ASSIGNMENT - Pseudoscience A). Find an example of pseudoscience that many people

Question

ASSIGNMENT - Pseudoscience

A). Find an example of pseudoscience that many people have embraced as science or fact and explain the "scientific" claim that is being made.

B). Provide an estimate of the number of people that believe the pseduoscience; note the source(s) of your estimate.

C). Note the typical justifications that believers resort to when they accept such "scientific" claims.

D). Explain why the claim is pseudoscientific rather than scientific. Include reasons and evidence to support your argument that the claim is pseudoscientific.

Explanation / Answer

Pseudoscience includes beliefs, theories, or practices that have been or are considered scientific, but have no basis in scientific fact. Pseudoscience example that people kind of believed was the 2012 Phenomenon where the expectations were that 2012 would bring large-scale disasters or even the end of the world. And this believed it as a fact the world over. The day to day horoscopes that people read and believe in is another example wherein they believe that humans are affected by the position of celestial bodies which may or may not be true. Pseudoscience is something which we all embrace in some way or the other either related to space,astronomy,earth,human behaviour etc. It has been seen that three out of people believe in paranormal activities. About 41% believe in extrasensory perception and around 37% that houses can be haunted. About 31% people believe in telepathic communication. (Source-Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal by David W. Moore) When people accept some supernatural stuff or anything related with god and ghosts then people do tend to reason about the existence of powers around them. They do claim that in our physical environment we do have positive and negative energies that do have an effect on our lives.Due to either religious or personal beliefs some people will believe in the pseudoscientific explanation for something, rather than the scientific explanation for something, if the pseudoscientific explanation goes along with their beliefs. If the individual holds a very strong belief about some pseudoscientific thing then they are in a position to give logical explanantions of it sometimes even stating facts. If some article endorses that belief they would claim its proven and right. The claims are more pseudoscientific because they are more interesting to make than scientif claims.Pseudoscience displays an indifference to facts.Instead of bothering to consult reference works or investigating directly, its advocates simply spout bogus "facts" where needed. These fictions are often central to the pseudoscientist's argument and conclusions. Pseudoscience depends on arbitrary conventions of human culture, rather than on unchanging regularities of nature. For instance, the interpretations of astrology depend on the names of things, which are accidental and vary from culture to culture. These claims are more subjective in nature. Many people think there must be something to astrology because a newspaper horoscope describes them perfectly. But close examination would reveal that the description is general enough to cover virtually everyone. This phenomenon, called subjective validation, is one of the foundations of popular support for pseudoscience.

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