The big idea
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It borrows everything except the vulnerability
What separates pseudoscience is not its subject but what it does when evidence disagrees.
Scientific Thinking · Lesson 5
Pseudoscience and Scientific Misconduct
beginner⏱ 18 min · 7 cards
Try it
Spot the Marker
“It works, but only for those genuinely open to it.”
Which pseudoscientific marker is doing the work?
Identify which pseudoscientific move each claim relies on.
Three different things
Do not conflate them
Tap each.
Key term
The Galileo defence
Does being rejected suggest you are right?
tap to reveal ↻
No
Semmelweis was rejected and correct. Countless others were rejected and wrong — we simply do not remember them. What distinguished him was data, not rejection.
Nuance
Twelve years
Maester Note
The 1998 MMR paper was fully retracted in 2010 after undisclosed conflicts and misrepresented data came to light. Self-correction worked — and not fast enough to prevent harm.
Quick check
When is a truncated y-axis legitimate?
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