Assignment 1 Red flags and reasons for belief in Pseudoscience by Brandon Ferguson https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq en-us 2022-09-09 16:51:33 UTC 2025-11-07 05:56:08 UTC hello@padlet.com Post #1 Title : Pseudoscience red flags and Reasons for Belief brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2290016441 made by, Brandon Ferguson and Jacob farmer-Wahrer

]]> 2022-09-09 17:03:55 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2290016441 Post #2 Red flag: Appeal to Authority video(Website) brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2290889976 Definition:
Appeal to Authority Using status, and power and looking to override people's opinions in their favour.  causing the truth to be covered by improper facts. 

Connection:
This brand Goop is about health, beauty and self-improvement the Brand and this website are heavily associated with Gwyneth Paltrow and her likeness to sell very cheap and fake products.  Along with Gwyneth this brand Goop also uses many celebrities to help further propagate the idea that the brand has good quality, not just selling lies.  With a critical thinking mind and staying close to the facts, you will realize this brand is almost cult-like in how they portray and sell its products and get people into goop. 

]]> 2022-09-11 01:16:02 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2290889976 Post #3 Red flag: Confirmation Bias(Picture) brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2290898931 definition:
Confirmation bias is almost like a cognitive bias or our way to make our own facts and beliefs from events and ignore or forget what events actually occurred. 

Connection:
The flat earth theory is one theory with many details and facts that have no rhyme or reason. People who truly believe this theory are seemingly under some sort of mental control. The real facts that disprove their beliefs are almost instantaneously forgotten or reasoned out of their minds., in favour of their flat earth beliefs. For example, Famous rapper B.o.B believes the earth is flat.  Over Twitter, he claims many things that seem almost irrational like "if my tweets are rattling the tiny little cages of your reality ... the unfollow button is right there". That seems like something someone would say whos under an almost religious-like belief for this Theory of a flat Earth(a prime example of Confirmation bias). With a healthy amount of skepticism its plain to see the real evidence disproving this ludicrous theory ]]> 2022-09-11 01:48:08 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2290898931 Post #4 Red flag: Ancient Wisdom(picture) brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2294801517 Description:
The term Ancient Wisdom can be used in a plethora of different ways, but in general, they all have one thing in common, They claim to have significant effects on the present as they did on the past.   


Connection:
Bloodletting has been around for a very long time, so long in fact you can claim it to be an ancient technique to cure ailments.  In reality, Bloodletting does more harm than good, for the afflictions people had back in the day Bloodletting would do more harm than good, most pains are not cured by Bloodletting but doctors would still prescribe it to help the sick. barbers would even use leeches to help in the bloodletting. Using critical thinking you can see that it does more harm than good. Even into the 19th century, the practice of BLoodletting would be used regularly, nowadays the practice is well known as a pseudoscience.  ]]> 2022-09-13 17:18:18 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2294801517 Post #5 Red flag: Mystical Energy(picture) brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2294900433 Definition:
Mystical energy is the belief that through the power of mystical energy manipulation and creation you can attain certain goals in life and obtain money and power beyond human comprehension.

connection:
The picture above describes the power of manifestation. Through the power of manifestation, people practice this form of mystical energy manipulation to bring things into their life that they want or need.  On various social media sites, you will see posts about locking in your answer. With the usage of critical thinking, you can deduce that just wanting things to happen doesn't inherently make them 

]]> 2022-09-13 18:15:23 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2294900433 Post #7 Reason for Belief: Unexplained(picture) jtfw03 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2295494657 Definition: 
Dating back almost 60,000 years this picture was drawn of these creatures on a wall in a cave by the Wandjina Tribe, showing that these creatures were from the sky. 

Connection: 
The main cause of people believing in extraterrestrial beings is because of all of the unexplained stories and sightings or even these drawings that were made by people that we can't even ask today what the meaning was behind the drawings of the for say called sky people.  we have so little evidence to really figure out what they are or even if they are real, But we have so many things that we think we know about them which is why people can't explain if they are real or not. ]]> 2022-09-14 02:21:17 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2295494657 Post #8 Reason for Belief: Emotional Connection (Website) jtfw03 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2296590643 Definition: 
Emotional connections can make you imagine things that don't even exists, for say if you are afraid of the dark your brain will play tricks on you while it is dark and make you think something is there when there really isn't. 

Connections: 
In the website above it talks about the family that now owns the Annabelle doll, The couple that now owns it had a daughter that was brought up not to look at the doll or even give it attention because the family emotionally felt that the doll had a demon inside of it and that if the daughter gave it attention that it would use her to get out and hurt people. So they taught her not to look in Annabelle's direction which is a known doll to be haunted just because of the stories it has behind it. ]]> 2022-09-14 15:32:44 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2296590643 post #6 Red flag: Red herrings(picture) brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2296619987 Definition:
Red herrings are information spread with the intent to conceal and obscure relevant information at the time. Drawing attention elsewhere.   

Connection: 
In my opinion, the best example of Red herrings is fake news, especially nowadays with all of the social media craze and access to media at such a massive amount, there is bound to be a lot of Red herrings being spread to confuse people. Whether to help cover up current events or to conceal them entirely.  social media misinformation can cause mass confusion and disorientation. These instances can also be referred to as "alternative facts" and "post-truth". A few examples are: Donald Trump constantly claiming fake news during and after his presidential election. Another example is Covid-19 and its impact on the world, during the pandemic a lot of false information was used to cause panic in citizens. Justin Trudeau used this to his benefit seemingly, to gain more power during this time and help bolster his political standing. Like when he enacted the travel ban for political views. ]]> 2022-09-14 15:48:09 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2296619987 Post #9 Reason for Belief: Perception and Observation (Picture) jtfw03 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2297080924 Definition: 
If you gaze at something to long and then look away, you may still see the object that you where looking at appear. This is an example of perception. Our brains try to process images by pointing them out, grouping them into a arrangement, and shed light on visual information to make sense of the world we live in.  

Connections: 
With magic the magician uses the observer attention to there advantage by using the slight of hand, for example they make the audience pay attention to one thing while they are focused on that they move the cards or whatever they are using around without them seeing because they are to focused on the thing that the magician made so clear to pay attention too.
]]> 2022-09-14 20:59:05 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2297080924 Post #10 Critical Thinking Post Responses (Picture) brandonrox85 https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2298544132 I evaluated post #7 on the Unexplained.

Define Problem (Claims):
Do aliens exist in our world without us knowing?


Gathered info:
from various informational sites like The conversation.com, sesti.org and skeptoid.com.  I have gathered a lot of information about the existence of aliens in this universe and even maybe on our planet living beside us this entire time.

-skeptoid.com 

IMO: UFOs and Alien Visitation

by Mike Weaver

-sesti.org

-theconversation.com 

Do aliens exist? We asked five experts


Evaluate Evidence:
The first website goes on to describe the existence of exoplanets in our galaxy and others that have the capacity to hold life forms on their surface. The writer also claims it would be a big waste of resources to visit another planet or inhabit it if we really are considered the lower life forms why would the aliens waste their time with us, humans? The second link has a lot of information depicting the real efforts that are being put into finding aliens on other planets and gaming first contact some call it the "great silence" which means that the aliens either don't want to waste their time with us as we are not interesting or worthy enough to warrant contact.  The final and most interesting piece of evidence I could find was this interview with 5 scientists about the existence of aliens. interestingly enough four out of the 5 people asked if they do exist said that they did. they claim space is too big to give an honest telling if they are real or not but because life was able to happen once what's stopping it from happening again? Perhaps the aliens just live too far away for us to see them quite yet. 

Recognize Assumptions, Emotions, Bias:
these scientists and bloggers are coming from a place of understanding and curiosity, sure they can be perceived to have a bias but. It's their professional life at stake to make these claims I would more so say it would be a safer bet to just say aliens didn't exist to protect your career. Personally, I don't think any of these people are assuming things they are just using factual scientifical evidence. 

Identify Alternatives:
1: aliens do exist and they continue to do so right in front of our faces and we just haven't seen it yet.  Or they haven't wanted us to see them.  

2: aliens not only don't exist but we are the only beings in this infinite space 

Select the best Alternative:
Alternative 1 seems to be the best bet either they don't want to reveal themselves to us yet or they just don't see a reason to.  
]]> 2022-09-15 15:43:01 UTC https://padlet.com/brandonrox85/n3yo8v0ujeom0xtq/wish/2298544132