Hypothesis
Version 2
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Benveniste’s Experiments and the So-Called “Water Memory” Phenomenon: an Example of Serendipity?
Version 1
: Received: 6 January 2023 / Approved: 9 January 2023 / Online: 9 January 2023 (09:06:53 CET)
Version 2 : Received: 22 February 2023 / Approved: 23 February 2023 / Online: 23 February 2023 (02:02:39 CET)
Version 3 : Received: 7 December 2023 / Approved: 8 December 2023 / Online: 8 December 2023 (08:25:02 CET)
Version 4 : Received: 6 May 2024 / Approved: 9 May 2024 / Online: 10 May 2024 (03:14:49 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 22 February 2023 / Approved: 23 February 2023 / Online: 23 February 2023 (02:02:39 CET)
Version 3 : Received: 7 December 2023 / Approved: 8 December 2023 / Online: 8 December 2023 (08:25:02 CET)
Version 4 : Received: 6 May 2024 / Approved: 9 May 2024 / Online: 10 May 2024 (03:14:49 CEST)
How to cite: BEAUVAIS, F. Benveniste’s Experiments and the So-Called “Water Memory” Phenomenon: an Example of Serendipity?. Preprints 2023, 2023010155. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202301.0155.v2 BEAUVAIS, F. Benveniste’s Experiments and the So-Called “Water Memory” Phenomenon: an Example of Serendipity?. Preprints 2023, 2023010155. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202301.0155.v2
Abstract
Benveniste’s experiments – known in the lay press as the “water memory” phenomenon – are generally considered to be a closed case. However, the amount of data generated by twenty years of well-conducted experiments prevents closing the file so simply. An issue, which has been little highlighted so far, merits to be emphasized. Indeed, if Benveniste failed to persuade his peers of the value of his experiments, it was mainly because of a stumbling block, namely the difficulty of convincingly proving the causal relationship between the supposed cause (“informed water”) and the experimental outcomes in different biological models. To progress in the understanding of this phenomenon, we abandon the idea of any role of water in these experiments (“water memory” and its avatars). In other words, we assume that “controls” and “tests” that were evaluated were all physically identical; only their respective designations (labels) differentiated them. Since we state that there is no causal link between labels (“controls” vs. “tests”) and corresponding states of the biological system (no change vs. change), these variables are independent. Therefore, the key question is: “Is it possible to observe a correlation between independent variables that mimics a causal relationship but is itself not causal?” In this article, we show how simple considerations based on probability theory lead to describe non-classical correlations involving the experimenter. This probabilistic modelling allows to propose an alternative explanation to Benveniste’s experiments where water plays no role and where the place of the experimenter is central.
Keywords
Water memory; High dilutions; Scientific controversy; Serendipity; Experimenter effect
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Other
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Commenter: Francis Beauvais
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