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Xavier Villemaire, Bailey Reimer, Kelsey Miller, Caitlyn Searle

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Post #1: Watchlist - Often appeals to emotion

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Post #1: Watchlist - Often appeals to emotion

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Definition - Often appeals to emotions is when pseudoscience is utilized to prey upon individuals who are vulnerable. Utilizing personal anecdotes or vague statements to gain validity.

Connection - This photo refers to psychics and the malicious tactics utilized to prey upon emotionally vulnerable people. Often people's tragedies against them. They utilize personal anecdotes and vague statements to dissuade any skepticism the person in question may have. In this specific scenario, the pseudoscience "money is often involved" is usually associated with this watchlist as well, as vulnerable people will go to great lengths to address their tragedies with psychics, and will often pay large sums of money for the service.

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Post #2: Watchlist - Results can't be reproduced or verified

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Post #2: Watchlist - Results can't be reproduced or verified

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Definition - Results can't be verified is the antithesis of science. A complete disregard for the scientific method of measuring the accuracy and ability to demonstrate validity of certain claims.

Connection - In this photo, we see two individuals seeking answers in two different fashions. One is seeking answers through books (which we can perceive as a more scientific method) and the other seeking answers in outer space (in this instance, this can be perceived as a more faith-based way of learning). Science has strict rules in that they must follow most of the critical thinking process by defining a claim, evaluating the source, evaluating the evidence, and coming to a conclusion. This conclusion must be a conclusion that can be replicated by going through the same steps. Faith oftentimes is a distorted view of objective truth that does not need answers that can be produced at all, often backed up by groupthink (for example; most religions).

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Definition- Appeal to authority in pseudoscience is when a believer uses credentials of authority to validate a claim. Instead of using evidence they will use lets say a celebrities view and automatically believe it is correct. For example, "This person is famous so they must be right".

Connection- This photo is an example of appeal to authority. If this had been posted on a Youtube channel from someone famous, most of their viewers would believe this UFO sighting was real. Though it could've been edited or been a human aircraft, people will believe almost anything an authority says. This is a red flag when it comes to pseudoscience because people shouldn't believe everything they hear from authority's as the fame doesn't make them automatically correct. There should always be evidence behind a claim.

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Definition - Does not progress is a pseudoscience that has had no advancements or changes since its creation. The claim has not had any recent revelations and these claims are often debunked.

Connection - The link attached to this post is of an ancient tribe called the "Chimu" that would respond to catastrophic weather by sacrificing children in hopes that their sacrifice would appease their gods and bring good weather. This ideology has not had any scientific proof to back up the claim.

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'What we've got is no ambiguity at all - all of these kids have their chests cut open,' Verano said

Archeologists working in Peru have found what they say is the site of the largest child sacrifice in the world. About 140 children and more than 200 animals - probably llamas - were killed in the middle of the 1400s. A civilization known as the Chimu sacrificed the children in response to catastrophic weather, the scientists suggest. An unusual layer of thick mud, a sign of an extreme El Nino event, covered the burial pits.

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The children's bodies were buried on the skirt of a bluff that, six centuries years ago, overlooked the Pacific. It now overlooks the ocean and a housing development. Gabriel Prieto, an archaeologist at the National University of Trujillo, was working nearby when the owner of a pizza restaurant told him construction workers had uncovered an "unusual concentration of human remains" in a dune.

The number of human skulls that emerged from the sand stunned Prieto. They were in an "excellent state of preservation," he said.

The site was less than a kilometer - about a 15-minute walk - from the ancient Chimu metropolis of Chan Chan, the largest city in pre-Colombian South America. That the Chimu sacrificed children here, and in such numbers, came as a surprise to researchers. Archaeologists knew the Inca people, who conquered the Chimu at the end of the 15th century, killed children in mountaintop rituals. But before this research, no similar accounts existed for the Chimu.

"It is an unknown chapter that we can add to the big book on ancient sacrifice in world societies," said John Verano, an archaeologist at Tulane University, who, with Prieto and their colleagues, is an author of a PLOS One study published Wednesday. The sacrificial site, covering 7,500 square feet, is named Huanchaquito-Las Llamas for a nearby coastal town and the llamas.

It is disturbing and disquieting to see the sacrifice of children on any scale

Prieto and his colleagues excavated the site between 2011 and 2016. Boys and girls were killed, the scientists say, citing anatomical details and DNA extracted from teeth. The study authors estimate that the children were between 5 and 14 years old. Radiocarbon dating placed the mass sacrifice around the year 1450.

Many world religions refer to child sacrifice, Verano said, such as the binding of Isaac in the Bible. But archaeological evidence is rare, and attributing sacrifice as the cause of death for human remains is often difficult. Not so in this case.

"What we've got is no ambiguity at all - all of these kids have their chests cut open," Verano said. Horizontal marks, similar to incisions made in some thoracic surgeries, cut across their chests. This was probably a way to remove the children's hearts.

"This site really represents something remarkable," said Haagen Klaus, a bioarcheologist at George Mason University who was not involved with this research.

"It is disturbing and disquieting to see the sacrifice of children on any scale," he said. "We study sacrifice not for the gruesome detail, but as anthropologists and bioarcheologists, our reasoning is to reconstruct a larger living world."

Human sacrifice was rarely a simple transaction, said Klaus, who cautioned against too "simplistic and robotic" theories. Children, to long-ago South Americans, had a "different kind of personhood" than what we understand, he said.

Children were said to come from mountain spirits who were old and recycled ancestors. Infants were supposedly untamed and wild. Children existed in the space between the supernatural and human, and as they grew, they became "a bit more human every day." Sacrifice was a way to influence ancestors - whom Klaus described as the "most powerful entities" in these peoples' cosmos - using something partly supernatural and wholly precious.

"Around 1450, that was right at the peak of Chimu power, at their greatest moment," Verano said. The mass sacrifice "is something that was directed by a state-level society." The Chimu civilization was a powerful empire along the Peruvian north, with millions of inhabitants. They fished along the coast and raised herds of llamas for meat and alpacas for wool.

A mega-El Nino event would have struck these people "like a punch in the stomach," Verano said.

The region is arid and receives about a tenth of an inch of rain a year. Klaus agreed "very strongly" with the interpretation that this sacrifice was a response extreme weather. Heavy rains could have led to flash floods, agricultural collapse and vanished fishing stocks. At least one empire preceding the Chimu crumbled after the heavy, monthslong rains of a severe El Nino.

The site contains prints of dogs and other animals preserved in what had been wet mud. In places, heavy foot traffic, by adults in sandals and barefoot children, were visible in the mucky surface. Sacrificial burials were dug through the mud. "The thick layer of mud, right on top of the clean sand, with evidence of footprints, shows the connection between the rains and the sacrificial event," Prieto said.

Excavations continue in the area, Verano said. The researchers found a second sacrificial site, which may be as massive as the first, about a thousand yards away. Most recently, they found what may be a third location. "The story's not over yet."
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Ancient civilization sacrificed more than 100 of their children to stop bad weather, say archaelogists

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'What we've got is no ambiguity at all - all of these kids have their chests cut open,' Verano said

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Definition- Red herring is an attempt to redirect or mislead a conversation to distract from the real questions at hand. It is when someone brings in irrelevant information to lead people away from the main point. In pseudoscience it may be used in conversations if they are asked for evidence they might try and redirect the conversation to something else to avoid answering the main question.

Connection- I chose to use the photo above to help create an example of red herring to help create a connection. A group of paranormal investigators are exploring a haunted house where they are looking to find evidence of ghosts using cameras and record audio. During this investigation someone starts discussing unrelated conspiracy's about to government cover ups. The red herring in this example is redirection into conspiracy theories rather then the main goal of gathering evidence of paranormal activity.

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Post #6: Red Flag- Suppression by authorities

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Post #6: Red Flag- Suppression by authorities

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Definition- Suppression is the act of preventing something to become known or discussed and authorities means individuals or even institutions that hold a higher power that can have control over information. Suppression by authorities (Ex. Government) in the realm of pseudoscience means an attempt to suppress certain ideas or findings.

Connection- The photo above is of Wilhelm Reich. He proposed the concept of orgone energy, which he claimed was a universal life force that could be harnessed for various therapeutic and technological purposes. In the 1950s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began investigating Reich's claims. The FDA labeled Reich's devices as fraudulent and took legal action against him, and ended with his imprisonment. This is an example of suppression by authorities where they suppressed his ideas with legal action when they could've had a scientific debate.

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Definition: Ideology is a set of beliefs or system of ideas attributed to a group of people (political party or followers of a certain religion).

Connection: The photo shown is of people attending mass at a church. Although there is no real scientific proof of the existence of God (and there most likely never will be) many people still choose to believe on faith alone. Christianity in particular has a lot of beliefs that all of the members follow such as Christian holidays and the meaning behind them, and believing in Jesus and the story surrounding his birth. Although the only evidence that Jesus truly rose from the dead is in the Bible (evaluate source, evaluate evidence) there is historical evidence to prove he was at one point a real person which most atheists accept. Although there are differences between the Christian religions these beliefs are rooted in all Christian ideology and the story does not differ between other branches of the Christian church.

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Definition: Agenticity is attributing reasons for belief to "agents" / a higher power like God or aliens.

Connection: Although it is widely believed that by most people that the Egyptians built the pyramids, many people argue that aliens actually helped them build them from the top down (since it would have been too difficult for them to do it alone). This theory has been debunked countless times by the simple fact that there is no concrete proof of the existence of aliens.

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Post #8 Reason For Belief - Emotional Connection

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Post #8 Reason For Belief - Emotional Connection

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Definition - An emotional attachment, relationship or bond are all things that can create bias and change how you critical thinking works. This can lead to a person now believing in something they previously did not because their emotions are being targeting

Connection - Emotional Connection between two people usually can come from a shared experience or understanding, having similar values and feeling supported and understood. Emotional Connections can sometimes be something we want to believe rather than something you actually believe in. Regardless of this it can shift the way you think about certain topics

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Post #11 Reason for belief - Perception and Observation 

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Post #11 Reason for belief - Perception and Observation 

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Definition - Perception and Observation is a major factor in the way people interpret and understand the things they see and experience.

Connection - Humans will always tend to look for and chase things that support what they already believe and can sometimes ignore or misinterpret the things that try to challenge beliefs. These bias can shift the way we think and what we believe in.

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Definition: In psuedoscience something being all natural or naturally occurring is often a reason for belief

Connection: Crystals are believed to have healing properties and mystical powers. Crystals are a mineral that are said to have been used for years by many different groups of people such as psychics (group think) for fortune telling, protection and well being. There are many different kids of crystals with different properties or healing abilities. Because most crystals come from the earth and occur naturally many people believe they can have special properties. There is a lot of skepticism with crystals having these special properties as there is no solid proof besides word of mouth. Crystals also correlate with the red flag ancient wisdom and this belief that they have special powers has been passed down for generations.

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Definition - Proof by verbosity often refers to when the information is shared without always having a proper critical thinking process beforehand. Sometimes people can just toss up random information and create new unreliable sources which can be a major red flag.

Connection - An example of proof by verbosity would be aliens. There are so many stories and so many people believe in them because of what other people have said meanwhile there is a lack of concrete evidence.