Deluded billionaire gives UC Irvine $200M to study homeopathy and "alternative" therapies

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/26/henry-samueli.html

…

2 Likes
2
  1. Take $200M
  2. Type up 1-page report that says “It’s all bullshit.”
  3. Use $200M where it will do some good.
  4. ???
  5. PROFIT!
39 Likes
3

I think you mean, ‘Diluted Billionaire’.

55 Likes
4

Hey Henry Samueli, get in the sack!

16 Likes
5

And in another instance of throwing good money after bad ideas, a rapper is trying to raise money to prove that the Earth is flat.

10 Likes
6

$200M

I laugh as I sip my opium tea.

10 Likes
7

You mean to say the Earth isn’t flat?

4 Likes
8

I myself am a homeopathically diluted billionaire. Tremble, peasants, as you gaze upon my overdrawn bank account.

27 Likes
9

Obligatory Bloom County:

physicistsneedporches1-e1500326346563
physicistsneedporches1-e1500326346563.jpg1237×404 364 KB

11 Likes
10

Heh. Maybe the “college of health sciences” could just pay 200m to whatever real department is most relevant for an official report on what bullshit it is, then close down having run out of money.

4 Likes
11

Or setup the department to just funnel the money into state taxes as efficiently as possible.

This is fun.

It’s like Brewster’s Millions for higher education.

5 Likes
12

Deluded US taxpayers spend $300-400 million/year to fund research in complementary medicine:

(This was the brainchild of Senator Tom Harkin, who I even voted for once.)

6 Likes
13

Maybe we should replace temporarily embarrassed millionaires with temporarily diluted billionaires.

9 Likes
14

If you delete one point it’s homeomorphic to flat.

5 Likes
15

Jury’s still out on that one. I’m going to wait until Flat Earth Bob’s satellites give us a definitive answer.

2 Likes
16

Hey! Homeopathic porn saved my sex life from all kinds of toxins!

8 Likes
17

I could see studying the effects of old home remedies, jungle or odd plants, fungi, gastrointestinal flora, and discrediting homeopathy forever, being an excellent use of 200 mil.

15 Likes
18

Maybe he could spend that 200k on school.

1 Like
19

FWIW, another opinion - the right one - in the Times:

5 Likes
20

To slightly play devil’s advocate, homeopathy is only one area that the Samuelis recommend the new building and labs they’re funding should be used to study. They also mention acupuncture and integrated medicine, which are far more broadly accepted.

3 Likes