THE SEESAW OF SCIENCE AND PSEUDOSCIENCE

     “The mishap of anything in three”, “the tragedy of owing money due to itchy left palm”, “the prevention of any catastrophe, which might have been caused by the crossing of the path by a black cat “, “exclaiming touch-wood” or “crossing the fingers” are some of the common preaches which one might tackle time and again. These ‘jaw-dropping urges’ might be heard from our elders or someone else. For now, the topic of concern is not about who preaches these things; but about who follows it and to what extent.

          Sometimes, superstitions arise as a consequence of deep faith and belief in something desired to happen. Nobel-laureate, the famous physicist Richard Feynman spoke of a ‘Cargo Cult’ of people, the South Sea Islanders in the Pacific, who, during the World War had seen planes landing and delivering cargos. After the war, they wanted to receive similar gifts from the skies. So they prepared landing strips to resemble runways, set up flares on either side, made wood pieces that looked like headphones, stuck bamboo stakes to resemble antennas, and waited for planes to land to deliver the goodies, the cargo. They waited in deep faith and adjusted their instruments. But the planes did not land as the war had ended and this cargo was required no more. Their anticipation was unnecessary.

          On the other hand, some superstitious claims cannot be regarded blameless, as they are not limited to such small degrees. Sometimes, some beliefs are even harmful to human beings, and adhering to them is a catastrophe in itself. A suicide terrorist is an example, who, for no reason other than a profound religious devotion, causes harm to humanity. Many religious riots are just superstitious, which results in thousands of causalities. It is greatly annoying, that numerous people are destined to die just because of some non-sense fallacies.

          The problem doesn’t occur when a person believes in small fallacies which cause no harm; the problem arises when a person happens to follow the arbitrary belief at its peak. A person would devote himself to a false notion to such an extent, which defies imagination. This problem is even exacerbated when people begin to cease their daily routine and pleasures and become a part of the pseudoscientific population - allocating themselves completely to the beliefs which the literate people say ‘unreasonable'. If people were to believe in correct notions and goodwill to the same extent as they believe in superstitions, many ‘human-made disasters’ would not have been caused which are happening now and then.

          Lastly, no matter how many facts I put up against false beliefs, the one who believes in superstitions will continue to believe in them unless he/she happens to be a part of a mishap resulting from his/her own foolish act. Without the self-realization of the fact that what is being done is nonsense, neither urges nor pleads would extinguish their belief.

          Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, who could join a university only due to his mother’s efforts, dedicating his investigations (of his famous periodic table of elements) to her, once remarked “My mother knew that with the aid of science without violence, with love but firmness, all superstitions, untruth and errors can be removed.”