i remember he has a discussion of this in the better angels of our nature, because i remember when stephen levitt published fr economics. Andb he takes it like four pages of alysis of why this is not correct. But then the bottom line is, nothing big like crime or religion is going to have a single causal factor. The only partial exception i can think to that is it does seem that once they took the lead out of gasolene, kids got smarter.
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.