The Canova is the placebo because he believed it worked. For me, the interferon would be more likely to be a placebo (if indeed it was not working as intended, and I recovered).
Re: your point on gravity. It's completely different. I am no physicist, but can tell you that while there is debate on why the gravitational effect exists, there are several theories which adequately describe what is happening. There is no science supporting the mechanics of homeopathy.
I prefer science to be testable and repeatable, and when done well it is both of these things. Sure, things change, methods change, but I can reproduce a well conceived experiment from 200 years ago even if its results were mis-interpreted. The problem that I have with homeopathy is the lack of testing behind it, and the fact that 99% of the work conduced on the subject to date shows it has no more effect than a placebo. It has also been disproved from a physical perspective (i.e. water memory is mis-interpreted by homeopathy). If it REALLY worked, far more research would have been conducted on the subject. Whenever a paper is released stating it works, a review is conducted and the original paper debunked.
I'm going to leave this conversation here, because we both have very differing beliefs of whether homeopathy works (which is fine..), and I don't feel that either of us will change that through continued discussion! Thanks for a interesting debate!
