580. Pseudoscience, Lacking Abstract Thinking And The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Before the internet, I took it for granted, that having a university degree were an indication of a person's ability for abstract, scientific and skeptical thinking. The internet has opened my eyes for the fact, that people can get degrees by having a good memory even in the absence of sufficient rationality. Therefore for such people, a university degree is no protection against falling for pseudoscience.
Pseudoscience is a blend of scientific methods and gullibility to irrational beliefs. The fallacy of pseudoscience can be on both ends of research, either by using the claimed belief as if it were a proven fact to be further investigated, or by interpreting results as if they were a proof of an unproven claim, and of course there can be both. Sometimes even the methods are only pseudo-scientific.
This is a list of examples of pseudoscience:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_topics_characterized_as_pseudoscience
Those people, whose belief in a non-existent deity is blatantly absurd, often are at least aware, that their specific belief is not of general validity, but only shared by a limited number of people. They can be aware of the impossibility of convincing others of a mere claim, which they cannot proof.
Some believers in pseudoscience are even worse, because due to their impaired abstract thinking, they are not aware, that they confound pseudoscience with valid serious science. They are duped by the superficial resemblance. They are even more prone to be duped, when the pseudoscience appears to fulfill some of their dire needs.
Before the internet, I took it for granted, that having a university degree were an indication of a person's ability for abstract, scientific and skeptical thinking. The internet has opened my eyes for the fact, that people can get degrees by having a good memory even in the absence of sufficient rationality. Therefore for such people, a university degree is no protection against falling for pseudoscience.
Pseudoscience is a blend of scientific methods and gullibility to irrational beliefs. The fallacy of pseudoscience can be on both ends of research, either by using the claimed belief as if it were a proven fact to be further investigated, or by interpreting results as if they were a proof of an unproven claim, and of course there can be both. Sometimes even the methods are only pseudo-scientific.
This is a list of examples of pseudoscience:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_topics_characterized_as_pseudoscience
Those people, whose belief in a non-existent deity is blatantly absurd, often are at least aware, that their specific belief is not of general validity, but only shared by a limited number of people. They can be aware of the impossibility of convincing others of a mere claim, which they cannot proof.
Some believers in pseudoscience are even worse, because due to their impaired abstract thinking, they are not aware, that they confound pseudoscience with valid serious science. They are duped by the superficial resemblance. They are even more prone to be duped, when the pseudoscience appears to fulfill some of their dire needs.
They expect to be rationally able to find general agreement based upon the validity of the results, the same way as if they were evaluating serious science.
When a seriously ill person is religious, he may do both, praying and getting scientifically based standard medical treatment Someone believing in pseudoscience as if it were science, gets duped to prefer quackery over standard medicine, believing it to be the most advanced science.
The belief in pseudoscience leads to a variety of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Someone believing in some variety of pseudoscience has often the delusion to be the one knowing better than the skeptical and rational person, who rejects and disbelieves it. The rejection is misinterpreted as ignorance. The believer does not reconsider his belief, instead he feels a mission to instruct the allegedly ignorant.
People believing in pseudoscience are as annoying as are religious people. It is better to avoid them, when the contact is not superficial enough to be able to avoid such topics. I once attempted to explain to someone, why NLP is pseudoscience. It was as futile as talking to a wall. It is much more pleasant to interact with fellow apistics, who feel themselves annoyed by religion and pseudoscience.
