Randi has put up his $1 mil and Horizon is going to try to win it or not as the case may be. I’ll be very surprised if they prove anything but then again I think they’ll be aswell.
Should be good.
Indeed it should. I still have fond memories of the demolition jobs Horizon did on Erich von Daniken and the Bermuda Triangle myths - and those shows were back in the Seventies.
It’s BBC2 though. BBC1 will be showing stuff that can’t possibly be pre-empted by mere science programmes: “Linda Green”, for instance.
DOH!
Hey ho, just finished watching this. There are some respected clinical and scientific studies (including on animals) that have shown anomalous positive results, but when Randi got the Royal Society to do a very highly moderated double-blind test on blood cells vs. histamine diluted to 15C, the result was, surprise surprise, negative.
However, Randi did say that further research was needed, which made me like him all the more.
Sorry, I should say that the animals thing isn’t necessarily ‘respected’ - just a homeopathic vet who claims good results.
I saw Randi give a talk on this at the University of Minnesota about 4 years ago. It was utterly fabulous. Wonder if this’ll migrate to BBC America anytime soon…
For people who missed it, or who don’t get the BBC, there’ll be a transcript of the episode on this link sometime quite soon. There should also be a transcript of the BBCi online discussion hanging around nearby too before long.
Very good show, IMHO. Solidly scientific in its approach, clearly unbiased - presented the evidence (such as it is) supportive of homeopathy without prejudice.
I’d be interested to know where the anomalous positive results come from. Since they disappear when Randi and his mates tighten up the experimental procedures, they’ve got to be the results of some kind of experimenter error … but what kind, exactly? The scientists involved, Benveniste and Ennis, don’t seem to have started out with a definite bias towards homeopathy, so where do their anomalies come from?
Well you see, it isn’t the “memory of water”, it’s the scientists’ positive energy going into the water that creates the effects. Randi’s presence disrupts the vibe, man.