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submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by allo@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Came across a list of pseudosciences and was fun seeing where im woo woo.

Lunar effect – the belief that the full Moon influences human and animal behavior.

Ley Lines

Accupressure/puncture

Ayurveda

Body Memory

Faith healing

Anyway, list too long to read. I guess Im quite the nonscientific woowoomancer. How about you? What pseudoscience do you believe? Also I believe nearly every stone i find was an ancient indian stone. Also manifesting and or prayer to manipulate via subconscious aligning the future. oh and the ability to subconsciously deeply understand animals, know the future, etc

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[-] RBWells@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

Mind-body. That you can think yourself sick, or well. Not like magic, but a lot of the time. Like how people won't get sick until vacation a lot of the time, they say "don't have time to get sick" so then on the day off, the mind tells the body "ok now you have time!". All of my kids were born on a day off or weekend, same thing in a way. And once I read a book where the protagonist' hands were burned, very vividly described, and got blisters on my fingertips.

I just really believe a lot of physical illness, and health, comes from thinking.

[-] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Uff, i have a lot:

Life on earth is a huge organized organism. It created intelligent humans deliberately sothat we can spread life to other planets. Living beings (plants, insects, other animals, fungi) could not do that otherwise.

All life is sentient. Sentience doesn't come from the brain, rather it comes from the hormones in your bloodstream. When we sweat, these hormones enter the air (apparently within the fraction of a second) and other people can smell them. That is how we can instinctually know how others are feeling.


Also i have a lot of mythology:

Heaven (realm of all ideas, knowledge and forms) and Earth (origin of mass and material) are a love pair. Because they couldn't easily meet (there was an insurmountable gap between them), they created a bridge, which is life. This way, heaven supplies the shape (genes), and Earth supplies the body, and these two can be together in this way.

Viruses are books. They have a cover (shell) and contain scripture (RNA/DNA). We humans let them in because they are nature's messengers and have a specific purpose, which is to exchange some information.

[-] HatchetHaro@pawb.social 4 points 1 day ago

Feng Shui, though I mostly credit it to the Dear Modern channel breaking the concept of qi and energy down into stuff like human traffic flow, activities, scenery, and noise, and using that to optimize spaces for comfort. It's mostly psychology, and some of the superstitious stuff I'm not really into.

[-] smb@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I believe that literally every esotheric and nonesotheric bullshit is more trustworthy than everything a politician says at any given moment.

[-] Katrisia@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Definitely the lunar effect, but that is still under study. There's a documentary called "The Shark Side of the Moon" which follows a scientist trying to prove a lunar effect on sharks. There's also some inconclusive evidence of a lunar effect on people with bipolar disorder; the full moon might trigger mania, probably due to excess light during nighttime. Context: >!People with bipolar disorder (known as 'manic depression' years ago) are very sensitive to light, substances, and many other things that can trigger manic or depressive episodes for them. The possible mania under the full moon may be a reason behind myths like werewolves and terms like 'lunatic'.!<

I'll edit if I find more.

Edit: I found another one which I would easily try or suggest to others if evidence-based therapies have failed.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy in which the person being treated is asked to recall distressing images; the therapist then directs the person in one type of bilateral sensory input, such as side-to-side eye movements or hand tapping. It is included in several guidelines for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some clinical psychologists have argued that the eye movements do not add anything above imagery exposure and characterize its promotion and use as pseudoscience.

[-] matelt@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

That's a long list I've only skimmed it and I didn't find the theory I like most, the stoned ape theory. That belief that some distant ancestors ate some shrooms and discovered art and a higher state of mind. I've taken a microdose a little too high and my vision was like an impressionist painting for a few moments and it made me so happy because Monet and Van Gogh now made absolute sense.

It might be a little too convenient but I think it works and it's really sweet.

[-] emberpunk@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

It's hard resisting the power of the moon.

[-] Katrisia@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago
[-] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Or in the case of Destiny and FFXIV:

[-] ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago

That wiki article is very biased.

It also has problems distinguishing pseudo medicine (proven not to work) from alternative medicine (not conclusively proved or disproved).

[-] GrizzlyBear@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Once something works, we call it medicine. There's no such thing as "alternative medicine".

Even if it's weird, or comes from popular knowledge, or disrupts the profits of a pharmaceutical company - if it's proven to work, it's medicine.

Modern doctors are using fish skin to combat burns, maggots against necrosis, electroshock therapy for depression.

The things that need the "alternative" qualifier before the word "medicine" are the ones that do nothing but extract your money.

[-] ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

I'm not sure what are you trying to tell me.

That you agree with me that "alternative medicine = not proven to work, but I'm wrong somehow"?

[-] GrizzlyBear@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

If your definition is that something can be called "alternative medicine" simply because we have no proof if it works or not, my magic stick that heals all wounds is alternative medicine.

What? There are no studies proving it doesn't work... and no, I won't let you touch it. But it's alternative medicine!

[-] ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

That's literally alternative medicine defined as per well, science. And you being silly doesn't take from it. In the past, viruses were considered alternative medicine (quackery even), until they were proven to exist and work as in theory.

If you hit someone with a stick and that person gets cured of cold, it's alternative medicine (you suspect there's correlation or causation, and repeating the treatment during other incidents tends to have similar effect, i.e. when you hit more people they also get cured). When it's proven that there's causation between your action and the cure, then it's medicine.

[-] GrizzlyBear@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

There's no scientific definition of alternative medicine, it's not a real category.

[-] ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 hours ago

You might want to check out wikipedia.

[-] GrizzlyBear@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Ah, that explains why you think popular definitions are somehow scientific.

[-] crimsonpoodle@pawb.social 3 points 1 day ago

I think you sorted things into three types of medicine:

[ pseudo, alternative, modern/mainstream ]

I think he believes that most things you put into the alternative category have already been mostly studied; those being not proved or disproved to work.

I think the that some issue here comes from the fact that conspiracy theorists / other (for lack of an agreed upon modifier) medicine gurus may have used the argument that some medicines aren’t proven to be bad yet as a way to give them legitimacy.

Whether or not other medicine is good for you should be be studied and determined to be medicine or not. Until then we can’t say anything about its efficacy. But there can be carry on effects: protein powder was found to have heavy metals, is protein powder good? Maybe in certain circumstances, but concentrating a given substance can have unintended consequences when not properly analyzed.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Body Memory

I mean, cellular memory and muscle memory exist.

[-] callouscomic@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago

I really want to believe the Assassin's Creed concept that our DNA holds memories from our ancestors.

[-] IMongoose@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Epigenetics. But that's not as cool as whatever Assassin's Creed is.

[-] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 days ago

Not sure either of these counts fully as what OP is looking for, but -

The idea of the technological singularity feels right to me. There's a whole section on the wikipedia page about scientific objections to it, and I get that, but if we don't kill ourselves before then, it seems like an event that almost has to occur at some point, to me. And maybe it zigs instead of zags and we get star trek. Or maybe it zags and we get terminator. But probably neither of those I'm guessing, and these days it's hard to imagine that it would put humanity on a worse trajectory than we seem to be on today.

Similarly, but less seriously (for me) I like to consider the whole "maybe we're in a simulation" theory.

[-] Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah I kinda adhere to the simulation thing too. As a videogames programmer, every time I try to learn about quantum mechanics I learn about some new quirk that really makes it sound like some game engine limitation

[-] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I thought you were going to say

As a videogames programmer, it is natural to me to consider myself as a character in some video game.

[-] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

when I like to gain perspective and imagine how useless we are on this meaningless little planet in a massive galaxy universe etc I just imagine the lonely little Boltzmann brain that's actually just imagining the whole thing for a few nanoseconds before it returns back to quantum foam

[-] CapriciousDay@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 days ago

Maybe like a limited Gaia hypothesis. The whole planet is a conscious thing, we are its braincells and its hands.

[-] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

why not go full panpsychic it actually makes even more sense and has been seriously studied for millenia

[-] chaosCruiser@futurology.today 59 points 3 days ago

The USB law.

When you try to plug in a USB-A connector, there's a 70% probability it won't go in. Mathematically it should be 50%, but I don't believe that.

You switch it around, and there's a 30% probability it won't go in. This is not something they taught at school.

You switch it around the third time, and there's a 5% chance it still won't go in. Your mind begins to melt down, you switch and insert repeatedly until it finally works sooner or later.

[-] Oaksey@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago
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[-] kamen@lemmy.world 67 points 3 days ago

The Moon landing was staged, but Stanley Kubrick insisted to shoot on location...

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[-] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 8 points 2 days ago

Love is a physical force, not just a human emotion.

Did I get that from Interstellar? Yes. Do I care? No.

Human life has meaning because we decide it does. That decision and that meaning are influenced by love, and the ensuing actions we take affect our physical environment.

Love takes energy and invokes acceleration of matter one way or the other. It’s a force.

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[-] SheenSquelcher@lemm.ee 5 points 2 days ago

Before she passed my Nan had chronic arthritis. She had many joint replacements (both hips, a knee, shoulder, pins in her wrists etc) and without medication life was a misery.

One thing she said gave her genuine relief was acupuncture, and she wasn't into pseudoscience at all. Maybe is was a placebo effect and it was expensive but it was worthwhile for her.

[-] criitz@reddthat.com 40 points 3 days ago

None. If any of it was reproducable it would science instead of pseudoscience

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[-] Machinist@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago

All electrical components contain magic smoke that was put into them at the time of manufacture. If that smoke is released, it doesn't work anymore.

Some broken or malfunctioning machinery respond to incantations projected with emotion. Cuss a machine hard enough and it will start working again.

Another one I've personally experienced, but don't know of any studies for: the main casting of machining equipment such as mills or lathes is a big crystal with unique properties. Each machine has different frequencies it resonates at when cutting. You can hear and feel the vibration when cutting and tune the machine/program for more efficient cutting and tool life. Sort of like taking a guitar that is out of tune and tuning it to a pleasant chord. Two identical machines will need different tunings. This tuning can change over time due to wear, temperature, humidity or maybe the phase of the moon.

Unrelated to machinery: there are mountain lions in the deep south in the deep woods. I had one check me out once. The state wildlife agency denies the modern existence of mountain lions and I didn't believe in them until I was face to face with one. I had to growl and hiss at it to convince it that I wasn't interesting.

[-] RBWells@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

I had an old Mustang and used to say I could cuss start it.

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[-] ray1992xd@feddit.nl 4 points 2 days ago

Partly hollow earth. There are oceans in the crust, I think that is an accepted theory now. Life could have evolved to survive down there. It might not be anything special but a micro-organism is life too.

[-] AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 days ago

The only pseudo science I believe is that one day I'll be happy. Even though I know i ll never be happy.

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this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
84 points (100.0% liked)

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