Book Review: Voodoo Science 505
| Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud | |
| author | Robert Park |
| pages | 230 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| rating | 4/5 |
| reviewer | chrisd |
| ISBN | 0195147103 |
| summary | Robert Park exposes how bad science propogates. |
The short review of Voodoo Science is that this is not a book that would make a good birthday gift for Alex Chiu or for that matter Deepak Chopra.
Voodoo Science is a happy little bon-bon of a book for the scientifically inclined. Robert Park is the head of the Washington office of the American Physical Society, and has worked inside the beltway helping the U.S. government and others understand the basics of science so they can make appropriate policy decisions. It is depressingly clear how badly they need it.
While there is a certain level of joy to be found in reading about Mr. Park's exploits debunking cranks and frauds, there is a sad realization that prominent legislators have no clue as to the physical laws that are the underpinnings of science. No, I wasn't surprised, but it was depressing nonetheless to see Trent Lott's name on a resolution designed to push through a patent on a "free energy" device, or Tom Harkin using his power to force the NIH to embrace alternative medicine as anything other than a placebo.
While fun, this isn't a perfect book. It is organized a little strangely, with subheadings throwing off the flow of reading, and at a little over 200 pages it seems too short.Park's mission with this book was not to dissect the great scientific frauds of all time, but I thought he could have spent more time on the issues he did bring up and less on trying to understand the Alex Chius of the world. Mr. Park is probably just trying to be polite, but in my reading of Voodoo Science he comes off as being too soft on the very targets of the book.
The case of cold fusion is a perfect example. His recounting of the famous events was right on, but it just fell flat when it came to to point the finger at Pons, Fleischman and the University of Utah for their complicity in fraud before the Utah state legislature. It is akin to writing a book about Enron and saying about Ken Lay: "It is likely he knew what he was doing was possibly improper."
I'd recommend Voodoo Science as a good gift to a younger reader, as it describes foundations of science in an accessible way. As you've probably gathered, an appropriate name for this book might be "The Laws of Thermodynamics and those that thought it didn't apply to them." As such, the book serves as a decent introduction to critical thinking about the physical world around us.
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Re:'Laws' (Score:1, Interesting)
Logic - love it or lump it.
Why not go insane?
Scientific Literacy (Score:2, Interesting)
Given the sorry state of affairs, it is not surprising that people beleive in perpetual motion machines and other devices that violate the laws of thermodynamics.
Re:'Laws' (Score:1, Interesting)
Damnit.
Re:Not all alternative medicine is a fraud (Score:2, Interesting)
On the other hand there are some 'mainstream' therapies like acupuncture and some parts of chiropractic that don't stand up to scientific scrutiny but are widely considered valid.
There's also the question of intent on the part of the practitioner. Whether or not a therapy is effective is a matter of fact that can be tested experimentally. Whether or not it's fraud is a matter of if the practitioner believes that it's beneficial.
Re:I've read this book as well (Score:4, Interesting)
Ann Arbor University
Director of Particle Acceleration
Just a question:
I went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and I've never heard of Ann Arbor University. Google hasn't either. Maybe you meant you meant that you teach at UMich but you're not listed in the university directory [umich.edu]. I'm just trying to understand who's speaking here before I decide on your credibility.
Park has been much critized himself, with reason (Score:5, Interesting)
See what Nobel Laureate and professor of Physics Brian D. Josephson has to say [cam.ac.uk] of Robert Park.
In Washinton Post, Charles Platt comments like so [washingtonpost.com].
For a good commentary on Park vs Cold Fusion, go to the source [mv.com].
"When I began my physical studies [in Munich in 1874] and sought advice from my venerable teacher Philipp von Jolly... he portrayed to me physics as a highly developed, almost fully matured science... Possibly in one or another nook there would perhaps be a dust particle or a small bubble to be examined and classified, but the system as a whole stood there fairly secured, and theoretical physics approached visibly that degree of perfection which, for example, geometry has had already for centuries."
Hermits and Cranks (Score:4, Interesting)
(1) He considers himself a genius.
(2) He regards his colleagues, without exception, as ignorant blockheads....
(3) He believes himself unjustly persecuted and discriminated against. The recognized societies refuse to let him lecture. The journals reject his papers and either ignore his books or assign them to "enemies" for review. It is all part of a dastardly plot. It never occurs to the crank that this opposition may be due to error in his work....
(4) He has strong compulsions to focus his attacks on the greatest scientists and the best-established theories. When Newton was the outstanding name in physics, eccentric works in that science were violently anti-Newton. Today, with Einstein the father-symbol of authority, a crank theory of physics is likely to attack Einstein....
(5) He often has a tendency to write in a complex jargon, in many cases making use of terms and phrases he himself has coined.
Re:Homeopathy & "alternative" medicine (Score:4, Interesting)
We don't have a unified theory of quantum physics and gravity, but that still doesn't mean that I have to entertain some fraud who claims a unifying theory based on organic waves and universal harmony. Nor do I have to believe that magnets will cure AIDS, even though we have no cure for AIDS yet.
All I expect from a scientific claims is this: A description of an accepted/reviewed experimental method that gives statistically concrete results that can be reproduced in any setting.
If that can't be given, it's a worthless waste of my time.
Re:Homeopathy & "alternative" medicine (Score:3, Interesting)
If physics says it's impossible, then that's a pretty strong argument that it doesn't work. As someone else said, if there's all this evidence for it, why don't these companies selling this stuff have FDA approval? All they would have to do is run the same tests ordinary drugs do.
Re:Homeopathy & "alternative" medicine (Score:3, Interesting)
Clouds, blue sky, and green trees are real phenomena. You can observe them independently of me. Anyone can see that they exist. We can then come up with explanations. Those clouds? That's caused by cotton, blowing on the wind. Blue sky? It's a result of all the water in the air. Green trees? The green is the result of a fine film of bacteria that cover leaves. These are all interesting explanations, but they are completely false. However, the phenomena they describe are as real as the table my computer sits on.
On the other hand, there is this tiny pink dragon sitting on my shoulder. Can you explain it? I can't. He says he's the last of his kind and that only I can see him. makes no sense to me, but it's TRUE. Don't dismiss what you can't explain. Oh, wait...you're not dismissing that idea because you can't explain it; you're dismissing it because you can't observe it. I claim that a phenomenon exists, but you can't confirm it. Why bother to try to explain it?
Of course, if there's money to be made in trying to convince you of the existence of my pink dragon, then the sky's the limit...all I need is to find loads of gullible and poorly educated people and sell them my book on finding their own pink dragon. Perhaps the dragon merely needs to be diluted before he's observable.
Don't accept what you can't see.
Re:Park has been much critized himself, with reaso (Score:2, Interesting)
You don't say....
Re:Homeopathy & "alternative" medicine (Score:4, Interesting)
No. It comes in pill form.
It is, in fact, the only effective treatment for malaria that exists.
There's also chloroquine and mefloquine.
See this page [ox.ac.uk], or hey, search google yourself.
Re:Not all alternative medicine is a fraud (Score:2, Interesting)
I agree with most of your statement but I think the scientific community can continue with BOTH opinions rather than having to choose. Yes, we need to do research on alternative medicine. It's possible that there is really something to some of it. If any successes are due to the plecibo effect, that that is useful information also.
But these studies are going to take years. While we're waiting for the results, we need to be vocal about your opinion #1. People who are sick are quite desperate and lack the understanding of why these therapies are not mainstream/accepted. People always hope to find some kind of "mystery" cure to their problems. I think it's part of the American culture that's closely tied to conpiracy theories. We need to explain to people that when they take alternative medicine, they're taking a big risk. Most people I talk to usually try alternative medicine "because I don't have anything to lose!" Wrong-o! Just because something is billed as "natural" doesn't mean it's safe. If you eat a couple of toadstools, I guarantee you won't be feeling too hot!
I don't get upset at people who try alternative medicine anymore, or even those who encourage friends and strangers to try it. I'm upset at alternative medicine supporters for refusing to do high-quality scientific studies and I'm upset at the mainstream medical establishment for refusing to publically explain why these therapies are not accepted.
GMD
Science has nothing to do with human spaceflight (Score:3, Interesting)
He has a point. Much as I hate to say it, humans are ill-suited for space exploration and should stay here.
Anyone attempting to justify human spaceflight on economic or scientific grounds will run against the inevitable conclusion: robots can do it much better and much more cheaply than we can.
But that's basically irrelevant. Regardless of the economic arguments, as long as there is an opportunity to go, there will be people who want to do it. It is a significant part of human nature to explore the unknown and push the frontiers -- there's no economic or scientific reason to climb mountains, cross the Antarctic, or anything similar. Exploration of all kinds -- and space exploration in particular -- galvanize the entire human imagination in ways that very little else on Earth does. Why else would people be lining up to follow Dennis Tito's example in blowing a large fraction of their personal wealth -- not to mention putting their lives at significant risk -- just to see what Earth looks like from orbit?
Personally, I think that if launch costs could be reduced by a factor of 10, we would see nonprofit, private organizations conducting space exploration with corporate sponsorship, in the same way that other contemporary exploration activities occur today ...
Re:Homeopathy & "alternative" medicine (Score:3, Interesting)
Testoserone cannot be swallowed.
WRONG. Testosterone, as a steroid, like cholesterol, can be and is absorbed by the digestive tract. I will give you that it's an exceedingly poor route of administration compared to injection. Neveretheless, the point is that herbal remedies, by being less pure and having less knowledge of what is in them, makes them potentially very dangerous.
Re:Homeopathy & "alternative" medicine (Score:1, Interesting)
This says nothing of the theraputic value of such a solution but the memory aspect is an accepted axiom of quantum theory.