(Pseudo)Scientific Jargon
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[edit] Definition
Pseudoscientific Jargon is the use of scientific sounding terminology to describe essentially pseudoscientific phenomena. Commonly, the goal of a pseudoscientist's use of such technical jargon is to overwhelm a laymen audience, so that the laymen audience may say "that sounds scientific" and buy into the pseudoscientific theory. Sometimes the use of pseudoscientific jargon is deliberate, as in the case of a con artist trying to sell quack medicine, or the use may be forgivable, as in the case of pseudoscientist trying to develop a new theory of the universe or mind without any post-high school education.
[edit] Origins
[edit] Examples
- "Only after applying a suitable stress, which forces the organism to regulate in response to this stress, can the energetic compensatory processes be made manifest for a short time, and in most cases, show a clear correspondence with the morphological findings.", an excerpt froma manual on Vega Testing, an alternative form of allergy diagnosis [1].
- "Make Water "Wetter" for Better Hydration. ... Counter Clockwise Molecular Spin of Water Molecules is the KEY! Diseased Cells Spin Clockwise, Healthy Cells Spin Counter Clockwise!", a description of so-called "energized water" [2].
- "Offers quantum biofeedback to reduce stressors on bio-electric field.", Spinninglight.com[3].
- "It is very interesting to me that in quantum physics the wave function is generally labeled PSI. Strangely enough, those individuals who through practice in altered states, or gifted through genetics that seem to sense more than others, call this gift the PSY function. ... Because of the laws that quantum physics seems to follow, the phenomenon of ESP is probable. Anything that has occurred in the past leaves an impression in the fabric of space-time (photon radiation mostly) and also in the total consciousness of the universe. That is the reason that trees, mountains and planets persist even in the unlikely event that nothing is observing them. The universal communication between quantum entities allows us to tap into these past events." Quantum Consciousness and Your Immortality: [4]
- Scientologists use a device called an e-meter, which is short for electroencephaloneuromentimpograph [5].
Recycling terminology from existing legitimate sciences is a favorite way for pseudoscientists to give credibility to their pseudoscientific claims. It is not hard to find pseudoscience couched between terms like "quanta", "vibrations", "strings", Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, or Einstein's Theories of Relativity.
