“History is myth agreed upon”---Napoleon

“Wikipedia is about the same”---annon SJSU student

Pseudoscience

Appears to be scientific, but ...

Do the pyramids contain prophesies from extraterrestrials encoded in the architecture?

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

---Carl Sagan

Pyramid power $9.95

Did ancient Mayan priests predict an apocalypse?

“Pseudo” means fake

• The most relevant characteristic is that pseudoscience is indifferent to the criteria of valid science.

• Jello for headaches scenario (according to internet sources eating Jello can prevent/cure headaches).

Pseudoscience

• Uses scientific sounding jargon• Appears to conduct research• Usually more rhetoric than data: questions• Fails to follow scientific methods• Often faults “established scientific

community” or claims a conspiracy against revealing “the truth.” What are we hiding?

Cardiff giantFeder Chapter 3

Pseudoscience

• Extraordinary claims• Claims usually lack substance• Practices bias confirmation• Often pushes particular agenda• Ignores contrary data• Value of data often exaggerated

• Pseudoscience is not necessarily fraud; just bad science.

• Pseudoscience can also be the pursuit of the bizarre.

• Most practitioners take on unsolved mysteries or take advantage of disagreements within scientific communities.

Distinctions

• Pseudoscience• Fraud• Hoax• Professional misconduct• Bad science• Fringe science

Each of these genuine mysteries has been subject to pseudoscientific treatment

• Colossal Olmec heads

• Pyramid development• Mysterious lines of

the Nazca plains• Vikings in America

• Search for Atlantis• Easter Island

sculptures• Mayan astronomy

Piltdown Man and Other Hoaxes

1. How science can be damaged by bad science. 2. Why don’t people accept scientific results?

Issues with paleoanthropology

• Early 20th century discoveries supporting theories of an ancient human past and concepts of evolution, mixed with cultural hierarchy theory, meant that Neanderthal or other ancient hominids came to be incorporated into discourse on cultural legitimacy and primacy.

Piltdown hoax

Feder Chapter 4

Trained observers such as professional scientists had viewed the Giant and pronounced it be an impossibility, a statue, a clumsy fraud, and just plain silly. Such objective, rational, logical, and scientific conclusions, however, had little impact. A chord had been struck in the hearts and minds of many otherwise levelheaded people, and little could dissuade them from believing in the truth of the Giant. Their acceptance of the validity of the giant was based on their desire...to believe it. (Feder 2008:64)

Lines on the Nasca plains, Andes of southern Peru

Discovery of Mayan calendar 1939. Numerical system linked to astronomy.

Not based on science, not based on archaeology, not based on Mayan cosmology.

What then is the source and epistemological foundation for this “prophesy.”

Paradigms of Knowledge

• Linear vs cyclical cosmology• Apocalyptic traditions vs renewal/rebirth• Misinterpretation of the Mayan book Popol Vuh• Modern Maya did not accept the “prophesy.”• Origin of prophesy attributed to a Christian

missionary misinterpretation of calendrical script

Olmec heads

African connection?

Feder Chapter 6

Kennsington stone “proves Vikings were in Minnesota

Feder Chapter 6

“One of the biggest problems with pseudoscience is that it

confuses the public and gives the wrong impression of what

science is.”

---Kenneth Feder

Clues for recognizing pseudoscience

• Assertions stated as facts• Conspiracies and hidden truths• Extreme claims• Often strongly diffusionist in scope• In many cases basically racist• Motives more often than not based on financial

gain.• Non-falsifiable hypotheses (untestable)

Diffusionist theory

• Scientific• Culture or technology

spreads from origin outward, adopted by neighboring groups.

• Groups modify original idea and incorporate consistent with own culture

• Pseudoscientific• All culture or

technology spread from point source, usually by means of colonization or conquest.

• Usually from Egypt

• Diffusionism is not per se wrong, but strict application of this interpretive model has no merit. Human beings of different cultures can, and have, invented or innovated similar constructs independently. For example: writing was not invented once and then diffused. It was independently invented by various cultures for similar purposes.

• Ultimately, most pseudoscientific claims are in some way linked to the Unilinear Culture Development theory.

• Basic concept: ancient societies were too primitive to create or invent technologies without outside help of “advanced” civilizations.

Pseudoscience can be entertaining, adventurous, or

explore odd mysteries• But it is not grounded in scientific

methodology• It does not pass through peer review• It explains away unfavorable contrary data or

simply ignores alternatives• It is poorly conducted research.

Fraud in science

• Fake data (fudging the numbers)• Fake artifacts (Kennsington stone, Drake

plaque, Fujimura artifacts)• Fake physical evidence (Piltdown skull)

• Evidence often unique or unparalleled in archaeological record. One-offs

• Data un-replicable (lost, unparalleled)• Agenda serving (“proves” something)

– Seeks to reveal the “hidden” truth.

• Often pseudoscientific claims seem plausible at first and appeal to a desire among the public for fantastic mysteries or lost secrets. Appeal is also from the manner in which these ideas challenge “established authority” or represent new technology.

What fraud will you be exposed to today?