Presentation at the

International Association of
Torch Clubs
2003 Convention

www.torch.org

Science, Pseudoscience, and Self-deception

Earl C. Swallow

Half of our population believes space aliens who have mastered faster-than-light flight are visiting Earth, a popular health guru insists that his brand of spiritual healing is firmly grounded in quantum theory, supposedly educated people wear magnets in their shoes to restore their vitality, and credulity runs wild when a sect led by a former race driver claims to have produced a human clone. All too frequently, people judge a claim of knowledge by how well it agrees with the way they would like the world to be - or fear that it might be. In this lecture I will examine how modern science is structured to help us avoid (or at least limit) such tendencies. I will also discuss some of the telltale rhetorical devices that practitioners of pseudoscience (and sometimes of plain old fraud) use to encourage these tendencies. This web site at <http://www.elmhurst.edu/~earls/torch> accompanies the lecture to provide further information and some references for anyone who is interested.

Here are the transparencies from the presentation [PDF, 6.3 MB].

A Few Relevant Books

Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by Robert L. Park (Oxford University Press, 2000) 213 pages. A particularly enjoyable book written with interesting narrative style. It has an index, but no reference citations, works cited list, further reading list, or glossary.

Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends and Pseudoscience Begins by Charles W. Wynn and Arthur W. Wiggins with cartoons by Sidney Harris (Joseph Henry Press from National Academy Press, Washington, 2001) 189 pages. It has a long additional readings list, a glossary, and an index, but no reference citations or works cited list.

At the Fringes of Science by Michael W. Friedlander (Westview Press, Boulder, 1995) 181 pages. It has reference citations at the end of each chapter, a works cited list, a further readings list, and an index, but no Glossary. This is clearly the most scholarly of the three books above.

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of our Time by Michael Shermer (W. H. Freeman & Co., New York, 1997) 306 pages. It has reference citations, an extensive bibliography, and an index, but no Glossary.

The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (Random House, New York, 1996) 480 pages. It includes a discussion of Sagan's "baloney detection kit."

Links to Some Relevant Periodicals
Science News Online - The Weekly News Magazine of Science
Scientific American (includes Michael Shermer's monthly "Skeptic" column)
American Scientist
Skeptical Enquirer
Skeptic magazine published by Michael Shermer
Free Inquiry
Issues in Science and Technology
Nature - International Weekly Journal of Science
New Scientist
Science - from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Technology Review (MIT)

Some "Skeptical" Links
Quackwatch focuses on health fraud, quackery, and medical issues.
The Skeptic's Dictionary is just what the name implies.
When to Be Suspicious
James Randi Educational Foundation
Penn & Teller's "Bullshit!" on A&E
Free Inquiry
Elizabeth Loftus - premier researcher on memory and its (our) limitations
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims Of the Paranormal(CSICOP)
Skeptical Enquirer (published by CSICOP)
Pseudoscience Examples
What's New Archives "What's New" is a weekly electronic newsletter by Robert L. Park.
Carl Sagan
Quantifying Risk and Radiation
Celebrity Atheist List
T-Files (a great compendium of skeptical links with lots of humorous commentary)
Bibliography of Skeptical Works on the Occult, Magic, Witchcraft, etc.
Web Directory of Pseudoscience Skepticism - LOTS of Links with Some Commentary
Cincinnati Skeptics
Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT)
Erik Kreig's skeptic page and his pages on Dennis Lee and Joe Newman (both of "free energy" infamy)
Prof. Victor J. Stenger (Skeptical Pages, Univ. of Hawaii, Physics)
Low Level EMFs [in APS What's New] [Faked Data?] [Links] [Q&A]
Galileo Project

A Few Pseudoscience Links
Free Energy
NW Rage
Guru's Web Links to Pseudoscience Sites
Cult Archaeology
"Alternative Science"

Some Scientific & Professional Societies, etc.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
American Physical Society (APS)
Institute of Physics (IOP)
National Academy of Sciences
New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS)
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Tips for the Savvy Supplement User (from FDA)
  
 
 

Rev. 06/24/2003. - - Comments and suggestions to Earl C. Swallow .