Pseudoscience
The ability to quickly distinguish Pseudoscience from peer-reviewed research is a vital skill in the modern information age when social media is heavily populated with misinformation and grift.
"Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket." -Isaac Asimov
Quantum Woo uses pseudoscience to leverage the misunderstanding of quantum mechanics into spiritual grift.
Creationism is the use of pseudoscience to defend literal interpretations of scripture.
Many pseudo-scientific health products rely on the placebo effect for their perceived benefits, so it is helpful to understand how that works. It also helps you save money on supplements by not buying them.
Many conspiracy theories are built on the basis of pseudoscience, as are many theories of everything.
The science, evidence, critical thinking, truth, trust, misinformation, social media, and grift pages all relate to identifying bad information.
Are you accidentally falling for pseudoscience? Check your beliefs against this master list and be sure that you are living in reality!
RationalWiki is a similar Wikipedia project that focuses on debunking pseudo-scientific claims and grift.
Karl Popper wrote the book on pseudoscience (and the book on tolerance, too!). Here are some articles describing his theory of falsifiabilty and how to tell good science from quackery.
- Karl Popper on Falsification: Science vs. Pseudoscience
- Karl Popper: Theory of Falsification
- Science and Pseudo-Science - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Mythbusters were the peak of late-stage Discovery channel, when educational programming was not yet phased out completely. They dealt with pseudoscience, scams, and misinformation in a way that was explosively entertaining. Full Playlist (251 Videos)