Fake Science

Doubt is one of the biggest advances to science. It leads to significant break throughs in fields where the goal seemed unreachable, the willing to do something that seemed unreasonable and push past unpassable limits, create something crazy. Doubt however beneficial can be over used like every other thing in existence, too much water can cause one to drown. These are the cases where the person’s doubts of tested science can require less doubt and more blind faith on something that lacks true backing, and even this can go a step further to a point where people will openly believe and create false truths to prove that their absurd idea is not only possible but truth. These ideas are than spread, as fact, via any means possible whether that be social media or a more traditional approach, but as they ideas are presented as fact it lures in and convinces those who are not openly aware of the insanity they are presented. This “fake news” than turns into something much more dangerous, fake science. Fake science has many forms most famous probably be that of the flat earth theory, but also containing fake medical advice and even fake wildlife as few other popular examples. The flat earth theory, by far the most famous and largest steps backwards in the field of astronomy ever. This theory believes that the earth is flat instead of the spherical shape that we have been led to believe. What proof does this theory present itself with? The most 2 commonly used argument in support of flat earth, but for scientific purposes they will cite the Bedford Level Experiment. The Bedford Level Experiment involved the use of pole of equal height place on to different points of a six-mile river that was almost completely still. The results were that when viewed from one end of the river all the pulls lined up perfectly, completely disproving the curvature of the earth.("Bedford Level Experiment" 2018) According to the earth’s curve horizon six-foot-tall pole six miles away should be completely hidden, so even if it was taller than six feet it should at least not be aligned perfectly right? Now here is the fun part, light does this really weird thing, it bends, this is called refraction. Standard refraction would only bring the pole up another two feet at six miles, not quite the six feet needed to make up for curve horizon. ("Bedford Level Experiment" 2018) But wait there's more, as that is only standard refraction, the terrain must be considered, the terrain was an almost completely still body of water; water just so happens to greatly increase refraction and still water will do so even more. These buffs to refraction lead to a very strange thing where the six-mile river appears to be almost perfectly flat. (Fluhrer 2018) Now that the “evidence” deciphered why is it so bad that people believe in the flat earth; that’s the thing, it's not. Belief in a lie on its own is not actually harmful to the people around but it is when the lie is spread that it becomes harmful. Flat earthers spread their ideas not only online but also to their children, leaving the schools with an interesting problem, how do you unteach a kid who starting beliefs include that everything you say is a lie? Medical science is a very important field that has always had a skeptical eye following it; as it is the science that we require most. One should always be skeptical and aware of what they put in their body. They must also be vigilant to what information they are given is fact and 3 what is an old wives tale. The best modern example of fake news effecting people negatively in the medical field is vaccines. Vaccines where created with the purpose of eliminating diseases by allowing the immune system to become immune to the disease by being introduced to a small sample of the disease that it is more than capable of handling. Now what could be wrong with a preemptive strike against diseases? Well, apparently it can autism according to that random twitter vlogger with no actual scientific experience at all. There is no scientific evidence to back this claim at all, yet somehow it managed to cause a panic and convince a bunch of parents to not vaccinate their children. Due to children not being vaccinated several nearly extinct diseases are making a comeback including measles, mumps, and chicken pox. (Sifferlin 2014) Cryptid: an obscure or undocumented creature that often originates from folklore. By far the most entertaining as well as least dangerous form of fake science, it is full of crazy creature that more than likely don’t exist though people love to believe they do. Some famous cryptids are big foot, Nessy, the Dogman, el Chupacabra, werewolves, and the thunderbird. Most of the evidence for these creatures is faked, for instance Nessy’s day view picture was confirmed to be a picture of a stick the dark that the photographer lied about. Some cryptids in contrast are actually based actual animals that have been misidentified. Two examples being el Chupacabra and the jackalope, el Chupacabra is actually a coyote that is suffer from mange, mange causes loss of hair/fur and loss of sanity, and a the jackalope is actually just a rabbit with tumors growing from its head that appear to be antlers. Many of the images or videos you see of cryptids is sadly faked though. Why would someone what to make a fake video? Well simply 4 for a chance at either wealth or fame from proving big foot exists, but as they can't find the proof they make it up. Overall the effects of fake science can either be harmless or extremely dangerous. It can be mere entertainment or a complete devolution of knowledge. All that can be done to counter the effects of fake science is to create a well-informed public that can decipher the difference between real and fake news that is spread across the internet. An informed public is not only useful to those that seek to improve society but is also a menace to anyone who would seek to harm the delicate balance that holds together the society. So, keep kids in schools and keep moving forward.