Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is our elephantine enemy today, more so than terrorism or the Zika virus in my opinion. It is a phenomenon that is eating our minds away, destroying any modicum of rationality that might have existed.

Carl Sagan rightly said, "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."

Rather, we pretend we know. It is easy, with mass media, phrases like "...according to science", "science says..." and "it can cause cancer"; these are easy ways to gain trust of readers. We are inclined to believe it, not because it may or may not make scientific sense, but because it is comforting. We like it. We like to know and boast that we eat dark chocolates which is good for the heart, knowing the fact that chocolate contains butter which will harm you.

Herein enters cognitive dissonance; to overcome which we choose our own interpretations. This is how pseudoscience is winning all along, it is creating perceptions instead of inferences, changing the way facts are supposed to function. To make matters worse, we are only continuing to lap it up. This very basis of thinking threatens education of the mind everywhere.

People in science and skeptics are the best shot we have in tackling pseudotheories. The former because they can steer how information is being presented to the public and the latter because well, better to have those who question than those who accept without a second glance.

If you are a person of science, I enjoin you to validate dubious claims. If you aren't, you can always probe into the truth of what's being fed to you.

Here's to rational science journalism, a whole new career path if you still haven't figured out your destination.