oddity of the weekend...

[djsendai]

based on recent conversations, i find it odd that the same folks who see no issue with Reiki practice and homeopathic "medicine", also bristle at the notion of Creatoinism/ID taught in schools because it's not "Scientific" :P

Comments

[pmb]

If nothing else, then the placebo effect makes reiki and homeopathy at least 30% more effective and workable and "scientific" than intelligent design. Even if you hope it works, intelligent design still doesn't, whereas alternative medicine will work a significant percentage of the time as long as you believe in it.

[blaze_la]

True, but REAL medical practices are required to perform better than the placebo control... otherwise it's not medicine. It's headology - creative lying.

[goteam]

The phrase you are looking for is "Hippie, please." I'm getting a little tired of using it, but then again we should be moving out of Eugene some time in the next few months and I'm sure people will use it on me wherever we live next.

[djsendai]

what, and leave Hippie-Shangri-La? hippie, please :p

[cosyne]

the issue is that we have one theory which is based on evidence and can be used to form testable hypotheses, and one which isn't and can't, and some people want to treat both as equally valid science.
Opinions/beliefs are fine, but distorting children's understanding of what science is and how it works is not.
(is that bristly enough?)

[ukelele]

Heh! I hadn't thought of it that way. That's hilarious.

[thatgirljj]

Lots of people believe in random non-scientific stuff and still resist the idea that beliefs should be taught in schools as science.