Pseudoscience

What constitutes a scientific claim and can such claims be differentiated from other sorts of claims?


Ways of distorting evidence

• Names one's 'authority' - their PhDs, certificates... etc
• They manipulate the results - we have to verify the source of information
• 'Ethos'
• Trials are shown
• However, these are 'predicted', 'controlled' to get the result they want
• Industry funded trials are 4 times more likely to produce more flattering effects
• Trials are 'hiding' the results - companies hides the trials that does not show the result they wanted
• Plasibo effect
• Believe that a medicine will help me
• Psychological effect that causes your body to cure oneself
• Side effects
• when someone gives more doses of their competitor's drug, it will cause more side effects- makes their product look great

Examples

• During the first seven days after birth, it is dangerous to expose a child to outdoors or to strangers - pseudoscience : in culture supersitions happens
• When a man and a woman both have sickle-cell anemia, it is dangerous for them to have children - science
• Singing while bathing is dangerous - pseudoscience : singing and bathing are very different things and in some cultures they believe that singing in shower can call the devil
• Bringing bundles of firewood from the farm into the village is dangerous - pseudoscience
• Smoking cigarettes is dangerous -