3 ms·

How about the idea that you can make tea from the leaves and bark of a willow tree, and use it to treat fevers and aches and pains? Does that sound like a ridic

How about the idea that you can make tea from the leaves and bark of a willow tree, and use it to treat fevers and aches and pains? Does that sound like a ridiculous folk remedy?

baobrain 8y ago
(For those unfamiliar, aspirin was discovered this way)
fzeroracer 8y ago
If you want to be remarkably disengenous and take my argument out of context, sure. But I will not stand for people recommending alternative medicine for absolutely everything. I already had to deal with a family member doing just that, forcing random concoctions of nonsense onto a family member suffering from cancer and attempting to divert them from actual treatment. Especially when they act like they're better than doctors and can't back up their recommendations with anything remotely resembling research.
- ummonk 8y ago
  The context was that you were replying to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19686423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19686423 Within that context, you're the one being disingenuous by likening it to diverting people from actual treatment and trying random concoctions for cancer treatment.
- aaronbrethorst 8y ago
  But I will not stand for people recommending alternative medicine for absolutely everything I totally agree. The anti-vaxxers, for instance, are incredibly dangerous not just to the health of individuals, but to modern civilization. My point is that just because something is a folk remedy, or predates the invention of the scientific method, doesn't mean it's inherently without value. Rigorous scientific studies can and should be done on these sorts of things—I don't think anyone should blindly accept a folk remedy, especially one contraindicated by proper research. But there is a certain dismissiveness amongst many folks like us of anything not invented by the pharmaceutical industry that may do us all a disservice.
  - Chris_Chambers 8y ago
    Even if vaccines were honestly what their peddlers claimed, they are harmful and dysgenic. The weak should perish so the survivors are more resilient. Vaccines subvert this critical natural process. Everyone who gets vaccinated should therefore also be sterilized as a basic precaution to prevent unpredictable damage to the human gene pool. This rule should be retroactively applied effective immediately, starting with anyone found to have a reddit account.
  - shawnz 8y ago
    > But there is a certain dismissiveness amongst many folks like us of anything not invented by the pharmaceutical industry I don't think that's true. The cures don't need to be invented by the pharmaceutical industry to be taken seriously. But they do need to be studied and commercialized by the pharmaceutical industry to be taken seriously. How could you take seriously a pharmaceutical product which is rejected by its own industry? Obviously it's not commercializable in an honest way if that's the case, or someone would have done it by now.
shawnz 8y ago
At that time, before Aspirin was demonstrated to be an effective cure, I'd say it would have indeed been ridiculous to use it outside an experimental setting.

How about the idea that you can make tea from the leaves and bark of a willow tree, and use it to treat fevers and aches and pains? Does that sound like a ridiculous folk remedy?

baobrain 8y ago

(For those unfamiliar, aspirin was discovered this way)

fzeroracer 8y ago

If you want to be remarkably disengenous and take my argument out of context, sure. But I will not stand for people recommending alternative medicine for absolutely everything. I already had to deal with a family member doing just that, forcing random concoctions of nonsense onto a family member suffering from cancer and attempting to divert them from actual treatment. Especially when they act like they're better than doctors and can't back up their recommendations with anything remotely resembling research.

ummonk 8y ago
The context was that you were replying to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19686423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19686423 Within that context, you're the one being disingenuous by likening it to diverting people from actual treatment and trying random concoctions for cancer treatment.
aaronbrethorst 8y ago
But I will not stand for people recommending alternative medicine for absolutely everything I totally agree. The anti-vaxxers, for instance, are incredibly dangerous not just to the health of individuals, but to modern civilization. My point is that just because something is a folk remedy, or predates the invention of the scientific method, doesn't mean it's inherently without value. Rigorous scientific studies can and should be done on these sorts of things—I don't think anyone should blindly accept a folk remedy, especially one contraindicated by proper research. But there is a certain dismissiveness amongst many folks like us of anything not invented by the pharmaceutical industry that may do us all a disservice.
- Chris_Chambers 8y ago
  Even if vaccines were honestly what their peddlers claimed, they are harmful and dysgenic. The weak should perish so the survivors are more resilient. Vaccines subvert this critical natural process. Everyone who gets vaccinated should therefore also be sterilized as a basic precaution to prevent unpredictable damage to the human gene pool. This rule should be retroactively applied effective immediately, starting with anyone found to have a reddit account.
- shawnz 8y ago
  > But there is a certain dismissiveness amongst many folks like us of anything not invented by the pharmaceutical industry I don't think that's true. The cures don't need to be invented by the pharmaceutical industry to be taken seriously. But they do need to be studied and commercialized by the pharmaceutical industry to be taken seriously. How could you take seriously a pharmaceutical product which is rejected by its own industry? Obviously it's not commercializable in an honest way if that's the case, or someone would have done it by now.

shawnz 8y ago

At that time, before Aspirin was demonstrated to be an effective cure, I'd say it would have indeed been ridiculous to use it outside an experimental setting.