carla said:
Scientific Evidence in Support of Acupuncture and Meridian Theory
http://www.healthy.net/aaabem/ieee1.htm
Nope. Pseudoscientific crap masquerading as "science".
What many people who believe in various "unusual" theories don't seem to be aware of, is that the so called "scientific" evidence which they think proves their case, is usually complete rubbish, with no "science" in it at all. To someone who is not properly trained in any particular field of science, complicated scientific sounding papers or scientific style language can give the impression that science is being done. But those who truly understand the real science involved can see through these things usually quite easily. And there is the problem. The non scientists CAN'T see how ridiculous most of this material really is and they think that scientists are being narrow minded or unreasonable. But if they bothered to learn some proper science themselves, they would see it for themselves.
For example. If someone claimed that all objects fall UPWARDS when dropped, then any reasonable or sensible person would say, "Hang on a moment! Things fall DOWN when dropped, not up!" And if that person continued to claim that, everyone would just laugh, shake their heads and walk away because it would be obvious to all that what the person was saying isn't true. That is the level of some of these so called "scientific" papers. The errors are so obvious to any real scientist that they don't need to make detailed investigations to see that these things are rubbish. But they are not so obvious to laypeople.
The paper you quote above contains some ridiculous errors, obvious to anyone with scientific knowledge. Without that knowledge it probably looks impressive to the uninformed. I'll point out just one or two examples below.
Here is a quote from the paper:
There are some variations in the construction and performance of EDSDs, but all share the same basic design (Fig. 3). The core of the EDSD is an ohm meter designed to deliver approximately 10-12 microamperes of direct electrical current at 1-1.25 volts, a perfectly safe amount. (The ionization potential of hydrogen atoms is 1.36 volts; only at this level and above could any physical damage occur.)
Here it is addressing an EAV device. I've seen the circuits for these things. Firstly there is no regulated control of voltage. Which means that changes in skin impedance (which is what it is supposed to measure) will make significant changes to current flow and readings. This sounds O.K. until you realise that ambient electrical noise on the skin can easily vary by several volts, much HIGHER than the applied voltage. This noise comes from the external environment and has nothing to do with the body itself. And this directly affects the readings. Then there is the well known effect of the pressure of the skin contacts which makes an enormous variation. The paper also mentions using dissimilar metals for the probes which results in electrochemical action (the probes act like a battery in contact with skin). The skin impedance varies with sweating and even with emotional states to some extent. And running even a small current through the skin causes electrochemical changes which will bias and distort the next reading. In fact, due to the latter, it is extremely likely that this will give the appearance of "lines" or "meridians" of altered electrical states. Just simple electrochemistry, no special "meridians" required. Of course, if this happens, there will be many more "points" than the old acupuncture charts show, and the "points" will probably not correspond with those charts. There are many other factors as well. In short there are so many sources of obvious error it requires absolute blindness to believe for one moment that there is anything valid or objective about this. But the clincher, the PROOF that the author is talking pseudoscientific rubbish lies in the last sentence of the quote above:
The ionization potential of hydrogen atoms is 1.36 volts
It was all sounding so professional until this lemon! The ionization potential of a LONE hydrogen atom (note, not a hydrogen molecule, or hydrogen bound to other atoms in other molecules) is 13.6 ELECTRONVOLTS. What does that mean? An electronvolt is a measure of ENERGY, it is NOT a voltage! There is no way you could simply equate that to a voltage, and even if you could, it would only apply to free atomic hydrogen (a disassociated gas) in free space, not hydrogen in a body. And most atoms have first ionization energies well below this. So even if what they said was true (and it isn't) and ionization is a measure of "safety" then this would prove that the device was UNSAFE by their own criteria. So here is the definitive proof that the authors are talking rubbish about things they don't understand.
Let's look at another quote:
Voll expanded upon traditional acupuncture point classification in three directions: by discovering unknown meridians (which he referred to as "systems"), unknown points on traditional meridians, and unknown functions of existing points.
Remember what I said above? "Of course, if this happens, there will be many more "points" than the old acupuncture charts show, and the "points" will probably not correspond with those charts." And here is the proof. The points "measured" by this technique do NOT correspond with the traditional "meridians".
Next quote:
Reagent samples in sealed glass containers are placed within the circuit of the measurement by placing them on the metal plate designed for this purpose.
A "reagent" is placed on a metal plate which is connected to one wire of the probes. This does not constitute placing "within the circuit". There is no connection whatsoever to the electrical circuit. Complete rubbish. And glass is one of the best insulators known in any event.
Next quote:
Homeopathic remedies serve as particularly useful reagents for medicine testing because they are prepared at various dilutions, which increases the likelihood of finding an appropriate "resonance," a phenomenon which Kuo-Gen Chen describes in the third article of this series as "bio-informational quantum interference."
There is no proof of homeopathy. In fact, homeopathy has been disproved countless times. One of the reasons why it is not accepted is because no proof can be shown that ANYTHING can distinguish one alleged "homeopathic" sample from another. So if this machine can do just that, then why don't any homeopaths use it as the proof they need? Simple answer, because it doesn't work! That's why. And it is a favorite of medical fraudsters to introduce "quantum mechanics" into their crazy speculations. None of these people have the faintest idea about quantum mechanics - but neither does the public which is why they use it to fool people. But the appearance of the word "quantum" in connection with some alleged miracle machine is one of the surest signs of fraud and quackery.
Last quote:
Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years and is effective in a wide range of situations. It has not been integrated into modern health care primarily because of lingering suspicions that it is not scientific. A bio-energetic model has been developed to explain nearly all aspects of acupuncture and meridian theory, but there remains a definite prejudice against human energetic theories in the medical-scientific community, which must be overcome before integration can take place.
And is the above surprising when people like these try to pull an outright fraud by misrepresenting science as "proof" of the above?
As I said, the reason why things like this are NOT accepted by scientists is because these people have no idea what real science is! They come up with rubbish that can be easily disproved in moments and then wonder why real scientists are not fooled. The answer is simple, real scientists are not so easy to fool as lay people.
