Instigator / Pro
2
1470
rating
2
debates
0.0%
won
Topic
#105

Water has "memory"

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
0
3
Better sources
0
2
Better legibility
1
1
Better conduct
1
1

After 1 vote and with 5 points ahead, the winner is...

drafterman
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
3
Time for argument
Three days
Max argument characters
30,000
Voting period
One week
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
7
1540
rating
6
debates
75.0%
won
Description

No information

Round 1
Pro
#1
Forfeited
Con
#2
Human beings are up to 60% water[1]. If water had memory, and Pro was human, then he should have remembered to post an argument to this debate.

Pro did not post an argument to this debate, ergo Pro is either an organism that does not contain water, or water doesn't have memory.

I'll let the voters decide which.


Round 2
Pro
#3
Forfeited
Con
#4
FWIW, the idea that water has "memory" is one of the driving principles behind modern homeopathy.

Homeopathy has two primary precepts: like cures like, and dilution increases potency.

To cure a disease or condition, a homeopath looks for a substance that, if ingested by a healthy person, would cause the same symptoms as the disease. That substance is then put into water, shaken vigorously. That solution is then diluted even more, and shaken more. This process is repeated a number of times. Under the rules of homeopathy, the more dilute the substance gets, the stronger its effects.

However, the dilution process is so thorough that, statistically speaking, no homoeopathic solution contains even a single molecule of the "active" ingredient. That is, it is pure water. To get around this, homeopaths have assert that water has "memory." That it "remembers" the substance that was in it, and therefore continues to have restorative properties.

Simple reasoning is all that is necessary to destroy this logic. If water has memory, then homeopathy would be unnecessary, as all water on Earth should therefore have memory of every substance any water has come into contact with. Your very tap water should then be a magical elixir of healing.

It isn't, because the entire idea is bunk.

Sources:

The technique for making a homeopathic medicine involves repeated dilution of a specific substance until little of the original substance remains. ... This step is repeated over and over to create increasing potencies of the medicine.

The final dilution is one molecule of medicine in 10 to the 30th power (1030) of molecules of solution — or 1 in a million trillion trillion. At this dilution level you'd need to drink 8,000 gallons of water to get one molecule of the medicine — physically possible but implausible. 
One of the leading current proposals for how such ‘ultramolecular’ dilutions work is that water is capable of storing information relating to substances with which it has previously been in contact.

Round 3
Pro
#5
Forfeited
Con
#6
Water is wet.