1 00:00:04,540 --> 00:00:08,800 In ancient times, unexplored regions on maps would often be given 2 00:00:08,820 --> 00:00:12,050 fearsome legends like "Here Be Dragons". 3 00:00:12,677 --> 00:00:15,068 Unknowns were frightening, and it gave some 4 00:00:15,069 --> 00:00:18,085 comfort to at least be able to label the unknown. 5 00:00:18,736 --> 00:00:21,907 Hypothesized dragons seemed a good enough explanation 6 00:00:21,939 --> 00:00:24,964 for what would otherwise be ungraspable. 7 00:00:24,980 --> 00:00:28,377 With a made-up concept and a few words, 8 00:00:28,401 --> 00:00:32,077 the unknown becomes simple and satisfying. 9 00:00:46,048 --> 00:00:49,436 Those ancient cartographers would have felt quite at home today. 10 00:00:49,700 --> 00:00:53,794 De facto practice among most people is still to give satisfying labels 11 00:00:53,817 --> 00:00:57,580 to quantify and conveniently package the unknown. 12 00:00:57,602 --> 00:00:59,179 When faced with a phenomenon for which 13 00:00:59,180 --> 00:01:02,390 one does not personally know a rational explanation, like... 14 00:01:02,391 --> 00:01:04,990 dreaming of your uncle the night before he dies, 15 00:01:05,341 --> 00:01:07,069 it's much easier to accept a simple 16 00:01:07,093 --> 00:01:09,545 explanation like "psychic connection" 17 00:01:09,569 --> 00:01:13,403 than to grasp the complexities of cognitive phenomena, 18 00:01:13,434 --> 00:01:16,890 confirmation bias, and the law of large numbers. 19 00:01:18,068 --> 00:01:20,720 "Here Be Dragons" is so much easier. 20 00:01:20,735 --> 00:01:22,885 The vast majority of the population 21 00:01:22,909 --> 00:01:25,570 accepts dragons - or their logical equivalents - 22 00:01:25,571 --> 00:01:29,610 as natural components of our world that should be taken for granted. 23 00:01:29,785 --> 00:01:32,349 Let's have a look at some modern-day dragons. 24 00:02:45,908 --> 00:02:48,973 There is something to be said for listening to the body, 25 00:02:48,974 --> 00:02:51,137 as opposed to sort of imposing medical 26 00:02:51,138 --> 00:02:54,099 information on what you expect the body to do. 27 00:02:54,361 --> 00:02:56,035 I do believe in ghosts. 28 00:02:56,036 --> 00:02:57,681 I would go see them for 29 00:02:58,679 --> 00:03:04,164 all the way from a cold to a cancer. I mean, I believe 30 00:03:04,188 --> 00:03:08,735 I really believe in healing, 31 00:03:08,807 --> 00:03:12,150 other than our conventional medicine that we have here. 32 00:03:12,786 --> 00:03:18,204 9/11 I think was an attack on our own people, by our own government. 33 00:03:18,958 --> 00:03:21,008 I'm a really superstitious person, 34 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,187 and I do believe in not stepping on the cracks and 35 00:03:24,188 --> 00:03:25,948 if a black cat runs in front of your car 36 00:03:25,949 --> 00:03:28,400 I will stop and turn around and go the other way. 37 00:03:28,606 --> 00:03:30,257 A great deal of research goes into 38 00:03:30,281 --> 00:03:32,209 the development of many pharmaceuticals 39 00:03:32,241 --> 00:03:35,543 and I think the primary research they 40 00:03:35,567 --> 00:03:38,077 do is how to gain the greatest profits. 41 00:03:38,299 --> 00:03:40,545 I think that we have the ability to 42 00:03:40,577 --> 00:03:44,935 sort of sense and feel sort of energy movements... 43 00:03:46,070 --> 00:03:51,003 Detox tea... it tastes really good and... 44 00:03:51,004 --> 00:03:55,574 ...according to the label it's supposed to 45 00:03:55,590 --> 00:03:57,582 rid your body of impurities 46 00:04:00,165 --> 00:04:01,757 and it seems to work. you know, 47 00:04:01,768 --> 00:04:04,760 You drink it and your sweat smells terrible. 48 00:04:05,092 --> 00:04:10,165 I had Cranosacrial therapy 49 00:04:10,203 --> 00:04:14,004 a therapy where the energy from the 50 00:04:14,020 --> 00:04:18,586 fingers goes into your head, is around your head. 51 00:04:18,648 --> 00:04:21,846 ...and I think that organic foods are often grown 52 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:26,497 by people who care about their bodies and about the Earth. 53 00:04:26,727 --> 00:04:32,394 I think that a lot of that is embedded in the food. 54 00:04:33,048 --> 00:04:35,331 You can taste it and, in a way, you can 55 00:04:35,332 --> 00:04:37,614 sense the love that was put into it. 56 00:04:37,886 --> 00:04:43,500 I sort of believe in an additional dimension. 57 00:04:43,879 --> 00:04:50,774 Homeopathic medicine is the same as... it's a watered down version of 58 00:04:54,301 --> 00:04:58,157 a combination of organic foods and seeking out spiritual truth. 59 00:04:59,689 --> 00:05:00,991 My name is Brian Dunning. 60 00:05:00,992 --> 00:05:04,885 I have a free weekly audio podcast on the Internet called Skeptoid, 61 00:05:04,886 --> 00:05:09,270 at skeptoid. com, dedicated to furthering knowledge by exposing the 62 00:05:09,286 --> 00:05:12,930 widespread pseudosciences that infect popular culture. 63 00:05:13,524 --> 00:05:15,526 Each week I focus on one topic that 64 00:05:15,543 --> 00:05:17,153 you've been hearing about in the news: 65 00:05:17,185 --> 00:05:20,645 an urban legend, a useless alternative medicine scheme, 66 00:05:20,669 --> 00:05:24,778 a conspiracy theory or whatever the latest supernatural phenomenon is. 67 00:05:25,773 --> 00:05:28,664 But you can only reach so many people with a podcast, 68 00:05:28,665 --> 00:05:31,210 and I believe that this material is important. 69 00:05:31,630 --> 00:05:35,511 So I decided to make this short film to reach a much broader audience, 70 00:05:35,535 --> 00:05:37,974 and provide this general introduction 71 00:05:37,998 --> 00:05:40,740 to critical analysis of pop phenomena. 72 00:05:42,380 --> 00:05:45,666 Other people have made films to distribute on the Internet, of course, 73 00:05:45,697 --> 00:05:48,293 but more often than not they're used to spread paranoid 74 00:05:48,316 --> 00:05:51,046 conspiracy theories or make political statements. 75 00:05:51,340 --> 00:05:52,780 And whenever you turn on the television, 76 00:05:52,781 --> 00:05:54,220 you find that the science channels 77 00:05:54,221 --> 00:05:56,549 have largely turned into paranormal channels, 78 00:05:56,550 --> 00:05:59,121 the news reports free energy machines 79 00:05:59,145 --> 00:06:02,209 and miraculous crying statues without critique, 80 00:06:02,406 --> 00:06:04,893 and daytime talk programs have devolved 81 00:06:04,924 --> 00:06:07,218 into promotions for the latest New Age 82 00:06:07,242 --> 00:06:09,789 healing book or celebrity-endorsed diet. 83 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:12,861 and that's why I made this film. 84 00:06:14,257 --> 00:06:17,146 You'll often hear me use the word pseudoscience. 85 00:06:17,255 --> 00:06:20,201 A pseudoscience is an idea that claims to be real 86 00:06:20,225 --> 00:06:24,250 but in fact is not supported by any science or any evidence. 87 00:06:24,570 --> 00:06:27,697 Often they'll use scientific sounding language 88 00:06:27,713 --> 00:06:29,230 to describe how it works. 89 00:06:29,473 --> 00:06:32,110 Usually it's a product that someone's making money from. 90 00:06:33,022 --> 00:06:37,245 Most complementary and alternative medical systems are pseudosciences. 91 00:06:37,246 --> 00:06:40,315 Psychic powers and astrology and feng shui 92 00:06:40,316 --> 00:06:43,385 and telekinesis are all pseudosciences. 93 00:06:43,386 --> 00:06:45,888 People on television who pretend to detect ghosts 94 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,515 using scientific instruments are practicing pseudoscience. 95 00:06:49,516 --> 00:06:52,820 Herbal detoxification is a pseudoscience. 96 00:06:54,063 --> 00:06:57,154 Did I just make a whole series of really bold statements? 97 00:06:57,155 --> 00:06:59,666 Not really. All I did was point out that 98 00:06:59,690 --> 00:07:02,470 these ideas are not supported by any evidence. 99 00:07:02,471 --> 00:07:05,608 They have no rational scientific hypotheses behind them, 100 00:07:05,609 --> 00:07:08,746 and no experimental data indicating that they work. 101 00:07:08,747 --> 00:07:10,849 I'm not the one who made bold statements. 102 00:07:10,873 --> 00:07:13,427 It's the people promoting these pseudosciences 103 00:07:13,445 --> 00:07:15,282 who need to back up their claims. 104 00:07:16,643 --> 00:07:20,556 But they don't, and unfortunately they often don't need to: 105 00:07:20,891 --> 00:07:24,459 victims continue wasting money on worthless frauds. 106 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:26,141 But it's much more than that. 107 00:07:26,165 --> 00:07:29,030 When we invest our faith in a pseudoscience, 108 00:07:29,054 --> 00:07:31,156 without questioning its validity, 109 00:07:31,180 --> 00:07:34,106 we're recreating the medieval Dark Ages. 110 00:07:34,107 --> 00:07:37,148 For 500 years, there was essentially 111 00:07:37,180 --> 00:07:41,500 no progress in any scientific field or in human rights. 112 00:07:41,501 --> 00:07:46,900 Scientific experimentation, and thus learning, was often illegal. 113 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,041 If we don't test, if we don't experiment, we don't learn. 114 00:07:51,073 --> 00:07:53,000 We don't progress. 115 00:07:57,150 --> 00:08:00,488 Critical thinking is the single most important driver 116 00:08:00,524 --> 00:08:03,123 of the advancement of the human race. 117 00:08:03,155 --> 00:08:04,700 The minute we let down our guard 118 00:08:04,701 --> 00:08:08,448 and accept absurd pseudoscientific claims at face value, 119 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:12,145 we're giving away our progress back to the dragons. 120 00:08:13,380 --> 00:08:14,511 Now, let's take a few minutes 121 00:08:14,512 --> 00:08:16,862 and go through some of the common warning signs. 122 00:08:17,129 --> 00:08:19,790 These are the red flags that you can watch for 123 00:08:19,821 --> 00:08:22,863 that will help you identify pseudoscience. 124 00:08:26,235 --> 00:08:29,719 The Appeal to Authority is the use of authoritative imagery 125 00:08:29,735 --> 00:08:32,400 to lend the appearance of credibility to a product. 126 00:08:32,700 --> 00:08:35,550 Quite often, this means a picture of someone in a white lab coat. 127 00:08:36,063 --> 00:08:37,800 Instant credibility! 128 00:08:38,776 --> 00:08:41,454 Other examples of authority-based marketing gimmicks 129 00:08:41,486 --> 00:08:44,666 include celebrity endorsements, and mentions of 130 00:08:44,690 --> 00:08:49,172 certifications, colleges, academies, and institutes. 131 00:08:50,806 --> 00:08:53,400 Good science presents good data. 132 00:08:53,401 --> 00:08:56,703 It never needs to resort to hokey marketing gimmicks to impress you, 133 00:08:56,704 --> 00:09:00,358 and is almost never presented with a white lab coat. 134 00:09:03,132 --> 00:09:05,308 Beware of any product or idea 135 00:09:05,309 --> 00:09:08,533 that is said to be based on ancient wisdom. 136 00:09:09,078 --> 00:09:10,114 In ancient times, 137 00:09:10,115 --> 00:09:12,407 very little useful or true information 138 00:09:12,408 --> 00:09:16,680 was known about human anatomy and many other sciences. 139 00:09:16,681 --> 00:09:18,000 Since those days, 140 00:09:18,001 --> 00:09:21,583 scientists have learned entire encyclopedias of information 141 00:09:21,584 --> 00:09:24,025 about our universe and our bodies. 142 00:09:24,059 --> 00:09:27,013 It's completely illogical and backwards 143 00:09:27,014 --> 00:09:30,225 to think that the ancients had a better understanding 144 00:09:30,226 --> 00:09:32,935 of anything than modern science. 145 00:09:32,936 --> 00:09:36,098 Their hearts were in the right place, but in ancient times, 146 00:09:36,099 --> 00:09:39,147 we simply didn't yet have the tools developed 147 00:09:39,148 --> 00:09:42,195 over the subsequent centuries of learning. 148 00:09:42,805 --> 00:09:47,134 That's why ancient wisdom gave us things like the flat Earth theory, 149 00:09:47,151 --> 00:09:52,216 human sacrifice, slavery, a 30-year average human lifespan, 150 00:09:52,870 --> 00:09:55,426 rain dances, the burning of witches, 151 00:09:55,427 --> 00:09:58,057 and the medical technique of bloodletting 152 00:09:58,089 --> 00:10:01,360 to rebalance the four basic bodily humors. 153 00:10:02,100 --> 00:10:05,100 But alternative therapies based on ancient wisdom 154 00:10:05,101 --> 00:10:07,700 have stood the test of time, haven't they? 155 00:10:08,103 --> 00:10:11,220 Well, it doesn't matter how long a treatment has been around. 156 00:10:11,221 --> 00:10:13,417 The only criteria medical science 157 00:10:13,441 --> 00:10:16,460 has for a treatment is "Does it work?". 158 00:10:16,818 --> 00:10:19,662 We don’t care whether the ancient Chinese believed it; 159 00:10:19,694 --> 00:10:22,576 we only care about the test results. 160 00:10:22,577 --> 00:10:27,665 When you hear any product advertised as being based on ancient wisdom, 161 00:10:27,682 --> 00:10:29,279 it's probably because they have 162 00:10:29,295 --> 00:10:32,274 no real evidence to support their claims. 163 00:10:32,621 --> 00:10:36,800 Ancient wisdom should always be a red flag. 164 00:10:39,770 --> 00:10:42,921 Confirmation bias is what we call our tendency to 165 00:10:42,945 --> 00:10:45,176 remember events that coincide with our beliefs, 166 00:10:45,177 --> 00:10:47,631 and don't take notice events that don't. 167 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,622 This is why you can walk out of an hour-long session with a psychic 168 00:10:50,653 --> 00:10:54,497 who asked 200 questions, made 300 probing guesses, 169 00:10:54,498 --> 00:10:56,559 of which maybe 10 were close to meaningful 170 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:59,525 and say "Wow! She knew everything about me!" 171 00:11:00,008 --> 00:11:01,546 Many hospital workers think that 172 00:11:01,562 --> 00:11:04,276 a full moon means a crazy night in the ER. 173 00:11:04,593 --> 00:11:07,664 They all remember those crazy nights when there WAS a full moon, 174 00:11:07,703 --> 00:11:09,278 thus confirming the belief, 175 00:11:09,279 --> 00:11:11,656 but they tend to forget the crazy nights 176 00:11:11,672 --> 00:11:13,065 when there wasn't a full moon. 177 00:11:13,326 --> 00:11:17,066 The data shows that full moon nights are no busier than any other, 178 00:11:17,067 --> 00:11:20,890 but we believe the myth because of confirmation bias. 179 00:11:23,572 --> 00:11:27,630 Many people will often confuse correlation with causation. 180 00:11:27,634 --> 00:11:29,902 If you happened to take an herbal supplement 181 00:11:29,926 --> 00:11:32,456 around the same time your cancer went into remission, 182 00:11:32,457 --> 00:11:36,242 you're likely to think the supplement caused the remission. 183 00:11:36,378 --> 00:11:40,250 We confuse correlation with causation. 184 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,584 Here's a valid correlation: 185 00:11:42,750 --> 00:11:46,357 People who eat a lot of rice tend to have black hair. 186 00:11:46,805 --> 00:11:49,320 I think we can all come up with perfectly logical reasons 187 00:11:49,321 --> 00:11:51,620 why these two things happen to go together. 188 00:11:51,621 --> 00:11:53,305 But fortunately, I don't think 189 00:11:53,329 --> 00:11:56,166 too many of us think one causes the other. 190 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:58,644 Here's another valid correlation: 191 00:11:58,645 --> 00:12:01,150 Autistic children are often diagnosed 192 00:12:01,182 --> 00:12:04,341 shortly after receiving their regular vaccinations. 193 00:12:04,342 --> 00:12:08,008 The reason for this correlation is simply that vaccination age just 194 00:12:08,032 --> 00:12:12,097 happens to be about the same age that autism symptoms become apparent. 195 00:12:12,098 --> 00:12:14,950 But many people have wrongly drawn a 196 00:12:14,951 --> 00:12:18,195 causal relationship, and look at all the trouble that's resulted. 197 00:12:18,519 --> 00:12:20,116 Some people are actually preventing 198 00:12:20,124 --> 00:12:22,250 their children from getting vaccinated, 199 00:12:22,285 --> 00:12:24,164 due to a lack of critical thinking, 200 00:12:24,300 --> 00:12:26,760 and irresponsible promotion of alarmism 201 00:12:26,761 --> 00:12:29,221 and misinformation by the media. 202 00:12:29,713 --> 00:12:33,222 Correlation is not necessarily causation. 203 00:12:35,244 --> 00:12:37,354 A red herring is a distraction from 204 00:12:37,355 --> 00:12:39,600 following a logical line of evidence. 205 00:12:39,601 --> 00:12:41,114 In the old days, if a bloodhound was on 206 00:12:41,144 --> 00:12:42,810 your trail, it was believed that 207 00:12:42,812 --> 00:12:44,819 dragging a red herring across your path 208 00:12:44,820 --> 00:12:47,000 would distract the bloodhound off your scent. 209 00:12:47,565 --> 00:12:49,560 Red herrings, therefore, are irrelevant 210 00:12:49,561 --> 00:12:51,556 pieces of information thrown into an 211 00:12:51,557 --> 00:12:55,430 argument to distract you from the real topic. 212 00:12:55,431 --> 00:12:57,820 Red herrings are a favorite of conspiracy theorists. 213 00:12:58,292 --> 00:12:59,371 If you listen to the people who try to 214 00:12:59,387 --> 00:13:02,930 convince us that September 11 was perpetrated by our own government, 215 00:13:02,931 --> 00:13:06,333 their evidence consists of virtually nothing but red herrings. 216 00:13:06,910 --> 00:13:08,518 Who crashed the planes into the buildings? 217 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,968 "Well, Dick Cheney had business interests in the middle east." 218 00:13:11,969 --> 00:13:15,043 Maybe so, but who crashed the planes into the buildings? 219 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,380 "Well, the leaseholder had an insurance policy on the skyscrapers." 220 00:13:20,091 --> 00:13:23,400 Maybe so, but who crashed the planes into the buildings? 221 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:25,700 "George Bush's younger brother Marvin 222 00:13:25,701 --> 00:13:27,658 was a principal in a security company, 223 00:13:27,659 --> 00:13:30,400 and the World Trade Center was one of their clients. " 224 00:13:30,980 --> 00:13:34,150 Maybe so, but who crashed the planes into the buildings? 225 00:13:34,430 --> 00:13:36,548 "Brian Dunning visited the World Trade Center 226 00:13:36,549 --> 00:13:38,571 only two years before they collapsed, 227 00:13:38,606 --> 00:13:40,593 and isn't it interesting that he did 228 00:13:40,594 --> 00:13:44,638 a podcast episode debunking 9/11 conspiracy claims?" 229 00:13:48,642 --> 00:13:50,068 Red herrings. 230 00:13:50,076 --> 00:13:52,051 These are irrelevant distractions that 231 00:13:52,075 --> 00:13:54,886 do not in any way address the point under discussion, 232 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,485 they merely have the appearance of relevance 233 00:13:57,486 --> 00:13:59,970 because some of the names or places are the same. 234 00:14:00,526 --> 00:14:01,826 Be on the lookout for them. 235 00:14:01,827 --> 00:14:04,833 And be the bloodhound that keeps his nose on the trail; 236 00:14:04,834 --> 00:14:07,840 don't follow the red herring. 237 00:14:10,398 --> 00:14:12,715 While we're on the subject of conspiracy theorists, 238 00:14:12,739 --> 00:14:14,716 let's talk about their other favorite device. 239 00:14:14,851 --> 00:14:17,248 It's called "Proof by Verbosity", 240 00:14:17,271 --> 00:14:20,380 and it consists of laying out huge volumes of information, 241 00:14:20,415 --> 00:14:23,533 more claims and allegations on more subjects about 242 00:14:23,557 --> 00:14:27,425 more people and ideas than anyone could ever possibly respond to. 243 00:14:27,963 --> 00:14:29,635 Such a blizzard of information 244 00:14:29,636 --> 00:14:33,360 gives the appearance of being comprehensive and thoroughly researched. 245 00:14:33,361 --> 00:14:35,760 "If they have all that amazing amount of evidence, 246 00:14:35,761 --> 00:14:37,600 their claim MUST be true!" 247 00:14:38,214 --> 00:14:40,532 But it's not the quantity of information that matters, 248 00:14:40,533 --> 00:14:42,850 it's the quality of information. 249 00:14:42,851 --> 00:14:45,776 You can stack cowpies as high as you want; 250 00:14:45,777 --> 00:14:48,226 they won't turn into a bar of gold. 251 00:14:49,300 --> 00:14:52,316 Pointing out that the evil government fluoridates our water supply 252 00:14:52,317 --> 00:14:55,255 does not support the claim that a particular brand of 253 00:14:55,256 --> 00:14:58,450 magically "ionized water" cures cancer. 254 00:14:59,060 --> 00:15:02,300 Makes no difference whether it's true or not, it's irrelevant. 255 00:15:02,301 --> 00:15:05,120 Piling on red herring after red herring 256 00:15:05,121 --> 00:15:07,940 will never amount to useful evidence. 257 00:15:09,590 --> 00:15:11,604 Pay attention and soon you'll run into 258 00:15:11,620 --> 00:15:14,460 another claim supported with Proof By Verbosity. 259 00:15:14,911 --> 00:15:16,703 It might be another conspiracy theory, 260 00:15:16,704 --> 00:15:18,359 it might be an advertisement for 261 00:15:18,376 --> 00:15:21,000 a new type of water with medicinal properties, 262 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,001 it might be an herbal product claiming to detoxify your body. 263 00:15:25,272 --> 00:15:27,553 Look at all the wild claims they make, 264 00:15:27,577 --> 00:15:29,633 and take careful note of how many of them 265 00:15:29,657 --> 00:15:34,950 are actually directly relevant, and specific enough to be testable. 266 00:15:35,212 --> 00:15:37,004 Notice how it would be impractical 267 00:15:37,028 --> 00:15:41,135 to try and respond individually to each of these many claims. 268 00:15:41,136 --> 00:15:44,066 It's an endless game of whack-a-mole. 269 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:46,985 The only way to win? Don't play. 270 00:15:49,776 --> 00:15:54,514 Virtually every pseudoscientific claim credits some form of "energy". 271 00:15:54,515 --> 00:15:56,922 Life force, chi, negative energy, 272 00:15:56,923 --> 00:15:59,913 positive energy, the body's energy fields - 273 00:15:59,914 --> 00:16:01,714 all meaningless nonsense, 274 00:16:01,715 --> 00:16:03,821 which sound plausible simply because they 275 00:16:03,837 --> 00:16:07,835 throw in a scientific sounding word: Energy. 276 00:16:08,090 --> 00:16:10,487 New Age practitioners seem to think that 277 00:16:10,488 --> 00:16:12,892 energy is a hovering, glowing cloud 278 00:16:12,901 --> 00:16:14,300 that can go wherever it's needed 279 00:16:14,301 --> 00:16:15,838 and from which adepts can 280 00:16:15,839 --> 00:16:19,220 draw power and feel rejuvenated or accomplish healings. 281 00:16:19,221 --> 00:16:22,929 Imagine a vaporous creature from the original Star Trek series, 282 00:16:22,945 --> 00:16:27,020 and you'll have a good idea of what New Agers think energy is. 283 00:16:27,460 --> 00:16:31,560 Energy is a measurement of something's ability to perform work. 284 00:16:31,900 --> 00:16:32,953 Given this context, 285 00:16:32,969 --> 00:16:36,500 when spiritualists talk about your body's energy fields, 286 00:16:36,735 --> 00:16:39,494 they're really saying nothing that's even remotely meaningful. 287 00:16:39,810 --> 00:16:42,660 Here's a good test. When you hear the word "energy" 288 00:16:42,661 --> 00:16:47,370 used in a spiritual or paranormal sense, substitute the phrase 289 00:16:47,371 --> 00:16:52,620 "measurable work capability". Does the usage still make sense? 290 00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:54,461 There's a good reason why 291 00:16:54,477 --> 00:16:57,397 you don't hear medical doctors or pharmacists 292 00:16:57,413 --> 00:16:59,715 talking about energy fields: 293 00:17:00,350 --> 00:17:01,500 it's meaningless. 294 00:17:04,569 --> 00:17:06,926 This is usually a really frail excuse 295 00:17:06,950 --> 00:17:08,847 for why mainstream scientists don't 296 00:17:08,863 --> 00:17:10,569 take their claim seriously, 297 00:17:10,601 --> 00:17:13,291 why the product is not approved by the FDA, 298 00:17:13,305 --> 00:17:16,872 or why scientific journals won't publish their articles. 299 00:17:16,905 --> 00:17:18,310 You'll often hear this in the form of 300 00:17:18,334 --> 00:17:20,491 a conspiracy of the medical establishment 301 00:17:20,514 --> 00:17:22,729 to suppress a quack cure because 302 00:17:22,753 --> 00:17:26,182 it's in the interest of the medical industry to keep you sick. 303 00:17:26,666 --> 00:17:29,100 In fact, any doctor or pharmaceutical company 304 00:17:29,116 --> 00:17:30,775 that could develop a new cure 305 00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:33,592 would make a fortune; they'd never suppress it. 306 00:17:33,799 --> 00:17:37,022 The same goes for auto manufacturers worldwide who are said to be 307 00:17:37,046 --> 00:17:40,372 "suppressing" new efficient engine technologies. 308 00:17:40,705 --> 00:17:43,658 As much as some people with particular ideological agendas 309 00:17:43,681 --> 00:17:49,469 would like you to believe it, science never suppresses good science. 310 00:17:51,671 --> 00:17:56,544 As we've seen time and time again, by no definition can "all natural" 311 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:58,944 mean that a product is safe or healthy. 312 00:17:59,293 --> 00:18:03,658 I'm standing next to a gigantic stand of poison oak. 313 00:18:03,682 --> 00:18:09,126 Consider other all-natural compounds like hemlock, mercury, lead, 314 00:18:09,150 --> 00:18:13,981 toadstools, box jellyfish neurotoxin, asbestos - 315 00:18:14,005 --> 00:18:15,521 not to mention a nearly infinite 316 00:18:15,544 --> 00:18:18,163 number of toxic bacteria and viruses - 317 00:18:18,179 --> 00:18:23,263 E. coli, Salmonella, Bubonic Plague, Smallpox. 318 00:18:23,961 --> 00:18:27,112 For those natural compounds that are not harmful, 319 00:18:27,136 --> 00:18:29,731 synthetic versions have been engineered in many cases 320 00:18:29,755 --> 00:18:32,332 to make them even safer, more effective, 321 00:18:32,347 --> 00:18:35,253 or able to be produced in large quantities. 322 00:18:35,618 --> 00:18:38,729 All natural? Often that's a great thing. 323 00:18:38,769 --> 00:18:41,499 Just as often, it's not. 324 00:18:44,229 --> 00:18:46,872 Some claimants suggest that it's moral, ethical, 325 00:18:46,903 --> 00:18:49,348 or politically correct to accept their claims, 326 00:18:49,371 --> 00:18:51,383 to redirect your attention from the fact 327 00:18:51,415 --> 00:18:54,130 that they may not be scientifically sound. 328 00:18:54,154 --> 00:18:55,463 In some cases, such as the 329 00:18:55,479 --> 00:18:58,789 anti-vaccine or anti-fluoridation activists, 330 00:18:58,820 --> 00:19:02,132 proponents try to use the court system to force 331 00:19:02,133 --> 00:19:03,817 their beliefs to be adopted 332 00:19:03,856 --> 00:19:06,602 in place of what we've learned through science. 333 00:19:07,110 --> 00:19:09,864 Generally, when a theory is scientifically sound, 334 00:19:09,888 --> 00:19:12,436 even if it's brand new it will eventually 335 00:19:12,444 --> 00:19:15,250 find its way into the educational curriculum. 336 00:19:15,274 --> 00:19:18,504 Good science is done in the lab - not in the courts, 337 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,877 not in protest marches, not in blogs, and not on Oprah. 338 00:19:22,901 --> 00:19:26,322 A political or cultural campaign to legalize or promote 339 00:19:26,338 --> 00:19:30,830 some product or claim is a major indicator that it's bogus. 340 00:19:32,861 --> 00:19:35,679 When you learn to identify these warning signs 341 00:19:35,703 --> 00:19:39,039 and many others like them, this list is certainly not complete, 342 00:19:39,063 --> 00:19:42,118 you'll find that you start seeing them everywhere. 343 00:19:42,142 --> 00:19:44,213 And if you're having a conversation with someone who's 344 00:19:44,237 --> 00:19:46,102 trying to convince you to try some 345 00:19:46,126 --> 00:19:48,944 herbal therapy or New Age meditation, 346 00:19:48,959 --> 00:19:51,319 you can point out these fallacies in their arguments 347 00:19:51,343 --> 00:19:54,780 and it strips them of the tools they depend on the most. 348 00:19:56,581 --> 00:19:58,883 Now that we understand what to look for, 349 00:19:58,907 --> 00:20:01,081 let's try applying these skills 350 00:20:01,105 --> 00:20:02,859 to some actual claims out there. 351 00:20:03,259 --> 00:20:05,617 But keep in mind that critical thinking 352 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,505 must not be just about debunking. 353 00:20:08,521 --> 00:20:12,995 There’s no benefit in debunking for its own sake. Rather, debunking 354 00:20:13,013 --> 00:20:17,869 is only necessary when pseudoscience stands in the way of progress 355 00:20:18,067 --> 00:20:20,527 and then, it’s critical! 356 00:20:26,679 --> 00:20:30,664 Precognition is where you dream or imagine or foresee some event 357 00:20:30,687 --> 00:20:34,187 that later comes true, when there's no possible way you could 358 00:20:34,203 --> 00:20:35,251 have known about it. 359 00:20:35,894 --> 00:20:39,355 One of the stories or precognition you hear most often is of someone 360 00:20:39,378 --> 00:20:42,783 thinking or dreaming about another person only to find later that 361 00:20:42,807 --> 00:20:48,228 that person died at that same moment. It sounds like proof positive 362 00:20:48,251 --> 00:20:51,881 that there must have been some psychic connection. 363 00:20:52,642 --> 00:20:56,556 French Physicists Georges Charpak and Henri Broch made a neat 364 00:20:56,579 --> 00:21:01,254 calculation to show that this is not only possible, it's inevitable. 365 00:21:01,278 --> 00:21:05,616 On average it should happen to about 1 in every 150 people 366 00:21:05,647 --> 00:21:07,679 sometime in their lifetime. 367 00:21:08,862 --> 00:21:12,821 Assume that everyone knows about 10 people who die each year - 368 00:21:12,822 --> 00:21:14,735 either family, acquaintances, 369 00:21:14,758 --> 00:21:16,947 or mostly celebrities and famous people - 370 00:21:16,971 --> 00:21:21,502 people who might pop into your thoughts no more than once a year. 371 00:21:21,518 --> 00:21:26,302 There are 105,120 five-minute intervals in a year 372 00:21:26,326 --> 00:21:28,612 in which each of those 10 people might die. 373 00:21:28,913 --> 00:21:34,180 That gives a 1 in 10,512 chance that you'll think about someone 374 00:21:34,204 --> 00:21:38,768 during the exact same 5-minute interval in which they happen to die, 375 00:21:38,790 --> 00:21:40,093 in any given year. 376 00:21:40,649 --> 00:21:43,117 That doesn't sound very probable by itself, 377 00:21:43,133 --> 00:21:44,633 but consider that there are 378 00:21:44,656 --> 00:21:50,326 300 million people in the United States. This improbable coincidence 379 00:21:50,342 --> 00:21:55,413 must happen to about 28,500 Americans every year. 380 00:21:55,445 --> 00:21:57,800 Only a tiny percentage of those get their stories 381 00:21:57,807 --> 00:22:01,132 on television or in print, but it's enough to convince 382 00:22:01,197 --> 00:22:05,959 an uncritical layperson that precognition and psychic connections 383 00:22:05,998 --> 00:22:07,631 must be real. 384 00:22:08,663 --> 00:22:11,925 And when you relax the criteria even slightly - 385 00:22:11,965 --> 00:22:14,687 you think or dream about someone, then next time you talk to them 386 00:22:14,726 --> 00:22:18,004 you find that something unpleasant has happened in their life - 387 00:22:18,028 --> 00:22:23,083 the probability goes up exponentially, by a factor of millions. 388 00:22:23,972 --> 00:22:27,060 The mathematics behind this concept universally apply 389 00:22:27,115 --> 00:22:31,401 to all pseudosciences that depend on extraordinary coincidences 390 00:22:31,425 --> 00:22:32,765 for their support. 391 00:22:32,797 --> 00:22:37,630 The Law of Large Numbers - the inevitability of improbable events - 392 00:22:37,670 --> 00:22:41,249 proves that the most bizarre coincidences are merely 393 00:22:41,281 --> 00:22:43,217 mathematical certainties. 394 00:22:43,241 --> 00:22:48,162 Understand the math, don't turn first to paranormal explanations. 395 00:22:54,886 --> 00:22:58,370 Next, let's consider complementary and alternative medicine. 396 00:22:58,410 --> 00:23:01,604 You'd think that with a century of modern medical science behind us, 397 00:23:01,628 --> 00:23:05,247 people would not still be looking to the ancient state of knowledge 398 00:23:05,279 --> 00:23:06,810 when it comes to their health. 399 00:23:06,850 --> 00:23:09,858 But, unfortunately, it seems that the more things change, 400 00:23:09,879 --> 00:23:11,838 the more they stay the same. 401 00:23:12,079 --> 00:23:15,649 Just a tiny sampling of products and techniques still being sold, 402 00:23:15,690 --> 00:23:19,055 still in demand among 21st century Americans, 403 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,793 and with no empirical or plausible hypothetical foundations: 404 00:23:22,794 --> 00:23:27,443 Reflexology. Homeopathy. lonized jewelry. Magnet therapy. 405 00:23:27,484 --> 00:23:30,783 Therapeutic touch. Colonic irrigation. Chiropractic. 406 00:23:30,824 --> 00:23:33,824 Herbal detoxification. Vitamin megadosing. Psychic healing. 407 00:23:33,864 --> 00:23:39,702 New Age blessings. Detoxifying footpads and foot baths. Naturopathy. 408 00:23:39,751 --> 00:23:45,110 Aromatherapy. Bioidentical hormone therapy. Chelation. Iridology... 409 00:23:52,660 --> 00:23:55,970 You'll notice that these products are not FDA approved. 410 00:23:55,971 --> 00:23:59,658 It's legal to sell anything you want that's not overtly dangerous, 411 00:23:59,659 --> 00:24:03,001 so long as you don't claim that it is intended to diagnose, 412 00:24:03,002 --> 00:24:07,061 treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. 413 00:24:07,391 --> 00:24:11,201 And that's how billions of dollars of worthless "supplements" 414 00:24:11,202 --> 00:24:12,781 are sold every year. 415 00:24:13,621 --> 00:24:16,731 They usually claim that their product has wellness benefits, 416 00:24:16,732 --> 00:24:19,301 but in order to avoid running afoul of the law, 417 00:24:19,302 --> 00:24:21,631 they leave these claims uselessly vague, 418 00:24:21,632 --> 00:24:25,668 saying that their product "restores balance", "builds the blood", 419 00:24:25,669 --> 00:24:29,531 "boosts the immune system", "restores vitality" or some other claim 420 00:24:29,532 --> 00:24:32,731 that's medically meaningless but that sounds reasonable 421 00:24:32,732 --> 00:24:34,381 to an uncritical layperson. 422 00:24:34,881 --> 00:24:38,081 When a product does have merit and warrants FDA approval, 423 00:24:38,082 --> 00:24:40,581 this merit is established through a process called 424 00:24:40,582 --> 00:24:43,031 the randomized controlled trial, 425 00:24:43,032 --> 00:24:45,481 more commonly called a clinical trial. 426 00:24:45,482 --> 00:24:48,531 A clinical trial is a very special process. 427 00:24:48,532 --> 00:24:50,881 It's very different from the way most alternative products 428 00:24:50,882 --> 00:24:53,226 demonstrate their effectiveness, which is through 429 00:24:53,261 --> 00:24:55,762 personal testimonials and "studies". 430 00:24:56,656 --> 00:24:59,631 Spend 5 minutes browsing through Wikipedia, and congratulations, 431 00:24:59,632 --> 00:25:04,367 you've just completed a "study". Spend 2 minutes rubbing your chin 432 00:25:04,368 --> 00:25:06,304 thoughtfully and looking at the sky, 433 00:25:06,305 --> 00:25:08,241 and you've just completed a "study". 434 00:25:08,242 --> 00:25:11,581 You can now legally sell your product with the claim 435 00:25:11,582 --> 00:25:16,381 "Studies show that this product will repolarize your energy fields". 436 00:25:16,781 --> 00:25:21,421 Not good enough for the FDA. To conduct a randomized controlled trial, 437 00:25:21,422 --> 00:25:24,281 a statistician will select a sample size large enough 438 00:25:24,282 --> 00:25:26,341 to produce a significant result. 439 00:25:26,681 --> 00:25:30,381 Care must be taken that the test subjects are properly representative 440 00:25:30,382 --> 00:25:34,355 of the target population, and not tainted by selection biases 441 00:25:34,356 --> 00:25:36,167 that might skew the results. 442 00:25:36,481 --> 00:25:39,581 The subjects are blinded, knowing as little as possible about 443 00:25:39,582 --> 00:25:41,181 what's being tested. 444 00:25:41,182 --> 00:25:45,171 They are randomly and blindly assigned to one of several groups. 445 00:25:45,881 --> 00:25:48,541 There may be a group that will receive the treatment being studied; 446 00:25:48,542 --> 00:25:51,181 a group receiving an established treatment; 447 00:25:51,182 --> 00:25:53,781 and always at least one control group receiving 448 00:25:53,782 --> 00:25:56,071 a control or placebo treatment. 449 00:25:57,327 --> 00:25:59,426 Test administrators are also blinded 450 00:25:59,427 --> 00:26:01,526 - this is called double-blinding - 451 00:26:01,527 --> 00:26:04,773 such that they don't know what group each subject is assigned to, 452 00:26:04,774 --> 00:26:06,881 and whenever possible, they also don't know 453 00:26:06,882 --> 00:26:09,501 what the treatment is that they are administering. 454 00:26:10,081 --> 00:26:13,623 Everything is coded to avoid experimenter bias and to cancel out 455 00:26:13,624 --> 00:26:15,861 any effects like patients trying to respond 456 00:26:15,862 --> 00:26:18,559 the way they feel the experimenters want them to. 457 00:26:19,281 --> 00:26:21,557 The trial lasts long enough to satisfy 458 00:26:21,558 --> 00:26:23,734 the statisticians and the scientists. 459 00:26:24,231 --> 00:26:28,264 Finally, when the results are tabulated by a blinded statistician 460 00:26:28,265 --> 00:26:31,381 (this is called triple-blinding), we get the results. 461 00:26:31,601 --> 00:26:34,500 The cloaks of anonymity are whisked aside, 462 00:26:34,501 --> 00:26:37,771 and we finally learn for a statistical certainty 463 00:26:37,772 --> 00:26:41,041 which treatments are effective, and which are not. 464 00:26:42,992 --> 00:26:46,448 When this process shows significant benefits for a new treatment, 465 00:26:46,499 --> 00:26:49,266 and the trial can be repeated by other experimenters 466 00:26:49,369 --> 00:26:51,884 and yields similar results, 467 00:26:51,885 --> 00:26:54,446 then, and only then, do scientists say that this is 468 00:26:54,491 --> 00:26:57,454 a product that works, and is supported by evidence. 469 00:26:59,481 --> 00:27:03,781 Let's pick just one alternative medicine to examine in closer detail. 470 00:27:03,782 --> 00:27:07,714 Homeopathy. This is a system, invented around 1800, 471 00:27:07,734 --> 00:27:12,198 intended to bring into balance your four basic bodily humors 472 00:27:12,258 --> 00:27:15,800 - blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile - 473 00:27:16,167 --> 00:27:19,514 by ingesting a infinitesimally small amount 474 00:27:19,515 --> 00:27:22,481 of whatever poison caused the imbalance. 475 00:27:23,005 --> 00:27:25,567 Clearly, all of these fundamental assumptions 476 00:27:25,606 --> 00:27:29,881 homeopathy is based on are now known to be complete nonsense. 477 00:27:31,031 --> 00:27:33,626 Homeopathy is about extreme dilution. 478 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,763 The greater the dilution, the more effective the treatment. 479 00:27:37,764 --> 00:27:42,365 A tiny amount of extract, usually from some herb, is diluted in water, 480 00:27:42,421 --> 00:27:45,869 far past the point of being chemically pure water. 481 00:27:45,870 --> 00:27:49,320 Early in the dilution process, they agitate it, 482 00:27:49,367 --> 00:27:52,526 and this is said to give the water a "spiritual imprint" 483 00:27:52,566 --> 00:27:56,225 of the original compound, and it can then be diluted infinitely 484 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,689 without losing its effectiveness. This water is 485 00:27:59,731 --> 00:28:03,554 then sold as is, or is infused into sugar pills. 486 00:28:04,881 --> 00:28:08,142 Let's look at some of these. These come in pill form. 487 00:28:08,189 --> 00:28:09,935 These are standard sugar pills, 488 00:28:09,983 --> 00:28:12,039 same as you can get at a pharmacy 489 00:28:12,079 --> 00:28:15,541 - sucrose and lactose, are the only listed ingredients. 490 00:28:15,542 --> 00:28:18,301 Each pill has supposedly been infused 491 00:28:18,302 --> 00:28:21,283 with a single drop of the diluted water. 492 00:28:21,284 --> 00:28:25,716 Essentially it's a very small hard candy, without any flavoring. 493 00:28:29,180 --> 00:28:32,281 This one is a 30C dilution of sulphur. 494 00:28:32,305 --> 00:28:35,670 That doesn't mean 1 part sulphur and 30 parts water; 495 00:28:35,710 --> 00:28:40,685 it means C, or roman numeral 100, to the 30th power, 496 00:28:40,732 --> 00:28:45,264 or 10^60, which is 1 followed by 60 zeroes. 497 00:28:45,949 --> 00:28:50,828 Chemical purity is related to Avogadro's number, 6x10^23, 498 00:28:50,863 --> 00:28:55,707 so technically this solution is 37 orders of magnitude 499 00:28:55,708 --> 00:28:58,441 more pure than chemically pure. 500 00:28:58,881 --> 00:29:00,981 This is far more diluted than one sulphur 501 00:29:01,016 --> 00:29:03,201 atom in all the oceans of the planet. 502 00:29:03,461 --> 00:29:05,928 How likely is it that there is even a single molecule 503 00:29:05,952 --> 00:29:07,718 of sulphur in this bottle? 504 00:29:08,131 --> 00:29:10,741 Impossible. It's pure sugar. 505 00:29:12,527 --> 00:29:14,650 This whole shelf in the pharmacy, 506 00:29:14,698 --> 00:29:18,531 simply pure sugar, infused with pure water. 507 00:29:22,055 --> 00:29:25,417 If all of this stuff is actually unsupported by any good evidence, 508 00:29:25,452 --> 00:29:27,540 that means that it doesn't really work. 509 00:29:28,143 --> 00:29:30,673 But lots of people believe that it does. 510 00:29:30,713 --> 00:29:33,118 Smart people, your friends and neighbors, 511 00:29:33,148 --> 00:29:35,356 and the professionals you work with. 512 00:29:35,395 --> 00:29:39,981 Let's look at some of the reasons smart people believe weird things. 513 00:29:41,394 --> 00:29:43,961 First of all, the unexplained is cool! 514 00:29:44,011 --> 00:29:46,422 Who doesn't love a fascinating subject? 515 00:29:46,423 --> 00:29:48,194 Whether it's the Loch Ness Monster 516 00:29:48,225 --> 00:29:51,487 or a black hole at the center of our galaxy, it's cool! 517 00:29:51,527 --> 00:29:53,381 Or what about a new meditation technique 518 00:29:53,421 --> 00:29:56,247 that will let you change your body's physical appearance? 519 00:29:56,681 --> 00:29:58,981 We're all naturally predisposed 520 00:29:58,982 --> 00:30:01,381 to be excited about new weird stuff. 521 00:30:01,827 --> 00:30:06,450 Not even the smartest people you know are immune to this. It's human. 522 00:30:06,881 --> 00:30:09,445 Second, simple answers are seductive. 523 00:30:09,469 --> 00:30:11,445 You go to your doctor and he tells you 524 00:30:11,477 --> 00:30:13,844 "Gee I'm sorry, but you have kidney failure, 525 00:30:13,884 --> 00:30:16,395 and you're going to need dialysis for the rest of your life. " 526 00:30:17,061 --> 00:30:20,685 Your neighbor, who sells an exotic fruit juice from Brazil says 527 00:30:20,733 --> 00:30:24,981 "Hey no problem, drink this expensive juice, and you'll be cured. " 528 00:30:25,601 --> 00:30:29,020 Which sounds more attractive? Is there any surprise that people 529 00:30:29,067 --> 00:30:31,575 who sell nonsense continue to get customers? 530 00:30:31,853 --> 00:30:36,255 Most pseudosciences sell easy answers. We all want 531 00:30:36,303 --> 00:30:39,618 to believe that anything is attainable and easy. 532 00:30:40,696 --> 00:30:45,619 Third, our inquisitive nature encourages us to focus on possibilities. 533 00:30:46,168 --> 00:30:48,382 Scientific explanations are called theories, 534 00:30:48,422 --> 00:30:50,443 and they always are and always will be 535 00:30:50,444 --> 00:30:54,171 subject to improvement or change as we make new discoveries. 536 00:30:54,781 --> 00:30:57,699 No matter how solid our foundation of knowledge is, 537 00:30:57,739 --> 00:31:01,786 and no matter how comprehensively it's validated by experimentation, 538 00:31:01,826 --> 00:31:05,790 every theory will always be subject to improvement. 539 00:31:06,721 --> 00:31:08,993 Some people take this inherent incompleteness 540 00:31:09,025 --> 00:31:11,568 of any theory to its logical extreme. 541 00:31:11,569 --> 00:31:15,261 They latch onto that speck of possibility that a theory is wrong, 542 00:31:15,262 --> 00:31:17,199 and they give that speck equal or 543 00:31:17,239 --> 00:31:19,320 greater significance than the theory! 544 00:31:19,321 --> 00:31:23,292 "Gravity is just a theory, it could be wrong; an alternate possibility 545 00:31:23,293 --> 00:31:26,648 is that the Earth is expanding and pushing against our feet. " 546 00:31:27,365 --> 00:31:29,622 Let Einstein and the others hold up 547 00:31:29,623 --> 00:31:31,944 their end; they know their business. 548 00:31:31,945 --> 00:31:35,460 Give our strongest theories the respect they are due. 549 00:31:35,650 --> 00:31:37,579 It is rational to accept our best 550 00:31:37,626 --> 00:31:39,966 theories even if you don't understand them. 551 00:31:39,967 --> 00:31:43,079 It is irrational to reject them for that reason, 552 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,641 or to claim that you know better. 553 00:31:46,641 --> 00:31:50,048 Fourth, people simply lack the tools for critical thinking. 554 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,756 We love the unexplained; we love easy answers; 555 00:31:52,757 --> 00:31:54,910 we hate complicated stuff. 556 00:31:54,911 --> 00:31:58,347 And nobody's ever given us tools, like those we talked about earlier, 557 00:31:58,348 --> 00:32:01,408 to tell science from pseudoscience. 558 00:32:01,409 --> 00:32:04,930 It's no wonder that most people, no matter how smart they are, 559 00:32:04,969 --> 00:32:08,327 believe in all sorts of crazy stuff that's not true. 560 00:32:11,831 --> 00:32:15,589 Most of us rely on pop culture for our exposure to science. 561 00:32:15,590 --> 00:32:18,505 As a result, our knowledge is generally quite poor, 562 00:32:18,544 --> 00:32:21,978 and that illiteracy is constantly being reinforced. 563 00:32:21,979 --> 00:32:25,957 What this exposure never seems to include is healthy skepticism. 564 00:32:26,267 --> 00:32:29,661 Don't expect pop culture to arm you with the tools you need. 565 00:32:29,662 --> 00:32:33,424 You will need to seek those out, and then apply them, yourself. 566 00:32:35,298 --> 00:32:37,805 So, we know what the red flags are 567 00:32:37,829 --> 00:32:40,893 and we understand why people ignore them. 568 00:32:40,902 --> 00:32:44,059 What can we do to become better critical thinkers, 569 00:32:44,099 --> 00:32:46,991 and to help other people do the same? 570 00:32:47,711 --> 00:32:49,881 Number one, Act Locally. 571 00:32:49,882 --> 00:32:51,797 The first thing you can do is to start 572 00:32:51,845 --> 00:32:54,312 actively looking for the red flags. 573 00:32:54,313 --> 00:32:57,027 Keep your eyes and ears open for claims of 574 00:32:57,075 --> 00:33:00,971 ancient Chinese wisdom, the body's energy fields, 575 00:33:00,972 --> 00:33:04,982 all-natural ingredients, pictures of people in lab coats, 576 00:33:04,998 --> 00:33:08,799 and television shows that uncritically presume the existence 577 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,351 of ghosts or psychic powers. 578 00:33:11,352 --> 00:33:15,895 And then, question it. Research it. Go online and do a search. 579 00:33:15,896 --> 00:33:18,431 But, beware of your sources. 580 00:33:18,432 --> 00:33:20,229 A Google search for virtually any 581 00:33:20,268 --> 00:33:22,924 pseudoscience is likely to bring up sites that 582 00:33:22,925 --> 00:33:26,503 are commercially dedicated to promoting some product or concept, 583 00:33:26,504 --> 00:33:29,199 and you're not going to find criticism there. 584 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,470 Wikipedia articles about controversial topics 585 00:33:32,471 --> 00:33:35,741 always have a section on Criticism or Skepticism. 586 00:33:35,742 --> 00:33:40,101 Follow those links. Read the references on the bottom of the page. 587 00:33:40,681 --> 00:33:42,724 Your friend recommends acupuncture, 588 00:33:42,756 --> 00:33:46,447 or thinks aliens landed in Roswell in 1947? 589 00:33:46,486 --> 00:33:50,121 Go and actively search for scholarly criticism, 590 00:33:50,122 --> 00:33:53,334 then make an informed decision. 591 00:33:54,881 --> 00:33:57,134 Number two, Act Globally. 592 00:33:57,166 --> 00:33:59,521 Take a stand when your community considers the question 593 00:33:59,522 --> 00:34:02,667 "Should education and the media be balanced?" 594 00:34:02,668 --> 00:34:05,715 Isn’t it fair and better to show both sides? 595 00:34:05,716 --> 00:34:09,981 Aren't free speech and academic freedom of paramount importance? 596 00:34:10,881 --> 00:34:12,281 Well, that depends. 597 00:34:12,282 --> 00:34:14,959 In matters of opinion or philosophy, 598 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,785 where "academic freedom" applies, yes. 599 00:34:17,786 --> 00:34:20,610 In matters of science, absolutely not. 600 00:34:20,611 --> 00:34:24,581 Math class does not give equal time to 2+2=5. 601 00:34:24,582 --> 00:34:28,683 Geology class does not give equal time to Flat Earth theories. 602 00:34:28,684 --> 00:34:32,831 Medical school does not give equal time to bloodletting. 603 00:34:32,832 --> 00:34:37,051 History class does not give equal time to Holocaust denial. 604 00:34:38,339 --> 00:34:41,469 Pseudoscience should never be given equal time, 605 00:34:41,504 --> 00:34:44,101 and that's not being biased or closed-minded. 606 00:34:44,102 --> 00:34:47,522 Facts and fallacies are not equally valid. 607 00:34:47,523 --> 00:34:51,503 Embrace the information that stands up to the scrutiny of testing, 608 00:34:51,550 --> 00:34:54,961 not the information that fails such scrutiny. 609 00:34:55,875 --> 00:34:57,751 You want to make a difference globally? 610 00:34:57,783 --> 00:35:01,202 Do whatever you can to end this politically correct fad 611 00:35:01,203 --> 00:35:03,999 of giving pseudoscience equal time. 612 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:08,602 Next time your TV show or newspaper presents fallacy as fact, 613 00:35:08,649 --> 00:35:11,480 let them know that you don't support the harm they're doing. 614 00:35:11,831 --> 00:35:13,459 Next time your local school board 615 00:35:13,499 --> 00:35:16,229 wants to replace science with opinion, 616 00:35:16,276 --> 00:35:20,186 help put an end to the folly of "balanced" science. 617 00:35:20,781 --> 00:35:24,006 It might be very politically correct to want to accommodate that 5, 618 00:35:24,007 --> 00:35:29,211 but I'm sorry, the question on the board is 2+2. 619 00:35:30,901 --> 00:35:32,573 There's one final present I'd like to 620 00:35:32,596 --> 00:35:34,981 leave you with, and that's a reading list. 621 00:35:34,982 --> 00:35:37,358 Like any list it's woefully incomplete, 622 00:35:37,390 --> 00:35:39,993 but I'm going to give you what I consider the best books 623 00:35:39,994 --> 00:35:42,811 to get anyone started on the path to critical thinking. 624 00:35:44,383 --> 00:35:47,819 First off, everyone in the world should read Carl Sagan's classic 625 00:35:47,820 --> 00:35:51,610 "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. " 626 00:35:51,611 --> 00:35:55,224 This book is the magnum opus of critical thinking for everyone. 627 00:35:55,225 --> 00:35:57,255 It's easy to read, approachable, 628 00:35:57,256 --> 00:36:00,037 and every page is fascinating no matter who you are. 629 00:36:00,085 --> 00:36:04,045 Chapter 12 includes Sagan's famous Baloney Detection Kit, 630 00:36:04,046 --> 00:36:06,680 quite possibly the handiest Swiss army knife 631 00:36:06,712 --> 00:36:08,731 for understanding our universe. 632 00:36:10,981 --> 00:36:15,860 The second book is Flim Flam, by James "The Amazing" Randi. 633 00:36:15,861 --> 00:36:19,737 Randi makes no effort to be everyone's favorite guy like Carl Sagan; 634 00:36:19,769 --> 00:36:22,271 instead he hits the nail on the head hard. 635 00:36:22,272 --> 00:36:26,880 This book is chock full of no-nonsense exposure of frauds and rip-offs. 636 00:36:26,881 --> 00:36:29,399 You'll learn how easily people can be deceived, 637 00:36:29,431 --> 00:36:31,661 and it can be a big wake-up call. 638 00:36:31,662 --> 00:36:34,523 If you want to be able to recognize when someone's taking advantage of you 639 00:36:34,555 --> 00:36:36,381 .with a fraudulent product or service, 640 00:36:36,382 --> 00:36:41,861 expertise in the art of Flim Flam is your first line of defense. 641 00:36:43,881 --> 00:36:47,340 Third, I'm going to recommend a book that you probably didn't expect, 642 00:36:47,364 --> 00:36:50,606 Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 643 00:36:50,607 --> 00:36:53,404 Mark Twain was perhaps the most effective critic 644 00:36:53,427 --> 00:36:56,276 of human ignorance and folly who ever lived. 645 00:36:56,323 --> 00:36:59,299 Although on its surface it appears to be an adventure story, 646 00:36:59,300 --> 00:37:01,204 it’s really a collection of quite 647 00:37:01,220 --> 00:37:03,800 shocking exposés of human weaknesses, 648 00:37:03,801 --> 00:37:08,003 driven by superstition, racism, greed, and ignorance. 649 00:37:08,004 --> 00:37:10,652 If you think James Randi pulls no punches, 650 00:37:10,653 --> 00:37:13,301 try re-reading Mark Twain with new eyes. 651 00:37:15,735 --> 00:37:18,081 Finally, I'm going to recommend my own book, 652 00:37:18,082 --> 00:37:21,177 Skeptoid, Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena, 653 00:37:21,178 --> 00:37:23,181 with a foreword by James Randi. 654 00:37:23,481 --> 00:37:27,265 This is 50 short subjects based on my podcast episodes, 655 00:37:27,266 --> 00:37:29,755 quick and easy analyses of 50 phenomena 656 00:37:29,778 --> 00:37:31,215 that you've always wondered about: 657 00:37:31,254 --> 00:37:34,171 The Amityville Horror, The Philadelphia Experiment, 658 00:37:34,172 --> 00:37:37,531 organic food myths, Bigfoot, spirit orbs. 659 00:37:37,532 --> 00:37:40,868 There's something in here to challenge everyone. 660 00:37:44,331 --> 00:37:47,114 Some people criticize science by pointing out that it 661 00:37:47,115 --> 00:37:50,185 does not know everything and doesn't have all the answers. 662 00:37:50,233 --> 00:37:51,808 Obviously, this criticism is true. 663 00:37:51,809 --> 00:37:54,934 Science is all about the fact that we don't know everything. 664 00:37:55,381 --> 00:37:57,931 Science is the learning process. 665 00:37:58,381 --> 00:38:00,333 If we want to improve the world, 666 00:38:00,365 --> 00:38:03,760 improve the human condition, improve technology; 667 00:38:03,781 --> 00:38:07,861 learning, and thus science, is the essential way forward. 668 00:38:08,481 --> 00:38:10,934 When your hear someone criticize science because it 669 00:38:10,950 --> 00:38:13,759 doesn't have all the answers, don't argue with them; 670 00:38:13,881 --> 00:38:17,381 instead point out that that's the central strength of science. 671 00:38:17,382 --> 00:38:20,131 We couldn't be learning more every day 672 00:38:20,132 --> 00:38:22,880 if we presumed to already know everything. 673 00:38:23,801 --> 00:38:25,866 Some people criticize skepticism 674 00:38:25,867 --> 00:38:27,931 because it doesn't leave well enough alone. 675 00:38:28,432 --> 00:38:30,848 Many paranormal and alternative beliefs 676 00:38:30,888 --> 00:38:33,027 bring comfort to those who practice them, 677 00:38:33,059 --> 00:38:35,699 and are a positive force in many peoples' lives. 678 00:38:36,081 --> 00:38:39,456 But happiness and enlightenment are all around us in our world; 679 00:38:39,479 --> 00:38:42,209 you don't have to turn to pseudoscience to find them. 680 00:38:42,681 --> 00:38:45,853 And moreover, once we begin investing our faith 681 00:38:45,854 --> 00:38:49,025 in unsubstantiated or supernatural phenomena, 682 00:38:49,381 --> 00:38:52,551 we are contributing to the redirection of attention, 683 00:38:52,591 --> 00:38:56,981 influence, and funding away from technologies and concepts 684 00:38:56,982 --> 00:38:58,680 that have been evidenced to be 685 00:38:58,704 --> 00:39:01,263 beneficial to humanity and to our world. 686 00:39:01,681 --> 00:39:05,093 The choice between pseudoscience and science 687 00:39:05,094 --> 00:39:08,506 is the choice between stagnation and progress: 688 00:39:09,031 --> 00:39:13,456 progress toward long life, health, happiness, 689 00:39:13,457 --> 00:39:17,881 a cleaner planet, bountiful food, knowledge, and peace. 690 00:39:19,751 --> 00:39:23,198 There may indeed be undiscovered dragons in our world. 691 00:39:23,199 --> 00:39:25,790 But there is also something we know for a fact: 692 00:39:25,791 --> 00:39:28,381 we haven't found any dragons yet. 693 00:39:28,697 --> 00:39:32,361 We've looked in a lot of places, and seen some extraordinary things; 694 00:39:32,531 --> 00:39:36,619 but never yet has science been forced to throw in the towel 695 00:39:36,658 --> 00:39:39,711 and admit the reality of magic.