Chapter 9 of 10All chapters
Chapter 9 of 10
Telling it apart
Signals of unreliable claims.
Warning signs
Unfalsifiable claims, an appeal to ancient wisdom, reliance on testimonials, a conspiracy to explain the lack of evidence, and no mechanism that connects to known physics.
- Real science publishes its failures and changes its mind.
- A claim that only works when not being measured is not being measured.
Being fair
Fringe ideas are occasionally right, and the way to tell is evidence rather than tone. Dismissing something because it sounds odd is not scepticism either.