From: george knysh
Message: 64555
Date: 2009-08-02
--- On Sun, 8/2/09, Koenraad Elst <koenraad.elst@...> wrote:
--- In cybalist@... s.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@.. .> wrote:
>
> Pseudo-science does not necessarily implies a lie. Usually people who do pseudo-science honestly believe in it, sometimes pseudo-science is more like a kind of fiction turned into a putative science. Hollow earth, Atlantis, blonde blue-eyed "superior" Aryans, Lemurian giant hermaphrodites are some of the examples of pseudo-scientific ideas that seduce many people along the decades, even being obsolete concepts.<
On second thought, you may be right. As a member of a skeptics' society, I find it annoying to see articles exposing cases of pseudo-science often marred by innuendo about knaves who, purely motivated by money concerns, deliberately decieve the gullible. Most deceive themselves and then sincerely lead the gullible on, even in the absence of lucre.
****GK: One must however remember that what passes for genuine science today may become tomorrow's silly prejudice. It's better not to exclude anyone from the debate (even if one is so annoyed by their "stupidity" that one declines to discuss with them personally).*****
> >
> >Millions believe in Creationism but that doesn't make them liars, unless they knowingly distort or the truth, There are many irrational beliefs sincerely help by honest people.<
And of course the Creationists are part of the debate, for it is possible to prove them wrong. There is no need to fear their participation, at least for people who know better and are capable of pointing out their mistakes.
****GK: Exactly. Ditto re the Evolutionists.*****
> Much of what we hold to be true may well turn out to be wrong upon acquiring better measurement tools, etc.
>
That is why ideas which may be dismissed as pseudo-science today, need not have been such in an earlier age. Racism was the science of the day in recent history. If you deny the right of speech to "racists", it means you have to burn the books of most intellectuals of the two centuries until 1945: Darwin, Voltaire, Hegel, Kant etc. etc., and politicians like Disraeli, slaves' emancipator Lincoln, anti-Nazi champion Churchill, can all be quoted making statements that would bring them to court under anti-racism laws today.
****GK: And no one can conclusively demonstrate that contemporary "political correctness" is a permanent acquisition let alone achievement of human intellectual endeavour. It is just as time bound as anything else.****
Kind regards,
KE