Let us learn something new today,as a response to these two threads:
https://www.kenyatalk.com/index.php?threads/american-moon-landing-hoax.52605/
PSEUDOSCIENCE.
Describes any belief system or methodology which tries to gain legitimacy by wearing the trappings of science, but fails to abide by the rigorous methodology and standards ofevidence that are the marks of true science .
Promoters of pseudoscience often adopt the vocabulary of science, describing conjectures as hypotheses , theories , or
laws, providing “evidence” from observation and “expert” testimonies, or even developing what appear to be mathematical models of their ideas.
However, in pseudoscience there is no honest attempt to follow the scientific method , provide falsifiable predictions, or develop double blind experiments.
Although pseudoscience is designed to appear scientific, it lacks all of the substance of science.
EXAMPLES OF PSEUDOSCIENCE
In Astronomy:
2012 Phenomenon. Expectations that 2012 would bring large-scale disasters or even the end of the world.
ANCIENT ASTRONOMY,UFOLOGY. Proposes that aliens have visited the earth in the past and influenced our civilization.
ASTROLOGY.
Belief that humans are affected by the position of celestial bodies.
Crop Circles - Some believe these are made by aliens.
Face on Mars-A rock formation on Mars that resembles a face and is believed to be evidence of life.
FLAT EARTH SOCIETY.
Claims the Earth is flat and disc-shaped.
MOON LANDING CONSPIRACY -Contends the original moon landing was faked.
Pseudoscience Related to the Earth.
366 Geometry or Megalithic Geometry - Based on dividing a circle into 366 degrees and is used by Freemasons.
Hollow Earth Theory - A belief that the Earth is hollow, at least somewhat, and it is expanding.
BERMUDA TRIANGLE - An area where unexplained events, like disappearances of ships and airlplanes, have occurred.
Cryptozoology - The search for Bigfoot (Yeti), the Loch Ness monster, El Chupacabra and other creatures that biologists believe do not exist.
Biodynamic Agriculture - Organic farming that has some non-scientific methods of crop cultivation.
Mythical Creatures - The belief that fairies, elves, pixies and gnomes exist.
Pseudoscience Related to the Paranormal
Channeling - Involves communicating with a spirit through a person.
DOWSING - A method of finding water, metals, or precious stones underground by using a divining rod.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) - Used by ghost hunters to record messages from spirits.
Extra-sensory Perception (ESP) - Covers several methods of gaining information, like clairvoyance, telepathy and remote viewing.
Levitation - Raising something and suspending it in mid-air.
NUMEROLOGY - A belief in a relationship between certain numbers and people or events.
Pseudoscience Related to Psychology.
Conversion Therapy - Attempts to change a person’s sexual preference from homosexual to heterosexual.
HYPNOSIS- A method of deep relaxation where the subject is open to suggestions.
Primal Therapy - Belief that experiences before and during birth influence the way our life unfolds.
Polygraphy - A lie detector test used to determine if the subject is lying by measuring changes in some vital signs.
Psychoanalysis - Developed by
Sigmund Freud, this psychiatic treatment method is still controversial.
SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING . Receiving data through seeing or hearing, while not being aware of receiving it.
Other Pseudoscience Examples.
HOLOCAUST DENIAL - Belief that the genocide of Jews did not happen.
Dianetics - Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, this system is believed to cure all mental disorders by dealing with the relationship between the mind and body.
Feng Shui - A Chinese method of arranging objects and living spaces in a certain way.
Handwriting Analysis - A belief that a person’s personality can be seen in their handwriting.
SCIENTIFIC RACISM - A belief that certain races are inferior to others due to scientific evidence.
If pseudoscience is so incoherently dumb, why do people believe it? There are a few explanations.
POOR SCIENTIFIC LITERACY:
This approach argues that, because many people don’t understand science, how it works, or what makes something not science, that said scientifically illiterate people are susceptible to science-imitating pseudoscience, which has all the apparent authority of science but very little of the hard-to-understand actual research.
CONFIRMATION BIAS:
People want to believe that what they think is true, is true.
Furthermore, people want to believe things that make "sense ", that are comforting, and that align with their personal experiences,which pushes them towards what they like, rather than what is more likely true.
This is compounded by the fact that the brain is good at finding biases in others, but not in itself.
POPULAR MISINFORMATION:
When something is popular, yet wrong, it can often become an established “fact” merely through virtue of being repeated so many times.
Sometimes this misinformation is due to popular science fiction/fantasy which either is based on old obsolete concepts or just plain poor present science.
Another source is the dreaded “technobabble” which in theory is to simulate how theories beyond our current understanding would sound to us by mimicking how modern scientific theories would sound to someone of 200 to 300 years ago but in practice tends to produce scientific gibberish like, “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.”
EXCITEMENT:
Many claims in pseudoscience are exciting ideas, and believing them potentially makes life more interesting.
UFOs are a good example.The thought that we’re being visited, and that you, yes you , might be able to spot them yourself, is terribly exciting to many people.
It also makes for an outlet for vivid imaginations of what the aliens might be like.
By contrast, the lack of evidence for alien visitation and the realities of interstellar travel (due to the immense distances involved) are downright boring to many.
WISHFUL THINKING :
Some pseudoscientific ideas could be a great help to people if they were true. Cold fusion is an obvious example, as that could solve many of our energy problems quite easily if only it actually worked.
Similarly, if say positive thinking had a physical effect on reality, that could have tremendous potential to help people. It’s been shown not to work, though.
True.