Detecting BS
How to tell if you are being fed a line of Bull

BS, crapola, Horse-pucky, nonsense, tutti-frutti, whatever you call it, it is everywhere. In the age of the internet, completely incorrect information based on nothing more than somebody's desire to sell you something is everywhere.

In this page we hope to arm you with resources to help you determine truth from tosh, reality from really stupid, horse sense from horse manure.

Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Toolkit

Carl Sagan is remembered as one of America's favorite scientists and science popularizers. He was a champion of science and reason in the face of nonsense and superstition. In his book A Demon Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark he introduced a Baloney Detection Toolkit: http://www.vdrsyd.com/planet/baloney.html

Michael Shermer's toolkit

Michael Shermer, the publisher of Skeptic magazine and president of the Skeptic's society has his own toolkit.

Robert Park's "Seven Signs of Bogus Science"

Robert L. Park is a professor of physics at the University of Maryland at College Park and director of public information for the American Physical Society. He is also the author of Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford University Press, 2002). In 2003 he wrote an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education that had begun as a list of things for Judges to look for when evaluating so-called 'expert witnesses'.

The "Denialism Blog" on "The Unified Theory of the Crank"

http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2007/04/30/unified-theory-of-the-crank/

Scott Berkun's "How to detect BS"

Scott Berkun is a best-selling author and public speaker. He writes books, consults with Fortune 500 companies, and taught creative thinking at the University of Washington. He wrote an essay on his website on how to detect BS.

Warren Siegel's "Are You A Quack?"

http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~siegel/quack.html

Agent Orange's Propaganda & Debating Techniques and Cult Test

Agent Orange (an Internet pseudonym) is an Alcoholics Anonymous survivor who has extensive writings on cults and cult-like organizations. His writings will help you realize when you are being manipulated and fed propaganda.

Lifehacker: How to Determine If A Controversial Statement Is A Scientifically True

The Lifehacker blog interview Phil Plait and David McRaney for some obvious and not so obvious tips for researching a claim.

Forbes.com: 10 Questions to Distinguish Real From Fake Science

Forbes.com is one of the most famous bussiness & economy magazine, which has a very useful article, by Emily Willingham, on 10 questions you should make to distinguish real science from fake science. These questions help you to develop critical thinking and, consequently, helps you not to fall for hoaxes.

Click here to read it.



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