Eli5 -> Science vs pseudoscience

Question

Hello everyone,
Wanted to know what constitutes a “science” compared to a “pseudoscience.” Also have there been pseudosciences in the past that later became an actual science? Any examples. Thanks.

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Answer 1

So, science by definition is understanding our world through observation and experiment.

Meaning we watch things happen, or set up experiments to watch things happen, to try and understand what is going on.

For example, if we want to know what causes thing B to happen, a scientist might propose that Experiment A will cause thing B to happen. So they will set up Experiment A, and see if thing B happens.

And if it happens Multiple Times, like every time experiment A is run, then we can be confident that Experiment A, whatever it is, causes thing B.

But that’s the crucial part, these experiments and observations need to be REPEATABLE. That’s why scientific papers include HOW they did the experiment. So anyone else can go and try and recreate the experiment and see if Experiment A actually causes thing B to happen, or if the original scientists fucked something up or didn’t account for something.

This is the basics of the scientific method. Have a Question -> do research -> make a hypothesis -> conduct and experiment -> did it work? If yes, analyze the data and draw your conclusions. See if your hypothesis was right.

Pseudoscience is when someone believes or think that something is based on the scientific method, but in reality it fails to meet that criteria.

For example, things like Astrology and Homeopathy are pseudoscience because people believe that thing C causes thing D. When in reality thing C and D have no correlation to each other, there’s was just a coincidence once that made it seem like thing C causes thing D, when in reality those results are not reproducible, meaning there’s no way to prove it.

Another example is things like the Bermuda Triangle, where there is all kinds of evidence and hypothesis to why this area causes so many “strange” disappearances, when in reality there’s no proof that something is causes them, and also no real proof that these disappearances are so “strange”. In reality many can be chalked up to faulty equipment, a section of ocean buffeted by terrible storms, and the fact that it is a really really busy part of the world, with thousands and ships and planes passing through it, so of course some accidents are going to happen.