Field of Science

Science & Pseudoscience - Senior Seminar

Senior Seminar is one of those "it sounds like a good idea" sort of things that actually doesn't work so good for several reasons. Many of my colleagues consider it a waste of time and therefore spend very little time on it, and wow, if they aren't right as a result! In an effort to wrest a bit of thoughtfulness from our seniors, discussions of various science/pseudoscience issues have proven to be pretty useful although it always dismays the Phactor how difficult to impossible it is for some to part with the woo in their personal lives. While considering a wide array of alternative medical remedies, one student related that her father had treated his cancer with one of these alternative therapies and recovered. This made her peers very uncomfortable about offering any further comment. So the instructor must wade in. "How fortunate for him. So what do you actually know?" After a long silence, another brave student offered, "He recovered; that's all you know." Give her a gold star. This precise point is what is not clear to almost everyone including biology majors. In a non-scientific situation, you cannot know why this person's cancer disappeared, presuming there was no misdiagnosis, which is always a possibility if the person generally foregoes regular medical treatment. And so it goes, but one out of 12 isn't too bad, is it? Oh, yes, the pre-meds were not first and foremost in grasping this important detail. Wait until we get to evolution and medicine!

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