Voodoo science
Encyclopedia
Robert L. Park
Robert Lee Park , also known as Bob Park, is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park and a former Director of Public Information at the Washington office of the American Physical Society...
,
critical of research that falls short of adhering to the scientific method. Other authors have used the term "voodoo science", but it remains most closely associated with Park. The book is critical of, among other things, homeopathy
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
, cold fusion
Cold fusion
Cold fusion, also called low-energy nuclear reaction , refers to the hypothesis that nuclear fusion might explain the results of a group of experiments conducted at ordinary temperatures . Both the experimental results and the hypothesis are disputed...
and the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
.
Categories
Park uses the term voodoo science as covering four categories which its publisher says evolve from self-delusionDelusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
to fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
- pathological sciencePathological sciencePathological science is the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions". The term was first used by Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize-winning chemist, during a 1953 colloquium at the Knolls Research Laboratory...
, wherein genuine scientists deceive themselves - junk scienceJunk scienceJunk science is a term used in U.S. political and legal disputes that brands an advocate's claims about scientific data, research, or analyses as spurious. The term may convey a pejorative connotation that the advocate is driven by political, ideological, financial, or other unscientific...
, speculative theorizing which bamboozles rather than enlightens - pseudosciencePseudosciencePseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
proper, work falsely claiming to have a scientific basis, which may be dependent on supernatural explanations - fraudulent science, exploiting bad sciencePseudosciencePseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
for the purposes of fraudFraudIn criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
Park criticizes junk science as the creature of "scientists, many of whom have impressive credentials, who craft arguments deliberately intended to deceive or confuse."
Examples cited
- Perpetual motionPerpetual motionPerpetual motion describes hypothetical machines that operate or produce useful work indefinitely and, more generally, hypothetical machines that produce more work or energy than they consume, whether they might operate indefinitely or not....
, free energy suppressionFree energy suppressionFree energy suppression is a conspiracy theory claim that explains why advanced technology that would reshape current energy paradigms is being suppressed by certain special interest groups...
and fringe physics claims- Robert FluddRobert FluddRobert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus was a prominent English Paracelsian physician, astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist, Rosicrucian apologist...
- Garabed T. K. GiragossianGarabed T. K. GiragossianGarabed T. K. Giragossian was an Armenian living in Boston who is remembered for developing a perpetual motion device shortly after the turn of the 19th century. He immigrated to America in 1891. In 1917, Giragossian claimed, reportedly fraudulently, to have developed a "free energy machine". The...
- The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman
- Better World Technologies (Dennis Lee)
- Blacklight Power, formerly HydroCatalysis (Randell Mills)
- Cold fusionCold fusionCold fusion, also called low-energy nuclear reaction , refers to the hypothesis that nuclear fusion might explain the results of a group of experiments conducted at ordinary temperatures . Both the experimental results and the hypothesis are disputed...
(Stanley PonsStanley PonsBobby Stanley Pons is an American-French electrochemist known for his work with Martin Fleischmann on cold fusion in the 1980s and '90s.-Early life:...
and Martin FleischmannMartin FleischmannMartin Fleischmann is a British chemist noted for his work in electrochemistry. He came to wider public prominence following his controversial publication of work with colleague Stanley Pons on cold fusion using palladium in the 1980s and '90s.-Early life:Born in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia,...
) - CETI Patterson Power CellCETI Patterson Power CellThe CETI Patterson Power Cell is an electrolysis device invented by retired chemist James A. Patterson, which he said created more energy than it used. Promoted by Clean Energy Technologies, Inc...
(James Patterson) - Gravitational shielding (Eugene PodkletnovEugene PodkletnovDr Yevgeny Podkletnov is a Russian engineer, formerly affiliated with the Materials Science Department at the Tampere University of Technology, Finland, who is best known for his controversial work on a so-called gravity shielding device...
)
- Robert Fludd
- Human spaceflightHuman spaceflightHuman spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....
(in terms of actual importance to science since the rise of robotic spacecraftRobotic spacecraftA robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to...
)- International Space StationInternational Space StationThe International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(for claims of necessity to conduct scientific research) - Gerard K. O'Neill, L5 SocietyL5 SocietyThe L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Dr Gerard K. O'Neill.The name comes from the and Lagrangian points in the Earth-Moon system proposed as locations for the huge rotating space habitats that Dr O'Neill envisioned...
and space colonizationSpace colonizationSpace colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony... - Robert ZubrinRobert ZubrinRobert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of the manned exploration of Mars. He was the driving force behind Mars Direct—a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission...
, Mars SocietyMars SocietyThe Mars Society is an international space advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. It was founded by Robert Zubrin and others in 1998 and attracted the support of notable science fiction writers and filmmakers, including Kim...
, Biosphere 2Biosphere 2Biosphere 2 is a structure originally built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO...
and a manned mission to MarsManned mission to MarsA manned mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, engineering, and scientific proposals throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century...
- International Space Station
- Voodoo science protected by government secrecy
- Project MogulProject MogulProject Mogul was a top secret project by the US Army Air Forces involving microphones flown on high altitude balloons, whose primary purpose was long-distance detection of sound waves generated by Soviet atomic bomb tests. The project was carried out from 1947 until early 1949...
and the Roswell UFO incidentRoswell UFO incidentThe Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
resulting in a loss of public trustPublic trustThe concept of the public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever trust the public places in its officials must be respected....
, as well as the later alien autopsyAlien autopsyAn alien autopsy refers to a medical examination and dissection of the dead body of an extraterrestrial being. Such a procedure would more accurately be called an "alien necropsy", since an "autopsy" is, by definition, performed on a subject who is the same species as the examiner...
video hoax - Edward TellerEdward TellerEdward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
and Lowell WoodLowell WoodLowell Wood is an American astrophysicist who has been involved with the Strategic Defense Initiative and with geoengineering studies. He has been affiliated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Hoover Institution, and chaired the EMP Commission. Wood invented the Mosquito laser.-...
's work on the Strategic Defense InitiativeStrategic Defense InitiativeThe Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
(especially regarding the X-ray laser, but also "Brilliant Pebbles") - Great Oil Sniffer Hoax
- Project Mogul
- Superstitions and pseudoscience
- Mars effectMars effectThe Mars effect is a name often used to refer to a reported statistical correlation between athletic eminence and the position of the planet Mars relative to the horizon at time and place of birth...
(astrology) claimed by Michel GauquelinMichel GauquelinMichel Gauquelin was a French psychologist and statistician. Along with his first wife Françoise Schneider-Gauquelin , he conducted statistical research in an attempt to develop a scientific basis for astrology.-Early interest:Although he was highly critical of certain areas of the art, Gauquelin... - ParapsychologyParapsychologyThe term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
(e.g. Robert G. Jahn and Dean RadinDean RadinDean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He has been Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences , in Petaluma, California, USA, since 2001, and is on the Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University, on the Distinguished...
)
- Mars effect
- PlaceboPlaceboA placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
s and alternative medicineAlternative medicineAlternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
- Vitamin OVitamin OVitamin O is a dietary supplement which has been marketed and sold by Rose Creek Health Products since 1998. It is not recognized by nutritional science as a vitamin and the manufacturer has been fined by the Federal Trade Commission for making false claims of health benefits of the product...
- HomeopathyHomeopathyHomeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
- water memoryWater memoryWater memory is the claimed ability of water to retain a "memory" of substances previously dissolved in it to arbitrary dilution. No scientific evidence supports this claim. Shaking the water at each stage of a serial dilution is claimed to be necessary for an effect to occur...
(proposed by Jacques BenvenisteJacques BenvenisteJacques Benveniste was a French immunologist. In 1979 he published a well-known paper on the structure of platelet-activating factor and its relationship with histamine...
)
- water memory
- Animal magnetismAnimal magnetismAnimal magnetism , in modern usage, refers to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw charisma. As postulated by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century, the term referred to a supposed magnetic fluid or ethereal medium believed to reside in the bodies of animate beings...
- Magnet therapyMagnet therapyMagnet therapy, magnetic therapy, or magnotherapy is an alternative medicine practice involving the use of static magnetic fields. Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to magnetostatic fields produced by permanent magnets has beneficial health effects...
- Therapeutic touchTherapeutic touchTherapeutic touch , also known as Non-Contact Therapeutic Touch , is an energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate the...
(debunked by Emily RosaEmily RosaEmily Rosa is the youngest person to have a research paper published in a peer reviewed medical journal. At age nine Rosa conceived and executed a scientific study of therapeutic touch which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998...
at age nine)
- Vitamin O
- Other health claims
- Maharishi Effect (using Transcendental MeditationTranscendental MeditationTranscendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
to effect a decrease in societal violence; the spike in murders during the 1993 Washington D.C. study is specifically mentioned) - Deepak ChopraDeepak ChopraDeepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
(who makes claims linking AyurvedaAyurvedaAyurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
(traditional medicine native to India) with quantum mechanicsQuantum mechanicsQuantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
) - Electromagnetic radiation and health (especially related to power lines and cancer risk)
- "Paul BrodeurPaul BrodeurPaul Brodeur is an investigative science writer and author, whose writings have appeared in The New Yorker, where he began as a staff writer in 1958. He lives in Cape Cod. For nearly two decades he researched and wrote about the health hazards of asbestos...
and Microwave NewsMicrowave NewsMicrowave News reports on the health and environmental impacts of electromagnetic fields and other types of non-ionizing radiation, with special emphasis on cell phones and power lines. It also covers radar, radio and TV broadcast towers and many related topics.The first print issue was published...
in particular, had given the public a seriously distorted view of the scientific facts." (Page 158)
- "Paul Brodeur
- Maharishi Effect (using Transcendental Meditation
- Contributing factors
- Mainstream mediaMainstream mediaMainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...
reporting voodoo science uncritically as infotainmentInfotainmentInfotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." It is a neologistic portmanteau of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media which provides a combination of... - Abolition of the Office of Technology AssessmentOffice of Technology AssessmentThe Office of Technology Assessment was an office of the United States Congress from 1972 to 1995. OTA's purpose was to provide Congressional members and committees with objective and authoritative analysis of the complex scientific and technical issues of the late 20th century, i.e. technology...
- Establishment of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Mainstream media
Park also discusses the Daubert standard
Daubert Standard
The Daubert standard is a rule of evidence regarding the admissibility of expert witnesses' testimony during United States federal legal proceedings. Pursuant to this standard, a party may raise a Daubert motion, which is a special case of motion in limine raised before or during trial to exclude...
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 EducationThe Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
:
- Discoverers make their claims directly to the popular media, rather than to fellow scientists.
- Discoverers claim that a conspiracyConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "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 evidenceAnecdotal evidenceThe expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. Because of the small sample, there is a larger chance that it may be true but unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise unrepresentative of typical cases....
is used to back up the claim. - True believersTrue-believer syndromeTrue-believer syndrome is an informal or rhetorical term coined by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia. Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged...
cite ancient traditions in support of the new claim. - The discoverer or discoverers work in isolation from the mainstream scientific communityScientific communityThe scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method...
. - The discovery, if true, would require a change in the understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.
See also
- AntiscienceAntiscienceAntiscience is a position that rejects science and the scientific method. People holding antiscientific views are generally skeptical that science is an objective method, as it purports to be, or that it generates universal knowledge. They also contend that scientific reductionism in particular is...
- Cargo cult scienceCargo cult scienceCargo cult science refers to practices that have the semblance of being scientific, but are missing "a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty". The term was first used by the physicist Richard Feynman during his commencement...
- Politicization of sciencePoliticization of scienceThe politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of...
- Scientific misconductScientific misconductScientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research. A Lancet review on Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countries provides the following sample definitions: *Danish definition: "Intention or...
- Scientific skepticismScientific skepticismScientific skepticism is the practice of questioning the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence or reproducibility, as part of a methodological norm pursuing "the extension of certified knowledge". For example, Robert K...
- List of cognitive biases
Books
- Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other DelusionsFlim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other DelusionsFlim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions is a 1982 book by magician and skeptic James Randi about paranormal, occult, and pseudoscience claims. The foreword is by science fiction author Isaac Asimov....
- List of books about the politics of science
Examples
- Energy CatalyzerEnergy CatalyzerThe Energy Catalyzer is a supposed cold fusion or Low-Energy Nuclear Reaction heat source built by inventor Andrea Rossi, with support from physicist Sergio Focardi...
- Franz TausendFranz TausendFranz Seraph Tausend, "Der Goldmacher" was a German "alchemist" with bigger dreams than business sense.-Overview:...
- Heinz KurschildgenHeinz KurschildgenHeinrich "Heinz" Kurschildgen, called the "goldmaker of Hilden", was a charlatan in pre-World War II Germany who made numerous people, including Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, believe that he was able to make valuable resources such as gold, radium or petrol out of base materials.-Weimar Republic:...
- John Ernst Worrell KeelyJohn Ernst Worrell KeelyJohn Ernst Worrell Keely was a US inventor from Philadelphia who claimed to have discovered a new motive power which was originally described as "vaporic" or "etheric" force, and later as an unnamed force based on "vibratory sympathy", by which he produced "interatomic ether" from water and air...
- Piltdown ManPiltdown ManThe Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
- SteornSteornSteorn Ltd is a small, private technology development company in Dublin, Ireland. It announced in August 2006 it had developed a technology which provides "free, clean, and constant energy" in violation of the law of conservation of energy, a fundamental principle of physics.Steorn challenged the...
- List of experimental errors and frauds in physics
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience