Abstract
In the last chapter we have learned how studies are designed, how they are interpreted, and how they can go wrong. Unfortunately, bad science happens. But, as we saw in Chap. 1, the scientific method weeds out incorrect results and progress towards some version of “truth” is made.
“We inhabit a universe where atoms are made in the centers of stars; where each second a thousand suns are born; where life is sparked by sunlight and lightning in the airs and waters of youthful planets; where the raw material for biological evolution is sometimes made by the explosion of a star halfway across the Milky Way; where a thing as beautiful as a galaxy is formed a hundred billion times - a Cosmos of quasars and quarks, snowflakes and fireflies, where there may be black holes and other universes and extraterrestrial civilizations whose radio messages are at this moment reaching the Earth. How pallid by comparison are the pretensions of superstition and pseudoscience; how important it is for us to pursue and understand science, that characteristically human endeavor.”
— Carl Sagan, Cosmos
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Notes
- 1.
Hence the lack of a dash.
- 2.
“I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence.” – Richard Feynman.
- 3.
In brief: dianetics was created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) and is a way to remove “engrams” to achieve at state called “clear”. Orgonomy, an invention of Wilhem Reich (1897–1957), is a study of orgone, which is a cosmic life force that is everywhere. Erich von Däniken (1935–) is a Swiss lifelong minor criminal who wrote Chariots of the Gods, which promoted the thesis that ancient aliens visited Earth and influenced early culture. Immanuel Velikovsky (1895–1979) wrote Worlds in Collision saying that ancient cataclysms caused by encounters with other bodies in the solar system could explain many biblical stories. Biorythmics is the idea that people’s physical, emotional, and intellectual states follow fixed periodic cycles starting from birth.
- 4.
Newton believed in heretical anti-trinitarianism.
- 5.
There is an old joke: the rate at which books are being added to science shelves will soon exceed the speed of light, but this does not violate any principles of physics since no information is being transmitted.
- 6.
Although a conversation with a physical therapist can reveal alarming remnants of the old modes of thought.
- 7.
P. Offit, “The Vitamin Myth: Why We Think We Need Supplements”, The Atlantic, July 19, 2013.
- 8.
How were these durations determined? Is interviewer bias possible?
- 9.
See for example, CRC Handbook of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields by C. Polk and W. Postow
- 10.
Source: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
- 11.
Louis Pasteur made his ground breaking discoveries between 1860 and 1864.
- 12.
40C = 10040 = 1080.
- 13.
Trepanation is the practice of drilling holes in the skull to treat disease.
- 14.
Venice treacle was made from 64 substances including opium, myrrh, and snake flesh.
- 15.
Source: B. Deer, “How the case against MMR vaccine was fixed”, British Medical Journal, 342, c5347 (2011).
- 16.
Source: F. Galton, “Statistical Inquiries into the Efficacy of Prayer”, The Fortnightly Review 12, 125 (1872).
- 17.
Source: W.S. Harris et al., “A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Effects of Remote, Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients Admitted to the Coronary Care Unit”, JAMA Internal Medicine 159, 2273–2278 (1999).
- 18.
Source: C. Brown et al., “Study of the therapeutic effects of proximal intercessory prayer (STEPP) on auditory and visual impairments in rural Mozambique”, Southern Medical Journal, 103, September 2010i.
- 19.
The former pseudoscientist is called a “charlatan”, the latter is a “crackpot”.
- 20.
One could just as well argue that it is mankind’s increasing understanding of nature that lends us our dignity.
- 21.
PISA is the Programme for International Student Assessment – a respected international testing program for 15-year-olds.
- 22.
Source: Pew Research poll, “Public Opinion on Religion and Science in the United States”, Nov 5, 2009.
- 23.
See A. Corner et al., “Public engagement with climate change: the role of human values”, WIREs Climate Change, 5, 411–422 (2014).
- 24.
Source: J. Peteet, Southern Medical Journal, 103, September 2010.
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Swanson, E.S. (2016). Pseudoscience. In: Science and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21987-5_3
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