Is There a Replication Crisis?

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In many cases, part of the problem is a education about how statistics works within the psychological community had lapsed. And so we had outsourced a form of critical thinking into the black box of the computer. But i think in the long term, that kind of deep methodological critique can help science become better at a by showing it how to avoid certain kinds of cognitive biaces and statistical anomalies.

Everyone has heard of the term “pseudoscience”, typically used to describe something that looks like science, but is somehow false, misleading, or unproven. Many would be able to agree on a list of things that fall under its umbrella — astrology, phrenology, UFOlogy, creationism, and eugenics might come to mind. But defining what makes these fields “pseudo” is a far more complex issue. Given the virulence of contemporary disputes over the denial of climate change and anti-vaccination movements — both of which display allegations of “pseudoscience” on all sides — there is a clear need to better understand issues of scientific demarcation. Shermer and Gordin explore the philosophical and historical attempts to address this problem of demarcation.