Traditional Medicines

As some of you know, I'm not a fan of traditional medicines, holistic approaches, homeopathy, power-tool-based therapies, and so on. They strike me more or less the same way that plain old faith does -- it would be so nice if it worked, so people tend to transpose hope with conviction. And when conviction sets in, rational thought tends to move out. Recently, China has given us a great example of this process. See New Scientist, #2629, 10 November, 2007, pp 59. (I'd provide a better link, but you have to be a subscriber to get to the full content.)

Zhang Gongyao, a philosophy of science academic at a Chinese university, published an article calling for the removal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) from the public health system over the next five years. He called it a hoax and a superstition.

TCM, if you're not familiar with it, is one of the world's health-belief-sets that focuses on balance within the patient, specifically yin/yang and a form of energy called qi. It also uses a range of vegetable and animal substances, some of them from endangered species.

The response was loud and extensive -- even the Chinese government was displeased. But nevertheless, it plans to spend 130 million dollars on a study of TCM and its effectiveness -- not, admittedly, a real double-blind study with the potential to prove anything conclusively, but still 130 mill worth of poking around under the hood of this ancient set of practices. Problem is, those who already believe that TCM is effective have an out: since TCM deals with the dao ("the way and order of the universe," as the article described it), it can't be evaluated scientifically, says one supporter. Sigh.

As a vaguely related addendum, here's an article on Wired about the top 10 gadget scams. Amusing.