Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science

About this book

Case studies personal accounts and analysis show how to recognize and combat pseudoscience in a post-truth world. In a post-truth fake news world we are particularly susceptible to the claims of pseudoscience. When emotions and opinions are more widely disseminated than scientific findings and self-proclaimed experts get their expertise from Google how can the average person distinguish real science from fake? This book examines pseudoscience from a variety of perspectives through case studies analysis and personal accounts that show how to recognize pseudoscience why it is so widely accepted and how to advocate for real science. Contributors examine the basics of pseudoscience including issues of cognitive bias; the costs of pseudoscience with accounts of naturopathy and logical fallacies in the anti-vaccination movement; perceptions of scientific soundness; the mainstream presence of integrative medicine hypnosis and parapsychology; and the use of case studies and new media in science advocacy. Contributors David Ball Paul Joseph Barnett Jeffrey Beall Mark Benisz Fernando Blanco Ron Dumont Stacy Ellenberg Kevin M. Folta Christopher French Ashwin Gautam Dennis M. Gorman David H. Gorski David K. Hecht Britt Marie Hermes Clyde F. Herreid Jonathan Howard Seth C. Kalichman Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair Arnold Kozak Scott O. Lilienfeld Emilio Lobato Steven Lynn Adam Marcus Helena Matute Ivan Oransky Chad Orzel Dorit Reiss Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter Kavin Senapathy Dean Keith Simonton Indre Viskontas John O. Willis Corrine Zimmerman