How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

[Jera]

Science has - or at least has claimed to have - debunked many things, especially in the pseudoscience category. As this is a Pagan forum, it is safe to assume that there are those on this forum who believe in things that are classified as pseudoscience and the paranormal, e.g. crystal healing, reiki, ghosts, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, etc.
Look up any of what I have listed above with the word "debunked" in Google and you will likely find an article or study vehemently disproving these beliefs or practices. So how do you feel when you read these rebuffs? Do you feel your belief or faith shaken? Do you wonder if it is possible that it is the placebo effect, in the case of crystal healing or acupuncture, or simply all in your head, like ghost or UFO sightings?
Are there any beliefs that you previously had but have now discarded due to it being disproved by science, or has the opposite happened and your beliefs stronger still?

[Rae'ya]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I don't tend to read 'debunk' stuff, because most of it is BS. 'Scientific study' doesn't actually count for much as a descriptor now days... it needs to be a very specific study with certain measures for me to take it seriously. I see all sorts of biased 'studies' that 'prove' how great the funding company's product is... and then studies from competitors that 'prove' otherwise. When you work in certain industries, you learn how to read 'studies'.

At the end of the day, there is far more psuedoscience that is unproven than has been actively disproved.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I am totally with Rae'ya here. People tend to believe what they want to believe. Scientists and academics often fight with each other, they occasionally cheat and lie too. I would strongly recommend reading Serena Roney-Dougal's 'Where Science and magic Meet' - it's a fascinating read.

Some people will believe anything, it is true.
And some people will disbelieve anything.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

Being open minded means looking at all sides of an issue.

So, yeah, it depends on the study/experiment, and what, exactly, is being studied or what the experiment demonstrates.

[Jera]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I personally like to try it and see for myself, if possible

[nbdy]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I love science, particularly when it is done well. As has been pointed out already, often it is not done as well as it could be, but it has to be considered on a case by case basis. Every study that has ever been done or will ever be done is premised upon assumptions, sometimes very reasonable assumptions and sometimes not. In every methodology hard decisions must be made, and the repercussions of those decisions must be accounted for. In my experience people are infatuated with numbers yet seldom truly understand the proper use and interpretation of statistics. And so on. Meanwhile, I can think of no better way to ascertain physical realities than science.

To answer the actual question, if I firmly held a belief and a scientific study with which I could find no significant flaw indicated a different conclusion, I would reevaluate that belief. This has not happened in a very long time. In fact, I have found the opposite occurring such that now esteemed physicists are all a-dither about parallel universes and life as a hologram and etc. That is so 30 years ago for me, but the once woo-woo is now mainstream.

As far as homeopathy and energy healing, I don't much care what folks want to call the "actual" cause of a spontaneous remission. People scoff that "it's all in your mind." Uh, yeah, hologram -- but if it takes a whiff of arnica or a chunk of quartz to get there, it's all good.

[MoonRaven]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

1) This has been said by other but my main beef with debunking studies is that so many of them are so badly done that they aren't worth the time it takes to read them.
2) A lot of the reporting of debunking studies suffers from the same problems that reporting of all scientific finding to the general public suffers, i.e. exaggeration, misleading use of data, journalists who wouldn't recognise scientific methods if they put on a pink tutu and did the hula.

Conclusion, like Rae'ya I rarely bother reading them, so I live in happy ignorance.

@nbdy. Completely off topic, I simply adore your signature. And it does feel a bit poignant given this topic.

[nbdy]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

@nbdy. Completely off topic, I simply adore your signature. And it does feel a bit poignant given this topic.

You know, that is there as reminder to myself. It is so easy to be meticulously and absolutely wrong.

[Aeran]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

For every study "debunking" a phenomenon, there's another study proving it. It's incredibly easy to twist the results of a study to make them say pretty much anything you want if you're determined enough, then find a few peers and a journal who are ideologically or financially motivated to "peer review" and publish it.

So I tend to ignore studies when it comes to things like this and adopt the worldview which best matches my experiences. As I experience more phenomena, I expand my worldview to match them. If I haven't experienced a phenomenon, I remain neutral on the subject, unless I have very good reason otherwise.

[LunarHarvest]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

Science and my belief system do not necessarily contradict each other. For me, studies in science and studies in theology are essentially parts of the same study of the world. Both seek to explain the world and understand it, with the natural sciences occupying the study and observation of the physical world, and theology being the study of the nature of the spiritual nature of the world. Of course this is quite simplified, but its the general gut reaction I have to such things.

[Ophidia]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

When it happens to me, it's disappointing.

When it happens to Dr. Oz, it's hilarious.

[thalassa]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

Well, my first two thoughts are repeats of what others have said---It depends on the study and its methodology and what it testing and often the way that debunking studies are promoted is a poor interpretation of what they are actually testing or what conclusions can be made from the experiment itself. Too often, debunking studies aren't even done by scientsists (or by good scientists).

While I also agree with the idea that the more we learn, the less we realize we know, I disagree that it likely has the sorts of implications that many Pagans would like to claim it has, regarding magic and other "supernatural" phenomenon. I also disagree with the problem of bias (though I agree with the existence of bias)--all scientists are aware of bias, and most act to control that bias in experimental design and in data interpretation. And, I'd like to point out that one of the purposes of publication in a journal is so that other scientists can evaluate and recreate the experiment and see if they get the same results...to often lay persons (and some scientists) treat journal articles as if they are the end of the scientific process, but they aren't.


But, when well constructed experimential data clearly indicates that something I believe is wrong, and that experiment can be replicated with similar results, I always go with the data.

[noinden]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I am good with it. But I am a scientist for a living so I sort of have to be

[Fire Nymph]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I do tend to mix my beliefs with the scientific side of things anyway... to a certain extent.
Take tarot cards for example. I collect tarot cards, I love working with them, and yet I believe it's not actually the cards that are 'revealing my destiny', it's the words related to the cards which spark inspiration in your mind to connect the dots. Say I got a reading that said, 'You need to stick to something all the way through, don't give up' or something along those lines, I don't believe that card was drawn because I am struggling with sticking to something. Rather, pretty much everyone can relate to that 'reading', and it inspires you to actually stick to that 'something'. Basically, it actually gives you that extra push.
So in short, I don't rethink my beliefs, not at all. But as a few have said earlier, most of these 'debunked' articles are BS and biased.

[Jera]

Re: How do you feel when something you believed to be true is debunked by science?

I like your way of thinking Fire Nymph. And I agree with the quality of writing with a lot of debunking articles. The writer more often that not has a bias or an agenda and will manipulate the findings to prove his or her point.