Voodoo Science
Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud[1] is a book published in 2000 by physics professor Robert L. Park, critical of research that falls short of adhering to the scientific method. Other authors have used the term "voodoo science",[2][3] but it remains most closely associated with Park.[4] The book is critical of, among other things, homeopathy, cold fusion and the International Space Station.[5]
Categories
Park uses the term voodoo science as covering four categories which its publisher says evolve from self-delusion to fraud[6]
- pathological science, wherein genuine scientists deceive themselves
- junk science, speculative theorizing which bamboozles rather than enlightens
- pseudoscience proper, work falsely claiming to have a scientific basis, which may be dependent on supernatural explanations
- fraudulent science, exploiting bad science for the purposes of fraud
Park criticizes junk science as the creature of "scientists, many of whom have impressive credentials, who craft arguments deliberately intended to deceive or confuse."[7]
Examples cited
- Superstitions and pseudoscience
Park also discusses the Daubert standard for excluding junk science from litigation.
Quotes
- I came to realize that many people choose scientific beliefs the same way they choose to be Methodists, or Democrats, or Chicago Cubs fans. They judge science by how well it agrees with the way they want the world to be. (Pages VIII-IX)
- The integrity of science is anchored in the willingness of scientists to test their ideas and results in direct confrontation with their scientific peers. (Page 16)
- America's astronauts have been left stranded in low-Earth orbit, like passengers waiting beside an abandoned stretch of track for a train that will never come, bypassed by the advance of science. (Page 91)
- Few scientists or inventors set out to commit fraud. In the beginning, most believe they have made a great discovery. But what happens when they finally realize that things are not behaving as they believed? (Page 104)
- [T]he uniquely American myth of the self-educated genius fighting against a pompous, close-minded establishment. (Page 112)
- They are betting against the laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever won that wager. (Page 138)
Warning signs
Drawing on examples used in Voodoo Science, Park outlined seven warning signs that a claim may be pseudoscientific in a 2003 article for The Chronicle of Higher Education:[9]
- Discoverers make their claims directly to the popular media, rather than to fellow scientists.
- Discoverers claim that a conspiracy has tried to suppress the discovery.
- The claimed effect appears so weak that observers can hardly distinguish it from noise. No amount of further work increases the signal.
- Anecdotal evidence is used to back up the claim.
- True believers cite ancient traditions in support of the new claim.
- The discoverer or discoverers work in isolation from the mainstream scientific community.
- The discovery, if true, would require a change in the understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.
See also
Books
Examples
References
- ^ Park, Robert L (2000), Voodoo Science: The road from foolishness to fraud, Oxford, U.K. & New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860443-2, http://books.google.com/books?id=xzCK6-Kqs6QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22voodoo+science%22&src=bmrr#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 14 November 2010
- ^ Oversight Hearing on the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency. United States Congress. 1984. http://books.google.com/books?ei=l5OaTrT4NOf50gHowIieBA&ct=result&id=XoZJ8SP-44oC&dq=%22Voodoo+science%22. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ W. Booth, "Voodoo Science", Science 1988 Apr 15; 240(4850):274-7
- ^ Voodoo Science, The Skeptics Dictionary
- ^ There's One Born Every Minute, Ed Regis, The New York Times, June 4, 2000
- ^ "What may begin as an honest error, has a way of evolving from self-delusion to fraud." Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
- ^ Park, R.L. (2000), p.171
- ^ Michael Maiello (06 June 2005). "Power Failure". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0606/152_print.html. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science Robert L. Park, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan 31, 2003.
External links