Talk:List of pseudosciences

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Colon hygiene

I fail to understand why a hygienic measure is labeled "pseudoscience". But then again the mockery comes fron the same kind of "scientists" that used to refuse washing hands before performing medical procedures because it was considered "pesudoscience" at the time, which resulted in massive deaths by sepsis at maternity wards and were "scienfically" blamed on a fiction called "puerperal fever". How many medical fictions are still in place today? I could name dozens. The pseudoscience of mammography for example has just been officially abandoned in Switzerland. 82.161.30.183 (talk) 22:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Nice evidence-free complaint there, pardner. How about you showing us your stuff?--Кřěĵ (ṫåɬк) 01:33, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Economics

Economics is under the category of "partial pseudoscience". Firstly, what does this even mean? Secondly, if social sciences, in general, are partially pseudoscientific because they are not exact sciences, the same can be said about other social sciences, such as sociology, psychology, or anthropology. — Giorgi Gzirishvili (T · C),

The historical perspective

There should be some comment in the text that some 'pseudosciences' were considered valid in the past/were cutting edge pre-science - eg astrology and herbalism. (Astrology might well have been a means of giving good advice to the leader - 'the stars are against your winning this war' = the other kingdom has twice as many soldiers and a host of peasants who have been granted 'no taxation on your acquisitions' rights'; herbalism/folk medicine will have a certain amount of trial-and-error validity or at least 'drink this for two weeks and your illness will be cured (as that is how long it lasts) or at least makes you feel good (ditto with aromatherapy); and prophecies have now been renamed psephology and betting shops.) 82.44.143.26 (talk) 17:31, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

I agree with this idea. I'm not going to do it, though. Ithaca8 (talk) 22:46, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Is 'cutting edge pre-science' a reasonable description (with eg Isaac Newton being part of the astrology-astronomy overlap). Some of the items on the list were, #at the time they were developed# possible future science - it is only when they were proven non-viable that they became pseudosciences. 82.44.143.26 (talk) 18:32, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

Incomplete list?

Shouldn't Anthropogenic climate change be there too? ^{— Unsigned, by: 81.208.91.150 / talk}

Elaborate. Do you mean ACC itself or the denial of ACC? ☭Comrade GC☭^{Ministry of Praise} 15:31, 7 November 2019 (UTC)

You tell me. Which of the two is pseudoscience? ^{— Unsigned, by: 81.208.91.150 / talk}

Given the 90 something percent of Climatologists who say ACC is real and we should do something about it... Yeah, denalists are wrong. But something tells me you beg to differ... ☭Comrade GC☭^{Ministry of Praise} 14:09, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

You read into my mind. Surely you have a source for that 90-something-percent figure? ^{— Unsigned, by: 81.208.91.150 / talk}

How about this? Avida Dollars^{her again} 21:21, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Climate change denialism is pure delusion. Unless you think birdwatchers are being hoaxed by migratory birds that have been awarded grants by green corporations. --It's-a me, LeftyGreenMario! 22:08, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

When presented with an actual source they flee, typical. — Oxyaena ^Harass 23:00, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

@81.208.91.150 Thanks for communicating your concerns regarding a coverage gap here. I've added the denialism section which included the aforementioned climate change denialism (which we all agree is pseudoscience which partakes in cherry-picking statistics, creating huge conspiracy theories, having no peer review, ignoring large swaths of evidence, misrepresenting scientific terms, and having huge conflicts of interest), and this is hopefully now a more comprehensive list. Feel free to add other denialist movements (I just remembered Statin denialism...). --It's-a me, LeftyGreenMario! 22:54, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Thank you. This page is indeed more complete now. (I didn't know about Statin denialism -- at first I read "Stalin denialism" and thought it was about denying Communist crimes!) ^{— Unsigned, by: 81.208.91.150 / talk}

ESP

Interesting to note that Alan Turing considered 'Non-classical channels' when proposing his test for artificial intelligence being conscious. Is it premature to declare that ESP is pseudoscience when there is a small possibility that some cases really are information being obtained from external sources that are as yet undiscovered, via some mechanism in the human brain that we have overlooked? I have actually looked into this and some inventors and artists have flashes of insight that looks a *lot* like a collective intelligence is at work, in some cases pursing the exact lines of reasoning leading to an invention or composition despite geographic separation and no connection between them that can be determined. Even folks watching a film or listening to the same composition have sections of their brain waves synchronize, this is based on scientific fact and verified on numerous occasions via both EEG and fMRI suggesting that a form of telepathy where the same input yields the same output may be possible despite their being no direct connection.^{— Unsigned, by: 88.81.140.241 / talk}