How to Bash Pseudoscience

[Sunsettommy]

Blatant Opportunist

March-April 1998

EXCERPT:

I personally am proud to have what many would call a
classic engineering background. Real degrees from real
schools and a breadth of hard earned real experiences.
Industrial, aerospace, self-directed, and educational. As a
result, I very genuinely and very strongly believe that…

• The scientific method works. In which you propose
a falsifiable theory, test that theory, then invite
others to independently attack it.

• Those laws of thermodynamics reverify themselves
on countless occasions each and every day. These
laws are (1) you can’t win; (2) you can’t break even,
and (3) if you play the game, you are sure to lose.

• Each field has its secret insider gotchas. These are
certain to cause major grief to the casual inquirer.
Accurately measuring rms power or doing low Dt
calorimetry are two obvious examples.

• Most labwork ends up dead wrong. Either by not
measuring what you think it does. Or easily getting
misinterpreted, leading to wrong conclusions.

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