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Alternative medicine
(thelemmy.club)
The only reason I keep Facebook is for unhinged stuff like this
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
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If “alternative medicine” worked, it would just be called “medicine“.
Im all on the "listen to the medical experts" train.
There are however some medicines and treatments that legitimately started as "alternative".
A lot of it is horseshit though.
Also modern medicine isn't infallible(nor the people that practice it).
Statistically though, it's fucking high magic compared to most internet sourced diagnoses.
Have friends in the medical field, a lot of time they are just sort of trying shit and then are happy it worked.
Medical science is just that, medicine that follows the scientific method. (Or at least it's supposed to).
The scientific method is basically testing guesses (sometimes educated ones) and seeing what happens.
There's a whole lot of structure and guidelines, but testing guesses(hypotheses) is where it's at mostly.
The current state of any science is usually "the best theory we have right now, given the data and resources available to us"
Some people hear that and think "look, they're just guessing, why should I listen to them?" and thats absolutely valid.
Where that falls down is that they then go on to assume all guesses are equal and ignore the time and resources that went in to that current scientific best guess.
Is it always correct? no, is it more likely to be beneficial than a random social media post by an influencer with no medical expertise? Generally yes.
The people who "guess" are guessing way down the decision tree, not like hmm is this cancer or a flu?
They also are highly trained, in a field that is centuries old.
Indeed, though I'd argue that's an issue with modern academia as an industry rather than the scientific method itself.
edit: not that the scientific method doesn't have it's flaws.
I would expand "testing guesses" to repeatedly testing guesses. It's a fundamental thing to be able to recreate the testing results, or it's not science at all it's just fuckign around lol
Most professions could be described like this, but when doctors are "trying shit" it is backed up by many years of training and education, and their behavior is scrutinised by professional bodies and so on.
When your local quack is "trying shit" it's just based on the vibe.
Am engineer and agree
The difference between medicine and "alternative medicine" is proof of effectiveness. If something provably works it's medicine.
"Alternative medicine" is too broad a term to be helpful.
The quote is from Tim Minchin. I think the track name is Storm.
It's him talking to someone at a dinner party and he's trying to bite his tongue when someone new starts talking stupidity, but it gets to a point where he breaks and goes off on a rent.
It's a very well written and entertaining bit.
What what's missing from the quote is something along the lines of "You know what they call alternate medicine that is proven to work? Medicine"
The whole point of the quote is exactly what you are saying that some medicines legitimately started as alternative medicines
Edit: i realize now it might not have been a quote at all regardless of how similar it is the that Tim Minchin bit
From Dara Ó Briain. Also from him:
What are those?
I think it depends how you frame this question. For example, aspirin originated from a compound in willow bark. Currently, most of us aren’t chewing on willow bark to relieve pain, but at some point that (or making willow bark teas, etc.) was the case. Whether you consider that as “alternative” depends on what point in history you ask that question.
Leeches, which are still used today, also come to mind. Modern medicine has greatly refined how they’re used, but that’s not how it started.
There are quite a few things that people noticed produced effects but didn’t understand the mechanism. Science changed that.
However, if you consider using things with known properties in a wildly irresponsible manner as the definition of “alternative medicine,” that’s a very different question.
Even when novel therapies from existing medicine do come to light at times, generally this is through scientific observation and testing, not Cletus taking horse medicine.
Usually herbs found by ethnographers.
Aspirin, for example, IIRC discovered by a scientist investigating traditional therapeutics (tree bark)
My pharma professors liked to say that if Aspirin was discovered today, it would never pass the bar for human trials, because after all these years the mechanism of action isn't properly understood.
That's the best argument for alternative medicines that I've heard, and it's also something to consider when we think about how insanely high the bar is for compounds that are approved as medicines.
That wasn't a blocker with antidepressants, for better or worse.
I wonder if thats because we know very little about how the brain actually works in regards to how the brain create thoughts. It's so very much a mystery in many ways where thoughts are created
The issue is that alternative forms of medicine are most often studied scientifically and either found to work (upgraded to medicine) but more often than not it is found to have no greater effect than placebo or random chance, but these alternatives continue to be practiced, meaning people end up getting ineffective care, and their money is funneled into an industry incentivised to discredit and spread distrust towards real proven medicine
Well said. A balanced viewpoint that doesn't try to be all black and white. Even the stupidest bullshit can sometimes contain a kernel of truth. That doesn't mean the 99% bullshit isn't any less shit.
George Carlin from the grave: By calling it an 'alternative' you are directly implying that it is not the actual thing.
I miss that guy. Can you even imagine what he would have had to say about the first Trump presidency, let alone the second?
As for the second i'd imagine the quote "are 51% of you really that fucking stupid? Colollary: If so, how do i sell so many tickets?"
The first is more interesting. He was no fan of the Clintons, but he would have torn the M.A.G.A. slogan to shreads so many ways. The nazi stuff would have tipped the scales in the end.