# data[].attributes.body
Nostradamus Predictions

# data[].attributes.body
Radical theories are easily believable when science can't yet explain them, such as the existence of alien life.
Connection:
Belief in alien life is accepted by many as science is yet unable to confirm or deny the possibility. It remains unknown to us.

# data[].attributes.headline
Reason for Belief 3: Emotional Connection

# data[].attributes.subject
Reason for Belief 3: Emotional Connection

# data[].attributes.body
When something happens to us that makes us want to believe something, we build an emotional connection to that belief. Such as contacting a medium after a loved one dies.
Connection:
Many people, who may not have originally been believers, will turn towards the belief that people can contact the dead based on their wish to speak to deceased loved ones.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can I contact a deceased relative on my own? * Erin Pavlina, Intuitive Counselor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Question: I would like to be able to talk with my deceased mother. How do I do that, and how do I know if it's real? Read Erin Pavlina's answer.

# data[].attributes.body
It's easier to believe in a simple concept such as being psychic or ghosts being real than it is to understand the science behind what we are experiencing.
Connection:
This articles explains how easy it is to believe in such things as ghosts if you don't understand science behind sightings such as psychology and misperceptions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Do you believe in ghosts?

Credit: Annette Shaff | shutterstock

If you believe in ghosts, you're not alone. Cultures all around the world believe in spirits that survive death to live in another realm. In fact, ghosts are among the most widely believed of paranormal phenomena: Millions of people are interested in ghosts, and a 2005 Gallup poll found that 37 percent of Americans believe in haunted houses - and nearly half believe in ghosts.

Ghosts have been a popular subject for millennia, appearing in countless stories, from the Bible to "Macbeth," and even spawning their own folklore genre: ghost stories. Part of the reason is that belief in ghosts is part of a larger web of related paranormal beliefs, including near-death experience, life after death and spirit communication.

People have tried to (or claimed to) communicate with spirits for ages; in Victorian England, for example, it was fashionable for upper-crust ladies to hold séances in their parlors after tea and crumpets with friends. In America during the late 1800s, many psychic mediums claimed to speak to the dead - but were exposed as frauds by skeptical investigators such as Harry Houdini.

It wasn't until the past decade that ghost hunting became a widespread interest around the world. Much of this is due to Syfy cable TV's hit series "Ghost Hunters," now in its 10th season of not finding good evidence for ghosts. The show spawned several spin-offs, including "Ghost Hunters International" and "Ghost Hunters Academy," and it's not hard to see why the show is so popular: the premise is that anyone can look for ghosts. The two original stars were ordinary guys (plumbers, in fact) who decided to look for evidence of spirits. Their message: You don't need to be an egghead scientist, or even have any training in science or investigation. All you need is some free time, a dark place and maybe a few gadgets from an electronics store. If you look long enough, any unexplained light or noise might be evidence of ghosts.

The idea that the dead remain with us in spirit is an ancient one, and one that offers many people comfort; who doesn't want to believe that our beloved but deceased family members aren't looking out for us, or with us in our times of need? Most people believe in ghosts because of personal experience; they have seen or sensed some unexplained presence.

Personal experience is one thing, but scientific evidence is another matter. Part of the difficulty in investigating ghosts is that there is not one universally agreed-upon definition of what a ghost is. Some believe that they are spirits of the dead who for whatever reason get "lost" on their way to The Other Side; others claim that ghosts are instead telepathic entities projected into the world from our minds.

Still others create their own special categories for different types of ghosts, such as poltergeists, residual hauntings, intelligent spirits and shadow people. Of course, it's all made up, like speculating on the different races of fairies or dragons: there are as many types of ghosts as you want there to be.

There are many contradictions inherent in ideas about ghosts. For example, are ghosts material or not? Either they can move through solid objects without disturbing them, or they can slam doors shut and throw objects across the room. Logically and physically, it's one or the other. If ghosts are human souls, why do they appear clothed and with (presumably soulless) inanimate objects like hats, canes and dresses - not to mention the many reports of ghost trains, cars and carriages?

If ghosts are the spirits of those whose deaths were unavenged, why are there unsolved murders, since ghosts are said to communicate with psychic mediums, and should be able to identify their killers for the police. And so on; just about any claim about ghosts raises logical reasons to doubt it.

Ghost hunters use many creative (and dubious) methods to detect the spirits' presences, often including psychics. Virtually all ghost hunters claim to be scientific, and most give that appearance because they use high-tech scientific equipment such as Geiger counters, electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors, ion detectors, infrared cameras and sensitive microphones. Yet none of this equipment has ever been shown to actually detect ghosts.

Other people take exactly the opposite approach, claiming that the reason that ghosts haven't been proven to exist is that we simply don't have the right technology to find or detect the spirit world. But this, too, can't be correct: Either ghosts exist and appear in our ordinary physical world (and can therefore be detected and recorded in photographs, film, video and audio recordings), or they don't. If ghosts exist and can be scientifically detected or recorded, then we should find hard evidence of that - yet we don't. If ghosts exist and cannot be scientifically detected or recorded, then all the photos, videos and other recordings claimed to be evidence of ghosts cannot be ghosts. With so many basic contradictory theories - and so little science brought to bear on the topic - it's not surprising that despite the efforts of thousands of ghost hunters on television and elsewhere for decades, not a single piece of hard evidence of ghosts has been found.

Many people believe that support for the existence of ghosts can be found in no less a hard science than modern physics. It is widely claimed that Albert Einstein suggested a scientific basis for the reality of ghosts; if energy cannot be created or destroyed but only change form, what happens to our body's energy when we die? Could that somehow be manifested as a ghost?

Carol Anne: Hello? What do you look like? Talk louder, I can't hear you! Poltergeist helped define a paranormal culture in the United States.

It seems like a reasonable assumption - unless you understand basic physics. The answer is very simple, and not at all mysterious. After a person dies, the energy in his or her body goes where all organisms' energy goes after death: into the environment. The energy is released in the form of heat, and transferred into the animals that eat us (i.e., wild animals if we are left unburied, or worms and bacteria if we are interred), and the plants that absorb us. There is no bodily "energy" that survives death to be detected with popular ghost-hunting devices.

While amateur ghost hunters like to imagine themselves on the cutting edge of ghost research, they are really engaging in what folklorists call ostension, or legend tripping. It's basically a form of playacting in which people "act out" a legend, often involving ghosts or supernatural elements. In his book " Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live" (University Press of Mississippi, 2003) folklorist Bill Ellis points out that ghost hunters themselves often take the search seriously and "venture out to challenge supernatural beings, confront them in consciously dramatized form, then return to safety. ... The stated purpose of such activities is not entertainment but a sincere effort to test and define boundaries of the 'real' world.'"

If ghosts are real, and are some sort of as-yet-unknown energy or entity, then their existence will (like all other scientific discoveries) be verified by scientists through controlled experiments - not by weekend ghost hunters wandering around abandoned houses in the dark late at night with cameras and flashlights.

In the end (and despite mountains of ambiguous photos, sounds and videos), the evidence for ghosts is no better today than it was a year ago, a decade ago or a century ago. There are two possible reasons for the failure of ghost hunters to find good evidence. The first is that ghosts don't exist, and that reports of ghosts can be explained by psychology, misperceptions, mistakes and hoaxes. The second option is that ghosts do exist, but that ghost hunters are simply incompetent. Ultimately, ghost hunting is not about the evidence (if it was, the search would have been abandoned long ago). Instead, it's about having fun with friends, telling stories, and the enjoyment of pretending to be searching the edge of the unknown. After all, everyone loves a good ghost story.

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.

Experiments suggest that children can distinguish fantasy from reality, but are tempted to believe in the existence of imaginary creatures, according to an article published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are Ghosts Real? | The Pseudoscience of Ghost Hunting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you believe in ghosts, you're not alone. Cultures all around the world believe in spirits that survive death to live in another realm. In fact, ghosts are among the most widely believed of paranormal phenomena: Millions of people are interested in ghosts, and a 2005 Gallup poll found that 37 percent of Americans believe in haunted houses - and nearly half believe in ghosts.

# data[].attributes.body
Mystical energy is often used to advertise items that are meant to positively influence people in some way without any real scientific backing.
Connection:
Many different types of rocks and gems are sold to us by advertising their ability to positively affect various aspects of our lives such as calmness, energy, happiness, or even romance while these stones have no real affect on the body at all. They are described as having mystical energy we just can't measure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This website is under construction. We will be adding more and more as time goes on, so please be patient.

Our rocks are more than geologic specimens. Each stone has been individually worked with to maximize its healing and magical potential. The rocks have been cleansed ( See About Cleansing) and charged ( See About Charging) with our unique process to amp up their properties, all the better to facilitate their work with you. Our owner and founder, Melissa Morgan, has spent a lifetime working with vibrations ( See About Us). She also used healing stones herself, to heal from a chronic medical condition. These minerals are more than beautiful; they are ready to help you realize your life's dreams, help you with your problems, help you heal your body and soul. More than anything else, these healing rocks are ready to facilitate you, taking the next steps in your journey, with grace. Ready to Rock.

All of our products are unique. Mother Nature made them in all their glory and beauty. We cleansed them. We charged them. We charged them some more. Now, they are ready to rock. These stones are ready and eager to help you achieve your heart's desire and your soul's deepest longing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This website is under construction. We will be adding more and more as time goes on, so please be patient. Our rocks are more than geologic specimens. Each stone has been individually worked with to maximize its healing and magical potential. The rocks have been cleansed (See About Cleansing) and charged (See About Charging) with...

# data[].attributes.body
Ancient Wisdom is the belief that those that lived centuries before us somehow know more about the world than we do and their methods would better benefit us.
Connection:
Traditional Chinese Medicine encompasses many medicinal treatments developed thousands of years ago in Asia. Money of these treatments involve use of dietary supplements and herbs, many of which can actually be dangerous.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
General overview of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) including the underlying concepts, treatments, and issues to consider if you would like to use TCM.

# data[].attributes.body
The suppressed by authorities red flag refers to conspiracies of authority figures suppressing useful medicines or items that would help others in order for them to control or make a profit.

Connection:
One of the best examples of suppression by authorities red flag is the conspiracy theory that the cure for cancer exists but is hidden by Big Pharma to continue making money off the need for cancer treatment when realistically they would profit greatly from such a discovery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Last week David Gorski wrote a excellent post about why we have not yet cured cancer. It turns out, cancer is a category of many individual diseases that are very challenging to treat. We have made steady progress, and many people with cancer can now be cured - but we have not discovered the one cure for all cancer. I personally am not convinced that we will discover a single cure for all cancer, at least not with any extrapolation of current technology. But if we continue to make progress as we are cancer will become an increasingly treatable and even curable type of disease.

This topic also brings up a meme that has been around for a long time - the notion that scientists have already cured cancer but the cure is being suppressed by the powers that be, to protect cancer as a source of income. In the comments to David's article, Zuvrick writes:

So we can find a cure. It has probably happened multiple times. But nobody wants to cure cancer. Too many researchers earn a living seeking a cure by remaining inside a narrow, restricted channel of dogma. Their institutions get grant money and survive from the funding. Big Pharma makes big bucks selling chemotherapy drugs, surgeons remove tumors and various radiation devices employ radiologists and firms making these machines. MRI and CT scans would not be needed for cancer if Rife technology were available today.

I have heard or read some version of this claim since before I entered medical school. Superficially it may sound like profound wisdom (cynicism is a cheap way to sound wise) - but the idea collapses under the slightest bit of logical scrutiny.

First, as David thoroughly pointed out, the claim is implausible. Cancer is a complex set of diseases that defy sincere attempts at a cure. Those who promote the notion of the hidden cure often simultaneously promote wacky pseudoscientific treatments that they claim work - and Zuvrick is no exception. He believes that Royal Rife cured cancer 70 years ago. Rife was essentially a copycat of Albert Abrams who promoted his radio frequency devices. The concept is to use radio waves to alter the vibrations of cells in the body. This is pure nonsense. Here is a quick summary from Stephen Barret:

One of Abrams's many imitators was Royal Raymond Rife (1888-1971), an American who claimed that cancer was caused by bacteria. During the 1920s, he claimed to have developed a powerful microscope that could detect living microbes by the color of auras emitted by their vibratory rates. His Rife Frequency Generator allegedly generates radio waves with precisely the same frequency, causing the offending bacteria to shatter in the same manner as a crystal glass breaks in response to the voice of an opera singer. The American Cancer Society has pointed out that although sound waves can produce vibrations that break glass, radio waves at the power level emitted a Rife generator do not have sufficient energy to destroy bacteria.

But let's explore the logic of the hidden cure a bit further. Given that cancer is such a complex set of diseases, there is a vast and evolving science exploring the causes and behavior of cancers. This research takes place in numerous labs around the world. A cure for cancer would likely emerge from a collaboration among many researchers, in different labs and institutions, and even in different countries. Even if one lab made a significant breakthrough, it would be the capstone on top of a large body of research that was available to the entire community (and in fact the public). It would be impossible to keep other researchers from replicating the final steps that lead to a cure.

Often the hidden cure conspiracy idea is framed around the claim that a pharmaceutical company would hide such a cure to protect their profits from other cancer drugs. This claim fails not only for the reason above but for a separate practical reason. It would take about 100 millions dollars of research (if not more) to prove that a drug was actually a cure for one type of cancer (let alone all types of cancer). Why would a pharmaceutical company spend that kind of research money on a drug they know they have no intention of marketing, just so that they can suppress it? Also - where would they do such research? How could they get past all the regulatory hurdles to perform human research without revealing what they are doing?

Often those who claim that "they" are hiding a cure for cancer have only a vague notion of who "they" are. They generally have an image of the "medical establishment" as monolithic, but nothing could be further from the truth. The medical establishment is composed of universities, professional organizations, journals, regulatory agencies, researchers, funding agencies, and countless individuals - all with differing incentives and perspectives. The idea that they would all be in on a massive conspiracy to hide perhaps the greatest cure known to mankind is beyond absurd.

For those who think the profit motive is sufficient explanation, not all of the people and institutions named are for profit. And what about countries with socialized medicine who could dramatically reduce their health care costs if a cancer cure were found? Is Canada, the UK, all of the European Union, in fact, in on the conspiracy to protect American cancer treatment profits? It's as if hidden cure conspiracy theorists forget that there are other countries in the world.

Hidden cancer cure conspiracies also are premised on a simplistic notion of how medicine and medical research progresses. The practice of medicine is constantly evolving in a process of creative destruction. New technologies render older ones obsolete. Resources ebb and flow to diseases as they emerge and are reduced or cured. There used to be entire hospitals dedicated to the chronic treatment of tuberculosis - and now, after antibiotics, those hospitals have been repurposed. Researchers, specialists, hospital space, and other resources shift over time to where they are needed.

If a cure for cancer were discovered it would not be as disruptive as is claimed by the conspiracy theorists. It would take years if not decades of research to explore how effective the treatment was for every type, grade, and stage of cancer. We could not assume that it cured all cancer even if it cured one type. And what about people who did not respond to the treatment, or could not tolerate it for some reason? (One might assume a 100% effective and side effect free cure for all cancer, but this gets progressively more unlikely.) Further, any real breakthrough cure would likely tell us something profound about the nature of cancer itself, and this would spawn entire research programs.

Research funding and researchers themselves would shift their focus where it was needed. Some might shift their skills to other diseases entirely, and perhaps fewer doctors and researchers would go into cancer research if a cure were already found. As with any other significant medical advance, the medical infrastructure would adapt.

Conspiracy theorists also tend to ignore the huge incentive to find a cure. For the researchers involved, it would mean fame, fortune, Nobel prizes and an enduring legacy within the halls of medicine. It is safe to say that it is every cancer researcher's dream to be part of the team that finds the cure for cancer (or at least as big a breakthrough as is plausible).

The institution would also gain fame and prestige, which translates into more donations, better applicants, and also part ownership of any patents. A company that discovered the cure for cancer would make billions, even if it meant it would make existing drugs obsolete. Patents on drugs are finite, so companies are always looking for new drugs anyway. And imagine the public relations boon for the company that cured cancer - their name would forever be "Pharmaceutical Company - We Cured Cancer!" Even if the new treatment could not be patented, it would still be an enduring profit stream for the original company to market it - it would become their Tylenol, only bigger.

And of course the health care systems around the world would rejoice at the potential reduction in health care costs, which are now threatening to cripple the system. Doctors, hospitals, researchers - pretty much everyone, is making less money than they were a couple decades ago because of rising health care costs. The system is now being threatened by further cuts and restrictions to tame rising costs. A significant reduction in overall costs, by curing an expensive disease, would ease the pressure on the entire system, and free up resources for other diseases.

Finally, there is the human element. A hidden cure would require individual people to know that a cure for cancer is available but to deny this cure to dying patients in order to protect their or someone else's profit. There may be people in the world who are that callous and evil, but think of all the people who would have to be that evil, over years or decades, to maintain a hidden cure. These are people who also have loved-ones who are likely to get cancer at some point in their lives, and who themselves are at risk for cancer. I would not casually assume that the medical establishment is full with such cartoonish maniacal villains.
Conclusion
The grand conspiracy of the hidden cancer cure is a meme that I wish would go away, but for some reason persists. It is like an urban legend - it appeals to some ill-formed fear or anxiety produced by the complexity of modern society. It gives a focus to these anxieties, and gives the illusion of control. No one wants to feel as if they are being deceived, and so assuming there is a conspiracy feels like a good way to avoid being duped. But ironically it is the conspiracy theorists who are being duped, or who are doing the deceiving.

The notion of a hidden cure is also dependent on seeing institutions with which one is not personally familiar as faceless and monolithic organizations, comprised of obedient drones. But these institutions are made of people - ordinary people with flaws and feelings and families just like everyone else.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Last week David Gorski wrote a excellent post about why we have not yet cured cancer. It turns out, cancer is a category of many individual diseases that are very challenging to treat. We have made steady progress, and many people with cancer can now be cured - but we have not discovered the one cure for all cancer.

# data[].attributes.headline
Read Flag 2: Confusion of Correlation with Causation

# data[].attributes.subject
Read Flag 2: Confusion of Correlation with Causation

# data[].attributes.body
Confusion of correlation with causation is drawing a conclusion that one thing affects another because they happen to occur at the same time.

Connection:
Many people believe childhood vaccinations cause autism because it is often diagnosed around the same time that children receive them. In fact, vaccines do not cause autism, the symptoms of autism happen to become more noticeable around the same time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

Autism

There is no scientific evidence that MMR vaccine causes autism. The question about a possible link between MMR vaccine and autism has been extensively reviewed by independent groups of experts in the United States, including the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (now renamed the National Academy of Medicine). These reviews have concluded that the available epide miologic evidence does not support a causal link between MMR vaccine and autism

Corporate Authors: Immunization Action Coalition

Publisher: Immunization Action Coalition

Claims that vaccines cause autism have led some parents to delay or refuse vaccines for their children. The most common claims are that autism is caused by MMR vaccine, vaccines that contain thimerosal, or too many vaccines. Many scientific studies have been done to test these claims. None has shown any correlation between vaccines and autism.

Corporate Authors: Immunization Action Coalition

Publisher: Immunization Action Coalition

The US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is one of many federal entities involved in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research. NICHD's portfolio covers a variety of topics in autism, including autism etiology, epidemiology, treatment, and screening. The institute also supports professional training and the development of research infrastructure that will facilitate research in ASD and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Corporate Authors: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Publisher: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Skip to main content Autism There is no scientific evidence that MMR vaccine causes autism. The question about a possible link between MMR vaccine and autism has been extensively reviewed by independent groups of experts in the United States, including the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (now renamed the National Academy of Medicine).

# data[].attributes.body
Appeal to authority refers to the use of people in lab coats, other uniforms, or celebrities to endorse a product. Uniforms appeal to us as it gives the sense that the person endorsing knows better than us about the effectiveness and we are therefore more likely to believe it.

Connection:
Toothpaste commercials are an excellent example of Appeal to Authority. They very often use people in white lab coats with various equipment about to display expertise and convince us the product really does what they advertise.

# data[].attributes.headline
Paranormal and Pseudoscience: Assignment 1

# data[].attributes.subject
Paranormal and Pseudoscience: Assignment 1

# data[].attributes.body
Brooklyn McAllister