How Quacks Imitate Science | The Cargo Cult Science of Creationism and Alternative Medicine

in the South Seas there's a cargo cult of people during the war they saw airplanes land with lots of good materials and they want the same thing to happen now so they've arranged to make things like runways to put fires along the sides of the runways to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in with two pieces on his head like head phones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas he's the controller and they wait for the airplanes to land they're doing everything right the form is perfect it looks exactly the way it looked before but it doesn't work no airplanes land so I call these things cargo cult science because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation but they're missing something essential because the planes don't land in Celtx 1974 commencement address physicist Richard Feynman drew a comparison between pseudoscience and the practices of a cargo cult in Papua New Guinea in essence he said that just as those in a cargo cult go through all the superficial motions of building and maintaining an airstrip pseudo-scientists go through all the superficial motions of scientific inquiry in both cases something vital is missing in one case the planes don't land and then another scientific progress isn't made though ample effort is put forward and those involved think they're progressing toward their goal nothing of value is accomplished so what are they missing of course those in a cargo cult lack any understanding of airport safety standards or any connection to the aviation community meanwhile pseudoscience lacks the kind of painstaking rigor that science demands for its progression still though it ensures that it displays all the same bells and whistles and does this to its financial advantage to illustrate just what I mean allow me to take you through a few key features and practices of cargo cult science but first if you'd like to learn more about cargo cults godless cranium is releasing a video on them very soon so subscribe to him to catch that video once it drops we thought it would be fun to release these videos in tandem and watching his video might help you understand Richard Feynman's analogy a bit better okay on to my first point fabricated terminology purveyors of all kinds of pseudoscience create their own official terminology but do so in a very different way than actual scientists recognize terms within any given field of science are proposed and used within a peer-reviewed research article first and then circulated within the literature further how a newly defined term is used for there depends on the field in question a new term may be recognized and officially defined by the APA in the field of psychology in the US for instance in chemistry that's done by the International Union of pure and applied chemistry the point is coining a new scientific term isn't as simple as just making one up for pseudo-scientists though pointing a new term is that easy take the terms historical and observational science creationists use these two supposedly draw a distinction between different methods of scientific testing and observation they're not outlandish sounding they sound believable enough but their origin leaves a lot to be desired these terms were just devised by intelligent design proponent dr. Charles Saxon in the 80s in his book the mystery of life's origin the terms were later picked up by Answers in Genesis which is an apologetics organization these terms have never been recognized within any field of science but they're spoken about as if they have viced Rhino has a great video on this that I highly suggest that you check out the term detox as it's often used is another example of fabricating scientific sounding terminology detox is a legitimate medical term it refers to the process of removing large amounts of toxic substances like drugs alcohol and poisons from the body detoxification as it's recognized in the medical field refers to medical care being provided for that purpose under potentially life-threatening circumstances it doesn't refer to cleansing oneself of small amounts of carcinogens or heavy metals David avocado Wolfe Josh axe dr. oz and the like referenced detoxing as if it refers to the latter and then try to sell you juices and superfoods which will do just that people buy into the idea that detoxing is something to be done on a regular basis to lower one's chance of disease because that's how purveyors of pseudoscience use the term detox that usage has no scientific basis it's just a marketing tool fabricated terms like this just impede scientific progress where terms like this are used the planes don't land reliance on hypotheses pseudo-scientists love to explain the mechanism behind the complex phenomenon they're discussing or whatever product they're selling if you read up on homeopathy for instance you're bound to come across multiple explanations of how extreme dilution increases the potency of a substance some suppose that water has some type of memory or that some vibrational energy is amplified through dilution well not all explanations are the same any and all explanations have something in common they're not backed up by any research homeopathy Zef ickis e is so long debunked that any explanation of its efficacy is in the hunt sensical unfortunately explanations of how it works are enough to convince a lot of people that it does work they don't realize that an explanation of the mechanism behind a phenomenon is only as valid as it is demonstrable through observation and testing of its predictions in the actual scientific community an explanation of a phenomenon based on an observation but not thoroughly tested is a hypothesis real scientists don't teach hypotheses as fact creationists are also notoriously good at treating hypotheses as facts and they get bonus points for projecting their own issues and accusing those who accept evolution of doing exactly that a great example of creationists doing this is in the case of the acceptance of hydrologic sorting as an explanation for the geologic column thanks to Paula gia for introducing me to this by the way I'll let Eric joven explain this one to you Vince animals such as clams are typically found at the bottom light animals such as birds with their feathers of hollow bones are typically found at the top what we see all around the world in the geologic column is hydrologic sorting taking place so Eric has made an observation that certain less dense fossils like those of birds are found in the upper layers of the geologic column he proposed an explanation for this which is hydrologic sorting after that though indications of a single worldwide bunch of different floods one flood all the different layers worldwide he accepts his hypothesis as fact and just moves on no more testing no more observation needed it's settled if he investigated further he might see that fossils are not reliably sorted by their density at all some birds are found in the layers below some mammals and many dense animals like clams are found in every layer since the Cambrian make sure and check out Paula G is in depth video on this by the way homeopaths and creationists alike love to give explanations for their observations but they don't test them any further making them useless to those who are uninformed it appears that there are too the debate homeopaths say this and md say this creationists say this and evolutionists say this those who understand exactly whose points are valid however are those who ask just how and if someone's explanation has been tested and verified where sufficient testing hasn't been done the planes don't land backing from experts nearly every kind of pseudoscience has someone with a high-level degree backing it up in some way that allows a lot of people who believe some form of nonsense to feel confident in their belief because it's backed up by an expert backing from someone with a certain degree is not evidence for an ideas validity but I don't think it's a stretch to say that every valid scientific theory is backed up by multiple experts because of this it's crucial to understand exactly when support from highly educated people actually mean something let's take a look at intelligent design it's definitely accepted by some people with PhDs there's even a think-tank dedicated to it called the Discovery Institute with a research branch the biologic Institute that seems compelling on the surface but if we take a closer look into what scientific research comes out of the organization we see that it's less than impressive in their first four years the biologic Institute produced exactly two papers neither offering support for intelligent design and both being published in non scientific journals there are more articles listed on their site now but most of them either predate the Institute or weren't produced by the Institute's own faculty it's like they're just there for show go check them out I've linked their site in the description as well as to the video by concordance which tipped me off to all this this further demonstrates the points made in kink rock adducts classic video the truth about PhD creationists neither Humphries nor any other creationist with the PhD has ever published any article defending creationism in any respected scientific journals because creationism is not supported by science this is the truth about creationists with PhDs their diplomas exist for the sole purpose of inflating the credibility of the institutions that they represent sometimes however actual accomplished experts do make claims within their field which are pseudo scientific take Deepak Chopra for example he's an accomplished medical doctor yet he makes outlandish claims about the relationship between biology and consciousness he bases his claims on his understanding of quantum physics and often explains his ideas on quantum physics in order to drive home his points about biology and consciousness quantum healing is just a theory that I proposed many years ago and is just the theory that shifting consciousness creates a shift in biology quantum leaps for example are examples of discontinuity and creativity in consciousness is also an example of discontinuity and that healing may be a biological phenomenon that relies on biological creativity that at very fundamental levels it may be a discontinuous phenomenon it's something unpredictable that happens in the proliferation of uncertainty those outside Deepak Snitch of Vedic spiritualists tend to have a problem with this though the deeper point here and this is where there the whole style and content of what you're saying is so deeply unscientific is that there's not there's not a physicist sitting on this stage right now okay I would never be tempted to lecture a roomful of a thousand people at Caltech about physics I'm not a physicist you're not a physicist and and and basically every sentence demonstrates that that you speak on the subject Deepak is a medical doctor he's obviously a smart guy but he makes certain claims within his own field and then reaches way outside of his field in order to back them up his claims within his own field are based on his understanding of a field in which he has no formal education because of this his degrees do nothing to provide any credibility for his claims where educated people endorse ideas but don't provide research or relevant arguments the planes don't land inadequate or dogmatic schooling what could lend a set of ideas more apparent credibility than having institutions of higher learning based around them after all a system of thought which is established and widespread enough to be taught in its own school must have something to it right well the way in which courses are taught and degrees awarded is what really needs to be factored into that judgment let's first take a look at theological schools not all theological schools are problematic in fact a great number of them are based within secular universities and provide a legitimate means of education on tradition and philosophy however there are some which are less reputable these are schools which require an official statement of faith for admission or graduation or which enforce rules on their campuses which are based on religious tradition Moody Bible Institute Pensacola Christian College and Bob Jones University are examples of schools which do one or both of those things education on the subject has only to do with increasing the awareness and comprehension of factual information on a subject regardless of personal beliefs or practices of either the student or teacher if education is compromised by personal religious beliefs or practice what is being taught ceases to be education and becomes a propagation of Dogma requiring any kind of religious belief or practice in a theological school is exactly that kind of compromise it shows that schools priorities to be the observance of religious tradition first and the furthering of education second yet those schools present as legitimate facilitators of useful education naturopathic schools also present this way according to the American Association of naturopathic physicians a licensed naturopathic physician attends a four-year graduate level naturopathic Medical School and is educated in all of the same basic sciences as an MD but also studies holistic and non-toxic approaches to therapy with strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness what they failed to mention however is that no residency is required for naturopaths to begin practicing and making diagnosis after completing a four-year degree MDS did not begin practicing independently as they're not considered competent to practice until after completing a residency this fact along with the fact that naturopathic schools still promote thoroughly debunked treatments like homeopathy easily demonstrates that they're not up to par with actual medical schools they make a great presentation but the planes don't land cargo cult science is not to be discarded only because it dishonestly portrays itself as actual science but also because it's dangerous every day people make life decisions even medical decisions based on ideas that appear legitimate but lack any real scientific rigor to back them up as a defense for yourself learn the tales of cargo cult science understand well what real science looks like and be able to spot cheap imitations that way hopeful every plane that you depend on will land thanks for watching I've been drew from genetically modified skeptic remember to check out godless craniums video on cargo cults once it's out also go ahead and subscribe to my channel and check out my patreon you can also follow me on twitter @ GM skeptic until next time everyone stay skeptical you

Channel: Genetically Modified Skeptic

Views: 169,863

Rating: 4.9217839 out of 5

Keywords: atheism, atheist, agnostic, skeptic, skepticism, freethinker, evolution, creationism, alternative medicine, cargo, cult, science, how, quacks, imitate, genetically modified skeptic, drew, richard feynman, c0nc0rdance, phd creationists, historical science, observational science, deepak chopra, homeopathy debunked, eric hovind, this guy thinks his christian song debunks evolution

Id: ymujUx5z_Xk

Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 31 2017