Teaching students to distinguish between science and pseudoscience: A necessary skill in the twenty-first century

 

Students can barely distinguish science from pseudoscience these days; students are constantly bombarded with so much information that they can barely sift the grain from the chaff and the truth from the untruth and the mistruth; most lack any form of reasoning and analytical ability; most lack critical thinking skills to any degree, too. Therefore, idealogues of different hues and colours prey upon them to promote their propaganda and radical ideas. This seems to be not just the case in India, but also elsewhere, and as we can see, people from all over the world flock to godmen and fake charlatans in India. Ashrams in India are often filled with people from elsewhere, hence the absence of a scientific temper is as much of a problem worldwide, as it is in India. The scientific method is a continuous cycle of observation, questioning, hypothesis, experimentation, analysis and conclusion. It is based on openness, absence of bias and prejudice and more importantly absence of ideology. Therefore, in our view Hindutva, Marxist and Dravidian nationalist views of history do not meet the characteristics of a true science. A pseudoscience is therefore, non-science. It constitutes a set of ideas, statements, practises and beliefs  that presents itself as science, while it does not meet all the criteria to be called science, or admitted into the gallery of full-fledged science.The term pseudoscience was first used in 1796 by James Pettit Andrews, and later by Francois Magandie, and others in diverse contexts.

Pseudoscience is often not fully compatible with scientific method; it may comply with it partly or not at all. Pseudoscience may often make self-contradictorystatements or claims, and exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims.  It may be accompanied by personal bias or prejudice, including what is known as confirmation bias. The term confirmation bias is a term coined by the English psychologist Peter Wason, and refers to a tendency of individuals only to favour information that confirms with their worldviews and value systems and subconsciously ignore or sideline all other information. Pseudoscience is also mostly not open to third party scrutiny. It may rely on the value systems or belief systems that are common to a small group of individuals that have universal following or applicability. Pseudo-science also analyses and interprets evidence selectively. Thus, Hinduvta approaches, Dravidian approaches and Marxist approaches to historiography may fall under this category for more than one reason. Readers may exercise their judgment on all matters as always. Pseudo sciences may include all forms of theistic creationism, astrology, numerology, kirilan photography,alchmeny in many forms and manifestations, etc. it is sometimes difficult to distinguish science from pseudo science, though techniques to this effect have been proposed by Robert K. Merton and others. Naturally, these must be taught to students as well.

Mythological views of Indian history, wherever not corroborated with evidence, are pseudohistory too. Just as Veer Savarkar and the Hindu Mahasabha fought against the caste system in the early twentieth century and called it outdated, they must now fight for scientific views of history, just as intellectuals must drive the design of contemporary education systems. Students must also be taught to distinguish good constructs from bad constructs. These would exist not only in the realm of science, but impinge upon real life as well. For example. Ho do we assess Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, or Veer Savarkar? Assessments must be holistic, comprehensive and unbiased, and devoid and bereft of any ideology. This is the kind of regimented thinking individuals must be imparted. VS Naipaul also lamented the fact that India was a “wounded civilization”. This was however driven by the zeitgeist of the era, and not by a grounds up assessment. No dyed in the wool conformism, please!

Other examples of pseudo-science include the following. More importantly, students must be aptly trained on the criteria for distinguishing science from pseudoscience. Note for example, that radiocarbon dating is reliable, while archeoastronomy mostly is not. Also, wherever facts cannot be reliably established or clearly ascertained, they must not be stated with absolute certainty. Readers may also refer to our paper on ‘Qualified historiography’ so that they can draw parallels from the field of historiography. As a matter of fact, a scientific, reliable and an unbiased reading of history can put an end to much of the confusion, and set the tempo for a scientific education. Suppression of history of course cannot, as it will beget counterreactions. Marxist historians have got it all hopelessly wrong here. Also remember that culture is central to the human experience. Marxists have again got it wrong here. Students must also of course be taught that science is not a collection of firmly established truths, but as Freeman Dyson put it, “a continuing exploration of mysteries”.

An exaggerated epic age in the Gangetic Plains in India

The Epic age in India is thus called because the greatest epics produced in India were written during this period. The epic period is roughly estimated to be between 1000 BC to 600 B.C. Ancient Indian society is described vividly in these three epics. The two famous Indian epics that are dated to this period are the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. While most scholars accept that the epics contain some historical information, Hindu nationalists present an exaggerated account of the epic age, dating it back to 12000 BC, basing it on flimsy evidence such as archeoastronomy. Some date it back to even before the Indus age, All this smacks of ultranationalism, and is clearly pseudoscience.

Altantis

Atlantis is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works and is a naval power that lays siege to Ancient Athens. According to this story, Athens successfully repels the Atlantean attack. Atlantis ultimately falls out of favour with the deities and submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Although this idea has been influential and has captured the popular imagination, it is by and large considered to be pseudo-historical. Many attempts have been made to discover this fictional island. [1]

Lemuria

Lemuria was a imaginary continent proposed in the year 1864 by  Philip Sclater which was said to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean. The hypothesis was proposed as an explanation after the discovery of similar lemur fossils in Madagascar and India .Theories about Lemuria later became untenable when Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift was largely accepted by the scientific community, and the idea generally drifted in the realms of the pseudo-scientific. This idea still has some currency among Dravidian nationalists who see Lemuria as some sort of a Dravidian homeland, associated with a hoary Dravidian golden age. [2]

The chariots of the Gods

“Chariots of the Gods” is a book written in 1968 by the popular author Erich von Daniken . It postulates the hypothesis that several technologies  adopted by different ancient civilizations were provided by ancient astronauts who were accepted as gods. The main thesis of Chariots of the Gods is that extra-terrestrial beings greatly influenced the adoption of several ancient technologies. According to Von Daniken some ancient structures and artifacts appear to reflect sophisticated technological knowledge which was unknown at the time. Von Daniken suggests that these artifacts could have been produced by extra-terrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the knowhow of these technologies from extra-terrestrials. Many of those theories have now been completely debunked and falsified, and there is hardly any acceptance in science. This hypothesis is a classic case of pseudo-science, and is targeted mainly at a popular audience. We would like to see how such constructs are progressively eliminated from the human psyche and consciousness in the age of the internet and globalization.

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[1] Hale, John R. (2009). Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy. New York: Penguin. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-670-02080-5

[2] Ramaswamy, Sumathi (2004). The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24032-4.