Pseudoscience

The following can be considered definite pseudoscience, the proponents of which are either uninformed, or just after your money. These are not all the fields considered to be pseudoscience, just those that I consider the most prevalent in society and have had extensive study done on them or fail at making any predictions whatsoever(look at my first blog entry)

• Homeopathy- The belief that in heavy dilutions "like cures like" for instance it asserts that since caffeine causes insomnia, that in heavy dilutions it should CURE insomnia( A cup of coffee is a dilution of caffeine is it not?). It has had a lot of study done to assess its effectiveness and the overwhelming consensus is that it has no effect stronger than the placebo. 

• Chiropractic - This has a broad philosophical background that varies by practitioner but it focuses on spinal manipulation, and that the body has a natural energy that heals itself and this energy must be nurtured by whatever the practitioner suggests. Shown to be ineffective as well.

•  Fortune telling - This ranges from Tarot cards, to palm reading, to numerology, crystal balls, even just hotline psychics....quite literally hundreds of  techniques. Quite confidently a bunch of hokum!

• Seance - Various ways of communicating with dead spirits. Think John Edwards etc. All use psychological techniques to give the impression however false. Watch Derren Brown do exactly the same(he admits he is a fraud, quite a brilliant fraud)

•  Astrology - The belief that personal traits and fortunes can be predicted or are determined by astrological zodiacs. Probably the most common. Relevance is achieved by making vague and ambiguous predictions that can be easily perceived to be true( no matter which zodiac!) 

• Intelligent Design- Can't be considered science as it is completely untestable(see 1st blog post)

• Any health product or technique purported to work by using the natural energies of your body be it electrical, magnetic or spiritual. All hokum! 

I hope this post get a few of you thinking, if you have questions, don't be afraid to ask!