# Pseudo-science - The List **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893 "2005-08-06T17:55:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/1 "2005-08-06T17:55:31Z")
I recently saw “White Noise” (here’s what I [really think](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=328886) about that movie) Before seeing the back cover of this DVD, I had never heard of EVP i.e **e** lectronic **v** oice **p** henomenon, being the hearing of voices in tape hiss - and of course those voices are of the dead. I thought I’d seen everything, but no, I guess not. Which leads me to this thread: What other bullshit science may I not have heard of? Let’s make a list. To get started, here are the quick and obvious ones: [ul] [li]Astrology[/li][li]UFOlogy[/li][li]EVP[/li][li]Parapsychology[/li][li]Feng Shui[/li][li]Creation science[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/2 "2005-08-06T18:22:59Z")
How about pseudo-medical stuff, like homeopathy? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/3 "2005-08-06T18:32:35Z")
If we are to include medical stuff like homeopathy: Acupuncture High Colonics Aromatherapy ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/4 "2005-08-06T18:37:30Z")
Handwriting analysis. Lie detectors. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/5 "2005-08-06T18:41:03Z")
NDE(Near Death Experience) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/6 "2005-08-06T18:47:04Z")
phrenology (head-bump reading) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/7 "2005-08-06T18:49:27Z")
Cryptozoology. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/8 "2005-08-06T19:06:42Z")
creams that make you thinner, in fact, just about most of the female cosmetic industry. exercise in your sleep devices magnetic water conditioners ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/9 "2005-08-06T19:13:55Z")
Scientology Copper bracelets ---
**Author:** ![MadderMitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MadderMitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadderMitch)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/10 "2005-08-06T19:33:55Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Cryptozoology. Elaborate ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/11 "2005-08-06T19:36:37Z")
> [@MadderMitch](#): > > Elaborate Crytozoology is the pseudo-science name for the “study” of legendary creatures like Bigfoots, Yetis, Nessie, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/12 "2005-08-06T19:43:36Z")
> [@Tuco](#): > > Handwriting analysis. As I learned in a [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=117153), handwriting analysis is a legitimate science. It’s graphology that’s the pseudo-science. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/13 "2005-08-06T19:54:50Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > How about pseudo-medical stuff, like homeopathy? What are people’s thoughts on chiropractic? Does it belong on the list? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/14 "2005-08-06T20:04:47Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > What are people’s thoughts on chiropractic? Does it belong on the list? Depends on what it’s treating. I don’t think chiropractic is necessarily pseudo-scientific when it is used to treat back pain. I do think it is pseudo-scientific (and dangerously so) when it is used to treat cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/15 "2005-08-06T20:38:43Z")
Orgone Studies. Perpetual Motion Engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/16 "2005-08-06T21:06:12Z")
Eye exercises to improve vision. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/17 "2005-08-06T21:15:03Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Orgone Studies. All right! Another one I’d not heard of (oh, and **Dio’s** word for bigfoot studies: cryptozoolgy! cool) Looked at a couple of sites and, no, I think Orgone studies merits further consideration… Ha! Oh, another for the list: water dowsing. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/18 "2005-08-06T22:32:01Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > [ul] > [li]Astrology[/li][li]UFOlogy[/li][li]EVP[/li][li]Parapsychology[/li][li]Feng Shui[/li][li]Creation science[/li][/ul] First of all, lets be clear on the terms. The term _pseudoscience_ really means **fake** science. It refers to things that appear to a layman to be informed scientific comment, but actually isn’t. Things like astrology per se doesn’t even pretend to be scientific. It is non-science, not pseudoscience. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Crytozoology is the pseudo-science name for the “study” of legendary creatures like Bigfoots, Yetis, Nessie, etc. You do it a disservice. In the first place, the major concerns of cryptozoology are following up sightings of supposedly extinct animals. They do occasionally turn out to be true. Secondly, even studies of Bigfoot can be legitimate. An expert zoologist might study a bigfoot film, and produce a detailed analysis showing that the gait is consistent with a man in a monkey suit, but different from any other primate. Even James Randi says that cryptozoology is a legitimate science. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/19 "2005-08-06T22:32:52Z")
Isn’t there a psuedoscience where people’s ailments are diagnosed by the practitioner looking into the patient’s eyes? No, not optometry (smartass), but all types of ailments. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893/20 "2005-08-06T22:34:13Z")
[ul][li]Over Unity/Zero Point Energy devices.[/li][li]Holocaust revisionism. [/li][li]Postmodernist literature/philosophy analysis.[/li][li]Intelligent Design.[/li][li]The pseudoarcheology of Thor Heyerdahl and Erich von Daniken[/li][li]Vedic Science.[/li][li]Christian Science.[/li][li]Dianetics/Scientology.[/li][li]Political Science. [/li]li market forcasting.[/li][li]Star Wars/Star Trek/Matrix science/philosophy treatments.[/li][li]Alan Greenspan’s attempts to control/guide the American economy. [/ul][/li] Stranger [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pseudo-science-the-list/315893.md?page=2)