The only reason I keep Facebook is for unhinged stuff like this
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
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If “alternative medicine” worked, it would just be called “medicine“.
George Carlin from the grave: By calling it an 'alternative' you are directly implying that it is not the actual thing.
I miss that guy. Can you even imagine what he would have had to say about the first Trump presidency, let alone the second?
Im all on the "listen to the medical experts" train.
There are however some medicines and treatments that legitimately started as "alternative".
A lot of it is horseshit though.
Also modern medicine isn't infallible(nor the people that practice it).
Statistically though, it's fucking high magic compared to most internet sourced diagnoses.
Have friends in the medical field, a lot of time they are just sort of trying shit and then are happy it worked.
Medical science is just that, medicine that follows the scientific method. (Or at least it's supposed to).
The scientific method is basically testing guesses (sometimes educated ones) and seeing what happens.
There's a whole lot of structure and guidelines, but testing guesses(hypotheses) is where it's at mostly.
The current state of any science is usually "the best theory we have right now, given the data and resources available to us"
Some people hear that and think "look, they're just guessing, why should I listen to them?" and thats absolutely valid.
Where that falls down is that they then go on to assume all guesses are equal and ignore the time and resources that went in to that current scientific best guess.
Is it always correct? no, is it more likely to be beneficial than a random social media post by an influencer with no medical expertise? Generally yes.
I would expand "testing guesses" to repeatedly testing guesses. It's a fundamental thing to be able to recreate the testing results, or it's not science at all it's just fuckign around lol
An important distinction.
The people who "guess" are guessing way down the decision tree, not like hmm is this cancer or a flu?
They also are highly trained, in a field that is centuries old.
Most professions could be described like this, but when doctors are "trying shit" it is backed up by many years of training and education, and their behavior is scrutinised by professional bodies and so on.
When your local quack is "trying shit" it's just based on the vibe.
Am engineer and agree
The difference between medicine and "alternative medicine" is proof of effectiveness. If something provably works it's medicine.
The quote is from Tim Minchin. I think the track name is Storm.
It's him talking to someone at a dinner party and he's trying to bite his tongue when someone new starts talking stupidity, but it gets to a point where he breaks and goes off on a rent.
It's a very well written and entertaining bit.
What what's missing from the quote is something along the lines of "You know what they call alternate medicine that is proven to work? Medicine"
The whole point of the quote is exactly what you are saying that some medicines legitimately started as alternative medicines
Edit: i realize now it might not have been a quote at all regardless of how similar it is the that Tim Minchin bit
From Dara Ó Briain. Also from him:
"Alternative medicine" is too broad a term to be helpful.