28 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
How Scammers Distort Science
So why should you care? People who are desperate for reliable information face a bewildering array of diet guidance—salt is bad, salt is good, protein is good, protein is bad, fat is bad, fat is good—that changes like the weather. But science will figure it out, right? Now that we’re calling obesity an epidemic, funding will flow to the best scientists and all of this noise will die down, leaving us with clear answers to the causes and treatments.
Or maybe not. Even the well-funded... 1 
notes
notesA case study where a scientist fooled the media, muddying the waters of nutritional information.
21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
Pseudoscience Preceded Science
Do you believe then that the sciences would ever have arisen and become great if there had not beforehand been magicians, alchemists, astrologers and wizards, who thirsted and hungered after abscondite and forbidden powers?Folksonomies: history pseudoscience
Folksonomies: history pseudoscience
1 notes
notes21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
Commit Metaphysics to the Fire
If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, 'Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number?' No. 'Does it contain any experimental reasoning Duceming matter of fact and existence?' No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.Folksonomies: pseudoscience
Folksonomies: pseudoscience
1 notes
notes21 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Lies Propagate
Lies propagate, that's what I'm saying. You've got to tell more lies to cover them up, lie about every fact that's connected to the first lie. And if you kept on lying, and you kept on trying to cover it up, sooner or later you'd even have to start lying about the general laws of thought. Like, someone is selling you some kind of alternative medicine that doesn't work, and any double-blind experimental study will confirm that it doesn't work. So if someone wants to go on defending the lie, th... 1 notes
notesThey require more lies to support them and the questioning of science.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Idealism and Metaphysics are Easy
Idealism and metaphysics are the easiest things in the world, because people can talk as much nonsense as they like without basing it on objective reality or having it tested against reality. Materialism and dialectics, on the other hand, need effort. They must be based on and tested by objective reality. Unless one makes the effort one is liable to slip into idealism and metaphysics.
Introductory note to "Material on the Hu Feng Counter-Revolutionary Clique" (May 1955).Folksonomies: pseudoscience metaphysics
Folksonomies: pseudoscience metaphysics
1 notes
notesBecause they require no alignment with reality before speaking of them.
20 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Revolt Against Science
One response to the loss of control, for example, is a revulsion against intelligence.
Science first gave man a sense of mastery over his environment, and hence over the future.
By making the future seem malleable, instead of immutable, it shattered the opiate religions
that preached passivity and mysticism. Today, mounting evidence that society is out of
control breeds disillusionment with science. In consequence, we witness a garish revival of
mysticism. Suddenly astrology is the rage. Zen,...
1 Nostalgia and pseudo-science are a revolt against what they perceive as the strict rules of science and central planning, but the lack of rules and planning results in putting people at the whims of chaos, which is even more limiting.
08 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Science VS Economics
The spirit and method of Science arc the direct antithesis of magic.
It is science which has produced the "Machine Shop".
It is magic that has produced "Finance".
In the machine shop. Science rules only in so far as machine processes go: there its control stops.
The social control of the Machine Shop lies with the Towosis of Finance.
Thus it is that our Towosis (like those Of Trobriand) control not only the work, the workmen, the work shop — "industrial society" is only the Great ...An interesting perspective. Science is the workhorse, economics is the charlatan exploiting it.
08 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Economics Uses Magical Language
A common feature in systems of magic is animism — attributing to inanimate objects the functions of life, assuming things to possess will, purpose, and power.
It is significant (though quite in keeping) that "Economists" and "Financiers" have this characteristic at- titude of mind towards, and employ animistic forms of expression in writing and talking about "Money" and "Capital."
Whether this is due to unconscious belief in magic or is mere metaphor, the result, in either case, is befo...It's use of animism in describing the economy is suspect, but the same metaphors are used in real science as well.
28 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Greed Mutates Science into Pseudoscience
Nature may be as selfishly studied as trade. Astronomy to the selfish becomes astrology; psychology, mesmerism (with intent to show where aour spoons are gone); and anatomy and physiology become phrenology and palmistry. 1 notes
notesIt transmogrifies astronomy into astrology.
12 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Pseudoscience VS Science
Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb to suck, a skirt to hold. What does the scientist have to offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Insecurity! Folksonomies: science pseudoscience
Folksonomies: science pseudoscience
1 notes
notesOne offers a security blanket, the other offers uncertainty. Is it any wonder why pseudoscience wins?
