Pseudoscience

The Lavoochie crew’s discussion of Big Foot, pseudoscience and the scientific method runs into trouble! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Houston we have touched down. What is that? Sorry, Srex? T-Rex is boring. The scientific method has had his number for years. Oh, I agree. Bigfoot is far more exciting. But Sasquatch is pseudo-science. Uh-uh. We got video evidence, Pug. It's all over YouTube. Uh-huh. Oh, come on, Pug. You don't know Bigfoot is fake. Bigfoot is fake, boss. What's for me? Pug, your problem is you don't limit yourself to scientific observation. You stomp ahead into arbitrary conclusions. That's not the method. It's called bias. It's called having you two as a weather vein. And my finger in the wind smells a bunch of hot air. I tell you what stinks is the Trojan horse science becomes for ideological agendas. Like we're all supposed to bow down and worship academic credentials. Nobody's knocking scientific rigor, Bob. The empirical method for acquiring knowledge through observation, skepticism, testing, and experimental validation is tried and true. Not to mention the vast hope we got in keeping the quacks in the best. Who are you calling a duck dog? He means all of us, Bob. Bias is arguably the biggest millstone around our neck as a species of the city. Uh-huh. The enemy was in. Credit science for acknowledging we're all inclined to see what we want to see. Cognitive assumptions distort how things look to us, Bob. You're in denial. Lies, lies! All lies spread by my competitors! My kid, we've had zero progress since medieval peasants were three for us. Well, I ain't no ignoramus. I'm just saying pseudoscience doesn't have to be such a penalty. It's an ongoing uphill battle for sure. Well, that's not science's fault. Look, Bug, I'm all for facts. But human beings are complicated layered animals. We don't just waltz into a meat grinder of laws like sheep to the slaughter. We're the top of the food chain, dammit! And proud of that's geocentric crap, church boy. No, it's not. I'm not a stupid salamander waiting on brutal chance to assign me my place in the sun. I'm on my way to enslaving the sun, dog. Oh, not bad, Bob. Like the day the documentism resonates with a lot of technologists out there. That's the anthropocentric ego scaring at all. Ego has a place in the universe, Pug. Drive, baby! We're gonna guardrail so fast. Sometimes you gotta think outside the bar. Empiricism is about process, not absolute truth. Science holds bias at bay via an open mind, not by pronouncing absolute truth. I agree we can't be dogmatic. Objective, reliable, and reproducible facts must always be subject to further research. Oh, come here, you sweet dog. Touch me and I'll blast you like sodium in a beaker of H2O. Well, some scientists seem to forget that. For good reason! These culture wars have a lot of us suffering PTSD. And there's the problem. We fought tooth and nails for the past 500 years to extract society from freestyl. We're not going back. I don't disagree with that. Uh, Bob and Pug, I think you both make great points. You're Spock and McCoy. Two sides of a great coin. You great-blooded points here and Vulcan. Observation, measurement, experiment, analysis. It's the only way to keep us honor. Unless it has you throwing out humanity. That is illogical, Captain. The scientific method will lead to truth. With time. Meanwhile, we have to deal with reality in a wilderness of not knowing. Like Bigfoot. Scientists by nature don't like anything non-physical. If we can't see, hear, feel, or smell it, it ain't science. And that's wrong. Pretty short-sighted, actually. What if pseudoscience can forge ahead into scientific blind spots? Not possible for lab-bound technicians. I never thought of it that way. Ah, you're stretching it there, boss. But I suppose a 500-pound yeti could be instructive from a psycho-mythological perspective. God knows we need insight into Bob's brain. Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor. Not a psycho-murderological psycho mythology. It's a study of idiots. That's not true, but okay, okay, just their myth. Determine how they can be so dumb. Quite depressing, actually. Ignore the dog, Bob. Already done, boss! Just look at these gems. The acrylic emerald you seek sat in 24 karat plastic is cryptozoology. Study of cryptons. Ooh! Such a magnificent biodome of diverse specimiosity! They're creatures of fiction, Bob. Completely made up. Like you. What? You're a cartoon pod pal. Say what you want, but I'm real. I think, therefore, I am. Sasquatch roans only in Bob's head. Flaffice? Robinson. What? And Rob Father, Bob and I are transparental productions of a clearly traumatized cartoonist. A transfer? What did he just say? Whoa, Bigfoot's got a big family. People have wild imaginations. Myths reflect the cultures they serve. I guess we're fictional constructs that say more about our creator than anything. The imagination can be a powerful thing. And you guys are proof of that. Labucci feels real to me because you are authentic. You're so real, you practically write yourselves. It's the power of great characters. It's why I've always believed in you. We're stuck in his brain like a blood-sucking king. Oh, that's so sweet, viz. The power of cryptids is in our reaction to this. Please tell me I am not a figment of C.S. Robinson's imagination. Roger Patterson knew that. Roger, who? Is he real? Here, draw this, boss. California cowboy with a 16 millimeter camera. Oh, the guy who filled Sasquatch crossing a creek. Bluff Creek in Northern California. Oh, please. He already had a book out on the abominable snowman. The guy was a fraudster. A rich fraudster. That's because frame number 352 went viral. And that's saying something for 1967. 1967? Was it really that longer? That's not a pop cultural icon! Something's not right. There you go. Much better. Well, experts claim the swinging boobs, the rippling muscles, and the unhuman stride would have been impossible to fake. Even for Hollywood at the time. Bet old Roger milked it for all its worth. Oh, you bet it, wouldn't you? Made so much money the sky started raining lawsuits. Oh, friends and family. You gotta love them. Was it worth it? I asked. Uh oh. What'd you find, boss? Oh, nothing. Let's move on to Mothman. Well, luck here. Recently, an old film negative has surfaced showing old Roger practicing the stuff with his brother-in-law. Oh boy, a dress rehearsal two years earlier, Bob. Not good. Well then you have it. Boys and girls, always right away from pseudoscience. Wait a minute. What about your psycho-mytho-popo, whatever, pug? If I was a snake oil salesman, Bob? Pug, you know I'm with you on the rational, mental, stable side, right? I'm just helping Bob not feel left out, okay? I heard that, boss. All these campfire tales, blurry photos, rumors, and eyewitness reports, don't fool me. Uh-huh. This is outrageous! Oh, come on, Bob! You can't seriously think the moon landing was faked! Traitor! You were one of them all along! I mean, modern flat earthers? Just look at this list! Okay, that's enough for today. Scroll down some more, Flatface. I gotta see this intellectual train right now, Flatface, don't! Crop circles, ancient astronauts? No, Voss, stop! Creation? Creation boy. You should have stopped while you had him, pug! Creationism! Flatface, you scratch the old flea bag! I forgot you were religious, boss. What are you, a Mormon? No, he's a Jehovah's Witness. I am not. I'm a Seventh-day Adventist. Just keep your cult on its compound with the compost toilets. We believe in electricity around here. That's outrageous! Boss, let me excommunicate the little heretic. I got news for the dog. First of all, SDAs are not a cult. But secondly, what the heck is creationism doing on a pseudoscience list? Flatface, where are you sourcing this nonsense? Meow! He gets it from Gemini, who gets it from Google, who gets it from the internet, who gets it from scientists with PTSD, trying to prevent the Christian right from tearing down the fundamental American principle of separation of church and state, that we may all stand free in the might of God's grace to exercise the sacred freedom of conscience. Endoubt every human being, no matter who you are, what you are, or how poor you are. I gotta guarantee you I healed the goal. A thousand foot stomping your hands. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find the righteous unjustly lumped in with the rabble of the earth. Don't forget to go. No, no, you're right, you're right. There's no excusing these liars in charlatans. The Bermuda Triangle? I mean crop circles? Come on. Acupuncture. Anti-vaccination water fueled cars. No, no, they actually killed a guy over there. Climate denialism. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Colin cleansing.