Instigator / Pro

Avikarthos

1470

rating

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

Better sources

Better legibility

Better conduct

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

drafterman

Tags

Science

Parameters

Publication date: 09.08.2018 10:33PM
Last updated date: 09.25.2018 02:31PM
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

drafterman

1540

rating

debates

75.0%

won

Description

No information

Round 1

Avikarthos

09.12.2018 11:24AM

Pro

Forfeited

drafterman

09.12.2018 11:36AM

Con

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.

[1]https://water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html

Round 2

Avikarthos

09.15.2018 11:36AM

Pro

Forfeited

drafterman

09.15.2018 12:54PM

Con

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.

https://www.homeopathycenter.org/what-is-homeopathy

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.

https://www.livescience.com/31977-homeopathy.html

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.

https://www.britishhomeopathic.org/evidence/how-does-homeopathy-work/

Round 3

Avikarthos

09.18.2018 12:54PM

Pro

Forfeited

drafterman

09.18.2018 02:31PM

Con

Water is wet.

Castin

09.12.2018 03:27AM

No description, no communication. Eight hours left on the clock. And I was so curious about the title, too.

RationalMadman

09.11.2018 04:45PM

-->

@drafterman

He ragequit that I caught him

RationalMadman

09.11.2018 04:45PM

-->

@drafterman

I have indisputable evidence that this user is Type1.

drafterman

09.11.2018 01:19PM

-->

@Avikarthos

Time is ticking.

RationalMadman

09.18.2018 02:34PM

Criterion

Pro

Tie

Con

Points

Better arguments

3 point(s)

Better sources

2 point(s)

Better legibility

1 point(s)

Better conduct

1 point(s)

Reason:

Pro is a banned alt account who posted 0 content. Con posted content and sourced it well. The sources mattered because they added reliability, if this vote gets removed for not explaining how the sources mattered, then bsh1 is just trolling.