After the quacklash…

The backlash begins…

The 1023 campaign has already, predictably enough, encouraged somewhat of a “quacklash” – just look
at the homeopaths spamming the #ten23 hashtag on twitter or the copycat pro-homeopathy campaign that has arisen.

However now it seems those outside the homeopathy and skeptical communities are getting involved in the debate… And some tired and cliched arguments are surfacing…

Chief among these seems to be “what’s the harm?”. Why should there be a campaign against something as harmless as homeopathy? I mean it’s their money and their choice isn’t it?

Well yes it is their money and their choice – but if someone was putting their health at direct risk you’d likely intervene or at least comment wouldn’t you?

What’s so special about science?

In the 1950′s there was a man named Solomon Asch. A man named Solomon Asch who ran an experiment. This experiment is now considered a classic of social psychology and indeed psychology itself.

Scientific consensus as orthodoxy?

This post has been inspired by JoK’s recent tweets about climate change and the series of blogs he intends to write, exploring the evidence for climate change, the evidence for it being man-made and if it is what can be done about it. I described this as a fool’s errand – not because I think JoK is in any way a fool but because I believe he has set himself an impossible task. Now I am not a climate scientist but I am reasonably familiar with science the method (intimately) and the philosophy of science (to an extent) which is why I tend to trust the scientific consensus in such matters. The scientific consensus is that climate change is happening and that it is manmade. There are few, if any, scientific papers published which provide evidence that runs contrary to this. See the quote below taken from this article which looked at papers published in refereed scientific journals between 1993 and 2003, and listed in the ISI database with the keywords “climate change”.

One Mainframe to rule them all.

This blog refers to a discussion in the comments on this previous post and refers to an invitation to view this production on YouTube related to the wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com campaign. The movement frames itself thusly:

This movement is based on the irrefutable fact, that we believe in mankind’s inalienable human rights that are absolute and can not be debased, nor perverted. Human life can not be degraded to a 16 digit RFID chip number embedded under you skin under any circumstance. By uniting on this common ground, we can send a strong message to the IBM funded Verichip that we the people will not be chipped!

Trevor Gunn: vaccination – the facts

Hello, good evening and welcome to the second of my alternative view 3 blog posts. The subject of this post? Trevor Gunn and his talk on vaccination: the facts…

From what I can discern from google Trevor Gunn is a homeopath who questions the germ theory of disease. One who questions the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. The following is from here and describes a talk that seems similar to that which Mr Gunn will be giving.

Have they got truth for you? Um… probably not…

I suppose that this marks this the start of a small series of blogs about the mainstream view, or at the least the evidence supported view at the least, then again if I’m being honest it might just be an excuse to take a lighthearted look at what a bunch of conspiracy theorists and woo-sters think.

Specifically a group of woo-sters appearing at AV3: the alternative view “have they got truth for you!”, the speakers will be appearing over weekend of the 13th of November (spooky, at least for paraskevidekatriaphobics anyway)

Merely Superstitious… OCD and Superstition

I’ve noticed, in a completely anecdotal fashion subject to confirmation bias and the fact I want to blog about this, that when the subject of superstition comes up among scientific/sceptical folks someone invariably seems to mention Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The implication being that superstitious beliefs are somehow linked with the obsessive behaviours and compulsions that people with OCD display. Essentially that black cats crossing your path and checking behaviours are related in that they both involved following some ritualistic behaviour or reacting in a stereotyped predetermined fashion to some real or imagined stimuli.

Autism, Aspergers and the rise of the Neurotypical…

Firstly a declaration of interests, of sorts, I am what some people would call normal what others would call a neurotypical individual who has worked with individuals who have required 24/7 support to cope with their ASD. I have also met many people who could either be defined as having ‘high-functioning’ ASD or aspergers who, to my mind, have barely fitted the necessary criteria of impairment to really be considered for the diagnosis they have received.

Is psychology a science? (“That’s all very well and good but does it work outside the lab?”: Part two)

People do seem to be very fond of displaying their intellectual credentials by retaining and displaying a sceptical attitude about science. Now for the most part this is probably a helpful attitude to have with one fairly major proviso:- You really, really should, if levelling a criticism at science, level it with an understanding of what science is and how it works. Otherwise your criticism, in my opinion, is worthless because all it shows is that you don’t understand how science and the scientific method work.

“That’s all very well and good but does it work outside the lab?”: Part one

Ecological validity is a phrase that I’d guess nigh on anyone who has ever been an undergraduate psychology student knows and in all likely hood has employed anytime they have a social psychology essay to complete… (Unless that was just me?) The phrase has become associated with criticising the endeavours of Social psychologists, generally inferring that real life is more complicated then we can control for with experimental methods.