Science and pseudoscience

                                                             Hello.

 This is my post written and published on the Golos, please forgive me for the language, the text translated using an online translator.

 Today I want to write about science and pseudoscience, how they differ, what they are and why some believe in false statements.

                      What is science and how does it differ from pseudoscience?

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Science is universal, a person can repeat what is set out in textbooks, a chemist can conduct an experiment and obtain the described result, a physicist can also conduct an experiment and obtain the result described previously, but the pseudoscientific doctrine usually relies on results that can not be corroborated or proved and suggests only to believe In their statements, using complex terms similar to scientific ones, pseudoscience sometimes masks well and pretends to be a science.

Austrian scientist K.Popper  

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Proposed the concept of critical rationalism, so that it would be better to be able to separate science from pseudoscience.

Its essence lies in the fact that the scientist must understand what must happen if the hypothesis put forward by him turns out to be false.

 Another point: it is important to distinguish pseudoscience from scientific hypotheses that are not yet proved, which are the engine of science, constantly appear, are investigated and subsequently accepted by the scientific community or are refuted.

Now, some of the pseudosciences, known and not so much, many followers and supporters of these pseudosciences do not consider them as such and enter into furious controversy in defense of their favorite false teachings. In the scientific world there is a commission to combat pseudoscience. The founder and initiator of the creation was the Russian physicist, Doctor of Sciences Vitaly Ginzburg. This commission carries out the expertise of theories and developments.

                                                                                    Homeopathy.

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The theory of this pseudoscience was developed in the 18th century by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann.

Today, homeopathy has grown to a huge multi-billion dollar industry, millions of people around the world believe in it, seeing it as a panacea and an alternative to traditional medicine. The adherents of homeopathy unreservedly believe in her favor and are ready to prove their convictions with great enthusiasm, concurrently stating that traditional science especially oppresses homeopathy.

                              The foundation and the basis of homeopathy are two principles:

• A similar is treated with a similar-substance that is present in the medication should cause the same symptoms as the illness from which it is to be cured.
•  Multiple dilution-substance is diluted many times, the solution is shaken to enhance the therapeutic effect.

In the preparations that are released today, dilution indices are used in the preparation with the index 30C (diluted 1060 times), the probability of having at least one molecule of the active substance is zero, but it does not bother the homeopaths, they state that water has memory and the effect of breeding only Amplified.

Numerous experiments and trials have not been able to prove the usefulness of homeopathy and the statement about the memory of water.

The report of Australian physicians showed that homeopathy does not have any curative effect, all its useful properties boil down to the self-hypnosis of the patient and how much he believes in the miraculous properties of water at an expensive price, the homeopathic remedy is similar to that of placebo (a dummy pill containing no active Substances).

 In turn, the commission to combat pseudoscience also issued a memorandum on the recognition of homeopathy as a pseudoscience.

 All explanations about the ways of action of homeopathy contradict modern science, the laws of chemistry, physics, biology and represent the fantasy of authors with the help of which huge money is earned. The Commission does not call for the prohibition of homeopathy, but offers only to refuse use in public medicine and to point out in homeopathic medicines that they are not medicines. About the rest of the pseudoscience I will briefly describe, so as not to increase the post to a gigantic size:

• Alchemy, the search for a philosopher's stone, capable of transforming some metals into others, curing all diseases, giving eternal youth, that's the purpose of this pseudoscience (if the alchemists had found their own philosopher's stone, then modern owners of pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies would have made them lose it quickly).

 photo https://pixabay.com/

• Astrology, with it we come across every day, in newspapers and magazines horoscopes are printed, astrologers assure that they can predict fate by the arrangement of planets at the moment of birth. Some do not make a step without a horoscope, but most refer to horoscopes with humor.

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• Numerology, believers in this teaching believe that between numbers and life of people, processes in life have a mystical connection and it means by numbers one can know the fate of people and states.

 Photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54952167  Public domain

• Ufology, ufologists and those who join them believe in aliens and try to fit the scientific base to their beliefs. In turn, ufologists are the subject of attention of the traditional science of medicine, more precisely one direction of medicine-psychiatry, they are even invited to stay in special places and tell more about extraterrestrials.

photo https://pixabay.com/

• Parapsychology, is engaged in studying incomprehensible phenomena and supernatural psychic abilities of people, the highest concentration of swindlers is in this pseudoscience. Psychics, scammers, witches, and others successfully rob the gullible people.

photo https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=606714 Public domain

These are the most famous pseudosciences, there are also smaller and lesser known ones like cryptozoology, bioenergy, torsionics and others.

                                                    Why do people believe in different charlatans?

 In my opinion there are several reasons:

• Lack of normal education and critical thinking. Scammers, using sophisticated terms, phrases related to real science, some obscure formulas, it is easier to mislead an ordinary person.
• Trust and dense, this is used by parapsychologists and astrologers, broadcasting about the unknown secrets of life, that the stars and clairvoyants know everything, you just have to pay and find out your future and open the way to happiness.
•  A separate category of people who believe in pseudoscience, clients of psychiatrists, but here everything is under the control of specialists, correctly appointed treatment helps them for a while to forget about the secret, restless and incomprehensible world.

So learn, educate, be critical of those who broadcast about mysterious things that are beyond science and be happy.

Thank you.