rjrnj1]

I can't watch your interviews, only listen because I get sea sick very easily.

[@ZER0--]

There's a placebo for that...

[@jaynbob42]

I know what you mean. Whoever the director of these particular series of interviews was needs to go back to film school. A very distracting and ungainly approach.

[@thatisit2209]

It can also be called see-sickness

[@XiOjala]

I liked Dr Peter Fisher. Sadly he died 6 years ago. I remember, in the old days, him and Andrea from the path lab mounting a campaign to save RLHH from people like me. Their slogan was "No carve up at the homoeopathic" which was opposed to my support for David Owen's (the then health minister's) 'Island site' plan for the National Hospital, Great Ormond Street and RLHH to form a special health authority by sharing their resources and premises. I saw it as a way of saving RLHH from Camden & Islington AHA(T) and he saw it as giving our resources away. Dr Owen became foreign secretary and the plan went away. And RLHH died.

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

Sixteen staff of the hospital, inc. senior doctors, were killed in the Trident plane crash near Staines. It became part of the NHS, but became independent later. It still exists, and its website offers training courses.

[@grantm6514]

I hope everyone's going off to watch Mitchell & Webb's homeopathic A&E sketch after this 😂😂

[@leedoss6905]

These people prey on the desperate.

[@zaibers17]

Placebo can be given to help feel better even by a simple touch to the forehead with genuine kindness , and if the patient happens to be a faithful believer then recite a vesper quietly and gently blow it over patient’s face and the body. My parents used to do that whenever I fell ill and it worked, even it was for a short while. The placebo effect is more psychological than it is physiological and its patient’s own state of mind that helps the system to repair itself with natural or modern medical treatments .

[@Tinker1950]

'Placebo' is not an object, it cannot be given, it's an effect. Rather obvious to most of us. The rest of your comment is just vapid, limp nonsense.

[@aminurrahaman5342]

Sir, love from Bangladesh.

[@edgar9651]

Please, for the future, don't use your zoom to the max. Show a little more of the people from a little more distance. Nobody likes to be in a conversation with no personal distance. And that is like it feels watching this.

[@VeryLikeLeigh]

Maybe in this case you should just listen and not watch. I very rarely watch, I do other things and just listen.

[@edgar9651]

@@VeryLikeLeigh Yes, that's what I thought. But then, if they anyhow produce a video, then why not make it better?

[@JoshWiniberg]

This is very old I think.

[@davidgotteri]

Notice how he made eye contact when talking about acupuncture but not when talking about homeopathy.

[@Notalloldpeople]

The other question is whether the placebo effect is even real. Some very questionable research underpins its acceptance as an effect

[@ZER0--]

Of course it's real. It's real in the sense that it can have a beneficial effect. It is mentioned in this video.

[@catkin-z8g]

In allopathy they calculate the dose based on the placebo effect. That is how they end up not being effective. placebo - poison = 0 + harmful.

[@markshepperson3603]

Why do so many people that are educated say ‘you know’ all the time? It’s all over these types of medium brow shows. Meh!

[@richtrophicherbs6463]

not so bad as 'kinda like sort of you know', which I'm sick of hearing.

[@Mchokonozi-mu5hh]

For those talking about camera, this interview is about 20 years ago, that's how Dawkins film man used to do it

[@indysbike3014]

Homeopathy has messed up my mental health and I'm still recovering from it after 3 years. I must say there were 2 issues I had and homeopathy made it go away. But I can't accept what it did to my mental health.

[@Wol747]

Do you notice that the word “culture” came up - and it contains the word”cult” in it? Just saying…..

[@bokchoiman]

He mentioned that homeopathy is unregulated. I wonder if people who seek treatment and see a "homeopathy doctor" ad are actually aware of this. With real doctors, you can at least have overwhelming confidence that they've graduated from medical school.

[@happyspaceinvader508]

Some of them are even ex-doctors, who’ve realised how much more money they can make peddling this snake oil. My mother was a victim of a homeopath who was previously a medically qualified General Practitioner in the UK, now a homeopath in her retirement. And my mother thought this gave them extra credibility. This homeopath was telling my mother to stop taking the cancer treatment drugs she had been prescribed. So those who claim homeopaths are harmless… think again.

[@Durzo1259]

That's probably actually a selling point. In their minds, being unregulated means you're not a corporate shill for the medical industrial complex who wants to keep people sick so they will keep paying for more conventional medicine.

[@AndrewSmith-uc4ys]

The placebo effect, the bedside manner is all very well - but that can happen with actual medicine as well. Not sure why Richard didn’t press the Homeopathy *doctor on how a substance becomes more effective the more it is diluted. It’s insane, and should be called out as such.

[@Viky.A.V.]

For a placebo, this fraud-pills are too expensive. And sometimes it may cost one a Life =(

[@JosephCymrank]

Homeopathy can help where everything else hasn't because of its completely different mode of action from all other known interventions. Working with a body energy system that is virtually always ignored. Homeopathy works and is one of the most powerful treatments I have ever experienced. As such, the memory of water and the vaccination effect of increased minimal potency for greater effect. Placebo is a cop out as homeopathy works for animals, plants or growing vegetables.

[@richtrophicherbs6463]

"increased minimal" - what???

[@thefirsteverfacts]

This should be a study on "Why have we been brainwashed to beleive everything posh people say?" And "Do posh people believe their own bs just because they have an accent?" (I'm referring to the advocate, not Prof Dawkins).

[@kuboaa101]

How does Dawkins miss that his argument in favor of placebo as long as it works can also apply to religion. It is a useful fiction that gets us through rough times, like the death of a loved one and helps stave off the anxiety of knowing you are going to die. As long as you don't take it too literally or push it on others, it's okay. Small doses. Religion, diluted, is a very useful thing.

[@Eddyzk]

Because of the immense and incredible pain that religion has inflicted upon both its believers and non believers. For millennia.

[@kuboaa101]

@@Eddyzk Religion has definitely been a tool and a justification for horrible pain and injustice. But I have a hard time believing we wouldn't have found other reasons. I would argue, based on a lot of conversations, that there are very few people who are completely free of religions pull, even Dawkins.

[@vandammesque]

What is sad is a perfectly good doctor's skills being underutilised!

[@richtrophicherbs6463]

'not the complaint we're treating. we treat diseases not people'. and then 'not treating disease but treating people'. incoherent much?'

[@geo34south]

What is the relevance of mentioning Avogadro’s number (6.02 x10^23)? If the concentration was 1M - which would imply Avogadro’s number of molecules in a litre - and the patient received 200ml, it would contain 1/5 of that number, which is not ultra-molecular by any means. One would have to dilute to the point where 200ml had little chance of containing a single molecule of the drug. Avogadro’s number is not a yardstick for defining a concentration which is ultra-molecular. His response is therefore meaningless and supposedly meant to obfuscate or impress. The definition of a homeopathic substance is that it should not be distinguishable from the solvent/diluent in which it is ‘contained’! What absolute BS to purport that it would be anything more than a placebo!

[@Gijs-t7p]

@19:45 Brilliant! F'in brilliant!!!!!!! : " There is not a scrap of evidence homeopathy can prevent any disease." F'in brilliant. At least he is a honest con man :)

[@jsbrules]

he does state (within the next minute) that homeopathy can TREAT but that it doesn’t PREVENT any diseases

[@andrewborntrager7909]

Dude did NOT WANT to make eye contact with Dawkins because HE KNEW he was SUPER WRONG!

[@markaxworthy2508]

On farms in Rhodesia, the first treatment for the labour when sick were Blue Pills without medicinal properties, which turned the urine a conspicuous copper sulphate blue. Only if they did not recover after administering the Blue Pills were they given treatment with medicinal properties. Was this judicious use of a placebo, or was it colonialist insensitivity?

[@jasonpickering6696]

Q. How does a 200c dilution of NaCl, work in a patient that is taking grammes dietary NaCl every day? A. He doesn't know? I think he knows. Placebo effect.

[@wendyfrith3407]

This episode should be called Quacks.and Quacks! I recommend the 4-minute KZbin video: Witch Trial/Baroness Von sketch. As for whether the doctor himself believes in the Hocus Pocus or homeopathic hubbub, it’s possible that he is gaslighting himself. A longing for magic persists - there still lurks an abracadabra in our alphabet, gramarye in our grammar, and spells in our spelling. When magic was rampant, I’m sure the indicted witches - women (usually) of astoundingly little education and strong indoctrination into religious and superstitious beliefs - would be quite convinced that they themselves had been marked by the devil should they bear a third nipple, a painless callous, or survive the ducking stool. (Quack!) My sister’s-in-law kitchen looks like an alchemist’s lab, full of homeopathic equipment, racks of little vials and bottles labeled in her neat cursive. I don’t think my brother is a believer, but he enjoys being fussed over by his good-witch wife. Lately, though, he has been fitted with a pacemaker and is on anticoagulants. They are highly educated New Yorkers. But they know the power of storytelling and have both made an excellent living out of it. (You would definitely know their magical works if I revealed who they were)

[@jeffknott1975]

Before I knew it was bs, I was sold baby teething homeopathic "medicine" my kid was in pain all night until I could get proper teething gel in the morning 😡

[@AndersLundberg-v9b]

Placebo can have 20% efficacy and and having a negative belief in what you’re taking or doing can have a 20% negative efficacy so that’s make a 40% difference

[@richtrophicherbs6463]

He does say "pills are killing them". After all, pills can't kid.

[@Brinjal-yu1vi]

There would be a lot less illnesses in the World if the Ecosystem, the Food Growing ,Harvesting and Farming were Poison, Steroids, other Manipulation free. Attention was focused on the Methods employed which are usually about Producing as much as possible to make as much Progit as possible. Producing Quick Make Foods with no Nutritional Value at all. Adulterated Dairy Products etc. the Environment Polluted etc. All cause Illness and disease along with new Virus doseases created for biowarfare,"leaking".

[@ZER0--]

One interesting thing about the placebo effect is that it can work even if the patient knows it is a placebo.

[@garyt123]

Yes, but _knowing_ does reduce the effect. Studies on "prayer" healing, for example, have repeatedly shown this over many, many years of study.

[@VaughanMcCue]

@@garyt123 Dan Barker made a beautiful song. Nothing fails like prayer.

[@garyt123]

@@VaughanMcCue Cool. I think I heard it from Neil DeGrasse Tyson, prayer healing (assuming the sick person doesn't know they are being prayed for) is equal to the placebo. If the person _knows_ they are being prayed for then it somehow _reduces,_ so prayer actually can reduce to instances of getting better.

[@VaughanMcCue]

@@garyt123 I was in the hospital once in a life-threatening situation and still alive after nurses, doctors, and other staff did their job. Was It a miracle? Perhaps it was because they paid attention to their teachers. There's no need for prayer. That research was paid for by a religious marketing group that promotes superstition, and you are right. Some suggest the study wasn't monitored well enough or similar excuses to promote nonsense, There can never be evidence that prayer works because there are too many variables to consider, and it is easy to conflate correlation with causation. If you look at the graph of lemons imported into the US from Mexico and road fatalities, there was a significant correlation. As lemons increase, the number of car crashes decreases. Importing lemons saves lives. Thanks for your interest and contribution.

[@ZER0--]

@@garyt123 That is exactly what I said ffs.

[@thenewboater5380]

The less it exsists , the more powerful it is ! Lol

[@sanjivgupta1418]

Even if homeopathy is a placebo, if it really works, at least in certain clinical conditions, there is no reason to deny placebo a place in treatment protocol. After all placebo act through natural body chemicals. What is wrong with that ?

[@paxanimi3896]

I have just set up my new homeopathy shop… and a small room in the back for quantum therapy. I intend to draw a good money from them.

[@shubham324]

Richard Intelligence level < Camera man foolishness level

[@stuartbrownlee3108]

Define "reality" I suppose.

[@ZER0--]

Really?

[@cowboyfrankspersonalvideos8869]

He keeps referring to scientific evidence but fails to specify any. Effects related to the medicine? There is no medicine in it!

[@ZER0--]

There is evidence that the placebo does have an effect.

[@cowboyfrankspersonalvideos8869]

@@ZER0-- Please point me to a scientific study that does so. I would love to read one providing it is truly a proper study. So far, I've never found anyone who could. Beyond the placebo effect, which is basically the individual's personal experience, the claims of homeopathy being a real medicine is a quite strange considering there is no medicine in it.

[@vids595]

@@ZER0-- Yes and dumbos feather actually had an effect.

[@Durzo1259]

@@cowboyfrankspersonalvideos8869 I'm not sure what your objection is here. The placebo effect really does have real, quantifiable results that can instigate actual healing healing, not just the perception of healing. The brain has a great deal of power over the body. But it will always wear off after a few treatments at most.

[@ZER0--]

@@cowboyfrankspersonalvideos8869 Why dont you do your own pointing, or look it up? Or don't.

[@kaloarepo288]

I believe the late queen Elizabeth had her own homeopathic doctor?

[@emilymann1175]

Dawkins asked him what makes him choose specific herbs and the doctor went on about how they treat the whole patient, and france, and other unrelated subjects and never answered the question.

[@7rich79]

If homeopathy has an effect, hypothetically, there should be cases of adverse effects too if taken incorrectly.

[@BagOfHammers58]

Was this the first time the person holding the camera had ever encountered the technology? Or were they drunk? Very distracting and very irritating work.

[@alcoholic2412]

Interesting but way too many ads. Especially if one is trying to listen at bedtime.

[@Goettel]

Is that even a question? Yes it is.

[@raoultesla2292]

My crystals are vibrating at a mHz of photon particle colours flavour so intense I had to put out the incense. Oh Dawkins... I will pray for you at my New Catholic All Woke church this Sunday. May the bounty of Flat Earth river wash away your evil.

[@ZER0--]

You sound like you need a placebo.

[@Vancha112]

**Triggered**

[@richtrophicherbs6463]

Now answer the question: what's the rationale for choosing the ingredient?

[@markaxworthy2508]

If homeopathy works, it would be dependent on the subject's ignorance of it. Is ignorance therefore healthy?

[@denislaviliev5667]

Placebo works perfectly for placebo-sick patients :)

[@DeconvertedMan]

Homeopath: How to lie to yourself, others, etc, utter nonsense. Acupuncture puncture LOL!! HAHAHAAHHAah no it does nothing.