Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

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Pseudoscience inthe New Millennium

• Michael De Robertis
• CASCA Meeting
• 26 May 2000

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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
Outline
1. What is a Skeptic? 2. What are Pseudoscience
and the Paranormal? 3. Whats it like in the
real world? 4. Why do people believe? 5. Why
should we care? 6. Conclusions
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

• 1. A Skeptic
• adheres to Cliffords dictim
• It is wrong always and everywhere for anyone to
  believe anything on insufficient evidence
• has an open mind and a hard nose
• is committed to the adoption of such standards
  of evidence throughout society by means of
  education
• investigates pseudoscientific and paranormal
  claims

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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
Scientists are skeptics as scientists but not
necessarily outside their own field! eg., Sir
Oliver Lodge, William Crookes, Thomas Edison, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, J. Allen Hynek, John Mack, ...
Cottingley Glen Fairies
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

• 2. Pseudoscience a doctrine/belief masquerading
  as a science
• non-falsifiable hypotheses
• uncritical invetigation of data
• failure to update theories
• Paranormal a subset whose explanations fall
  outside scientific canons
• evaluate using scientific method
• scientific, not magical worldview
• analogy of criminal trial
• burden of proof on challenger
• extraordinary claims require extraordinary
  evidence

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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
3. The REAL World Astrology horoscopic,
biorhythms, lunar correlations UFOs sightings,
abductions, hybrids, crop circles, cattle
mutilations, ancient astronauts... PSI ESP,
parapsychology, precognition, psychokinesis,
clairvoyance, remote viewing, telepathy,
ganzfeld Occult numerology, tarot, ouija,
pyramids, palmistry, crystal ball, Bermuda
Triangle, Nostradamus,
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
New Age auras, Kirlian photography, crystals,
channeling, Atlantis, feng shui, Bogus
Spirituality angelology, ghosts, near-death
out-of-body experiences, levitation, (some)
apparitions faith-healing, reincarnation, Alter
native Medicine aromatherapy, iridology,
reflexology, homeopathy, applied kinesiology,
meridian therapy, touch therapy, magnetotherapy,
some naturopathy chiropractic, Sundry
cryptozoology, dowsing, graphology, creationism,
conspiracy theories, chain letters, psychic
surgery
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
Astrology
UFOs
PSI
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
Occult
New Age
Bogus Sprituality
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium
Alternative Medicine
Sundry
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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

• 4. Why do so many people believe?
• reliance on anecdotal evidence
• correlation does not imply causation
• importance of a control sample
• role of randomness coincidence
• placebo effect
• wide-spread science illiteracy
• basic mistrust of science
• unwillingness to subject important beliefs to
  proper scrutiny

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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

• 5. Why should we be concerned?
• Uncritical acceptance of some claims can harm
  society (eg., witch craze of 13th-16th C.
  threats to certain species from altmed
  ingredients).
• Scientists have a responsibility to inform the
  public, permitting people to make an informed
  choice.
• Economic implications
• Truth does matter.

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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

• 6. Conclusions
• I. Symptoms
• gt 50 of adults believe in astrology
• 2-4x more astrologers than astronomers
• millions have been abducted by aliens
• gt300 million/yr on psychic hotlines
• gt30 billion/yr on alternative medicines
• gt60 Americans believe dinosaurs and humans
  lived at the same time
• 50th anniversary of Roswell drew far more people
  than any scientific meeting in history

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Pseudoscience in the New Millennium

• 6. Conclusions
• II. Remedy
• The question is not, Should anything be done, but
  rather, What should be done?
• Start small every little bit helps
• Become informed about pseudosciences
• Challenge the media (politicians) when they
  pander to pseudoscience/paranormal
• Always be accurate never overstate a scientific
  claim
• Challenge students/friends constructively
  explain the scientific method