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***[[Irreducible complexity]] is the claim that some systems are so complex that they cannot have evolved from simpler systems. It is used by proponents of intelligent design to argue that evolution by [[natural selection]] alone is incomplete or flawed, and that some additional mechanism (an "Intelligent Designer") is required to explain the origins of life.
***[[Irreducible complexity]] is the claim that some systems are so complex that they cannot have evolved from simpler systems. It is used by proponents of intelligent design to argue that evolution by [[natural selection]] alone is incomplete or flawed, and that some additional mechanism (an "Intelligent Designer") is required to explain the origins of life.
***[[Specified complexity]] is the claim that when something is simultaneously complex and specified, one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes.
***[[Specified complexity]] is the claim that when something is simultaneously complex and specified, one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes.
*'''[[Crop circles]]''' are geometric designs of crushed or knocked-over crops created in a field. Aside from skilled farmers or pranksters working through the night, explanations for their formation include UFOs and anomalous, tornado-like air currents.{{fn|&#91;A&#93;}} Study of crop circles is termed "cerealogy" by proponents, but has no known scientific basis. <ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/30/i_ins.01.html "They call it cerealogy"], CNN.com</ref>
*'''[[Crop circles]]''' are geometric designs of crushed or knocked-over crops created in a field. Aside from skilled farmers or pranksters working through the night, explanations for their formation include UFOs and anomalous, tornado-like air currents.{{fn|&#91;A&#93;}} The study of crop circles is termed "cerealogy" by proponents. <ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/30/i_ins.01.html "They call it cerealogy"], CNN.com</ref>
*'''[[Cydonia Mensae]]''' is a rock formation on Mars asserted to be evidence of intelligent, native life on the planet.{{fn|&#91;A&#93;}}
*'''[[Cydonia Mensae]]''' is a rock formation on Mars asserted to be evidence of intelligent, native life on the planet.{{fn|&#91;A&#93;}}
**The [[Face on Mars]] has had particular notoriety over the years, even though high resolution images appear less face-like.
**The [[Face on Mars]] has had particular notoriety over the years, even though high resolution images appear less face-like.

Revision as of 09:07, 20 May 2007

{{totally disputed]] This is a list of fields of endeavor and concepts that have been regarded as pseudoscientific by (1) organizations that are representative of the international scientific community and/or (2) mainstream skeptical organizations. They may have explicitly called a field or concept "pseudoscience" or used words to that effect: instances of the latter are identified in the references section. Also included are important concepts associated with the main entries, and concepts that, while notable, have not elicited commentary from mainstream scientific bodies. Notable parodies of pseudoscientific concepts are also included.

Main topics

See also: Scientific consensus

The following have broad consensus concerning their pseudoscientific status. Indicative of this are assertions by mainstream, specialized scientific bodies (e.g., a society of plasma physicists) or one or more national- or regional-level Academies of Science.

Other significant topics

The following are subjects regarded as pseudoscientific by notable skeptical bodies such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP). Unless otherwise noted, the entries are referenced from The Skeptics Society's The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience.[17] Finally, some of these items are not considered pseudoscientific in and of themselves: only certain aspects, explanations, and/or applications of them. See an item's description text for more information on this.

  • Anthroposophy is a philosophy which holds that that spirit world can be scientifically investigated.
  • Attachment therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment for aggressive, disobedient, and/or unaffectionate children. A minor version (relative to most other attachment therapies) involves the child being physically restrained by adults who then attempt to maintain prolonged eye contact. Perhaps the most extreme is "rebirthing," in which the child is wrapped tightly in a blanket and then made to simulate emergence from a birth canal. This is done by encouraging the child to struggle and pushing and squeezing him/her to mimic contractions.
  • Ball lightning is a slow-moving, luminous sphere which is up to 30cm in diameter. While many scientists find the existence of these at least minimally plausible, evidence of them are often unreliable, anecdotal reports, and explanations for them have ranged from combusted hydrocarbon gas to "Will o' the wisp" creatures.
  • The Bermuda Triangle is a region of the Atlantic Ocean that lies between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and (in its most popular version) Florida. Frequent disappearances and ship and aircraft disasters in this area have led to claims of paranormal phenomena and extraterrestrial attacks and abductions.
  • Biorhythms are alleged periodic cycles of human physiology and behavior that govern physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being.
  • Cryptozoology is the study of animals whose existence is suspect. Famous examples include Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and the goat-killing "Chupacabra."
    • Animal mutilations are cases of domestic livestock with seemingly unexplainable wounds. Sources of these wounds are said to be supernatural, malevolent forces or bizarre—but terrestrial—creatures.
  • Dietary supplements are products marketed as health-promoting, but which have little or no evidence to support the claim. They are usually derived from exotic(-sounding) plant life and are often sold over the Internet. [citation needed]
  • Earthquake prediction is the purported ability to accurately forecast the time, place, and size of earthquakes.
  • Elves, fairies, gnomes, pixies are creatures of mythical character which are sometimes alleged to be real. The testimonials, which are sometimes even accompanied by photographic evidence, have often been outed as hoaxes.
  • Faith healing is the act of curing disease by such means as prayer and laying on of hands.
  • Faster-than-light travel, sometimes referred to as superluminal travel, is the feat of breaking the light speed barrier of 299,792,458 meters per second.
  • Feng shui is the practice of aligning gravesites, buildings, and furniture a certain way with the aim to positively affect one's health and fortune.
  • Handwriting analysis/graphology is the practice of gleaning information about a person's personality through examination of his or her handwriting. [6]
  • Homeopathy is a medical practice defined by its rejection of current scientific models of medicine and chemistry, and heavy use of noncoventional testing proceedures referred to as "provings".[18][19]
  • Hypnosis is an extremely relaxed state in which a person is unusually responsive to suggestions made by the hypnotist. While hypnosis in some sense is almost universally regarded as real, explanations of the phenomenon invoking anything more than just an especially cooperative subject have far less scientific support. In addition, certain applications of hypnosis in psychotherapy, such as smoking cessation and self-esteem improvement, also lack empirical support.
  • Laundry balls are spherical or toroidal objects marketed as soap substitutes for washing machines.
  • Magnetic therapy is the practice of using magnetic fields to positively influence one's health.
  • Meditation is the practice of quieting and calming the mind, often as a religious practice, to produce transcendental experiences. While most traditional explanations of the associated experiences and benefits are of a pre-scientific nature, scientific explanations have recently been advanced for the purported medical benefits of the practice.
  • Mobile phone radiation and health concerns have occasionally been raised as possible causes of immune system dysfunction and cancers of the nervous system, brain, and blood.
  • Multiple personality disorder, also called dissociative identity disorder, is a mental condition that is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personalities. The post-traumatic model of this disorder has been the target of numerous scientific critics but is still popular among many psychotherapists. The disorder itself is still included as a classification in the DSM-IV and ICD-10.
  • Neoshamanism is a combination of shamanistic, new-age spiritual, and other philosophies which include belief in spirits, meditation and sometimes the use of entheogens.
  • Near-death experiences are experiences reported by persons who nearly died or who experienced clinical death and then revived.
  • Out-of-body experiences are exerperiences where a person seems to see the world from a location outside of the physical body. Qua experience, OBEs are real and theory-neutral, but some explanations invoke the paranormal.
  • Parapsychology is the study of certain types of paranormal phenomenon.[citation needed]
  • Phrenology is a theory which claims to be able to determine character and personality traits on the basis of the shape of the head (reading "bumps").
  • Polygraph/Lie detection are methods use to detect lying and truthfulness in a subject. Its use in police departments and other government agencies persists despite its questionable reliability.
  • Pseudoarcheology is the investigation of the ancient past using alleged paranormal or otherwise scientifically dubious means.
    • Ancient astronauts are extraterrestrials said to have initiated the rise of human civilization.
  • Reincarnation is the belief that souls inhabit a succession of physical bodies over the course of their existence. It is not usually believed that memories survive reincarnation, but some people have claimed to have remembered past lives, which can be scientifically studied.
  • Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth alleged by some members of the Christian community to have been Jesus's death shroud.
  • Stock market pseudoscience mostly involves a large range of technical analysis techniques that are of dubious scientific legitimacy.
  • Subliminal perception is visual or auditory information that is allegedly discerned below the threshold of awareness and has the power to influence human behavior.
  • Synchronicity is a phenomenon described by psychologist Carl Jung as "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." The inability to test for it has marginalized its scientific importance.
  • Tunguska event is an anomalous meteor striking said to actually be the impact of a miniature black hole or a large body composed of antimatter, or Ball lightning .
  • Tutankhamun's curse was allegedly placed on the discoverers of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, causing widespread deaths and other disastrous events.

Obscure and parody pseudoscience

The following are subjects that are sufficiently notable to warrant mention yet still too obscure for any mainstream group (of the sort cited above) to comment on them. They are nonetheless uncontroversially regarded as pseudoscientific: the only people insisting on the topics' scientific status appear to be their lone, respective proponents and, perhaps, a single digit quantity of devotees. Also included here are notable parodies of other pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts.

See also

Further reading

  • Abell, George O. and Barry Singer, Science and the Paranormal: Probing the Existence of the Supernatural, Charles Scribner's, 1981, ISBN 0-684-17820-6
  • Collins, Paul S. (2002) Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World. Picador. ISBN 0-312-30033-6
  • Gardner, Martin, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
  • Gardner, Martin, Science, Good, Bad, and Bogus
  • Randi, James, Flim-Flam: Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions, Prometheus, 1982, ISBN 0-87975-198-3
  • Sagan, Carl, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark. Ballantine Books, March 1997 ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs. 1996 hardback edition: Random House, ISBN 0-394-53512-X, xv+457 pages plus addenda insert (some printings).
  • Schick, Theodore and Lewis Vaughn. (1998) How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age. Mayfield. ISBN 0-7674-0013-5
  • Shermer, Michael. (2002) Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time. Owl Books. ISBN 0-8050-7089-3

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of Intelligent Design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools." Johnson 2004. Christianity.ca. Let's Be Intelligent About Darwin.
  2. ^ Discovery Institute, Center for Science and Culture. Questions about Intelligent Design: What is the theory of intelligent design? "The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." Questions About Intelligent Design
  3. ^ "They call it cerealogy", CNN.com
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
  6. ^ a b c d e f Scientific American
  7. ^ http://parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#e Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
  8. ^ Alcock, James E. "Electronic Voice Phenomena:Voices of the Dead?". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic's Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company, ISBN-10: 0471272426
  10. ^ Shermer, Michael (2005). "Turn Me On, Dead Man". Scientific American. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ Terrence Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1988. ISBN 0-87975-419-2.Thagard (1978) op cit 223 ff
  12. ^ Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved December 24, 2006
  13. ^ "extrasensory perception" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
  14. ^ NAI Team Pages / SETI Institute / EPO Reports 2005 (7/04-6/05)
  15. ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
  16. ^ http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm US National Science Foundation Survey,Surveys administered periodically even show increasing belief in pseudoscience...belief in four of the phenomena, haunted houses, ghosts, communication with the dead, and witches, had double-digit percentage point increases.
  17. ^ Shermer, Michael, ed. The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. ISBN 1-576-07653-9.
  18. ^ http://www.skeptics.org.uk/article.php?dir=articles&article=homeopathy.php
  19. ^ http://www.ncahf.org/pp/homeop.html
  20. ^ Ray, Gene. Time Cube. 12 Mar. 2007
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