Science, Non-science and Pseudoscience

Question 1

What does demarcate mean? And how is this relevant to this topic of science?

Answer 1

To set boundaries or limits of something.

It is important when talking about anything really to know when one thing stops being A and starts being B e.g. Science becomes pseudoscience. It is important for a number of reasons; (Healthcare, climate change, environmental policies, expert testimonies, science education and journalism).
Example, Climate: If climate research is scientific, and we ignore it, then we destroy the planet.
But, If climate research is pseudoscientific, and we follow it, then we slow economic growth

Question 2

In Lau’s slides and the text there is mentioned 6 areas for which it is especially important to demarcate, what are these?

Answer 2

Healthcare, climate change, environmental policies, expert testimonies, science education and journalism.

Example, Climate: If climate research is scientific, and we ignore it, then we destroy the planet.
But, If climate research is pseudoscientific, and we follow it, then we slow economic growth

Question 3

Before Science, non-science and pseudoscience was defined, there was a different idea of what the scientific method what?

Answer 3

Before they were defined, the scientific method for conducting science was thought as: “To look at the world with a scientific eye is to observe with no preconceived notions”

In simple terms meaning: you simply look, see what you see and then develop a hypotheses based on the observation you just made.
E.g you look at one raven which is black, you then look at another one, this one is also black, you look at enough black ravens and conclude that “All ravens must be black”
you simply look, see what you see and then develop a hypotheses based on the observation you just made.
E.g you look at one raven which is black, you then look at another one, this one is also black, you look at enough black ravens and conclude that “All ravens must be black”

Question 4

How is science defined?

Answer 4

Science seeks to disprove its own theories and needs to be testable to be called science.

It can become pseudoscience.

Science has to be about the natural world AND used to explain how the world looks.

Characteristics of science:
- Authority hold no special role
- Experiments should be replicable
- Theories should stick their necks out and be risky
- Theories should change in the face of refuting information
- New explanations will only be accepted if they explain the same or more than the current theory on the given subject.

Question 5

What is non-science?

Answer 5

Non-science can neither become pseudoscience or science, it encompasses areas which is not the true study of science.

E.g:
- Art
- History
- Music

Question 6

How is pseudoscience defined?

Answer 6

Pseudoscience seeks to confirm beliefs and tries to look like science.

Characteristics of pseudoscience:
- Belief in authority (example; God)
- Unrepeatable experiments
- Hand pick examples to fit theories
- Unwilling or unable to test the theory

Question 7

Which two theories/belief are often used as examples to explain science and pseudoscience?

Answer 7

The evolutionary theory by Charles Darwin = Science
Creationism = Pseudoscience

Question 8

Creationism is built up around intelligent design and the likelihood principle. What is the likelihood principle?

Answer 8

The likelihood principle is stated as: O strongly favors H1 over H2, if and only if H1 assigns to O a probability that is much bigger than the probability that H2 assigns to O.

In simpler terms: So if we have a statement we know to be true by having an observation called O, we then have two possible explanations or hypotheses for which this observation is true, called H1 and H2.

Question 9

Creationism is built up around intelligent design and the likelihood principle. What is intelligent design?

Answer 9

Intelligent design or the design argument, is the belief that certain features of the universe and all living things are best explained as being created by an intelligent design/creator (e.g. god) and not though natural selection (Darwin’s theory).

Intelligent design believes in a higher entity which has created every, because things/creatures/etc is simply too complex for natural selection to create, but have no way of being tested as it is a pseudoscience

Question 10

What are the characteristics of Creationism?

Answer 10

• Belief in authority
• Unrepeatable experiments
• Hand-picked examples
• Unwillingness to test
• Disregard of refuting information (AKA saying no to information which can disprove their belief)
  -Built-in subterfuge
• Explanations are abandoned without replacement.

(these are the exact same characteristics for Pseudoscience, coincident? I think not)

Question 11

How and why is the evolutionary theory a classic example of a science?

Answer 11

The evolutionary theory by Charles Darwin has been tested multiple times and tried to be disproven (falsifiablity) by many, it explains or try to explain something about the natural world and has stuck its neck out for being disproven and risky.

Question 12

To know whether a theory sticks it needs to be tested or have testability. What does this mean?

Answer 12

Karl Popper, the founder of falsification, came up with the idea that instead of trying to prove a theory true, we should instead try and disprove it.
So either by falsification or verification can a theory be verified.

Today we have discarded verification mostly, and believe that falsification, and trying to disprove your theory is the correct way to validate a theory.

Question 13

What is the “equation” for a deductively valid falsification?

Answer 13

If T, then O
Not-O
==
Not-T

In plain words: particular
observations cannot verify general
theories, but particular
observations can falsify general
theories

Question 14

What is the “equation” for a deductively invalid verification?

Answer 14

If T, then
O
==
T

In plain words: particular
observations cannot verify general
theories, but particular
observations can falsify general
theories

Question 15

Karl Popper stressed the importance of testability, but importantly testing is often not possible without a pre-accepted auxiliary assumption - Duhem’s thesis (Duhem-Quine thesis).

What is this thesis?

Answer 15

Duhem’s thesis states: “T does not deductively imply O; rather, it is T&A that deductively implies O.
The auxiliary assumptions should be tested independently. “

This means, that if we like Popper believe in a strong falsification then as soon as the theory is disproven we would cast the whole ting aside, but because there is a number of auxiliary assumptions in our equation, then it might not be the actual theory which is false but might be one of the assumptions which hinders the theory to be true.

According to Duhem-Quine the equaion would instead be:

If T & A1, A2, A3 (etc.), then O
Not-O
==
:. Not T, OR not A1, or A2 or A3 (etc.)

Question 16

In Cognitive Science we there is sometimes some doubt about whether it is science or pseudoscience when studying what?

Answer 16

When we study psi, which denotes anomalous processes of information or energy transfer that are currently unexplained in the known world.

Question 17

How many times of psi is there, and what is their names?

Answer 17

There are four times (we know of from the Syllabus)

1. Precognition or retroactive influence
2. Clairvoyance/remote viewing
3. Psychokinesis
4. Artifactual correlation

Question 18

The study of psi has two kinds of challenges what are these and why are they challenges?

Answer 18

Empirical challenge: As a challenge as psi is difficult to provide well-controlled demonstrations of which is also replicable.

Theoretical challenge: Which is the difficulties in creating an explanatory theory which does not challenge or refute to established laws and principles in physics and biology as we know them today.

Question 19

In the syllabus we read a number of experiments conducted by Daryl J. Bem testing for psi, what was some of the trouble he had regarding his paper?

Answer 19

His text was often unclear why one-tailed tests were done, and at other times two tailed tests and had numerous unclear trial descriptions and produced changes to his experiments though some of the experiments.

As well as having a difficulty in reproducing these experiments, he therefore meet both the empirical and the theoretical challenge when he conducted these experiments.