Two recent posts that should be of interest to FSI members – on astrology, and on PowerBalance (both via Synapses). In both of these cases, the actual “product” often does little harm (although in the case of astrology, it certainly can do so). However, material harms (whether physical or financial) are perhaps not the only sort of relevant harm. These examples of pseudoscience and quackery contribute to a climate of unreason, and thereby may make us more susceptible to believing in more dangerous forms of woo.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Skeptic South Africa and Wayne de Villiers, FreeSocietyInstitute. FreeSocietyInstitute said: New blog post: The war on woo – http://fsi.org.za/dX [...]
How does pseudoscience and quackery make us more susceptible to believing in more dangerous forms of woo? The link to that article on astrology only looks at the outliers. Doesn’t sound very convincing of astrology’s harmful effects, even though I know it’s total bull.
I’d say the answer rests mostly in the simple notion that the more benign forms of woo acclimatise us to thinking in sympathetic ways. Our critical filters erode and decay, and in some cases, disappear completely.