Correlation vs Causation
Finding something at the scene doesn't prove it committed the crime.
The fundamental error.
Germ theory reasoning often goes like this: “We found this microbe in sick people. Therefore, this microbe caused the sickness.”
But this is a basic logical fallacy. Firefighters are found at every fire. That doesn't mean firefighters cause fires.
The question: Are microbes the cause of disease, the result of disease, or simply present during disease without causing it?
Koch's Postulates: the gold standard.
Robert Koch established criteria to prove a microbe causes a disease. All four must be met:
Found in all cases
The microbe must be present in every case of the disease.
Isolated and grown
The microbe must be isolated from the host and grown in pure culture.
Reproduces disease
When introduced to a healthy host, the cultured microbe must cause the same disease.
Re-isolated
The microbe must be re-isolated from the newly diseased host.
Most “pathogens” don't satisfy Koch's Postulates.
Postulate 1 fails
Many “pathogens” are found in healthy people. H. pylori exists in stomachs without ulcers. “Flu viruses” are found in asymptomatic people.
Postulate 2 fails
Viruses cannot be grown in pure culture—they require living cells. This violates the isolation requirement.
Postulate 3 fails
Exposure doesn't reliably cause disease. The 1918 experiments showed healthy people couldn't be infected despite direct exposure.
When the evidence doesn't fit the theory, science should question the theory—not abandon the standard of evidence.
What else could microbes be?
Cleanup crew
Microbes might arrive to clean up damaged tissue—like vultures at a carcass. They're present because of death, not causing it.
Symptom, not cause
Bacterial overgrowth might be a symptom of terrain imbalance—like weeds in unhealthy soil—not the original cause of disease.
Internal origin
Per pleomorphism, “pathogens” might evolve from the body's own microzymas when the terrain becomes diseased.
Communication
Viral particles might be exosomes—cellular messengers sharing information, not invaders causing harm.
The crime scene analogy.
Imagine police arrive at every crime scene and arrest whoever is present. They find a pattern: certain people are often at crime scenes. They declare these people “criminals” and build an entire justice system around catching and eliminating them.
But what if those people are first responders? Witnesses? Victims? The logic of “present at the scene = caused the crime” would lead to catastrophically wrong conclusions.
The terrain view: Don't assume the microbe is guilty. Ask what created the conditions that allowed it to thrive.
Better questions to ask.
Why do some people get sick while others exposed to the same microbe don't?
Why do “pathogens” live harmlessly in healthy people?
What changed in the terrain before the microbe appeared?
Would improving terrain health make the microbe disappear without antimicrobial intervention?
Is the microbe causing harm, or responding to harm already done?
Think deeper.
The presence of a microbe doesn't prove causation. The real question is: what created the conditions for disease?