Talk:Folk science

Opening para. Can I suggest a rewrite? I've read it 3 times and am left not knowing what "folk science" is. It is a form of simplified science? Is it when science enters the day to day world (lab coats selling things on tv), is it when ancient people tried to explain the rain falls from the sky cause god cries? I really don't get it from that paragraph. thanks! ^{— Unsigned, by: WaitingforGodot / talk / contribs}

All of them, to some extent. It's a bit of a fuzzy term, basically it boils down to how people think the natural world "should" work on an intuitive level. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 21:23, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Murphy's Law

Does M's L (and all variants and derivatives thereof) come under 'folk science'? 212.85.6.26 (talk) 15:57, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

I think the difference is that nobody actually believes Murphy's Law. We all joke about it and pretend we believe it but, even the most scientifically innocent don't use it to make predictions. Bad Faith (talk) 16:35, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Mruphy's Law is a summing of general observations, an encouragement to prepare for minor disasters and an expression of general exasperation.

It should be noted that folk science was, to some extent at least, based on a combination of first approximations and 'absence of better knowledge' - unlike woo which relies on deliberate stupidity and hokum. 212.85.6.26 (talk) 17:04, 15 December 2011 (UTC)