Bad Science

[Admin]

This is terrific.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science?language=en

[Eagle]

^^^  "All of these things are happening in plain sight, and they're all protected by a force field of tediousness. And I think, with all of the problems in science, one of the best things that we can do is to lift up the lid, finger around in the mechanics and peer in."   

[PonoBill]

Very cool, and the talk that popped up after it is also wonderful, for much the same reason of course, the web being the web:

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_on_believing_strange_things

[mrbig]

Mr. Goldacre's Bad Pharma a MUST read for all of you allopathic believers and non-believers out there. Ditto Bad Science..

[SUPcheat]

One of the problems is that people like mythologies, wishful thinking and the delusion of expertise.  There are people who know a   lot about certain narrow things, that does not mean there are people who know everything about everything.

Creates lots of room for pseudo scientific superstitions and con artists/lobbyists in white coats. However, as the talk noted, the placebo effect is a powerful effect all by itself, and even legitimate medicine at time concedes to its power and utilizes it to inspire hope and self healing.

[SuppaTime]

He focused on how the public absorbs information from scientific fields and the inaccuracies that ensue due to a variety of factors - lack of understanding by the public or over-simplification by the lay press in converting science papers to something digestible by anybody. But really, the same criticism can be given to just about anything - political issues, world events, legal issues. The world is a complex place and humans just don't have the bandwidth, intellectual horsepower, or inclination to fully understand everything.

Almost everything we are exposed to has gone through lots of filtering before it gets into our brains and it requires a proactive effort for us to go out and find the full story. But who has the bandwidth to do that for everything? It does not surprise me that people are filled with misconceptions about science and a lot of other things. Just as an example, many of us have opinions on ACA (i.e., Obamacare) and the Iran treaty. I know I do, but I can honestly say that I have not read either one to know exactly what each really says. I rely on trusted sources to give me the high level details. We all do that. The same is true for science for most people.