# kb

id: perpetual-motion-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion-2.md
category: reference
title: Perpetual motion
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:55.586701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: perpetual-motion-20260505-0
summary:
Another theoretical machine involves a frictionless environment for motion. This involves the use of diamagnetic or electromagnetic levitation to float an object. This is done in a vacuum to eliminate air friction and friction from an axle. The levitated object is then free to rotate around its center of gravity without interference. However, this machine has no practical purpose because the rotated object cannot do any work as work requires the levitated object to cause motion in other objects, bringing friction into the problem. Furthermore, a perfect vacuum is an unattainable goal since both the container and the object itself would slowly vaporize, thereby degrading the vacuum. To extract work from heat, thus producing a perpetual motion machine of the second kind, the most common approach (dating back at least to Maxwell's demon) is unidirectionality. Only molecules moving fast enough and in the right direction are allowed through the demon's trap door. In a Brownian ratchet, forces tending to turn the ratchet one way are able to do so while forces in the other direction are not. A diode in a heat bath allows through currents in one direction and not the other. These schemes typically fail in two ways:


id: perpetual-motion-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion-3.md
category: reference
title: Perpetual motion
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:55.586701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: perpetual-motion-20260505-0
summary:
The drinking bird toy functions using small ambient temperature gradients and evaporation. It runs until all water is evaporated. A capillary action-based water pump functions using small ambient temperature gradients and vapour pressure differences. With the "capillary bowl", it was thought that the capillary action would keep the water flowing in the tube, but since the cohesion force that draws the liquid up the tube in the first place holds the droplet from releasing into the bowl, the flow is not perpetual. A Crookes radiometer consists of a partial vacuum glass container with a lightweight propeller moved by (light-induced) temperature gradients. Any device picking up minimal amounts of energy from the natural electromagnetic radiation around it, such as a solar-powered motor. Any device powered by changes in air pressure, such as some clocks (Cox's timepiece, Beverly Clock). The motion leeches energy from moving air which in turn gained its energy from being acted on. A heat pump, due to it having a COP above 1: the energy it consumes as work is less than the energy it moves as heat. The Atmos clock uses changes in the vapor pressure of ethyl chloride with temperature to wind the clock spring. A


id: pet-psychic-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_psychic-0.md
category: reference
title: Pet psychic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_psychic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:56.779448+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pet-psychic-20260505-0
summary:
A pet psychic is a person who claims to communicate by psychic means with animals, either living or dead. They are also known as animal communicators, and their practice as intuitive animal communication or intuitive interspecies communication. The term psychic refers to the claimed ability to perceive information unavailable to the normal senses by what is claimed to be extrasensory perception. It is the opinion of scientific skeptics that people believe in such abilities due to cognitive biases and the use of various techniques by the practitioners, including intentional deception. == Claims == Pet psychics rely on different techniques when doing an animal "reading". These psychics allegedly communicate with animals and connect with an animal's spirit. Some claim that the readings are done by communicating with their electromagnetic energy, similar to reiki and/or therapeutic touch healing. Others claim the animal does not need to be alive or physically close to the psychic, as phone readings are sometimes done. In the early twentieth century, the Association for Research and Enlightenment began researching paranormal and psychic abilities in humans. The first animal communicators claimed they could communicate telepathically with animals living or dead. == Scientific analysis == Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell reported


id: phiten-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiten-0.md
category: reference
title: Phiten
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiten
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:57.975988+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phiten-20260505-0
summary:
The Company Phiten, headquartered in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan, sells quasi-drugs, cosmetics, hair care products, sports-related products, health foods, and health goods. == Overview == AQUA TITAN/AQUA-TITANIUM products worn as necklaces (such as RAKUWA Neck) are well known and used by many famous athletes. Some of the athletes who have made endorsement agreements with Phiten are Yuzuru Hanyu, Hideki Matsuyama,Tomoaki Kanemoto, Yoshio Itoi, Yoshihiro Maru, Tetsuto Yamada, Daichi Osera, Katsuya Kakunaka, Sora Matsushima, Hina Hayata and Hikari Fujita. Athletes who have signed agreements with Phiten in the past include Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yu Darvish, Yukari Baba, Shintaro Fujinami, Yasuyuki Kataoka, Toshiaki Imae, Yuki Saito, Kengo Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Shinnosuke Abe, Shingo Katayama, Randy Johnson, Paula Radcliffe and Naoko Takahashi. The company makes endorsement agreements exclusively with athletes who need and enjoy Phiten products. The company also develops and sells sportswear, although the variety and production numbers are very small. The company is also involved in the development of health food products with functional claims. In 2007, it became the first Japanese company to sign the MLB/Major League Baseball Authentication Program. == Aqua Metal == There is still a lack of scientific evidence to support the efficacy of Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium, and there has


id: phrenology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-0.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. It was said that the brain was composed of different muscles, so those that were used more often were bigger, resulting in the different skull shapes. This provided reasoning for the common presence of bumps on the skull in different locations. The brain "muscles" not being used as frequently remained small and were therefore not present on the exterior of the skull. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology generalizes beyond empirical knowledge in a way that departs from science. The central phrenological notion that measuring the contour of the skull can predict personality traits is discredited by empirical research. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, the discipline was influential in the 19th century, especially from about 1810 until 1840. The principal British centre for phrenology was Edinburgh, where the Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820. Phrenology is today recognized as pseudoscientific. The methodological rigor of phrenology was doubtful


id: phrenology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-1.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
Phrenology is a process that involves observing and/or feeling the skull to determine an individual's psychological attributes. Franz Joseph Gall believed that the brain was made up of 27 individual organs that determined personality, the first 19 of these "organs" he believed to exist in other animal species. Phrenologists would run their fingertips and palms over the skulls of their patients to feel for enlargements or indentations. The phrenologist would often take measurements with a tape measure of the overall head size and more rarely employ a craniometer, a special version of a caliper. In general, instruments to measure sizes of cranium continued to be used after the mainstream phrenology had ended. The phrenologists put emphasis on using drawings of individuals with particular traits, to determine the character of the person and thus many phrenology books show pictures of subjects. From absolute and relative sizes of the skull the phrenologist would assess the character and temperament of the patient. Gall's list of the "brain organs" was specific. An enlarged organ meant that the patient used that particular "organ" extensively. The number—and more detailed meanings—of organs were added later by other phrenologists. The 27 areas varied in function, from sense of


id: phrenology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-2.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
The popularization of phrenology in the middle and working classes was due in part to the idea that scientific knowledge was important and an indication of sophistication and modernity. Cheap and plentiful pamphlets, as well as the growing popularity of scientific lectures as entertainment, also helped spread phrenology to the masses. Combe created a system of philosophy of the human mind that became popular with the masses because of its simplified principles and wide range of social applications that were in harmony with the liberal Victorian world view. George Combe's book On the Constitution of Man and its Relationship to External Objects sold more than 200,000 copies through nine editions. Combe also devoted a large portion of his book to reconciling religion and phrenology, which had long been a sticking point. Another reason for its popularity was that phrenology balanced between free will and determinism. A person's inherent faculties were clear, and no faculty was viewed as evil, though the abuse of a faculty was. Phrenology allowed for self-improvement and upward mobility, while providing fodder for attacks on aristocratic privilege. Phrenology also had wide appeal because of its being a reformist philosophy not a radical one. Phrenology was not limited


id: phrenology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-3.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
Phrenology was mostly discredited as a scientific theory by the 1840s. This was due only in part to a growing amount of evidence against phrenology. Phrenologists had never been able to agree on the most basic mental organ numbers, going from 27 to over 40, and had difficulty locating the mental organs. Phrenologists relied on cranioscopic readings of the skull to find organ locations. Jean Pierre Flourens' experiments on the brains of pigeons indicated that the loss of parts of the brain either caused no loss of function, or the loss of a completely different function than what had been attributed to it by phrenology. Flourens' experiment, while not perfect, seemed to indicate that Gall's supposed organs were imaginary. Scientists had also become disillusioned with phrenology since its exploitation with the middle and working classes by entrepreneurs. The popularization had resulted in the simplification of phrenology and mixing in it of principles of physiognomy, which had from the start been rejected by Gall as an indicator of personality. Phrenology from its inception was tainted by accusations of promoting materialism and atheism, and being destructive of morality. These were all factors that led to the downfall of phrenology. Recent studies, using


id: phrenology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-4.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criminology === Phrenology was one of the first to bring about the idea of rehabilitation of criminals instead of vindictive punishments that would not stop criminals, only with the reorganizing a disorganized brain would bring about change. Voisin believed along with others the accuracy of phrenology in diagnosing criminal tendencies. Diagnosis could point to the type of offender, the insane, an idiot or brute, and by knowing this an appropriate course of action could be taken. A strict system of reward and punishment, hard work and religious instruction, was thought to be able to correct those who had been abandoned and neglected with little education and moral ground works. Those who were considered intellectually disabled could be put to work and housed collectively while only criminals of intellect and vicious intent needed to be confined and isolated. Phrenology also advocated variable prison sentences, the idea being that those who were only defective in education and lacking in morals would soon be released while those who were "mentally deficient" could be watched and the truly abhorrent criminals would never be released. For other patients phrenology could help redirect impulses, one homicidal individual became a butcher to control his impulses, while


id: phrenology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-5.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Ireland === Phrenology arrived in Ireland in 1815, through Spurzheim. While Ireland largely mirrored British trends, with scientific lectures and demonstrations becoming a popular pastime of the age, by 1815 phrenology had already been ridiculed in some circles priming the audiences to its skeptical claims. Because of this the general public valued it more for its comic relief than anything else; however, it did find an audience in the rational dissenters who found it an attractive alternative to explain human motivations without the attached superstitions of religion. The supporters of phrenology in Ireland were relegated to scientific subcultures because the Irish scholars neglected marginal movements like phrenology, denying it scientific support in Ireland. In 1830 George Combe came to Ireland, his self-promotion barely winning out against his lack of medical expertise, still only drawing lukewarm crowds. This was due to not only the Vatican's decree that phrenology was subversive of religion and morality but also that, based on phrenology, the "Irish Catholics were sui generis a flawed and degenerate breed". Because of the lack of scientific support, along with religious and prejudicial reasons, phrenology never found a wide audience in Ireland. === United States === The first publication in


id: phrenology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-6.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Intellectual faculties === These are to know the external world and physical qualities. Coloring Eventuality Form Hearing Individuality Language Locality Number Order Sight Size Smell Taste Time Touch Tune Weight === Reflecting faculties === These produce ideas of relation or reflect. They minister to the direction and gratification of all the other powers: Causality Comparison == Phrenology as popular science == Part of phrenology's rise in popularity was the availability of ideas from scholars that were shared throughout the nineteenth century. Various societies all over Europe and in the United States kept the middle class well informed on the developments in the pseudoscientific field of research by way of regularly publishing journals. One of the earliest publications of phrenology was George Combe's Phrenological Journal which sat among other books, pamphlets, and articles he published in order to popularize the pseudoscience. As mentioned previously, phrenology had a wide reach and a multi-faceted appeal from nobility to working class, and this would be his breakthrough publication in Great Britain. The most compelling argument Combe would make for the superiority of European nations and people over that of the rest of the world would be in an article he published titled "On


id: physiognomy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-0.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
Physiognomy or face reading, sometimes known by the later term anthroposcopy, is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term physiognomy can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without reference to its implied characteristics—as in the physiognomy of an individual plant (see plant life-form) or of a plant community (see vegetation). Physiognomy as a practice meets the contemporary definition of pseudoscience and is regarded as such by academics because of its unsupported claims; popular belief in the practice of physiognomy is nonetheless still widespread and modern advances in artificial intelligence have sparked renewed interest in the field of study. The practice was well-accepted by ancient Greek philosophers, but fell into disrepute in the 16th century while practised by vagabonds and mountebanks. It revived and was popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater, before falling from favour in the late 19th century. Physiognomy in the 19th century is particularly noted as a basis for scientific racism. Physiognomy as it is understood today is a subject of renewed scientific interest, especially as it relates to machine learning and facial recognition technology. The main interest for scientists today are the


id: physiognomy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-1.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
Lavater received mixed reactions from scientists, with some accepting his research and others criticizing it. His harshest critic was scientist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who said pathognomy, or discovering the character of a person by observing their behavior, was more effective. English religious writer Hannah More (1745–1833) complained to her contemporary writer Horace Walpole, "In vain do we boast ... that philosophy had broken down all the strongholds of prejudice, ignorance, and superstition; and yet, at this very time ... Lavater's physiognomy books sell at fifteen guineas a set." === Thomas Browne === Lavater found confirmation of his ideas from the English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), and the Italian Giambattista Della Porta (1535–1615). Browne in his Religio Medici (1643) discusses the possibility of the discernment of inner qualities from the outer appearance of the face, and wrote: there is surely a Physiognomy, which those experienced and Master Mendicants observe. ... For there are mystically in our faces certain Characters that carry in them the motto of our Souls, wherein he that cannot read A.B.C. may read our natures. Browne reaffirmed his physiognomic beliefs in Christian Morals (circa 1675): Since the Brow speaks often true, since Eyes and Noses have Tongues,


id: physiognomy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-2.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criminology === During the late 19th century, English psychometrician Sir Francis Galton attempted to define physiognomic characteristics of health, disease, beauty, and criminality, via a method of composite photography. Galton's process involved the photographic superimposition of two or more faces by multiple exposures. After averaging together photographs of violent criminals, he found that the composite image appeared "more respectable" than any of the faces comprising it; this was likely due to the irregularities of the skin across the constituent images being averaged out in the final blend. With the advent of computer technology during the early 1990s, Galton's composite technique has been adopted and greatly improved using computer graphics software. Physiognomy also became of use in the field of Criminology through efforts made by Italian army doctor and scientist, Cesare Lombroso. Lombroso, during the mid-19th century, championed the notion that "criminality was inherited and that criminals could be identified by physical attributes such as hawk-like noses and bloodshot eyes". Lombroso took inspiration from Charles Darwin's recently released theories of evolution and carried many of the misunderstandings that he had regarding evolution into the propagation of the use of physiognomy in criminology. His logic stemmed from the idea that "criminals


id: physiognomy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-3.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Artificial intelligence === Artificial intelligence (AI) has been reported to heavily employ physiognomy, such as the ability to predict homosexuality, criminality, and political affiliation from images of faces or other records of outwards appearance. Critics have said that this is a result of the biased databases that AI systems are trained on, and have noted its use and potential weaponization by governments and corporations. == Scientific investigation == Due to its legacy of racism and junk science masquerading as criminology, scientific study or discussion of the relationship between facial features and character has become taboo. It had previously posited many links. For example, there is evidence that character can influence facial appearance. Also, facial characteristics influence first impressions of others, which influences our expectations and behavior, which in turn influences character. Lastly, there are several biological factors that influence both facial appearance and character traits, such pre- and post-natal hormone levels and gene expression. The relationship between facial features and character traits such as political or sexual orientation is complex, but involves the fact that facial features can shape social behavior, partially as a result of the self-fulfilling prophecy effect. The self-fulfilling prophesy effect asserts that people perceived to


id: pigasus-award-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award-0.md
category: reference
title: Pigasus Award
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:01.599134+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pigasus-award-20260505-0
summary:
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award, which was presented by the late James Randi, a skeptic. The purpose of the award was to expose parapsychological, paranormal, and psychic frauds whom Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi usually made his announcements of the awards from the previous year on April 1 (April Fools' Day). == History == The award was originally called the Uri trophy, after Uri Geller, and was first announced in the appendix of Randi's book Flim-Flam!. The 1982 edition lists the award's "recipients" in 1979, 1980 and 1981. In Flim-Flam!, Randi states: The trophy consists of a stainless-steel spoon bent in a pleasing curve (paranormally, of course) and supported by a base of plastic. Please note that the base is flimsy and quite transparent. I am personally responsible for the nomination of the candidates. The sealed envelopes are read by me, while blindfolded, at the official announcement ceremony on April 1. Any baseless claims are rationalized in approved parapsychological fashion, and the results will be published immediately without being checked in any way. Winners are notified telepathically and are allowed to predict their victory in advance. The bent spoon trophy is


id: pigasus-award-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award-1.md
category: reference
title: Pigasus Award
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:01.599134+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pigasus-award-20260505-0
summary:
=== Category 2 – Funding === 1979 – The McDonnell Foundation, who gave $500,000 to Washington University in St. Louis to study spoon-bending children. (See Project Alpha) 1980 – The Millennium Foundation for giving $1 million to parapsychological research. (The award was withdrawn in 1982 when the foundation decided, instead, to invest the million dollars in a "psychically discovered" oil site, which turned out to be dry.) 1981 – The Pentagon for spending $6 million to determine whether or not burning a photograph of a Soviet missile would destroy the missile. (Randi 1982, pp. 327–329) 1996 – Robert Bigelow for funding John E. Mack and Budd Hopkins, and for purchasing the so-called Skinwalker Ranch in Utah known for alleged UFO attacks, "interdimensional portals", and cattle mutilations. 1999 – The Human Resources Administration of the City of New York, for training welfare recipients to work as telephone psychics. 2001 – The University of Paris for awarding a doctorate in Sociology to Élizabeth Teissier for a 900-page thesis on the validity of astrology. 2004 – The United States Air Force Research Laboratory, who paid $25,000 to Eric W. Davis at a Las Vegas company called Warp Drive Metrics to study the "conveyance


id: polygraph-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-0.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a pseudoscientific device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and answers a series of questions. The belief underpinning the use of the polygraph is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers; however, there are no specific physiological reactions associated with lying, making it difficult to identify factors that separate those who are lying from those who are telling the truth. In some countries, polygraphs are used as an interrogation tool with criminal suspects or candidates for sensitive public or private sector employment. Some United States law enforcement and federal government agencies, as well as many police departments, use polygraph examinations to interrogate suspects and screen new employees. Within the US federal government, a polygraph examination is also referred to as a psychophysiological detection of deception examination. Assessments of polygraphy by scientific and government bodies generally suggest that polygraphs are highly inaccurate, may easily be defeated by countermeasures, and are an imperfect or invalid means of assessing truthfulness. A comprehensive 2003 review


id: polygraph-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-1.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
Although the CQT [Control Question Test] may be useful as an investigative aid and tool to induce confessions, it does not pass muster as a scientifically credible test. CQT theory is based on naive, implausible assumptions indicating (a) that it is biased against innocent individuals and (b) that it can be beaten simply by artificially augmenting responses to control questions. Although it is not possible to adequately assess the error rate of the CQT, both of these conclusions are supported by published research findings in the best social science journals (Honts et al., 1994; Horvath, 1977; Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984; Patrick & Iacono, 1991). Although defense attorneys often attempt to have the results of friendly CQTs admitted as evidence in court, there is no evidence supporting their validity and ample reason to doubt it. Members of scientific organizations who have the requisite background to evaluate the CQT are overwhelmingly skeptical of the claims made by polygraph proponents. Polygraphs measure arousal, which can be affected by anxiety, anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), nervousness, fear, confusion, hypoglycemia, psychosis, depression, substance-induced states (nicotine, stimulants), substance-withdrawal state (alcohol withdrawal) or other emotions; polygraphs do not measure "lies". A polygraph cannot differentiate


id: polygraph-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-2.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
== Use == Law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies in the United States are by far the largest users of polygraph technology. In the United States alone most federal law enforcement agencies either employ their own polygraph examiners or use the services of examiners employed by other agencies. In 1978 Richard Helms, the eighth Director of Central Intelligence, stated: We discovered there were some Eastern Europeans who could defeat the polygraph at any time. Americans are not very good at it, because we are raised to tell the truth and when we lie it is easy to tell we are lying. But we find a lot of Europeans and Asiatics can handle that polygraph without a blip, and you know they are lying and you have evidence that they are lying. Susan McCarthy of Salon said in 2000 that "The polygraph is an American phenomenon, with limited use in a few countries, such as Canada, Israel and Japan." === Armenia === In Armenia, government administered polygraphs are legal, at least for use in national security investigations. The National Security Service (NSS), Armenia's primary intelligence service, requires polygraph examinations of all new applicants. === Australia === Polygraph evidence became inadmissible in


id: polygraph-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-3.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
In 2018, Wired magazine reported that an estimated 2.5 million polygraph tests were given each year in the United States, with the majority administered to paramedics, police officers, firefighters, and state troopers. The average cost to administer the test is more than $700 and is part of a $2 billion industry. In 2007, polygraph testimony was admitted by stipulation in 19 states, and was subject to the discretion of the trial judge in federal court. The use of polygraph in court testimony remains controversial, although it is used extensively in post-conviction supervision, particularly of sex offenders. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993), the old Frye standard was lifted and all forensic evidence, including polygraph, had to meet the new Daubert standard in which "underlying reasoning or methodology is scientifically valid and properly can be applied to the facts at issue." While polygraph tests are commonly used in police investigations in the US, no defendant or witness can be forced to undergo the test unless they are under the supervision of the courts. In United States v. Scheffer (1998), the US Supreme Court left it up to individual jurisdictions whether polygraph results could be admitted as evidence in court


id: polygraph-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-4.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
In 1995, Harold James Nicholson, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee later convicted of spying for Russia, had undergone his periodic five-year reinvestigation, in which he showed a strong probability of deception on questions regarding relationships with a foreign intelligence unit. This polygraph test later led to an investigation which resulted in his eventual arrest and conviction. In most cases, however, polygraphs are more of a tool to "scare straight" those who would consider espionage. Jonathan Pollard was advised by his Israeli handlers that he was to resign his job from American intelligence if he was ever told he was subject to a polygraph test. Likewise, John Anthony Walker was advised by his handlers not to engage in espionage until he had been promoted to the highest position for which a polygraph test was not required, to refuse promotion to higher positions for which polygraph tests were required, and to retire when promotion was mandated. In 1983, CIA employee Edward Lee Howard was dismissed when, during a polygraph screening, he truthfully answered a series of questions admitting to minor crimes such as petty theft and drug abuse. In retaliation for his perceived unjust punishment for minor offenses, he later sold


id: polygraph-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-5.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
== History == Earlier societies utilized elaborate methods of lie detection which mainly involved torture. For instance, in the Middle Ages, boiling water was used to detect liars, as it was believed honest men would withstand it better than liars. Early devices for lie detection include an 1895 invention of Cesare Lombroso used to measure changes in blood pressure for police cases, a 1904 device by Vittorio Benussi used to measure breathing, the Mackenzie-Lewis Polygraph first developed by James Mackenzie in 1906 and an abandoned project by American William Moulton Marston which used blood pressure to examine German prisoners of war (POWs). Marston said he found a strong positive correlation between systolic blood pressure and lying. Marston wrote a second paper on the concept in 1915, when finishing his undergraduate studies. He entered Harvard Law School and graduated in 1918, re-publishing his earlier work in 1917. Marston's main inspiration for the device was his wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston. "According to Marston’s son, it was his mother Elizabeth, Marston's wife, who suggested to him that 'When she got mad or excited, her blood pressure seemed to climb'" (Lamb, 2001). Although Elizabeth is not listed as Marston’s collaborator in his early work,


id: polygraph-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-6.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
=== Hand-held lie detector for US military === A hand-held lie detector is being deployed by the US Department of Defense according to a report in 2008 by investigative reporter Bill Dedman of NBC News. The Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, or PCASS, captures less physiological information than a polygraph, and uses an algorithm, not the judgment of a polygraph examiner, to render a decision whether it believes the person is being deceptive or not. The device was first used in Afghanistan by US Army troops. The Department of Defense ordered its use be limited to non-US persons, in overseas locations only. === Notable cases === Polygraphy has been faulted for failing to trap known spies such as double-agent Aldrich Ames, who passed two polygraph tests while spying for the Soviet Union. Ames failed several tests while at the CIA that were never acted on. Other spies who passed the polygraph include Karl Koecher, Ana Montes, and Leandro Aragoncillo. CIA spy Harold James Nicholson failed his polygraph examinations, which aroused suspicions that led to his eventual arrest. Polygraph examination and background checks failed to detect Nada Nadim Prouty, who was not a spy but was convicted for improperly obtaining US


id: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Polyvagal theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:03.987197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Polyvagal theory (PVT) is a collection of proposed evolutionary, neuroscientific, and psychological constructs pertaining to the role of the vagus nerve in emotion regulation, social connection, and fear responses. The theory was introduced in 1994 by Stephen Porges. PVT is popular among some clinical practitioners and patients. However, multiple aspects of the theory are widely criticized for being at odds with known science. For example, neuroanatomists point out that the theory is incorrect in claiming direct communication between the brainstem branchiomotor nuclei and the visceromotor portion of the nucleus ambiguus. Evolutionary biologists consider the presence of myelinated vagus nerve fibers in lungfish leading from the nucleus ambiguus to the heart a contradiction of the theory's view of the mammalian nucleus ambiguus. Polyvagal theory takes its name from the vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that forms a primary component of the parasympathetic nervous system. The traditional view of the autonomic nervous system presents a two-part system: the sympathetic nervous system, which is more activating ("fight or flight"), and the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports health, growth, and restoration ("rest and digest"). Polyvagal theory views the parasympathetic nervous system as being further split into two distinct branches: a "ventral vagal system" which


id: polyvagal-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Polyvagal theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:03.987197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Proposed ventral vagal complex (VVC) === With increased neural complexity as seen in mammals (due to phylogenetic development), there is said to have evolved a more sophisticated system to enrich behavioral and affective responses to an increasingly complex environment. The ventral branch of the vagus originates in the nucleus ambiguus and is myelinated to provide more speed in responding. Polyvagal theory calls this the "smart vagus" because it associates it with the regulation of sympathetic "fight or flight" behaviors by way of social affiliative behaviors. These behaviors are said to include social communication and self-soothing and calming. In other words, this branch of the vagus is said to inhibit or disinhibit defensive limbic circuits, depending on the situation. Note: Attributing defensive behaviours purely to the limbic system is an oversimplification, as these are triggered by perceived threats, thus requiring an interplay of brain areas performing sensory integration, memory, and semantic knowledge with the limbic system to be elicited. Similarly, the regulation of emotions requires a complex interplay of higher cognitive areas with limbic ones. The vagus nerve mediates the control of supradiaphragmatic visceral organs, such as the esophagus, bronchi, pharynx, and larynx. It also exerts an important influence on


id: polyvagal-theory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory-2.md
category: reference
title: Polyvagal theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:03.987197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Neuroscientific claims === Neuhuber and Berthoud (2022) state that polyvagal theory's "basic phylogenetic and functional-anatomical tenets do not withstand closer scrutiny". They argue that polyvagal theory incorrectly portrays the role of the different vagal nuclei in mediating the freeze response. According to their analysis, the evidence "does not support a role of the 'dorsal vagal complex' in freezing as proposed by the PVT" and the dorsal vagal complex "should not be linked to passive defensive behavior". Regarding the proposed "ventral vagal complex", they state that "the PVT, by construeing a 'new ventral vagal complex' encompassing the entire branchiomotor column ascribed to the vagus much more than it actually can serve." They see it as "misleading to propose that brainstem branchiomotor ('source') nuclei 'communicate directly with the visceromotor portion of the nucleus ambiguus'", and conclude that the relevant networks "should not be termed 'ventral vagal complex'. This terminology may insinuate that the vagus is a "prime mover". This not the case [...]". Taylor, Wang & Leite (2022) similarly regard it as "invalid to refer to this as a 'vagal system' or to postulate the existence of a 'smart vagus'." === Evolutionary claims === Grossman and Taylor (2007) argue that there


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-0.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
Postpartum confinement is a traditional practice following childbirth. Those who follow these customs typically begin immediately after the birth, and the seclusion or special treatment lasts for a culturally variable length: typically for one month or 30 days, 26 days, up to 40 days, two months, or 100 days. This postnatal recuperation can include care practices in regards of "traditional health beliefs, taboos, rituals, and proscriptions." The practice used to be known as "lying-in", which, as the term suggests, centres on bed rest. In some cultures, it may be connected to taboos concerning impurity after childbirth. == Overview == Postpartum confinement refers both to the mother and the baby. Human newborns are so underdeveloped that pediatricians such as Harvey Karp refer to the first three months as the "fourth trimester". The weeks of rest while the mother heals also protect the infant as it adjusts to the world, and both learn the skills of breastfeeding. Almost all countries have some form of maternity leave. Many countries encourage men to take some paternal leave, but even those that mandate that some of the shared parental leave must be used by the father ("father's quota") acknowledge that the mother needs time off


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-1.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
===== Everyday habits and personal hygiene practices ===== Traditionally in China, the mother and child were kept separate from the rest of the household. The mother was not permitted to bathe, wash her hair, or weep, because these activities were believed to put the mother at risk of falling ill by catching cold and affect the quality of her breast milk. Nowadays, however, new mothers may wash their hair or take a bath or shower infrequently during the postpartum period, but it is claimed to be important to dry their body immediately afterwards with a clean towel and their hair properly using a hair dryer. It is also claimed to be important for women to wrap up warm and minimize the amount of skin exposed, as it was believed that they may catch a cold during this vulnerable time. In Dalian, some women even take to wrapping themselves in plastic to avoid the wind. Ref ===== Special foods ===== The custom of confinement advises new mothers to choose energy and protein-rich foods to recover energy levels, help shrink the uterus, and for the perineum to heal. This is also important for the production of breastmilk. Among the traditionally recommended galactogogues


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-2.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
==== Korea ==== In Korea, the traditional postpartum practice is known as sanhujori (산후조리), and women historically observed a confinement period called samchil-il (삼칠일, "three seven days," or 21 days). In the past, during the samchil-il period, geumjul (taboo rope) made with saekki and various symbolic objects, such as chili peppers (for a boy) and coal (for a girl), was hung over the gate to denote the childbirth and restrict visitor access. Sanhujori practices traditionally include consuming warm foods believed to aid recovery, such as seaweed soup (miyeokguk), which is rich in iron and iodine and is considered essential for postpartum mothers. New mothers are also encouraged to keep warm, rest extensively, and avoid cold foods and environments. Since the late 20th century, South Korea has seen the widespread establishment of specialized postpartum care facilities known as sanhujoriwon (산후조리원). These centers provide professional nursing care, newborn monitoring, lactation support, and traditional postpartum meals in a residential setting, typically for a stay of approximately two weeks. A 2023 study examining first-time mothers' satisfaction with sanhujoriwon found that both individual factors and environmental ecological factors influenced maternal satisfaction with these facilities. The growth of sanhujoriwon parallels the development of postpartum care centers


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-3.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
==== Malaysia ==== In Malaysia, postpartum confinement is practiced across ethnic Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities, each with distinct traditions. Malay mothers typically observe a 44-day confinement period, during which they undergo traditional practices including bertungku (application of a heated stone to the abdomen) and traditional massage (urut). Special herbal baths are also common throughout the recovery period. A comparative study of confinement practices in Singapore found that Chinese and Indian mothers tended to follow more specific dietary regimens than Malay mothers, and that Chinese mothers were more likely to depend on confinement nannies for support. ==== Vietnam ==== Vietnamese postpartum confinement traditions emphasize keeping the mother warm to avoid gio (wind), which is believed to cause headaches, joint pain, and other long-term ailments. New mothers are encouraged to stay warm, avoid cold water and drafts, and consume warming foods and herbal preparations. A 2021 meta-ethnography examining postpartum practices among Southeast and East Asian immigrant mothers found that Vietnamese women, along with Chinese, Korean, and Hmong women, frequently adapted their traditional confinement practices when living abroad, negotiating between cultural expectations and the realities of their new environments. === Europe === The term used in English, now old-fashioned or archaic, was


id: power-balance-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance-0.md
category: reference
title: Power Balance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:06.337286+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: power-balance-20260505-0
summary:
Power Balance is the original brand of hologram bracelets claimed by its manufacturers and vendors to use "holographic technology" to "resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body" to increase athletic performance. Numerous independent studies of the device have found it to be no more effective than a placebo for enhancing athletic performance. As a result, in 2010, the Australian distributor, Power Balance Australia Pty Ltd, was forced by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) to retract any previous claims. == History == The product was originally promoted at trade shows in the beginning of 2006 using applied kinesiology as its effective sales tool. The bracelets went on sale in 2007 and had several celebrity endorsements. The bracelets became a trend among high school, collegiate, and professional sports teams between 2008 and 2012. This sustained prevalence compelled journalist Darren Rovell to remark that "a growing number of professional sportsmen and their attendants are starting to sound like New Age crystal healers." CNBC Sports named Power Balance Product of the Year in 2010 for its strong sales and celebrity endorsements. Power Balance headquarters, which was located in Laguna Niguel, California, at the time, denied that they


id: power-balance-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance-1.md
category: reference
title: Power Balance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:06.337286+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: power-balance-20260505-0
summary:
Experts are of the opinion that the Power Balance bracelet is nothing more than a placebo. Victor Thompson, a sports psychologist based in London, said: "I'm not aware of any research that supports the technology behind these bands." Greg Whyte, professor of applied sport and exercise science at Liverpool John Moores University, said that "for generations there have been devices that claim to mediate the body's flow of energy. In most instances, the 'proof' is based on anecdotal evidence." The Center for Inquiry noted Power Balance's use of pseudoscientific applied kinesiology tests, which it described as "problematic and full of flaws." The illustrative videos on the company's website were considered vague and unclear, and the Center noted that "most people's flexibility seems to improve from their first stretch to their second stretch regardless of whether they are wearing the bracelet." In 2010, Harriet A. Hall wrote in the Skeptical Inquirer that she would believe anyone who claimed that a Power Balance product made them feel better, or that their performance was improved, but would not be convinced that "the improvement has anything to do with bioresonating frequencies in the holograms—or even with the cards themselves. It's like the tooth fairy.


id: pranic-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranic_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Pranic therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranic_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:07.489104+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pranic-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Pranic therapy is the umbrella term for pseudoscientific forms of energy healing. It is a range of holistic therapies and alternative medicine that claim to have healing benefits. It is a form of energy healing which has shown in some medical studies to be effective in reducing pain, anxiety and other physical and mental conditions. == History == Pranic therapies are techniques that include pranic healing is a modern interpretation of numerous ancient healing techniques, including Chinese Qi, Chakras and most notably Prana, from which it gets its name. Starting as an eastern alternative medicine, it has become more commonly used in the west in recent years, and often used in spas and similar businesses. India where prana is used across various alternative medical techniques, has also seen a rise in pranic therapies. Medical practices in the United States have also used pranic therapies on patients, although successful treatments have not been accurately measured. Its adoption in the west has led to some using the technique as a front for unethical practices, or to make unsubstantiated claims. == Principles == Pranic therapies focus on 11 major chakras in the body, each of which corresponds with the position of a vital


id: precognition-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition-0.md
category: reference
title: Precognition
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:09.812996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: precognition-20260505-0
summary:
Precognition (from the Latin prae- 'before', and cognitio 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a real effect, and it is widely considered to be pseudoscience. Precognition violates the principle of causality, that an effect cannot occur before its cause. Precognition has been widely believed in throughout history. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, many people believe it to be real; it is still widely reported and remains a topic of research and discussion within the parapsychology community. == Precognitive phenomena == Precognition is sometimes treated as an example of the wider phenomenon of prescience or foreknowledge, to understand by any means what is likely to happen in the future. It is distinct from premonition, which is a vaguer feeling of some impending disaster. Related activities such as predictive prophecy and fortune telling have been practised throughout history. Precognitive dreams are the most widely reported occurrences of precognition. Usually, a dream or vision can only be identified as precognitive after the putative event has taken place. When such an event occurs after a dream, it is said to have


id: precognition-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition-1.md
category: reference
title: Precognition
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:09.812996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: precognition-20260505-0
summary:
=== Early 20th century === In the early 20th century J. W. Dunne, a British soldier and aeronautics engineer, experienced several dreams which he regarded as precognitive. He developed techniques to record and analyse them, identifying any correspondences between his future experiences and his recorded dreams. He reported his findings in his 1927 book An Experiment with Time. In it he alleges that 10% of his dreams appeared to include some element of future experience. He also persuaded some friends to try the experiment on themselves, with mixed results. He noted a strong cognitive bias in which subjects, including himself, were reluctant to ascribe their dream correspondences to precognition and determinedly sought alternative explanations. Dunne concluded that precognitive elements in dreams are common and that many people unknowingly have them. He suggested also that dream precognition did not reference future events of all kinds, but specifically the future experiences of the dreamer. He was led to this idea when he found that a dream of a volcanic eruption appeared to foresee not the disaster itself but his subsequent misreading of an inaccurate account in a newspaper. Edith Lyttelton, who became President of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), regarded his


id: precognition-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition-2.md
category: reference
title: Precognition
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:09.812996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: precognition-20260505-0
summary:
The dream should be reported to a credible witness before the event. The time interval between the dream and the event should be short. The event should be unexpected at the time of the dream. The description should be of an event destined literally, and not symbolically, to happen. The details of dream and event should tally. David Ryback, a psychologist in Atlanta, used a questionnaire survey approach to investigate precognitive dreaming in college students during the 1980s. His survey of over 433 participants showed that 290 or 66.9 per cent reported some form of paranormal dream. He rejected many of these reports, but claimed that 8.8 per cent of the population was having actual precognitive dreams. === 21st century === In 2011 the psychologist Daryl Bem, a Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, published findings showing statistical evidence for precognition in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The paper was heavily criticised, and the criticism widened to include the journal itself and the validity of the peer-review process. In 2012, an independent attempt to reproduce Bem's results was published, but it failed to do so. The widespread controversy led to calls for improvements in practice and for more research.


id: princeton-engineering-anomalies-research-lab-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Engineering_Anomalies_Research_Lab-0.md
category: reference
title: Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Engineering_Anomalies_Research_Lab
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:11.025440+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: princeton-engineering-anomalies-research-lab-20260505-0
summary:
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) was a research program at Princeton University that studied parapsychology. Established in 1979 by then Dean of Engineering Robert G. Jahn, PEAR conducted formal studies on two primary subject areas, psychokinesis (PK) and remote viewing. Owing to the controversial nature of the subject matter, the program had a strained relationship with Princeton and was considered by the administration and some faculty to be an embarrassment to the university. Critics stated that it lacked scientific rigor, used poor methodology, and misused statistics, and characterized it as pseudoscience. PEAR closed in February 2007, being incorporated into the "International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL). == Parapsychological experiments with random event generators == PEAR employed electronic random event generators (REGs) to explore the ability of test subjects to use psychokinesis to influence the random output distribution of these devices to conform to their pre-recorded intentions to produce higher numbers, lower numbers, or nominal baselines. Most of these experiments utilized a microelectronic REG, but experiments were also conducted with "a giant, wall-mounted pachinko-like machine with a cascade of bouncing balls". In 1986 associates of PEAR published data collected over the course of seven years from a group of subjects attempting


id: pseudomathematics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomathematics-0.md
category: reference
title: Pseudomathematics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomathematics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:29.008938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudomathematics-20260505-0
summary:
Pseudomathematics, or mathematical crankery, is a mathematics-like activity that does not adhere to the framework of rigor of formal mathematical practice. Common areas of pseudomathematics are solutions of problems proved to be unsolvable or recognized as extremely hard by experts, as well as attempts to apply mathematics to non-quantifiable areas. A person engaging in pseudomathematics is called a pseudomathematician or a pseudomath. Pseudomathematics has equivalents in other scientific fields, and may overlap with other topics characterized as pseudoscience. Pseudomathematics often contains mathematical fallacies whose executions are tied to elements of deceit rather than genuine, unsuccessful attempts at tackling a problem. Excessive pursuit of pseudomathematics can result in the practitioner being labelled a crank. Because it is based on non-mathematical principles, pseudomathematics is not related to misguided attempts at genuine proofs. Indeed, such mistakes are common in the careers of amateur mathematicians, some of whom go on to produce celebrated results. The topic of mathematical crankery has been extensively studied by mathematician Underwood Dudley, who has written several popular works about mathematical cranks and their ideas. == Examples == One common type of approach is claiming to have solved a classical problem that has been proven to be mathematically unsolvable. Common


id: pseudoskepticism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism-0.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoskepticism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:30.208872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoskepticism-20260505-0
summary:
Pseudoskepticism (also spelled as pseudoscepticism) is a philosophical or scientific position that appears to be that of skepticism or scientific skepticism but in reality is a form of dogmatism. == Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries == An early use of the word was in self-denigration: on 31 August 1869, Swiss philosopher Henri-Frédéric Amiel wrote in his diary: My instinct is in harmony with the pessimism of Buddha and of Schopenhauer. It is a doubt which never leaves me, even in my moments of religious fervor. Nature is indeed for me a Maïa; and I look at her, as it were, with the eyes of an artist. My intelligence remains skeptical. What, then, do I believe in? I do not know. And what is it I hope for? It would be difficult to say. Folly! I believe in goodness, and I hope that good will prevail. Deep within this ironical and disappointed being of mine there is a child hidden — a frank, sad, simple creature, who believes in the ideal, in love, in holiness, and all heavenly superstitions. A whole millennium of idyls sleeps in my heart; I am a pseudo-skeptic, a pseudo-scoffer. It soon acquired its usual meaning where


id: pseudoskepticism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism-1.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoskepticism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:30.208872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoskepticism-20260505-0
summary:
== Subsequent usage == Susan Blackmore, who lost her initial belief in parapsychology and in 1991 became a CSICOP fellow, later described what she termed the "worst kind of pseudoskepticism": There are some members of the skeptics' groups who clearly believe they know the right answer prior to inquiry. They appear not to be interested in weighing alternatives, investigating strange claims, or trying out psychic experiences or altered states for themselves (heaven forbid!), but only in promoting their own particular belief structure and cohesion. Hugo Anthony Meynell from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, labels the "extreme position that all significant evidence supporting paranormal phenomena is a result of deception or lies" as pseudoskepticism. While Truzzi's characterization was aimed at the holders of majority views whom he considered were excessively impatient of minority opinions, the term has been used to describe advocates of minority intellectual positions who engage in pseudoskeptical behavior when they characterize themselves as "skeptics" despite cherry picking evidence that conforms to a preexisting belief. Thus according to Richard Cameron Wilson, some advocates of AIDS denial are indulging in "bogus scepticism" when they argue in this way. Wilson argues that the characteristic feature of


id: psionics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics-0.md
category: reference
title: Psionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:31.453514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psionics-20260505-0
summary:
In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as extrasensory perception, telepathy and psychokinesis. The term is a blend word of psi (in the sense of "psychic phenomena") and the -onics from electronics. The word "psionics" began as, and always remained, a term of art within the science fiction community and—despite the promotional efforts of editor John W. Campbell, Jr.—it never achieved general currency, even among academic parapsychologists. In the years after the term was coined in 1951, it became increasingly evident that no scientific evidence supports the existence of "psionic" abilities. == Etymology == In 1942, two authors—biologist Bertold Wiesner and psychologist Robert Thouless—had introduced the term "psi" (from ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet) to parapsychology in an article published in the British Journal of Psychology. (This Greek character was chosen as apropos since it is the initial letter of the Greek word ψυχή [psyche]—meaning "mind" or "soul".) The intent was that "psi" would represent the "unknown factor" in extrasensory perception and psychokinesis, experiences believed to be unexplained by any known physical


id: psionics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics-1.md
category: reference
title: Psionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:31.453514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psionics-20260505-0
summary:
=== The "psi-boom" === With Campbell's encouragement, or at his direction, "psionic" abilities began to appear frequently in magazine science fiction stories in the mid-1950s, providing characters with supernormal or supernatural abilities. The first example was Murray Leinster's novella The Psionic Mousetrap published in early 1955. Examples of psychic abilities in fiction, whether attributed to supernatural agencies or otherwise, predated the "psionics" vogue. But the editors of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describe and define a post-war "psi-boom" in genre science fiction—"which he [Campbell] engineered"—dating it from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. They cite James Blish's Jack of Eagles (1952), Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human (1953), Wilson Tucker's Wild Talent (1954) and Frank M. Robinson's The Power (1956) as examples. Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man (1953) is a pioneering example of a work depicting a society in which people with "psi" abilities are fully integrated. Since the "psi-boom" years coincided with the darkest and most paranoid period of the Cold War, it is natural that many examples of the utility of telepathy in espionage (for example those of Randall Garrett) would be produced. In terms of literary continuity, the editors of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction point out that


id: psychic-detective-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
A psychic detective is a person who purports to investigate crimes using paranormal psychic abilities. Claimed techniques and abilities have included postcognition (paranormal perception of the past), psychometry (information psychically gained from objects), telepathy, dowsing, clairvoyance, and remote viewing. In murder cases, psychic detectives may purport to be in communication with the spirits of the murder victims. Individuals claiming psychic abilities have stated they have helped police departments to solve crimes, however, there is a lack of police corroboration of their claims. Many police departments around the world have released official statements saying that they do not regard psychics as credible or useful on cases.


id: psychic-detective-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-1.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Prominent cases == Many prominent police cases, often involving missing persons, have received the attention of alleged psychics. In November 2004, purported psychic Sylvia Browne told the mother of kidnapping victim Amanda Berry, who had disappeared 19 months earlier: "She's not alive, honey." Browne also claimed to have had a vision of Berry's jacket in the garbage with "DNA on it". Berry's mother died two years later believing that her daughter had been killed; Berry was found alive in May 2013 having been a kidnapping victim of Ariel Castro along with Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus. After Berry was found alive, Browne received criticism for the false declaration that Berry was dead. Browne also became involved in the case of Shawn Hornbeck, which received the attention of psychics after the eleven-year-old went missing on 6 October 2002. Browne appeared on The Montel Williams Show and provided the parents of Shawn Hornbeck a detailed description of the abductor and where Hornbeck could be found. Browne responded "No" when asked if he was still alive. When Hornbeck was found alive more than four years later, few of the details given by Browne were correct. Shawn Hornbeck's father, Craig Akers, has stated


id: psychic-detective-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-2.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
But decades later it has yet to be located, and as of 2024 the Government of the Province of Nova Scotia is still offering rewards of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for Kimberly's disappearance. In 2023, Charlotte Sena was reported missing from a campground in Moreau Lake State Park in Saratoga County, New York resulting in a huge search effort involving over 400 people, including teams from the New York State Police, New York State Park Police, Forest Rangers, the FBI, and other agencies. Suspecting a possible abduction case, the State Police put the family's home under surveillance, and after a suspicious vehicle drew attention of the police, a ransom note was found in the family's mailbox. Forensic evidence was soon matched to Ballston Spa resident Craig Nelson Ross Jr. (born March 17, 1977), who had a previous criminal history and was living about eighteen miles away from the campground where Sena was found safe and Ross was arrested. A segment from WNYT NewsChannel 13 called "Psychic helps police, family of a kidnapped girl" featured Christine Seebold-Walrath, a self-styled psychic medium. In the segment, journalist Dan Levy claimed that Seebold-Walrath


id: psychic-detective-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-3.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Official police responses == Many police departments around the world have released official statements saying that they do not regard psychics as credible or useful on cases. === In Australia === Australian police, officially, in general have said that they do not accept assistance from psychics. This was in response to an Australian TV show Sensing Murder in which psychics attempt to crack unsolved murders. Western Australian Police have a policy that they do not contact psychics for assistance with investigations, however they will accept information contributed by psychics. An unnamed Australian federal police officer was suspended following his seeking the aid of a clairvoyant in regard to death threats made against Prime Minister John Howard. A federal police spokesman said they do "not condone the use of psychics in security matters". There are still cases of psychics professing to have trained with the Australian police and failing to provide credible evidence to support qualifications or evidence of being a psychic profiler or intuitive profiler with the Australian police. While official policy for police forces in Australia does not advocate the use of psychics for investigations, one former Detective Senior Constable, Jeffrey Little, has said police do use them


id: psychic-detective-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-4.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific studies == A number of tests have been conducted on psychics detectives, using control groups, to try to establish any psychic ability relating to crime solving. One of the earliest was carried out by Dutch Police officer, Filippus Brink in 1960. He conducted a year-long study of psychics, but found no evidence of any crime-solving abilities. Another study was conducted in 1982 where evidence from four crimes was given to three groups: psychic detectives, students and police detectives. The clues related to four crimes, two crimes that had been solved, and two that had not been. The study found no difference between the three groups in ability to indicate what crimes had been committed by looking at the evidence. Some flaws in the scientific method were apparent in these two tests. A further test was conducted in 1997, this test focusing on improving on the scientific methods used in the previous tests. This study used two groups, one consisting of three students from the University of Hertfordshire, the other group consisting of three psychics (two psychic detectives and a non-detective psychic who had a media profile and had been endorsed by police due to his abilities). The two


id: psychic-detective-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-5.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical commentary == In 2023, the podcast, Worldwide: The Disappearance of the Thai Silk King, released an episode featuring a professional skeptic discussing the dangers of psychic detectives getting involved in missing person cases. The episode examines Peter Hurkos and Sylvia Brown, in particular, and categorizes and demystifies psychics and their manipulation tools. ABC's Nightline Beyond Belief program for 17 August 2011 featured psychic detectives and their involvement with the case of Ali Lowitzer. Typical of missing person cases, families are approached by people claiming they will help bring the missing home. "They told me, I see trees, water, dirt... but it is all very vague" according to Susan Lowitzer a mother whose daughter has been missing since 26 April 2010. Retired FBI agent and ABC consultant Brad Garrett states, "In 30 years...I have never seen a psychic solve a mystery", while Bob Nygaard, a retired 20-year veteran of the Nassau County police department and currently a private investigator specializing in the investigation of psychics, noted that he had not worked with, nor did he know of anyone on the force who had worked with, any psychic detectives. JREF investigator and mentalist Banachek feels that psychic detectives take advantage


id: psychic-detective-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-6.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
There is a long history of psychic detectives in horror and crime fiction, and in other genres as well. One of the earliest forms of the genre was the character Flaxman Low, created in 1897 by mother and son Kate and Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard under the pseudonyms H. Heron and E. Heron. The Prichards wrote their stories at the behest of the press baron Cyril Pearson for his monthly Pearson's Magazine, though they were disconcerted to find the tales promoted by Pearson as "real". The collected work was published as The Experiences of Flaxman Low in 1899. Other literary examples include Jules de Grandin (created by Seabury Quinn), Doctor Occult (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) and Agent Jasi McLellan created by Cheryl Kaye Tardif. The popular TV show Psych features Shawn Spencer (James Roday Rodriguez), a charlatan paranormal detective helping the Santa Barbara police with crimes that range from robberies to kidnappings to murders. However, the man actually uses an acute sense of observation that he acquired as a child; an eidetic memory; excellent vision; and deduction and reasoning to solve cases, making a running gag of his claim to be a psychic. In Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently novels,


id: psychic-reading-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_reading-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychic reading
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_reading
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:33.863585+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-reading-20260505-0
summary:
A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities, or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance (vision), clairsentience (feeling), claircognisance (factual knowing) and clairaudience (hearing) and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs. Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry, a popular interest in them persists. Extensive experimentation to replicate psychic results in laboratory conditions have failed to find any precognitive phenomena in humans. A cold reading technique allows psychics to produce seemingly specific information about an individual from social cues and broad statements. == Types == There are many types of psychic readings practiced. Although psychic readings might not incorporate the use of any tools, a professional psychic may have one or more specialized areas of expertise. Some of the more common readings include Tarot reading, email psychic reading, palm reading, psychometry, aura readings, or astrological readings. === Astrology === Astrology is the study


id: psychic-surgery-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychic surgery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:35.006584+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-surgery-20260505-0
summary:
Psychic surgery is a medical fraud in which practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands and use sleight of hand, fake blood, and animal parts to convince the patient that diseased lesions have been removed and that the incision has spontaneously healed. The technique may fool the general public, but it can be observed by experienced stage magicians, who use the same sleight of hand techniques for entertainment. The US Federal Trade Commission described psychic surgery as a "total hoax". It has also been described as fraud, fakery, deceitful, irrational, charlatanry, and quackery. Even supporters have been forced to admit that sleight-of-hand tricks were "widely used" and that charlatans were common and miracles unlikely. Psychic surgery may cause needless death by keeping the ill away from life-saving medical care. Medical professionals and skeptics classify it as sleight of hand and any positive results as a placebo effect. Psychic surgery first appeared in the spiritualist communities of the Philippines and Brazil in the middle of the 20th century; it has taken different paths in those two countries. == Procedure == Although psychic surgery varies by region and practitioner, it usually follows some common lines. Without the use


id: psychic-surgery-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery-1.md
category: reference
title: Psychic surgery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:35.006584+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-surgery-20260505-0
summary:
=== North America === In the 1970s a specific form of surgery known as psychic dentistry emerged in America. Willard Fuller was the most well known proponent. It was alleged that Fuller could cause dental fillings to appear spontaneously, change silver into golden fillings, straighten crooked teeth or produce new teeth. However, magicians and skeptics have found these claims to be unsupported by solid evidence. One dentist examined some patients of Fuller. In one case miraculous gold fillings turned out to be tobacco stains. In another case a female patient who reported a miraculous new silver filling admitted she had forgotten that the filling was already there. == Medical and legal criticism == In 1975, the Federal Trade Commission declared that "'psychic surgery' is nothing but a total hoax". Judge Daniel H. Hanscom, when granting the FTC an injunction against travel agencies promoting psychic surgery tours, declared: "Psychic surgery is pure and unmitigated fakery. The 'surgical operations' of psychic surgeons ... with their bare hands are simply phony." In 1975 the FTC stated: It has been found that "psychic surgery" is pure fakery. The body is not opened, no "surgery" is performed with the bare hands or with anything else,


id: psychic-surgery-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery-2.md
category: reference
title: Psychic surgery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_surgery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:35.006584+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-surgery-20260505-0
summary:
In the 1967 novel by Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude, the character Fernanda maintains regular correspondence with so called "Invisible Doctors" who practice a form of psychic surgery on her. In the 1989 film Penn & Teller Get Killed, comedic magicians Penn and Teller demonstrate how to perform the illusion of psychic surgery. A 1989 episode of Unsolved Mysteries featured a police officer whose mother claimed to have been cured by psychic surgery, only to die shortly thereafter; her autopsy revealed several tumors. The policeman described himself going undercover to feign illness and pretended to desire psychic surgery, having the feeling of the practitioner using sleight of hand to supposedly dig into his tissue, as well as suspecting that the "cysts" and "tumors" being removed from his body were actually ready-made chicken parts. "Milagro", a sixth-season episode from The X-Files, features a killer accused of using psychic surgery on his victims, killing them in the process. In the BBC TV series Full Circle with Michael Palin, Michael Palin witnesses two separate instances of psychic surgery in the Baguio district of the Philippines. On raising his suspicion with the medic that it seemed a sleight of hand to


id: psychomanteum-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomanteum-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychomanteum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomanteum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:36.211024+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychomanteum-20260505-0
summary:
In parapsychology and Spiritualism, a psychomanteum is a small, enclosed area set up with a comfortable chair, dim lighting, and a mirror angled so as not to reflect anything but darkness intended to communicate with spirits of the dead. == History == The psychomanteum was popularized by Raymond Moody, originator of the term near-death experience, in his 1993 book, Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones. Raymond Moody believed the psychomanteum was useful as a tool to resolve grief. The chamber was kept darkened and illuminated only by a candle or a dim light bulb. Subjects gaze into the reflected darkness hoping to see and make contact with spirits of the dead. Moody compared the psychomanteum to the Greek Necromanteion, and said its function was a form of scrying. == See also == Catoptromancy – Divination using a mirror == References == == External links == "Experiencing the Psychomanteum" - Joe Nickell


id: psychometry-paranormal-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychometry_(paranormal)-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychometry (paranormal)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychometry_(paranormal)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:37.391641+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychometry-paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
In parapsychology, psychometry (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, "spirit, soul" and μέτρον, metron, "measure"), also known as token-object reading, or psychoscopy, is a form of extrasensory perception characterized by the purported ability to glean accurate knowledge of an object's history by making physical contact with that object. Supporters assert that an object may have an energy field that transfers knowledge regarding that object's history. There is no evidence that psychometry exists, and the concept has been widely criticized. == History == Joseph Rodes Buchanan coined the word "psychometry" (measuring the soul) in 1842. Buchanan developed the idea that all things give off an emanation. The Past is entombed in the Present! The world is its own enduring monument; and that which is true of its physical, is likewise true of its mental career. The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in hand — the one portraying the earth, its animals and its vegetation, while the


id: psychomotor-patterning-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomotor_patterning-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychomotor patterning
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomotor_patterning
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:38.569666+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychomotor-patterning-20260505-0
summary:
Psychomotor patterning, rarely referred to as the Doman-Delacato technique, is a pseudoscientific approach to the treatment of intellectual disabilities, brain injury, learning disabilities, and other cognitive diseases. The treatment is based on the largely-discredited theory of recapitulation. The method assumes that intellectual disabilities result from the failure of an individual to develop properly through the phylogenetic stages, and treatment primarily focuses on non-invasive physical therapy in each of the stages. In one such stage, the homolateral stage, a healthy child typically crawls by turning the head to one side while extending the arm and leg of the opposite side. The patterning treatment is applied to those unable to perform this motion, and involves passive intervention by 4-5 adults who assists the child in an effort to impose or induce the proper pattern onto the central nervous system. The therapy normally lasts for 5 minutes and is repeated at least 4 times a day. Full treatment programs typically contain a range of exercises combined with sensory stimulation, breathing exercises designed to increase oxygen flow to the brain, and systematic restriction and facilitation designed to promote hemispheric dominance. The treatment modality of patterning was developed in the 1960s by Glenn Doman and


id: purple-hat-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_hat_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Purple hat therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_hat_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:39.791484+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: purple-hat-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Purple hat therapy refers to any medical practice in which an established form of therapy is mixed with an unlikely new addition (such as wearing a purple hat) and then is claimed to be effective because of the new addition, when in fact the effectiveness is due to the established component. == Origin and description == The term "purple hat therapy" was coined by Gerald Rosen and Gerald Davison in their 2003 paper, Psychology should list empirically supported principles of change (ESPs) and not credential trademarked therapies or other treatment packages. The therapy is accepted as effective because it is assessed overall; the additional element of the "purple hat" is not tested as distinct and does not need to prove its extra worth. Its invention is followed by the publication of papers discussing it and special training courses. In addition to introducing unnecessary elements into the treatment, purple hat therapies can hinder the scientific understanding of effective treatments for the condition in question. == Application == Purple hat therapy has been used as an analogue for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing since it takes established exposure therapy and adds non-science based activities such as eye movement as a "purple hat".


id: pyramid-power-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power-0.md
category: reference
title: Pyramid power
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:40.942009+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pyramid-power-20260505-0
summary:
Pyramid power is the belief that the pyramids of ancient Egypt and objects of similar shape can confer a variety of benefits. Among these supposed properties are the ability to preserve foods, sharpen or maintain the sharpness of razor blades, improve health, function "as a thought-form incubator", trigger sexual urges, and cause other effects. Such unverified conjectures regarding pyramids are collectively known as pyramidology. There is no evidence that pyramid power exists. == History == In the 1930s, a French ironmonger and pendulum-dowsing author, Antoine Bovis, developed the idea that small models of pyramids can preserve food. The story persists that Bovis, while standing inside the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, saw a garbage can inside the chamber piled with dead animals that had wandered into the structure, noticed that these small carcasses were not decaying and inferred that the structure somehow preserved them. However, Bovis never claimed to have visited Egypt. In his self-published French-language booklet Bovis ascribes his discovery to reasoning and experiments in Europe using a dowsing pendulum: I have supposed that Egyptians were already very good dowsers and had oriented their pyramid by means of rod and pendulum. Being unable to go there


id: pyramid-power-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power-1.md
category: reference
title: Pyramid power
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_power
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:40.942009+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pyramid-power-20260505-0
summary:
Influenced by Erich von Däniken’s claims that Egyptian mummies had been preserved by some process unknown to science, pyramid power became quite a craze in the world of pseudoscience for a brief time in the mid-1970s. The idea was that the pyramidal shape itself was magical and filled with a mysterious energy and power ... Pyramid power claims have actually been tested. Alter (1973) and Simmons (1973) showed that pyramid-shaped containers were no more effective than any other shape at preserving organic matter (flowers or meat) placed in them. Nor did putting dull razor blades in a pyramid-shaped holder restore them to sharpness, contrary to a frequent claim of pyramid power promoters. In 2005, an episode of MythBusters was aired on the Discovery Channel in which a basic test of pyramid power was performed, using pyramids built to the specifications found in pyramid power claims, reflecting the location of the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Several claims were tested, concerning food rotting, a flower rotting and a razor blade going dull. With control protocols in place, there was no significant difference between items in pyramids and items outside. == In popular culture == Patrick Flanagan's book was


id: qi-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi-0.md
category: reference
title: Qi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:42.248946+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: qi-20260505-0
summary:
In the Sinosphere and Chinese philosophy, qi ( CHEE; simplified Chinese: 气; traditional Chinese: 氣; pinyin: qì) is a vital force traditionally believed to be a part of all living entities. Literally meaning 'vapor', 'air', 'gas', or 'breath', the word qi is polysemous, often translated as 'vital energy', 'vital force', 'material energy', or simply 'energy'. Qi is also a concept in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The attempt to cultivate and balance qi is called qigong. Believers in qi describe it as a vital force, with one's good health requiring its flow to be unimpeded. Originally prescientific, today it is a pseudoscientific concept, i.e. not corresponding to the concept of energy as used in the physical sciences. Chinese gods and immortals, especially anthropomorphic gods, are sometimes thought to have qi and be a reflection of the microcosm of qi in humans, both having qi that can concentrate in certain body parts. == Linguistic aspects == The cultural keyword qì is analyzable in terms of Chinese and Sino-Xenic pronunciations. It is represented by the logographs 氣, 气, and 気 with various meanings ranging from "vapor" to "anger", and is the source of the English loanword qi or ch'i.


id: qi-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi-1.md
category: reference
title: Qi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:42.248946+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: qi-20260505-0
summary:
=== Meanings === Qi is a polysemous word. The unabridged Chinese-Chinese character dictionary Hanyu Da Cidian defines it as "present food or provisions" for the xì pronunciation but also lists 23 meanings for the qì pronunciation. The modern ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, which enters xì 餼 "grain; animal feed; make a present of food", and a qì 氣 entry with seven translation equivalents for the noun, two for bound morphemes, and three equivalents for the verb. n. ① air; gas ② smell ③ spirit; vigor; morale ④ vital/material energy (in Ch[inese] metaphysics) ⑤ tone; atmosphere; attitude ⑥ anger ⑦ breath; respiration b.f. ① weather 天氣 tiānqì ② [linguistics] aspiration 送氣 sòngqì v. ① anger ② get angry ③ bully; insult.Qi was also thought of as meaning "'forces in nature'" that deity could control and magicians and occultists could harness. === English borrowing === Qi was an early Chinese loanword in English. It was romanized as k'i in Church Romanization in the early-19th century, as ch'i in Wade–Giles in the mid-19th century (sometimes misspelled chi omitting the apostrophe), and as qi in Pinyin in the mid-20th century. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for qi gives the pronunciation as , the etymology


id: qi-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi-2.md
category: reference
title: Qi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:42.248946+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: qi-20260505-0
summary:
The [morally] noble man guards himself against three things. When he is young, his xue–qi has not yet stabilized, so he guards himself against sexual passion. When he reaches his prime, his xue–qi is not easily subdued, so he guards himself against combativeness. When he reaches old age, his xue–qi is already depleted, so he guards himself against acquisitiveness. The philosopher Mozi used the word qi to refer to noxious vapors that would eventually arise from a corpse were it not buried at a sufficient depth. He reported that early civilized humans learned how to live in houses to protect their qi from the moisture that troubled them when they lived in caves. He also associated maintaining one's qi with providing oneself with adequate nutrition. In regard to another kind of qi, he recorded how some people performed a kind of prognostication by observing qi (clouds) in the sky. Mencius described a kind of qi that might be characterized as an individual's vital energies. This qi was necessary to activity and it could be controlled by a well-integrated willpower. When properly nurtured, this qi was said to be capable of extending beyond the human body to reach throughout the universe.


id: qi-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi-3.md
category: reference
title: Qi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:42.248946+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: qi-20260505-0
summary:
== Role in traditional Chinese medicine == The Huangdi Neijing ("The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine", circa 2nd century BCE) is historically credited with first establishing the pathways, called meridians, through which qi allegedly circulates in the human body. In traditional Chinese medicine, symptoms of various illnesses are believed to be either the product of disrupted, blocked, and unbalanced qi movement through meridians or deficiencies and imbalances of qi in the Zang Fu organs. Traditional Chinese medicine often seeks to relieve these imbalances by adjusting the circulation of qi using a variety of techniques including herbology, food therapy, physical training regimens (qigong, tai chi, and other martial arts training), moxibustion, tui na, or acupuncture.The cultivation of Heavenly and Earthly qi allow for the maintenance of psychological actions The nomenclature of Qi in the human body is different depending on its sources, roles, and locations. For sources there is a difference between so-called "Primordial Qi" (acquired at birth from one's parents) and Qi acquired throughout one's life. Or again Chinese medicine differentiates between Qi acquired from the air we breathe (so called "Clean Air") and Qi acquired from food and drinks (so-called "Grain Qi"). Looking at roles Qi is divided into


id: qi-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi-4.md
category: reference
title: Qi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:42.248946+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: qi-20260505-0
summary:
Qìgōng (气功 or 氣功) involves coordinated breathing, movement, and awareness. It is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi. With roots in traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy and martial arts, qigong is now practiced worldwide for exercise, healing, meditation, and training for martial arts. Typically a qigong practice involves rhythmic breathing, slow and stylized movement, practicing mindfulness, and visualization of guiding qi. === Martial arts === Qi is a didactic concept in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese martial arts. Martial qigong is a feature of both internal and external training systems in China and other East Asian cultures. The most notable of the qi-focused "internal" force (jin) martial arts are Baguazhang, Xingyiquan, tai chi, Southern Praying Mantis, Snake Kung Fu, Southern Dragon Kung Fu, Aikido, Kendo, Hapkido, Aikijujutsu, Luohanquan, and Liuhebafa. Demonstrations of qi or ki are popular in some martial arts and may include the unraisable body, the unbendable arm, and other feats of power. These feats can be explained using biomechanics and physics. === Acupuncture and moxibustion === Acupuncture is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves insertion of needles or the application of pinching/gripping into/onto superficial structures of the body (skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles)


id: quantum-healing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_healing-0.md
category: reference
title: Quantum healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:43.410328+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-healing-20260505-0
summary:
Quantum healing is a pseudoscientific mixture of ideas purportedly drawn from quantum mechanics, psychology, philosophy, and neurophysiology. Advocates of quantum healing assert that quantum phenomena govern health and wellbeing. There are different versions, which allude to various quantum ideas including wave particle duality and virtual particles, and more generally to "energy" and to vibrations. Quantum healing is a form of alternative medicine. == History == Deepak Chopra coined the term "quantum healing" when he published the first edition of his book with that title in 1989. His discussions of quantum healing have been characterised as technobabble - "incoherent babbling strewn with scientific terms" which drives many of those who actually understand physics "crazy" and as "redefining Wrong". Quantum healing has a number of vocal followers, but the scientific community widely regards it as nonsensical. The main criticism revolves around its systematic misinterpretation of modern physics, especially of the fact that macroscopic objects (such as the human body or individual cells) are much too large to exhibit inherently quantum properties like interference and wave function collapse. Physicist and science communicator Brian Cox argues that misuse of the word "quantum", such as its use in the phrase quantum healing, has a negative


id: quantum-mysticism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism-0.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mysticism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:44.631735+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mysticism-20260505-0
summary:
Quantum mysticism, sometimes referred to pejoratively as quantum quackery or quantum woo, is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate spirituality or mystical worldviews to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations. Quantum mysticism is considered pseudoscience and quackery by many quantum mechanics experts. Before the 1970s the term was usually used in reference to the postulate that "consciousness causes collapse" but was later more closely associated with the purportedly pseudoscientific views espoused by New Age thinkers such as Fritjof Capra and other members of the Fundamental Fysiks Group, who were influential in popularizing the modern form of quantum mysticism. == History == Many early quantum physicists held some interest in traditionally Eastern metaphysics. Physicists Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger, two of the main pioneers of quantum mechanics in the 1920s, were interested in Eastern mysticism, but are not known to have directly associated one with the other. In fact, both endorsed the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. The historian of religion Olav Hammer said that "Schrödinger’s studies of Hindu mysticism never compelled him to pursue the same course as quantum metaphysicists such as David Bohm or Fritjof Capra." Schrödinger biographer Walter J. Moore


id: radiesthesia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiesthesia-0.md
category: reference
title: Radiesthesia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiesthesia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:46.936908+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: radiesthesia-20260505-0
summary:
Radiesthesia describes a physical ability to detect radiation emitted by a person, animal, object or geographical feature. One of its practitioners, J. Cecil Maby, defined it as "The faculty and study of certain reflexive physical responses of living tissue to various radiations ... resulting in displacement currents and other inductive effects in living tissues." He distinguished it critically from the psychic facility of divination. Despite this distinction, there is no scientific evidence for the existence of the phenomenon and it is classed by the mainstream as pseudoscience. == Definitions == One definition is "sensitivity to radiations of all kinds emanating from living beings, inanimate objects, mineral ores, water and even photographs". The word derives from Latin root radi- referring to beams of light, radiation and aesthesia, referring to sensory perception. The term is a neologism created by a French Catholic priest Alexis Timothée Bouly who was a celebrated dowsing practitioner in the early part of the 20th century. Bouly claimed to be able to detect unexploded ordnance from WW1 and also to detect molecular changes in laboratory experiments. He was the founder at Lille in 1929 of the Association of the Friends of Radiesthesia (Association des Amis de la Radiesthésie).


id: radionics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionics-0.md
category: reference
title: Radionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:48.207850+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: radionics-20260505-0
summary:
Radionics—also called electromagnetic therapy (EMT) and the Abrams method—is a form of alternative medicine that claims that disease can be diagnosed and treated by applying electromagnetic radiation (EMR), such as radio waves, to the body from an electrically powered device. It is similar to magnet therapy, which also applies EMR to the body but uses a magnet that generates a static electromagnetic field. The concept behind radionics originated with two books published by American physician Albert Abrams in 1909 and 1910. Over the next decade, Abrams became a millionaire by leasing EMT machines, which he designed himself. This so-called treatment contradicts the principles of physics and biology and therefore is widely considered pseudoscientific. The United States Food and Drug Administration does not recognize any legitimate medical use for radionic devices. Several systematic reviews have shown radionics is no more effective than placebo and falls into the category of pseudoscience. == History == Beginning around 1909, Albert Abrams (1864–1924) began to claim that he could detect "energy frequencies" in his patients' bodies. The idea was that a healthy person will have certain energy frequencies moving through their body that define health, while an unhealthy person will exhibit other, different energy frequencies


id: radionics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionics-1.md
category: reference
title: Radionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:48.207850+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: radionics-20260505-0
summary:
=== Reviews === Several systematic reviews have shown EMT is not a useful therapy: In 2009 no significant difference from control was found for management of pain or stiffness for osteoarthritis. In 2011 a systematic literature review on the use of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMT) body mats used in a wide range of conditions found insufficient evidence for them to be recommended and recommended further high‐quality, double‐blind trials. In 2014 insufficient for the efficacy of EMT as a therapy for urinary incontinence. In 2014 EMT was found to have no difference from control for stimulation of bone growth in acute fractures. In 2015 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews found no evidence that EMT was useful in healing pressure ulcers or venous stasis ulcers. A 2016 guideline, in addition to reviews in 2016, 2013 and 2022, did not find EMT useful for various forms of pain. == EMT devices == The FDA has banned some commercially available EMT devices. In 2008 the VIBE machine from Vibe Technologies had a Class I recall that was completed in 2012. Other ineffectual EMT therapy devices that have been marketed include: "BioResonance Tumor Therapy", developed by Martin Keymer and purported to stimulate the P53 gene


id: ralstonism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralstonism-0.md
category: reference
title: Ralstonism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralstonism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:49.345215+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ralstonism-20260505-0
summary:
Ralstonism was a social movement founded by Webster Edgerly that promoted his pseudoscientific ideas of personal and racial hygiene. It began as the Ralston Health Club, which published Edgerly's writings. It was a hierarchical organization where members were ranked according to the number of "degrees" they had, which ranged from 0 to 100. Members gained in the hierarchy by purchasing and studying Ralston's books, each of which taught five degrees. Edgerly at first published his ideas under the pseudonym Everett Ralston, but later used his own name and explained "Ralston" as an acronym for "Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen, Nature" Edgerly saw his followers as the founding members of a new race, based on Caucasians, and free from "impurities". He advocated the castration of all "anti-racial" (non-Caucasian) males at birth. Edgerly wrote 82 of what would today be called self-help books under the pseudonym Edmund Shaftesbury. They covered subjects including diet, exercise, punctuation, sexual magnetism, artistic deep breathing, facial expressions, and ventriloquism. Although Edgerly publicly claimed that the Ralston Company had no goods for sale, he did sell his books through mail order. In addition to advice like toothbrushing, the books make various recommendations: for example, every young man


id: rational-culture-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_Culture-0.md
category: reference
title: Rational Culture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_Culture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:50.482618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: rational-culture-20260505-0
summary:
Rational Culture (In Portuguese: Cultura Racional) is a Brazilian UFO religion derived from Umbanda, founded in 1935 in the city of Rio de Janeiro by the medium Manuel Jacinto Coelho. Rational Culture is based on a series of books called Universo em Desencanto, a work that addresses a wide range of topics including cosmology, metaphysics, ecology, linguistics, theology, UFOs, and flying saucers. == Origins == Rational Culture emerged on October 4, 1935, at the "Tenda Espírita Francisco de Assis" in Rio de Janeiro, Rua Lopez da Cruz, Méier. During the early decades of the 20th century, persecution of Afro-Brazilian religions increased, with practitioners of these religious segments being pursued and monitored by the police, especially between 1930 and 1945. To escape this persecution and be accepted by society, especially the urban middle class, some Afro-Brazilian religions underwent a process of "de-Africanization" and whitening, in which they sought to differentiate themselves from the so-called "lower spiritism," viewed by this society as backward and uncultured, while also constructing a "rational legitimacy." For this purpose, a group known as the "Intellectuals of Umbanda" worked intensively to provide Umbanda with a doctrinal basis and written knowledge, thereby distinguishing it from the practices of "lower


id: rational-culture-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_Culture-1.md
category: reference
title: Rational Culture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_Culture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:50.482618+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: rational-culture-20260505-0
summary:
== Band == Rational Culture has a series of musical bands spread across 14 Brazilian states. They are formed by members of the movement itself and have as their main goal the promotion of the books of Rational Culture. Called the "Rational Universe in Disenchantment Band" - BRUD, or the "Rational Union Band" - BUR (when all bands come together), the band emerged in 1982, initially as a fanfare with percussion and some brass instruments. Over time, it evolved into a marching band, incorporating more elaborate instruments. The band has national and international coverage, and in its repertoire, there are popular songs, military tunes, anthems, and original compositions. In addition to the marching band, Rational Culture has a symphony orchestra, the Racional Jazz Band – RJB – created in 2016, featuring string instruments such as violins, cellos, basses, and electric guitars, keyboard instruments like piano and keyboard, etc., as well as woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments. == Honors == In recognition of its initiatives, the Day of Rational Culture was established in more than one hundred and forty-five cities. Manuel Jacinto Coelho, the founder of Rational Culture, also received honors in recognition of his work. Holding several titles, medals, and


id: reactionless-drive-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive-0.md
category: reference
title: Reactionless drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:51.707370+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reactionless-drive-20260505-0
summary:
Reactionless drive refers to hypothetical and unproven forms of spacecraft propulsion that would generate thrust without expelling propellant or other reaction mass. A propellantless drive is not necessarily reactionless if it functions as an open system interacting with external fields, but a reactionless drive is generally conceived as a self-contained or closed-system device, which is why such claims are commonly treated as conflicting with Newton's third law and the conservation of momentum. Reactionless-drive claims are therefore often compared to perpetual motion machines or other impossible-energy schemes if their reported performance is taken at face value. The expression has been in English-language newspaper use since at least 1963 and later became a recurring public label for alleged no-propellant engines. Concepts described this way have included the Dean drive, electrogravitics and lifters, gyroscopic and oscillation devices, microwave-cavity thrusters such as the EmDrive and Cannae drive, the helical engine, Mach-effect or MEGA drives, quantum drive claims, and the quantum vacuum thruster. No reactionless drive has become an accepted propulsion technology, and reported effects from devices such as a thrusting antenna and the EmDrive have later been described as null results, below photon-thrust limits, or experimental artifacts rather than evidence of new physics. Speculative


id: reactionless-drive-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive-1.md
category: reference
title: Reactionless drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:51.707370+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reactionless-drive-20260505-0
summary:
== History and terminology == In English-language popular writing, a reactionless drive is generally described as a hypothetical propulsion concept that would generate thrust without expelling propellant or reaction mass. These explanations usually define the term by contrast with ordinary rockets, which move by throwing exhaust out the back, whereas a reactionless drive would supposedly produce forward motion without that reaction mass exchange. The term has often been used for electrically powered or internally driven concepts said to convert stored energy directly into thrust, including microwave-cavity devices, inertial schemes, and other self-contained engine proposals. In this usage, the core claim is not merely low-propellant propulsion but propulsion without expelled mass, which is why these articles repeatedly tie the idea to Newton's third law and the conservation of momentum. Several of these sources also describe reactionless-drive claims as bordering on perpetual-motion or free-energy arguments if the reported thrust and power figures were accepted at face value. Some writers have treated reactionless drives as a long-running science fiction trope as much as a technical claim, tying their appeal to the rocket equation and to the desire for a space engine that avoids the mass penalties of conventional rocketry. Winchell Chung, creator of


id: reactionless-drive-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive-2.md
category: reference
title: Reactionless drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:51.707370+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reactionless-drive-20260505-0
summary:
The Dean drive was a claimed reactionless device built by Norman L. Dean, who said that his working models functioned as a "reactionless thruster". The Dean drive received extensive promotion from John W. Campbell in Astounding Science Fiction beginning in 1960. Dean held several private demonstrations but never revealed the exact design of the models nor allowed independent analysis of them. Campbell published photographs of the device operating on a bathroom scale, and the June 1960 cover of Astounding featured a painting of a United States submarine near Mars supposedly propelled by a Dean drive. In 1984, physicist Amit Goswami wrote that the Dean drive had become so embedded in genre consciousness that "it is now customary in SF (science fiction) circles to refer to a reactionless drive as a Dean drive". The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction catalogued the Dean drive as a distinct propulsion concept for space travel in the genre. Dean's claims of reactionless thrust generation were later argued to be mistaken, with the apparent "thrust" likely caused by friction between the device and the surface on which it rested rather than any effect that would operate in free space. === Electrogravitics and lifters === Electrogravitics began


id: reactionless-drive-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive-3.md
category: reference
title: Reactionless drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:51.707370+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reactionless-drive-20260505-0
summary:
James F. Woodward's Mach-effect propulsion program grew out of his long interest in using Mach's principle to pursue propellantless propulsion. By 1995, according to a later Wired profile, Woodward's ideas about Mach effects had coalesced into a full theory, and he turned to building a thruster based on stacks of piezoelectric disks that he believed could exploit tiny transient mass fluctuations. Earlier conference literature framed the work in propellantless-propulsion terms: Thomas L. Mahood's 1999 AIP conference paper was titled Propellantless propulsion: Recent experimental results exploiting transient mass modification, while a 2006 AIP paper by Paul March and Andrew Palfreyman described the Woodward effect as a transient mass fluctuation in energy-storing ions and reported experimental verification efforts at 2 to 4 MHz. By 2020, the device was being referred to publicly as the Mach Effect Gravitational Assist, or MEGA, drive. Wired reported that Woodward and Hal Fearn secured NIAC funding in 2017 and used it to develop improved thrusters and the conceptual SSI Lambda interstellar probe. The same report described the device as an electricity-powered propulsion system designed to operate without propellant, while also noting mixed test results, the small scale of the reported forces, and the need for independent replication


id: reactionless-drive-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive-4.md
category: reference
title: Reactionless drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionless_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:51.707370+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reactionless-drive-20260505-0
summary:
=== Quantum vacuum thruster === The Q-thruster, or Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster, was a proposed propulsion concept associated with Harold G. White's Eagleworks Laboratories program (also called the Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory) at NASA's Johnson Space Center. In a 2011 Eagleworks presentation, White and his coauthors said the laboratory would commission its torsion pendulum with an existing Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster and described earlier QVPT work as suggesting very high specific impulse and specific force, with speculative applications ranging from human Mars missions to one-year Neptune transits at higher power levels. In a 2013 NASA brief, White described Q-thrusters as a low-TRL form of electric propulsion that would "push off of the quantum vacuum" using magnetohydrodynamics, treating the vacuum as a sea of virtual particles, and argued that recent model development and test data suggested performance competitive for in-space propulsion. NASA project summaries in 2014 for the Q-Thruster Breadboard Campaign said three FY13 test campaigns had produced measurable thrust, raising the concept from TRL 2 to early TRL 3, and described the technology as a mission-enabling form of electric propulsion with about seven times the thrust-to-power ratio of Hall thrusters and a target of 0.4 N/kW at maturity. B. Kent


id: recovered-memory-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovered-memory_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Recovered-memory therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovered-memory_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:52.966379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: recovered-memory-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques (such as some forms of psychoanalysis, hypnosis, journaling, past life regression, guided imagery, and the use of sodium amytal interviews) to purportedly help patients recall previously forgotten memories. Proponents of recovered memory therapy claim, contrary to evidence, that traumatic memories can be buried in the subconscious and thereby affect current behavior, and that these memories can be recovered through the use of RMT techniques. RMT is not recommended by professional mental health associations. RMT can result in patients developing false memories of sexual abuse from their childhood and events such as alien abduction which had not actually occurred. == Terminology == A 2018 online survey found that although 5% of a U.S. public sample reported recovering memories of abuse during therapy (abuse they reported having no previous memory of), none of them used the terminology "recovered memory therapy"—instead those recovering memories reported using a variety of other therapy types (e.g., behavioral therapy, EMDR, etc.). Practitioners of RMT generally utilize methods (such as hypnosis, age regression, guided visualization, and/or the use of substances such as


id: recovered-memory-therapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovered-memory_therapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Recovered-memory therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovered-memory_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:52.966379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: recovered-memory-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
In the Brandon Report, a set of training, practice, research and professional development recommendations, the United Kingdom's Royal College of Psychiatrists advised psychiatrists to avoid use of RMT or any "memory recovery techniques", citing a lack of evidence to support the accuracy of memories recovered in this way. In 2004, the government of the Health Council of the Netherlands issued a report in response to inquiries from professionals regarding RMT and memories of traumatic child sexual abuse. The Health Council stated that while traumatic childhood experiences were major risk factors for psychological problems in adulthood, the fact that most traumatic memories are well-remembered but can be forgotten or become inaccessible though the influence of specific circumstances precludes a simple description of the relationship between memory and trauma. The report also notes that memories can be confabulated, re-interpreted and even apparently vivid or dramatic memories can be false, a risk that is increased when therapists, using suggestive techniques, attempt to link symptoms to past trauma, with certain patients and through the use of methods to stimulate memories. The Australian Hypnotherapists Association (AHA) issued a similar statement, for contexts where false memories of child sexual abuse may arise. The AHA acknowledges that


id: reflexology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexology-0.md
category: reference
title: Reflexology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:55.372241+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reflexology-20260505-0
summary:
Reflexology, also known as zone therapy, is a pseudomedical practice involving the application of pressure to specific points on the feet, ears, and hands. This is done using thumb, finger, and hand massage techniques without the use of oil or lotion. It is based on a pseudoscientific system of zones and reflex areas that purportedly reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands, with the premise that such work on the feet and hands causes a physical change to the supposedly related areas of the body. There is no convincing scientific evidence that reflexology is effective for any medical condition, or provides any health benefits. == Definition == In a Cochrane Collaboration review, reflexology is defined as follows: "Reflexology is gentle manipulation or pressing on certain parts of the foot to produce an effect elsewhere in the body." The Australian Government's Department of Health define reflexology as "a system of applying pressure, usually to the feet, which practitioners believe stimulates energy and releases 'blockages' in specific areas that cause pain or illness." == History == Similar practices such as acupuncture have been practiced in China. Reflexology was introduced to the United States in 1913 by William H.


id: regression-fallacy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_fallacy-0.md
category: reference
title: Regression fallacy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_fallacy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:56.549495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: regression-fallacy-20260505-0
summary:
The regression (or regressive) fallacy is an informal fallacy. It assumes that something has returned to normal because of corrective actions taken while it was abnormal. This fails to account for natural fluctuations. It is frequently a special kind of the post hoc fallacy. == Explanation == Things like golf scores, the earth's temperature, and chronic back pain fluctuate naturally and usually regress toward the mean. The logical flaw is to make predictions that expect exceptional results to continue as if they were average (see Representativeness heuristic). People are most likely to take action when variance is at its peak. Then after results become more normal they believe that their action was the cause of the change when in fact it was not causal. This use of the word "regression" was coined by Sir Francis Galton in a study from 1885 called "Regression Toward Mediocrity in Hereditary Stature". He showed that the height of children from very short or very tall parents would move toward the average. In fact, in any situation where two variables are less than perfectly correlated, an exceptional score on one variable may not be matched by an equally exceptional score on the other variable. The


id: reiki-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki-0.md
category: reference
title: Reiki
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:57.770385+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reiki-20260505-0
summary:
Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine created by Mikao Usui in Japan in the 1920s. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which, according to practitioners, a "universal energy" is transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the client, to encourage emotional or physical healing. It is based on qi (chi), which practitioners say is a universal life force; there is no empirical evidence that such a life force exists. Reiki is used as an illustrative example of pseudoscience in scholarly texts and academic journal articles. Its marketing has been described as "fraudulent misrepresentation", and reiki itself as a "nonsensical method", with a recommendation that the United States government agency NCCIH stop funding reiki research because it "has no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale". Clinical research does not show reiki to be effective as a treatment for any medical condition, including cancer, diabetic neuropathy, anxiety, or depression. There is no proof of the effectiveness of reiki therapy compared to placebo. Studies reporting positive effects have had methodological flaws. It has no plausible mechanism or proven medical benefit, and major medical organizations do not


id: reiki-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki-1.md
category: reference
title: Reiki
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:57.770385+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reiki-20260505-0
summary:
=== Evidence quality === A 2008 systematic review of nine randomized clinical trials found several shortcomings in the literature on reiki. Depending on the tools used to measure depression and anxiety, the results varied and were not reliable or valid. Furthermore, the scientific community has been unable to replicate the findings of studies that support reiki. The review also found issues with the reporting methodology in some of the literature, in that parts were often omitted completely or not clearly described. Frequently in these studies, sample sizes were not calculated, and adequate allocation and double-blind procedures were not followed. The review also reported that such studies exaggerated the effectiveness of treatment and failed to control for differences in the experience of reiki practitioners or for the possibility that the same practitioner might produce different outcomes at different times. None of the studies in the review provided a rationale for the treatment duration, and no study reported adverse effects. === Safety === Safety concerns for reiki sessions are very low and are akin to those of many complementary and alternative medicine practices. Some physicians and health care providers, however, believe that patients may unadvisedly substitute proven treatments for life-threatening conditions with


id: remote-viewing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing-0.md
category: reference
title: Remote viewing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:58.889435+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: remote-viewing-20260505-0
summary:
Remote viewing (RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen subject, purportedly sensing with the mind. There is no scientific evidence that remote viewing exists, and the topic of remote viewing is generally regarded as pseudoscience. A remote viewer is expected to give information about an object, event, person, or location hidden from physical view and separated at some distance. Physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, parapsychology researchers at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), are generally credited with coining the term "remote viewing" to distinguish it from the closely related concept of clairvoyance. According to Targ, the term was first suggested by Ingo Swann in December 1971 during an experiment at the American Society for Psychical Research in New York City. Remote viewing experiments have historically lacked proper controls and repeatability. The idea of remote viewing received renewed attention in the 1990s upon the declassification of documents related to the Stargate Project, a $20 million research program sponsored by the U.S. government that attempted to determine potential military applications of psychic phenomena. The program ran from 1975 to 1995 and ended after evaluators concluded that remote viewers consistently failed to produce actionable intelligence information. == History ==


id: remote-viewing-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing-1.md
category: reference
title: Remote viewing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:58.889435+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: remote-viewing-20260505-0
summary:
=== PEAR's Remote Perception program === Beginning in the late 1970s, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR) carried out extensive research on remote viewing. By 1989, it had conducted 336 formal trials, reporting a composite z-score of 6.355, with a corresponding p-value of 1.04×10−10. In a 1992 critique of these results, Hansen, Utts and Markwick concluded "The PEAR remote-viewing experiments depart from commonly accepted criteria for formal research in science. In fact, they are undoubtedly some of the poorest quality ESP experiments published in many years." The lab responded that "none of the stated complaints compromises the PEAR experimental protocols or analytical methods" and reaffirmed their results. Following Utts' emphasis on replication and Hyman's challenge on interlaboratory consistency in the AIR report, PEAR conducted several hundred trials to see if they could replicate the SAIC and SRI experiments. They created an analytical judgment methodology to replace the human judging process criticized in past experiments, and they released a report in 1996. They felt the results of the experiments were consistent with the SRI experiments. However, statistical flaws have been proposed by others in the parapsychological community and within the general scientific community. == Scientific reception == A variety of


id: remote-viewing-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing-2.md
category: reference
title: Remote viewing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:58.889435+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: remote-viewing-20260505-0
summary:
Most of the material in the transcripts consists of the honest attempts by the percipients to describe their impressions. However, the transcripts also contained considerable extraneous material that could aid a judge in matching them to the correct targets. In particular, there were numerous references to dates, times and sites previously visited that would enable the judge to place the transcripts in proper sequence... Astonishingly, the judges in the Targ-Puthoff experiments were given a list of target sites in the exact order in which they were used in the tests! According to Marks, when the cues were eliminated the results fell to a chance level. Marks achieved 100 percent accuracy using cues alone, without visiting any of the sites himself. James Randi has written that controlled tests by several other researchers, eliminating several sources of cueing and extraneous evidence present in the original tests, produced negative results. Students also solved Puthoff and Targ's locations from the clues in the transcripts. Marks and Kamman concluded: "Until remote viewing can be confirmed in conditions which prevent sensory cueing the conclusions of Targ and Puthoff remain an unsubstantiated hypothesis." In 1980, Charles Tart claimed that a rejudging of the transcripts from one of


id: reptilian-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilian_conspiracy_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Reptilian conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilian_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:00.078214+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reptilian-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Reptilians (also called archons, reptoids, reptiloids, saurians, draconians, or lizard people) are reptilian humanoids, which play a prominent role in fantasy, science fiction, ufology, and conspiracy theories. The idea of reptilians was popularised by David Icke, a conspiracy theorist who claims shapeshifting reptilian aliens control Earth by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate human societies. Icke has stated on multiple occasions that many world leaders were, or are possessed by, so-called reptilians. == Origins == Michael Barkun, professor of political science at Syracuse University, posits that the idea of a reptilian conspiracy originated in the fiction of Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E. Howard, in his story "The Shadow Kingdom" (1929). This story drew on theosophical ideas of the "lost worlds" of Atlantis and Lemuria, particularly Helena Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888), with its reference to "'dragon-men' who once had a mighty civilization on a Lemurian continent". Howard's "serpent men" were described as humanoids (with human bodies and snake heads) who were able to imitate humans at will, and who lived in underground passages and used their shapechanging and mind-control abilities to infiltrate humanity. Clark Ashton Smith used Howard's "serpent men" in his stories, as well


id: reverse-speech-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_speech-0.md
category: reference
title: Reverse speech
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_speech
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:01.268355+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reverse-speech-20260505-0
summary:
Reverse speech is a pseudoscientific topic first advocated by David John Oates which gained publicity when it was mentioned on Art Bell's nightly Coast to Coast AM radio talk show. It is based upon the theory that during spoken language production, human speakers subconsciously produce hidden messages that give insights into their innermost thoughts. Oates claims that it therefore has applications in psychotherapy, criminology and business negotiation. The theory has been rejected by mainstream science and academia. == Claims == Oates' claim is that, on average, once in every 15–20 seconds of casual conversation a person produces two related sentences—a "forward-spoken" message that is heard consciously, and a "backwards" message unconsciously embedded in the person's speech. These two modes of speech, forward and backward, are supposedly dependent upon each other and form an integral part of human communication. In the dynamics of interpersonal communication, both modes of speech combine to communicate the total psyche of the person, conscious as well as unconscious. Oates claims that backward speech is always honest and reveals the truth about the speaker's intentions and motivations. The most famous recording that allegedly demonstrates this is the speech given by Neil Armstrong at the time of the


id: revici-s-guided-chemotherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revici's_Guided_Chemotherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Revici's Guided Chemotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revici's_Guided_Chemotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:02.450361+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: revici-s-guided-chemotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Revici's Guided Chemotherapy is an ineffective cancer treatment devised by Emanuel Revici (1896–1997), a physician from Romania. Revici's early work on experimental chemical-based treatments for cancer between 1920–1941 attracted a degree of support. However, his work increasingly found disfavor with the scientific and medical communities, and his medical license was revoked in 1993. Revici's Guided Chemotherapy is based on the idea that all illness is caused by an "imbalance" of metabolism. People with cancer were divided into two groups, which he called catabolic and anabolic, based on the pH of their urine and similar tests that were unrelated to the type or location of the cancer. The people in his two groups were given different treatments. The treatment was to give a mixture of chemical substances (such as glycerol, n-butyl alcohol, and sulfurated vegetable oil) by mouth or injection. A Clinical Appraisal Group was organized in January 1963 to evaluate Revici's cancer treatment. The group found that the treatment had no effect on tumors, that two-thirds of his cancer patients died during treatment, and that overall 85% of them died. The group concluded that the treatment has no value. The American Cancer Society notes that Revici's Guided "chemotherapy" is different


id: rod-optical-phenomenon-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(optical_phenomenon)-0.md
category: reference
title: Rod (optical phenomenon)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(optical_phenomenon)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:03.572980+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: rod-optical-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
In cryptozoology and ufology, "rods" (also known as "skyfish", "air rods", or "solar entities") are elongated visual artifacts appearing in photographic images and video recordings. Most optical analyses to date have concluded that the images are insects moving across the frame as the photo is being captured, although some cryptozoologists and ufologists still claim that they are paranormal in nature. == Optical analysis == Robert Todd Carroll (2003), having consulted an entomologist (Doug Yanega), identified rods as images of flying insects recorded over several cycles of wing-beating on video recording devices. The insect captured on image a number of times, while propelling itself forward, gives the illusion of a single elongated rod-like body, with bulges. A 2000 report by staff at "The Straight Dope" also explained rods as such phenomena, namely tricks of light which result from how (primarily video) images of flying insects are recorded and played back, adding that investigators have shown the rod-like bodies to be a result of motion blur, if the camera is shooting with relatively long exposure times. The claims of these being extraordinary creatures, possibly alien, have been advanced by either people with active imaginations, or hoaxers. In August 2005, China Central Television


id: rolfing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolfing-0.md
category: reference
title: Rolfing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolfing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:04.854418+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: rolfing-20260505-0
summary:
Rolfing () is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of various health benefits, is recognized as pseudoscience and is generally characterized as quackery. It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's "energy field" can benefit when aligned with the Earth's gravitational field. Rolfing is typically delivered as a series of ten hands-on physical manipulation sessions sometimes called "the recipe". Practitioners combine superficial and deep manual therapy with movement prompts. The process is sometimes painful. The safety of Rolfing has not been confirmed. The principles of Rolfing contradict established medical knowledge, and there is no good evidence that Rolfing is effective for the treatment of any health condition. == History == The practice of Rolfing was developed in the 1940s by Ida Rolf, who held a PhD in biological chemistry from Columbia University. Originally called Structural Integration, Rolf's method was influenced by osteopathic manipulation, yoga, postural training therapies, and the general semantics of Alfred Korzybski. According to Jacobson, she "organized these ideas around her own conviction that the adequacy of the individual's adaptation to gravity... was a key determinant of physical and psychologic health."


id: rolfing-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolfing-1.md
category: reference
title: Rolfing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolfing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:04.854418+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: rolfing-20260505-0
summary:
== Effectiveness and reception == Because of its dependence on vitalistic concepts and its unevidenced propositions about the connection between physical manipulation and psychology, Rolfing is classified as a pseudoscience, and is generally seen as quackery. Writing for Science-Based Medicine, lawyer Jann Bellamy writes that in the United States of America the public is inadequately protected from bodywork practices such as Rolfing because of the lack of independent oversight; instead certification is carried out within a "closed loop" system by such bodies as the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. In 2015 the Australian Government's Department of Health published a review of 17 alternative therapies, including Rolfing, which concluded no clear evidence of effectiveness was found. Accordingly, in 2017, the Australian government named Rolfing as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, to ensure the best use of insurance funds. A follow-up systematic review in 2022 confirmed there was no good evidence Rolfing has therapeutic effect and did not recommend a return to insurance subsidy. Proponents of Rolfing claim it can be used to alleviate pain. However, Rolfing's focus on appropriate "alignment" of structures of the body does not reflect modern science about pain. The American


id: saint-michael-s-line-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Michael's_line-0.md
category: reference
title: Saint Michael's line
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Michael's_line
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:06.052873+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: saint-michael-s-line-20260505-0
summary:
The Sword of Saint Michael, also known as the Sacred Line of Saint Michael or the St Michael-Apollo Axis, is a straight line (a loxodrome or connected series of rhumb-lines) formed by transecting monasteries and churches in Europe and the Holy Land, eight of which are dedicated to the Archangel Michael. Several other notable sites on the same line in Greece are associated with ancient temples to Apollo. Saint Michael's Line is also the name of a different postulated ley line in England, part of the Mary and Michael Pilgrim's Way. == History == === Ancient Greece === French academic Jean Richer (universitaire) published a book Géographie sacrée du monde grec (Hachette, 1967) which claimed several geographical alignments between ancient Greek temples. One of these was the Kerkyra-Delphi-Athens-Delos axis, intersecting temples at those locations mostly related to Apollo. In 1977, Richer's brother Julian noted that the line, when extended West and East, cross several other cultic locations, calling it the St Michael-Apollo axis. === Western Europe === Like many places dedicated to St. Michael, the aligned sites are almost all located on prominent hilltops or other hard to reach places, and include Skellig Michael, St Michael's Mount, Mont Saint-Michel, the


id: salutogenesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Salutogenesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:07.244127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salutogenesis-20260505-0
summary:
Salutogenesis is the study of the origins (genesis) of health (salus) and focuses on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease (pathogenesis). More specifically, the "salutogenic model" was originally concerned with the relationship between health, stress, and coping through a study of Holocaust survivors. Despite going through the dramatic tragedy of the Holocaust, some survivors were able to thrive later in life. The discovery that there must be powerful health causing factors led to the development of salutogenesis. The term was coined by Aaron Antonovsky (1923–1994), a professor of medical sociology. The salutogenic question posed by Aaron Antonovsky is, "What makes people healthy?" He observed that stress is ubiquitous, but not all individuals have negative health outcomes in response to stress. Instead, some people achieve health despite their exposure to potentially disabling stress factors. Antonovsky identifies the dominant paradigm of Western medicine as pathogenic, which in turn leads to an understanding of health as dichotomous – one is either healthy or sick. For a salutogenic approach, the ease/dis-ease continuum, rather than the health-disease dichotomy is appropriate. Antonovsky identified four criteria to be used in determining a person's position on the continuum: pain, functional


id: salutogenesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Salutogenesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:07.244127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salutogenesis-20260505-0
summary:
Comprehensibility: is the cognitive dimension of SOC and may be defined as a belief that things happen in an orderly and predictable fashion and a sense that you can understand events in your life and reasonably predict what will happen in the future. Manageability: is the behavioural dimension of SOC and may be defined as a belief that you have the skills or ability, the support, the help, or the resources necessary to take care of things, and that things are manageable and within your control. Meaningfulness: is the motivational dimension of SOC and may be defined as a belief that things in life are interesting and a source of satisfaction, that things are really worthwhile and that there is good reason or purpose to care about what happens. Although all three components of the SOC are necessary, they are of unequal centrality. Meaningfulness seems the most crucial. Without this motivational component, strong comprehensibility and manageability are likely to be temporary. When a person is committed and caring, however, the way is open to gaining understanding and resources. === Mechanisms shaping SOC: Life experiences === How does the interaction of life situation, stressors and GRRs contribute to shaping and strengthening


id: salutogenesis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis-2.md
category: reference
title: Salutogenesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:07.244127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salutogenesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Antonovsky on Collective Sense of Coherence === In his 1987 book Unraveling the Mystery of Health, Antonovsky devotes a section to "The SOC as a group property". He agrees that it is possible to determine the structural properties of a collectivity and even, though more complex, the cultural properties of a group - such as norms and values - but he questions whether a collectivity can be characterised as having a common worldview. One way to determine group SOC might be to aggregate the SOC of individuals in the group or alternatively, to "investigate perceptions by individual members of the group of how the group sees the world". Antonovsky describes his growing discomfort concerning group SOC; the larger, more complex and diverse the collectivity becomes; there needs to be a "sense of group consciousness, of a subjectively identifiable collectivity" before there can be a group SOC. However, when there are collective stressors, "problems confronting the entire collectivity", and even in dealing with some individual stressors, group resources need to be utilised. "In the face of collective stressors, the strength of the group, rather than of the individual, SOC is often decisive in tension management". Later, he expresses difficulties with


id: salutogenesis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis-3.md
category: reference
title: Salutogenesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:07.244127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salutogenesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Sense of National Coherence (SONC) === The concept of Sense of National Coherence (SONC), as introduced by Sagy, is a salutogenic model applied at the national level, reflecting the tendency of a national group to perceive itself as comprehensible, meaningful, and manageable. This concept extends the individual-level 'sense of coherence' (SOC) to a collective dimension, integrating national identity and group experiences into its framework. SONC applied to understanding how national identity influences individual and collective well-being and attitudes, particularly in conflict situations. This concept has been particularly insightful in conflict studies, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where it's observed that a strong SONC can correlate with reduced openness to opposing narratives and can act as a barrier to reconciliation processes. Research indicates that heightened SONC, particularly in times of conflict or stress, can reinforce national narratives and decrease the willingness to legitimize the perspectives of "out-groups." This tendency has profound implications for conflict resolution and peace building efforts, highlighting the need for strategies that balance national coherence with openness and empathy towards different narratives. The role of SONC is not limited to political conflicts but also extends to social-political situations like pandemics, where it relates to trust in government


id: salutogenesis-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis-4.md
category: reference
title: Salutogenesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:07.244127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salutogenesis-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Becker, C. M.; Glascoff, M. A.; Felts, W. M. (2010). "Salutogenesis 30 Years Later: Where do we go from here?" (PDF). International Electronic Journal of Health Education. 13: 25–32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2013. Studying Health vs. Studying Disease - Aaron Antonovsky. Lecture at the Congress for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Berlin, 19 February 1990. Coping with Existential Threats and the Inevitability of Asking for Meaningfulness - Peter Novak. A philosophical perspective Start making sense - Start Making Sense; Applying a salutogenic model to architectural design for psychiatric care - Jan Golembiewski. A method of applying salutogenic theory. Salutogenesis Bengt Lindström, "Salutogenesis – an introduction" Golembiewski, J. (2012). "Salutogenic design: The neural basis for health promoting environments." World Health Design Scientific Review 5(4): 62–68.https://www.academia.edu/2456916/Salutogenic_design_The_neural_basis_for_health_promoting_environments Mayer, C.-H. & Krause, C. (Eds.)(2012): Exploring Mental Health: Theoretical and Empirical Discourses on Salutogenesis. Pabst Science Publishers. Mayer, C.-H. & Hausner, s. (Eds.) (2015): Salutogene Aufstellungen. Beiträge zur Gesundheitsförderung in der systemischen Arbeit. - Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Mittelmark, M.B., Sagy, S., Eriksson, M., Bauer, G., Pelikan, J.M., Lindström, B., Espnes, G.A. (Eds.) (2016): The Handbook of Salutogenesis Comprehensive overview of salutogenesis and its


id: sanpaku-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanpaku-0.md
category: reference
title: Sanpaku
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanpaku
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:08.425652+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sanpaku-20260505-0
summary:
Sanpaku (三白; lit. 'three whites') or sanpaku gan (三白眼; Chinese: 三白眼; pinyin: Sānbáiyǎn; lit. 'three-white eyes') is a Japanese term referring to a person with visible sclera on three sides of their irises: the normal left and right, plus above or below. The term is most often used in English to refer to a folk belief whereby it functions as an omen or symptom in alternative medicine. It was introduced into English in the mid-1960s by George Ohsawa as a condition supposedly cured by his macrobiotic method. In manga iconography, sanpaku eyes are used to make a character seem dangerous or threatening. == History == According to traditional Chinese and Japanese face reading, the eye is composed of two parts, the yin (black, iris and pupil) and the yang (white, sclera). The visibility of the sclera beneath the iris is said to represent physical imbalance in the body, and is claimed to be present in alcoholics, drug addicts, and people who over-consume sugar or grain. Conversely, the visibility of the upper sclera is said to be an indication of mental imbalance in people such as psychotics, murderers, and anyone rageful. In either condition, it is believed that these people attract


id: sars-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS_conspiracy_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: SARS conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:09.609989+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sars-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The SARS conspiracy theory began to emerge during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in China in the spring of 2003, when Sergei Kolesnikov, a Russian scientist and a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, first publicized his claim that the SARS coronavirus is a synthesis of measles and mumps. According to Kolesnikov, this combination cannot be formed in the natural world and thus the SARS virus must have been produced under laboratory conditions. Another Russian scientist, Nikolai Filatov, head of Moscow's epidemiological services, had earlier commented that the SARS virus was probably man-made. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the SARS virus crossed over to humans from Asian palm civets ("civet cats"), a type of animal that is often killed and eaten in Guangdong, where SARS was first discovered. Tong Zeng, an activist with no medical background, authored the book The Last Defense Line: Concerns About the Loss of Chinese Genes, published in 2003. In the book, Zeng suggested researchers from the United States may have created SARS as an anti-Chinese bioweapon after taking blood samples in China for a longevity study in the 1990s. The book's hypothesis was a front-page report in the Guangzhou newspaper Southern Metropolis


id: schumann-resonances-conspiracy-theories-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_resonances_conspiracy_theories-0.md
category: reference
title: Schumann resonances conspiracy theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_resonances_conspiracy_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:10.750756+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: schumann-resonances-conspiracy-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Schumann Resonance conspiracy theories are a family of claims that misrepresent the physics of Schumann resonances - natural, extremely low-frequency electromagnetic resonances of the Earth–ionosphere cavity - as evidence that "time is speeding up," that a 24-hour day now "feels like" or has become ~16 hours, or that fluctuations near ~7.83 Hz directly entrain or transform human biology and consciousness. These narratives spread in New Age, wellness and conspiracy communities from the mid-2010s onward, often citing online spectrograms to claim that "whiteouts" or "blackouts" mark global energetic events. Science writers and fact-checking outlets describe these interpretations as unfounded: Schumann resonances are chiefly driven by lightning and ionospheric conditions, and measured changes in the length of day are milliseconds, not hours. == Background == Schumann resonances are global electromagnetic resonances that form because the conductive Earth’s surface and the ionosphere act as a spherical waveguide. Lightning discharges continuously excite standing waves with a fundamental frequency near 7.83 Hz and higher harmonics (approximately 14, 20, 26 Hz, etc.) whose exact values vary with ionospheric conditions and global thunderstorm activity. Since the mid-20th century, researchers have used Schumann resonances to study lightning climatology and ionospheric variability, and similar cavity resonances are modeled for


id: science-of-creative-intelligence-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Creative_Intelligence-0.md
category: reference
title: Science of Creative Intelligence
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Creative_Intelligence
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:11.917526+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-of-creative-intelligence-20260505-0
summary:
The Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as an effort to integrate modern physics, such as unified field theory, with ancient Vedic beliefs and scripture, ultimately proposing that pure consciousness (including creativity and intelligence) underlies the universe and a person can connect to that consciousness through Transcendental Meditation (TM). SCI has been criticized as a pseudoscience. == Overview == In 1961, the Maharishi created the "International Meditation Society for the Science of Creative Intelligence" and, in 1971, inaugurated "Maharishi's Year of Science of Creative Intelligence," describing SCI as a link between "modern science with ancient Vedic science." Between 1970-1973, various SCI symposiums were held in places such as Humboldt State University and University of Massachusetts, attended by international scientists. In 1974, the Maharishi created a "World Plan" to spread SCI across the world. === Education === SCI has been integrated into the curriculum of various universities across the world, including Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa, The Maharishi College of Natural Law in Odisha, India, and the Maharishi Institute of Management with various campuses all across India. For a time, a 33-lesson video course on SCI was available at universities such as Stanford, Yale,


id: science-of-survival-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Survival-0.md
category: reference
title: Science of Survival
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Survival
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:13.143076+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-of-survival-20260505-0
summary:
Science of Survival is a 1951 pseudoscientific book by L. Ron Hubbard which continues to be published by the Church of Scientology as part of Scientology's canon. According to Jon Atack, the title Science of Survival was chosen "to appeal to readers of Korzybski's highly popular Science and Sanity", and Hubbard even acknowledged Korzybski in the book. Its original subtitle was "simplified, faster dianetic techniques", although later editions were subtitled "Prediction of human behavior". The book set out what Hubbard called the "dynamics of behavior" and provided descriptions of new techniques of Dianetics processing that Hubbard described as being faster and simpler than those that he had advanced previously. In the book, Hubbard introduced two concepts that were later to become key elements of Scientology—theta and the tone scale—and also endorsed the concept of past lives. The book has been criticized for its inhumane suggestions that target some classes of the population. == Publication history == The book was published in August 1951 and dedicated to his daughter Alexis Valerie Hubbard (whom he later disowned). It was dictated on SoundScriber discs in Havana, Cuba, where Hubbard took refuge when his marriage to his second wife Sara Northrup Hubbard broke down.


id: science-of-survival-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Survival-1.md
category: reference
title: Science of Survival
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_of_Survival
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:13.143076+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-of-survival-20260505-0
summary:
The body is normally sweet-smelling down to 2.0 but begins to exude chronically certain unpleasant effluvia from 2.0 down. Individuals from 2.0 down commonly have bad breath. Their feet may have a considerable odour. The musk glands are very active. The sweat has a peculiar smell. Sexual organs emit a repelling odour. And various body exhaust functions are not under very good control. The person may have to urinate or defecate under slight stresses or may weep easily for no apparent cause. This column has not been added to this chart because it has not been thoroughly explored but is only known in a general way. Any slightly or greatly repulsive physical odour from an individual does, however, indicate a tone scale position below 2.0. It is amusing to note that in the Orient wives are commonly selected by the sweetness of their perspiration. This is a very reliable test for position on the tone scale. People who have bad breath as they are processed lose it when they are above 2.0 on the tone scale. People who are temporarily suppressed below 2.0 commonly have bad breath. == Controversy == One passage in particular in Chapter 27 of Science of


id: scientific-racism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-0.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that the human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "races", and that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racial discrimination, racial inferiority, or racial superiority. Before the mid-20th century, scientific racism was accepted throughout the scientific community, but it is no longer considered scientific. The division of humankind into biologically separate groups, along with the assignment of particular physical and mental characteristics to these groups through constructing and applying corresponding explanatory models, is referred to as racialism, racial realism, race realism, or race science by those who support these ideas. Modern scientific consensus rejects this view as being irreconcilable with modern genetic research. Scientific racism misapplies, misconstrues, or distorts anthropology (notably physical anthropology), craniometry, evolutionary biology, and other disciplines or pseudo-disciplines through proposing anthropological typologies to classify human populations into physically discrete human races, some of which may be asserted to be superior or inferior to others. == History == Scientific racism was common during the period from the 1600s to the end of World War II, and was particularly prominent in European and American academic writings from the mid-19th century through the early-20th century. Since the


id: scientific-racism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-1.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
The first race included populations from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, south-east Asia, and the Americas The second race consisted of the sub-Saharan Africans The third race consisted of the east and northeast Asians The fourth race consisted of Sámi people. A product of French salon culture, the essay placed an emphasis on different kinds of female beauty. Bernier emphasized that his novel classification was based on his personal experience as a traveler in different parts of the world. Bernier offered a distinction between essential genetic differences and accidental ones that depended on environmental factors. He also suggested that the latter criterion might be relevant to distinguish sub-types. His biological classification of racial types never sought to go beyond physical traits, and he also accepted the role of climate and diet in explaining degrees of human diversity. Bernier had been the first to extend the concept of "species of man" to racially classify the entirety of humanity, but he did not establish a cultural hierarchy between the so-called "races" that he had conceived. On the other hand, he clearly placed white Europeans as the norm from which other "races" deviated. The qualities which he attributed to each race


id: scientific-racism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-2.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
The Americanus: red, choleric, upright; black, straight, thick hair; nostrils flared; face freckled; beardless chin; stubborn, zealous, free; painting themself with red lines; governed by habit. The Europeanus: white, sanguine, muscular; with yellowish, long hair; blue eyes; gentle, acute, inventive; covered with close vestments; governed by customs. The Asiaticus: yellow, melancholic, stiff; black hair, dark eyes; austere, haughty, greedy; covered with loose clothing; governed by beliefs. The Afer or Africanus: black, phlegmatic, relaxed; black, frizzled hair; silky skin, flat nose, tumid lips; females with elongated labia; mammary glands give milk abundantly; sly, lazy, negligent; anoints themself with grease; governed by caprice. The Monstrosus were mythologic humans which did not appear in the first editions of Systema Naturae. The sub-species included: the "four-footed, mute, hairy" Homo feralis (Feral man); the animal-reared Juvenis lupinus hessensis (Hessian wolf boy); the Juvenis hannoveranus (Hannoverian boy); the Puella campanica (Wild-girl of Champagne); the agile, but faint-hearted Homo monstrosus (Monstrous man); the Patagonian giant; the Dwarf of the Alps; and the monorchid Khoikhoi (Hottentot). In Amoenitates academicae (1763), Linnaeus presented the mythologic Homo anthropomorpha (Anthropomorphic man), or humanoid creatures, such as the troglodyte, the satyr, the hydra, and the phoenix, incorrectly identified as simian creatures. There


id: scientific-racism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-3.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
The French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788) and the German anatomist Johann Blumenbach (1752–1840) were proponents of monogenism, the concept that all races have a single origin. Buffon and Blumenbach believed a "degeneration theory" of the origins of racial difference. Both asserted that Adam and Eve were white, and that other races came about by degeneration owing to environmental factors, such as climate, disease, and diet. According to this model, Negroid pigmentation arose because of the heat of the tropical sun; that cold wind caused the tawny colour of the Eskimos; and that the Chinese had fairer skins than the Tartars, because the former kept mostly in towns, and were protected from environmental factors. Environmental factors, poverty, and hybridization could make races "degenerate", and differentiate them from the original white race by a process of "raciation". Interestingly, both Buffon and Blumenbach believed that the degeneration could be reversed if proper environmental control was taken, and that all contemporary forms of man could revert to the original white race. According to Blumenbach, there are five races, all belonging to a single species: Caucasian, Mongolian, Negroid, American, and the Malay race. Blumenbach stated: "I have allotted the first place to


id: scientific-racism-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-4.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
==== Thomas Jefferson ==== Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was an American politician, scientist, and slave owner. His contributions to scientific racism have been noted by many historians, scientists, and scholars. According to an article published in the McGill Journal of Medicine: "One of the most influential pre-Darwinian racial theorists, Jefferson's call for science to determine the obvious 'inferiority' of African Americans is an extremely important stage in the evolution of scientific racism". Writing for The New York Times, historian Paul Finkelman described how as "a scientist, Jefferson nevertheless speculated that blackness might come 'from the color of the blood,' and concluded that blacks were 'inferior to the whites in the endowments of body and mind'". In his "Notes on the State of Virginia", Jefferson described black people as follows: They seem to require less sleep. A black, after hard labor through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements to sit up till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with the first dawn of the morning. They are at least as brave, and more adventuresome. But, this may perhaps proceed from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be present. When present,


id: scientific-racism-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-5.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
The highest civilization and culture, apart from the ancient Hindus and Egyptians, are found exclusively among the white races; and even with many dark peoples, the ruling caste, or race, is fairer in colour than the rest, and has, therefore, evidently immigrated, for example, the Brahmins, the Inca, and the rulers of the South Sea Islands. All this is due to the fact that necessity is the mother of invention, because those tribes that emigrated early to the north, and there gradually became white, had to develop all their intellectual powers, and invent and perfect all the arts in their struggle with need, want, and misery, which, in their many forms, were brought about by the climate. This they had to do to make up for the parsimony of nature, and out of it all came their high civilization. == Racial theories in physical anthropology (1850–1918) == The scientific classification established by Carl Linnaeus is requisite to any human racial classification scheme. In the 19th century, unilineal evolution, or classical social evolution, was a conflation of competing sociologic and anthropologic theories proposing that Western European culture was the acme of human socio-cultural evolution. The Christian Bible was interpreted to sanction


id: scientific-racism-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-6.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
Although Darwinism was not the primary source of the belligerent ideology and dogmatic racism of the late nineteenth century, it did become a new instrument in the hands of the theorists of race and struggle... The Darwinist mood sustained the belief in Anglo-Saxon racial superiority which obsessed many American thinkers in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The measure of world domination already achieved by the 'race' seemed to prove it the fittest. According to the historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, "The subtitle of [The Origin of Species] made a convenient motto for racists: 'The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.' Darwin, of course, took 'races' to mean varieties or species; but it was no violation of his meaning to extend it to human races.... Darwin himself, in spite of his aversion to slavery, was not averse to the idea that some races were more fit than others". On the other hand, Robert Bannister defended Darwin on the issue of race, writing that "Upon closer inspection, the case against Darwin himself quickly unravels. An ardent opponent of slavery, he consistently opposed the oppression of nonwhites... Although by modern standards The Descent of Man is frustratingly inconclusive on the


id: scientific-racism-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-7.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
In Morton's Crania Americana, his claims were based on craniometry data, that the Caucasians had the biggest brains, averaging 87 cubic inches, Native Americans were in the middle with an average of 82 cubic inches and Negroes had the smallest brains with an average of 78 cubic inches. In The Mismeasure of Man (1981), the evolutionary biologist and historian of science Stephen Jay Gould argued that Samuel Morton had falsified the craniometric data, perhaps inadvertently over-packing some skulls, to so produce results that would legitimize the racist presumptions he was attempting to prove. A subsequent study by the anthropologist John Michael found Morton's original data to be more accurate than Gould describes, concluding that "[c]ontrary to Gould's interpretation... Morton's research was conducted with integrity". Jason Lewis and colleagues reached similar conclusions as Michael in their reanalysis of Morton's skull collection; however, they depart from Morton's racist conclusions by adding that "studies have demonstrated that modern human variation is generally continuous, rather than discrete or "racial", and that most variation in modern humans is within, rather than between, populations". In 1873, Paul Broca, founder of the Anthropological Society of Paris (1859), found the same pattern of measures—that Crania Americana reported—by weighing


id: scientific-racism-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-8.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Nordicism === Joseph Deniker's contribution to racist theory was La Race nordique (the Nordic race), a generic, racial-stock descriptor, which the American eugenicist Madison Grant (1865–1937) presented as the white racial engine of world civilization. Having adopted Ripley's three-race European populace model, but disliking the Teuton race name, he transliterated la race nordique into 'the Nordic race', the acme of the concocted racial hierarchy, based upon his racial classification theory, popular in the 1910s and 1920s. The State Institute for Racial Biology (Swedish: Statens Institut för Rasbiologi) and its director Herman Lundborg in Sweden were active in racist research. Furthermore, much of early research on Ural-Altaic languages was coloured by attempts at justifying the view that European peoples east of Sweden were Asian and thus of an inferior race, justifying colonialism, eugenics and racial hygiene. The book The Passing of the Great Race (Or, The Racial Basis of European History) by American eugenicist, lawyer, and amateur anthropologist Madison Grant was published in 1916. Though influential, the book was largely ignored when it first appeared, and it went through several revisions and editions. Nevertheless, the book was used by people who advocated restricted immigration as justification for what became known


id: scientific-racism-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-9.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
Scientific racism played a role in establishing apartheid in South Africa. In South Africa, white scientists, like Dudly Kidd, who published The essential Kafir in 1904, sought to "understand the African mind". They believed that the cultural differences between whites and blacks in South Africa might be caused by physiological differences in the brain. Rather than suggesting that Africans were "overgrown children", as early white explorers had, Kidd believed that Africans were "misgrown with a vengeance". He described Africans as at once "hopelessly deficient", yet "very shrewd". The Carnegie Commission on the Poor White Problem in South Africa played a key role in establishing apartheid in South Africa. According to one memorandum sent to Frederick Keppel, then president of the Carnegie Corporation, there was "little doubt that if the natives were given full economic opportunity, the more competent among them would soon outstrip the less competent whites". Keppel's support for the project of creating the report was motivated by his concern with the maintenance of existing racial boundaries. The preoccupation of the Carnegie Corporation with the so-called poor white problem in South Africa was at least in part the outcome of similar misgivings about the state of poor whites in


id: scientific-racism-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-10.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Early intelligence testing and the Immigration Act of 1924 === Before the 1920s, social scientists agreed that whites were superior to blacks, but they needed a way to prove this to back social policy in favor of whites. They felt the best way to gauge this was through testing intelligence. By interpreting the tests to show favor to whites these test makers' research results portrayed all minority groups very negatively. In 1908, Henry Goddard translated the Binet intelligence test from French and in 1912 began to apply the test to incoming immigrants on Ellis Island. A 1981 study claims that in a study of immigrants Goddard reached the conclusion that 87% of Russians, 83% of Jews, 80% of Hungarians, and 79% of Italians were feeble-minded and had a mental age less than 12. Some have also claimed that this information was taken as "evidence" by lawmakers and thus it affected social policy for years. Bernard Davis has pointed out that, in the first sentence of his paper, Goddard wrote that the subjects of the study were not typical members of their groups but were selected because of their suspected sub-normal intelligence. Davis has further noted that Goddard argued that


id: scientific-racism-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-11.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
The Nazi Party and its sympathizers published many books on scientific racism, seizing on the eugenicist and antisemitic ideas with which they were widely associated, although these ideas had been in circulation since the 19th century. Books such as Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes ("Racial Science of the German People") by Hans Günther (first published in 1922) and Rasse und Seele ("Race and Soul") by Ludwig Ferdinand Clauß (published under different titles between 1926 and 1934) attempted to scientifically identify differences between the German, Nordic, or Aryan people and other, supposedly inferior, groups. German schools used these books as texts during the Nazi era. In the early 1930s, the Nazis used racialized scientific rhetoric based on social Darwinism to push its restrictive and discriminatory social policies. During World War II, Nazi racialist beliefs became anathema in the United States, and Boasians such as Ruth Benedict consolidated their institutional power. After the war, discovery of the Holocaust and Nazi abuses of scientific research (such as Josef Mengele's ethical violations and other war crimes revealed at the Nuremberg Trials) led most of the scientific community to repudiate scientific support for racism. Propaganda for the Nazi eugenics program began with propaganda for eugenic sterilization.


id: scientific-racism-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-12.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
== After 1945 == By 1954, 58 years after the Plessy v. Ferguson upholding of racial segregation in the United States, American popular and scholarly opinions of scientific racism and its sociologic practice had evolved. In 1960, the journal Mankind Quarterly was founded, which is commonly described as a venue for scientific racism and white supremacy, and as lacking a legitimate scholarly purpose. The journal was founded in 1960, partly in response to the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education which desegregated the American public school system. In April 1966, Alex Haley interviewed American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell for Playboy. Rockwell justified his belief that blacks were inferior to whites by citing a long-discredited 1916 study by G. O. Ferguson which claimed to show that the intellectual performance of black students was correlated with their percentage of white ancestry, stating "pure negroes, negroes three-fourths pure, mulattoes and quadroons have, roughly, 60, 70, 80 and 90 percent, respectively, of white intellectual efficiency". Playboy later published the interview with an editorial note claiming the study was a "discredited ... pseudoscientific rationale for racism". International bodies such as UNESCO attempted to draft resolutions that would summarize the state of


id: scientific-racism-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-13.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
Psychologist Richard Lynn has published multiple papers and a book supporting theories of scientific racism. In IQ and the Wealth of Nations, Lynn claims that national GDP is determined largely by national average IQ. He draws this conclusion from the correlation between average IQ and GDP and argues low intelligence in African nations is the cause of their low levels of growth. Lynn's theory has been criticized for attributing causal relationship between correlated statistics. Lynn supports scientific racism more directly in his 2002 paper "Skin Color and Intelligence in African Americans", where he proposes "the level of intelligence in African Americans is significantly determined by the proportion of Caucasian genes". As with IQ and the Wealth of Nations, Lynn's methodology is flawed, and he purports a causal relationship from what is simply correlation. Nicholas Wade's book (A Troublesome Inheritance) faced strong backlash from the scientific community, with 142 geneticists and biologists signing a letter describing Wade's work as "misappropriation of research from our field to support arguments about differences among human societies". On June 17, 2020, Elsevier announced it was retracting an article that J. Philippe Rushton and Donald Templer had published in 2012 in the Elsevier journal Personality and


id: scientific-racism-20260505-14
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism-14.md
category: reference
title: Scientific racism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:14.388711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientific-racism-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Alexander, Nathan G. (2019). Race in a Godless World: Atheism, Race, and Civilization, 1850–1914. New York/Manchester: New York University Press/Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1526142375. Ball, Philip (June 9, 2021). "The unwelcome revival of 'race science': 20 years after the human genome was first sequenced, dangerous gene myths abound". The Guardian. Condit, Celeste M. (2010). Rhetorical Engagements in the Scientist's Process of Remaking Race as Genetic. The University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1299241091. Fredrickson, George M. (2002). Racism: A Short History. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00899-8. Scientific racism, history of at Encyclopedia.com (Cengage) Gardner, Dan. "Race Science: When Racial Categories Make No Sense". The Globe and Mail, October 27, 1995. "Race, Evolution and the Science of Human Origins" by Allison Hopper, Scientific American (July 5, 2021). Purves D; Augustine GJ; Fitzpatrick D; et al., eds. (2001). "Box D. Brain Size and Intelligence". Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. Redman, Samuel J. (2016). Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674660410. Saini, Angela (2019). Superior: The Return of Race Science. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0008341008. Spiro, Jonathan P. (2009). Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison


id: scientology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-0.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices created by the American author L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard initially presented his ideas in 1950 as a form of talk therapy called Dianetics. He later expanded and reframed those ideas as a religion, which he named Scientology. In 1953, he founded the Church of Scientology, which, by one 2014 estimate, had around 30,000 members. A core Scientology belief is that traumatic events cause subconscious command-like recordings in the mind, which may have occurred in past lives, and which can only be relieved through an activity called "auditing". Auditing and training to audit are the two primary activities in a Scientology organization and are outlined in a structured progression chart called The Bridge to Total Freedom, with the two main achievement levels being the status of "Clear" (the goal of the original Dianetics) and "Operating Thetan" (Scientology's version of spiritual freedom). Fees are charged for auditing and training. The upper‑level teachings of the Operating Thetan levels are considered confidential and are only revealed to Scientologists when they reach each level. The texts, which involve a past life cosmology narrative, have been leaked and publicized, despite the Church of Scientology litigating to keep them


id: scientology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-1.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Hubbard established an organization to promote his ideas about the mind, which he called Dianetics, in 1950. The organization went bankrupt, and Hubbard lost the rights to his book Dianetics in 1952. His ideas were rejected by the scientific community. As the 1950s developed, Hubbard saw the advantages of having his Scientology movement legally recognized as a religion. In an April 1953 letter to Helen O'Brien, his US business manager, he proposed that Scientology should be transformed into a religion: "We don't want a clinic. We want one in operation but not in name...It is a problem of practical business. I await your reaction on the religion angle". In reaction to a series of arrests of his followers, and the prosecution of Hubbard's Dianetics foundation for teaching medicine without a license, in December 1953 Hubbard incorporated three organizations – Church of American Science, Church of Scientology, and Church of Spiritual Engineering. By 1954, Hubbard had regained the rights to Dianetics. In 1959, Hubbard purchased Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, Sussex, United Kingdom, which became the worldwide headquarters of the Church of Scientology and his personal residence. With the organization often under heavy criticism, it adopted strong measures of attack


id: scientology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-2.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Scientology is vehemently opposed to psychiatry and psychology, and wants to replace them with its own methods. The clinical and academic psychiatry community rejected Hubbard's theories in the early 1950s. Hubbard and his early Dianetics organization were prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license in the early 1950s. Hubbard taught that psychiatrists were responsible for a great many wrongs in the world, saying that psychiatry has at various times offered itself as a tool of political suppression and that psychiatry was responsible for the ideology of Hitler, for turning the Nazis into mass murderers, and the Holocaust. The Scientology organization operates the anti-psychiatry group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), which operates Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, an anti-psychiatry museum. Though Hubbard had stated psychosis was not something Scientology dealt with, after noticing many Scientologists were suffering breakdowns after using his techniques he created the Introspection Rundown, a brutal and inhumane method to allegedly solve psychotic episodes. The rundown came under public scrutiny when in 1995 Scientologist Lisa McPherson suffered a mental breakdown and was removed from the hospital and held in isolation at a Church of Scientology for 17 days before she died. === Views on Hubbard === Scientologists


id: scientology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-3.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
The Sea Org is the organization's primary management unit, containing the highest ranks in its hierarchy. Its members are often recruited from the children of existing Scientologists, and sign up to a "billion-year contract" to serve the organization. Kent described that for adult Sea Org members with minor children, their work obligations took priority, damaged parent-child relations, and has led to cases of severe child neglect and endangerment. The Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) is the Church of Scientology's disciplinary program, where Sea Org members deemed to have seriously deviated from its teachings are placed. They will often face a hearing, the "Committee of Evidence", which determines if they will be sent to the RPF. The RPF operates out of several locations. It involves a daily regimen of five hours of auditing or studying, eight hours of work, often physical labor, such as building renovation, and at least seven hours of sleep. Journalists have condemned RPF practices for violating human rights; and criticized the Scientology organization for placing children as young as twelve into the RPF, engaging them in forced labor and denying access to their parents, violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The RPF has contributed


id: scientology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-4.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
The Scientology organization regards itself as the victim of media and governmental persecution, and the scholar of religion Douglas Cowan observed that "claims to systematic persecution and harassment" are part of the internal culture. In turn, Urban noted the organization has "tended to respond very aggressively to its critics, mounting numerous lawsuits and at times using extralegal means to respond to those who threaten it." The organization has often responded to criticism by ad hominem attacks. Its approach to targeting critics has often generated more negative attention for their organization, with Lewis commenting that it "has proven to be its own worst enemy" in this regard. It has a reputation for litigiousness stemming from its involvement in a large number of legal conflicts. Barrett characterized the organization as "one of the most litigious religions in the world". It has conducted lawsuits against governments, organizations, and individuals, both to counter criticisms made against it and to gain legal recognition as a religion. J.P. Kumar, who studied the litigation, argued that victory was not always important to the organization; what was important was depleting the resources and energies of its critics. === Suppressive persons and fair game === Those deemed hostile to


id: scientology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-5.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Criminal behavior by members of the organization, including the infiltration of the US Government. Organized harassment of people perceived as enemies of the Church of Scientology. Scientology's disconnection policy, in which some members are required to shun friends or family members who are "antagonistic" to the organization. The death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson while in the care of the organization. Robert Minton sponsored the multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Scientology for the death of McPherson. In May 2004, McPherson's estate and the Church of Scientology reached a confidential settlement. Attempts to legally force search engines to censor information critical of the Scientology organization. Allegations the organization's leader David Miscavige beats and demoralizes staff, and that physical violence by superiors towards staff working for them is a common occurrence in the organization. Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis denied these claims and provided witnesses to rebut them. Stephen A. Kent, a professor of sociology, has said that "Scientologists see themselves as possessors of doctrines and skills that can save the world, if not the galaxy." As stated in Scientology doctrine: "The whole agonized future of this planet, every man, woman and child on it, and your own destiny for the next endless trillions of years


id: scientology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-6.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Scientology has historically engaged in hostile action toward its critics; executives within the organization have proclaimed that Scientology is "not a turn-the-other-cheek religion". Since the 1960s, Journalists, politicians, former Scientologists and various anti-cult groups have said that Scientology followers have engaged in organized hostility, harassment and threats, and Scientology has targeted these critics–almost without exception–for retaliation, in the form of lawsuits and public counter-accusations of personal wrongdoing. Many of Scientology's critics have also reported they were subject to threats and harassment in their private lives. According to a 1990 Los Angeles Times article, the Scientology organization had largely switched from using members to using private investigators, including former and current Los Angeles police officers, as this gives the organization a layer of protection in case investigators use tactics which might cause the organization embarrassment. In one case, the organization described their tactics as "LAPD sanctioned", which was energetically disputed by Police Chief Daryl Gates. The officer involved in this particular case of surveillance and harassment was suspended for six months. Journalist John Sweeney reported that "While making our BBC Panorama film Scientology and Me I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel invaded at midnight, denounced as a


id: scientology-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-7.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
In March 2009 a former Scientologist reported that women who worked at Scientology's headquarters were forced to have abortions, or faced being declared a "suppressive person" by the organization's management. In March 2010, former Scientologist Janette Lang stated that at age 20 she became pregnant by her boyfriend while in the organization, and her boyfriend's Scientology supervisors "coerced them into terminating the pregnancy". "We fought for a week, I was devastated, I felt abused, I was lost and eventually I gave in. It was my baby, my body and my choice, and all of that was taken away from me by Scientology", said Lang. Australian Senator Nick Xenophon gave a speech to the Australian Parliament in November 2009, about statements he had received from former Scientologists. He said that he had been told members of the organization had coerced pregnant female employees to have abortions. "I am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers," said Senator Xenophon, and he requested that the Australian Senate begin an investigation into Scientology. According to the letters presented by Senator Xenophon, the organization was involved in "ordering" its members to have abortions. Former Scientologist Aaron Saxton


id: scientology-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology-8.md
category: reference
title: Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:15.565462+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-20260505-0
summary:
The Church of Scientology also began filing lawsuits against those who posted copyrighted texts on the newsgroup and the World Wide Web, lobbied for tighter restrictions on copyrights in general, and supported the controversial Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act as well as the even more controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Beginning in the middle of 1996 and ensuing for several years, the newsgroup was attacked by anonymous parties using a tactic dubbed sporgery by some, in the form of hundreds of thousands of forged spam messages posted on the group. Some investigators said that some spam had been traced to members of the Church of Scientology. Former Scientologist Tory Christman later asserted that the Office of Special Affairs had undertaken a concerted effort to destroy alt.religion.scientology through these means; the effort failed. On January 14, 2008, a video produced by the Scientology organization featuring an interview with Tom Cruise was leaked to the Internet and uploaded to YouTube. The Church of Scientology issued a copyright violation claim against YouTube requesting the removal of the video. Calling the action by the Church of Scientology a form of Internet censorship, participants of Anonymous coordinated Project Chanology, consisting of a series


id: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man-0.md
category: reference
title: Scientology: A History of Man
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:16.748270+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-0
summary:
Scientology: A History of Man is a book by L. Ron Hubbard, first published in 1952 under the title What to Audit by the Scientific Press of Phoenix. According to the author, it provides "a coldblooded and factual account of your last sixty trillion years." It has gone through many editions since its first publication and is a key text of the Church of Scientology. The book has been ridiculed by scholars, journalists and critics of Scientology for its unusual writing style and pseudoscientific claims; it has been described as "a slim pretense at scientific method ... blended with a strange amalgam of psychotherapy, mysticism and pure science fiction; mainly the latter." == Publication history == According to Christopher Evans, the book reportedly originated in Scientology auditing sessions held in Wichita, Kansas in early 1952, involving Hubbard and his personal auditor, Perry Chapdelaine. Chapdelaine said that Hubbard would "settle himself on a couch with a tape recorder handy and an 'auditor' who would be expected to provide appropriate feedback. In no time a flow of introspection - like the free association characteristic of a psychoanalytic session - would begin." In a different account, Hubbard's son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr. (otherwise


id: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man-1.md
category: reference
title: Scientology: A History of Man
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:16.748270+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-0
summary:
The Atom, "complete with electronic rings". According to Hubbard: "There seems to be a 'hole in space' immediately ahead of the Atom", which generates a particular state of mind in a person. The Cosmic Impact, based on the premise that "As physicists tell us, cosmic rays enter the body in large numbers and occasionally explode in the body. Very early on the track the impact of a cosmic ray and its explosion is very destructive to the existing organism". The Photon Converter: essentially an early photosynthetic organism such as an alga or plankton. Hubbard deemed the Photon Converter to be responsible for fears of "light and dark, the storms of the sea, the fight to keep from rolling into the surf". The Helper, an incident of mitosis (cell division) in some unnamed organism which was "a confusing area for the [genetic entity] which therein has much cause for misidentification". The Clam, one of a number of incidents between The Helper and The Weeper. The others include seaweed and "jellyfish incidents [which] are quite remarkable for their occasional aberrative force". Encounters between jellyfish and cave walls are held to be responsible for the emergence of "a shell as in the clam".


id: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man-2.md
category: reference
title: Scientology: A History of Man
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:16.748270+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-0
summary:
He goes on to warn the reader that "your discussion of these incidents with the uninitiated in Scientology can cause havoc. Should you describe the "clam" to someone, you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw pain. One such victim, after hearing about a clam death, could not use his jaws for three days". The Weeper/Boohoo incident deals with a mollusk that rolled in the surf for half a million years, pumping sea water from its shell as it breathed. Weepers had 'trillions of misadventures', whereof the principal was the anxiety of inhalation before the next wave. 'The inability of a pre-clear to cry,' Hubbard explained, 'is partly a hang-up in the Weeper. He is about to be hit by a wave, has his eyes full of sand or is frightened about opening his shell because he may be hit.' The Volcanoes occurred at several points: violent volcanic eruptions which choked the genetic entity's host organism with sulphurous smoke. Hubbard suggests that these eruptions hastened the progress of evolution, "for there is a lack of real reason why this evolution should not be continuing on even today." Volcanoes, believed by Scientologists to be used by


id: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man-3.md
category: reference
title: Scientology: A History of Man
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology:_A_History_of_Man
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:16.748270+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientology-a-history-of-man-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical views == A History of Man has attracted a good deal of comment from critical reviewers and analysts of Scientology. As Marco Frenschkowski notes, it is a "very strange book easily ridiculed". The author Jon Atack describes it as "among the most bizarre of Hubbard's works, [which] deserves the cult status that some truly dreadful science fiction movies have achieved". The Anderson Report of 1965 comments that "To say it is an astonishing document does not adequately convey the peculiar qualities or contents of "The History of Man ... For compressed nonsense and fantasy it must surpass anything theretofore written." Hubbard's biographer Russell Miller describes it in similar terms as "one of Hubbard's most bizarre works and possibly the most absurd book ever written", which "invited the derision which was inevitably forthcoming." Bent Corydon, a former Scientologist, criticises A History of Man by pointing out that Hubbard's "imaginings, opinions, or observations" are presented as established facts - in effect, instructing the Scientologist in what he should remember, rather than letting him find out for himself. Apart from the unusual style of narration, which Miller describes as having "wobbled uncertainly between schoolboy fiction and a pseudo-scientific medical paper", many


id: scriptural-geologist-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist-0.md
category: reference
title: Scriptural geologist
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:17.941253+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scriptural-geologist-20260505-0
summary:
Scriptural geologists (or Mosaic geologists) were a heterogeneous group of writers in the early nineteenth century, who claimed "the primacy of literalistic biblical exegesis" and a short Young Earth time-scale. Their views were marginalised and ignored by the scientific community of their time. They "had much the same relationship to 'philosophical' (or scientific) geologists as their indirect descendants, the twentieth-century creationists." Paul Wood describes them as "mostly Anglican evangelicals" with "no institutional focus and little sense of commonality". They generally lacked any background in geology, and had little influence even in church circles. == Background == === Reason for appearance === Up until the end of the 18th century Classical British scholarship was theologically based, using the Bible as a basic source for world history and chronology. Early work in the developing science of geology sought "theories of the Earth" combining mechanical physical laws in the natural philosophy of René Descartes with belief in the global flood as described in Genesis 6-8. The flood narrative in Genesis was given serious consideration as a basis for explaining geological data, and though by 1800 naturalists accepted an old-earth cosmology, this was not an inevitable conclusion among the educated. Amateur and popular geologists


id: scriptural-geologist-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist-1.md
category: reference
title: Scriptural geologist
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:17.941253+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scriptural-geologist-20260505-0
summary:
=== Geological competence === Professor of intellectual history David N. Livingstone states that scriptural geologists "were not, as it turns out, geologists at all", concluding that "while it may be proper to speak of Scriptural Geology, it is not really accurate to speak of Scriptural Geologists." L. Piccardi and W. Bruce Masse state that "[a]part from George Young, none of these scriptural geologists had any geological competence". David Clifford states that they were "not themselves geologists" but rather "keen but biased amateurs" and that one of them, James Mellor Brown, "felt that no scientific expertise was required when examining scientific matters." Taking a more positive view, Milton Millhauser states that the leaders of the party were "by no means ignorant of the science [they] assailed." O'Connor argues that terminology in the 21st century is a stumbling-block to modern analysis of geologic competence of the scriptural geologists because science today is understood in the language of Lyell and Charles Darwin rather than that of Penn and Fairholme. Scriptural geologists saw themselves as 'geologists' (in the early 19th-century understanding of the term) and valued geologic fieldwork. For the educated of the early 19th century the Bible was itself valuable evidence. Evidence does


id: scriptural-geologist-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist-2.md
category: reference
title: Scriptural geologist
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:17.941253+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scriptural-geologist-20260505-0
summary:
Andrew Ure Andrew Ure, M.A. in 1799, M.D. in 1801 in Glasgow, was a scientist and physician. He served briefly as an army surgeon then in 1803 became a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow as Professor of Natural Philosophy (specializing in chemistry and physics) at the Andersonian Institution (now the University of Strathclyde). He was probably the first consulting chemist in Britain and highly esteemed by contemporary scientists. He wrote A Dictionary of Chemistry (1821), Elements of the Art of Dyeing (1824), and A New System of Geology (1829). The leading University of Cambridge geologist Adam Sedgwick, a Church of England clergyman, condemned A New System of Geology pulling "it to pieces without mercy" and calling it a "monument of folly". Gillispie chastised Andrew Ure as of the "men of the lunatic fringe" who produced clerical "fulminations against science in general and all its works". Ure was not a cleric. George Fairholme George Fairholme was a wealthy banker and landowner, self-taught naturalist. He was not opposed to studying geology; rather, he did battle with the new theories which were, in his view, inconsistent with Scripture and scientific facts. Genesis did not teach science or geology,


id: scriptural-geologist-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist-3.md
category: reference
title: Scriptural geologist
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptural_geologist
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:17.941253+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scriptural-geologist-20260505-0
summary:
== References == Books Brooke, John Hedley; Cantor, G. N. (2000). Reconstructing nature: the engagement of science and religion. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513706-X. Clark, John (1970). The Life and Letters of the Reverend Adam Sedgwick. Westmead: Gregg International Publishers. p. 362. ISBN 0-576-29117-X. Clifford, David (2006). Repositioning Victorian Sciences: Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-Century Thinking. City: Anthem Press. ISBN 1-84331-212-3. Cole, Henry (1834). Popular Geology Subversive of Divine Revelation. pp. 52, 113. Gillispie, C. C. (1996). Genesis and Geology. London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-34481-2. Khun, Thomas S. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. p. 76. Livingstone, David; Hart, Darryl G.; Noll, Mark A. (1999). Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511557-0. McCalla, A. (2006). The creationist debate: the encounter between the Bible and the historical mind. T & T Clark International. p. 65. ISBN 0-8264-6447-5. Piccardi, L.; Masse, W. Bruce (2007). Myth and Geology. London: Geological Society. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-86239-216-8. Rudwick, Martin J. S. (1988). The Great Devonian Controversy. Springer. pp. 42–44. ISBN 0-226-73102-2. Rupke, Nicolaas (1983). The Great Chain of History. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 42–50. ISBN 0-19-822907-0. Young, Davis A. (1995). The Biblical Flood: a case study of the Church's response to


id: scrying-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrying-0.md
category: reference
title: Scrying
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrying
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:19.233598+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scrying-20260505-0
summary:
Scrying, also referred to as "seeing" or "peeping," is a practice rooted in divination and fortune-telling. It involves gazing into a medium, hoping to receive significant messages or visions that could offer personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or inspiration. The practice lacks a definitive distinction from other forms of clairvoyance or divination but generally relies on visions within the chosen medium. Unlike augury, which interprets observable events, or divination, which follows standardized rituals, scrying's impressions arise within the medium itself. The terminology and methods of scrying are diverse and lack a standardized structure. Practitioners coin terms such as "crystallomancy," "spheromancy," or "catoptromancy," naming practices based on the medium or technique employed. These practices have been reinvented throughout history, spanning cultures and regions. Scrying media encompasses reflective, refractive, or luminescent surfaces like crystals, mirrors, water, fire, or smoke. Some practitioners even close their eyes, engaging in "eyelid scrying." Methods of scrying often include self-induced trances, using media like crystal balls or even modern technology like smartphones. Practitioners enter a focused state that reduces mental clutter, enabling the emergence of visual images. These initial images, however trivial, are amplified during the trance. Some scryers report that they hear their voice affirming what they


id: scrying-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrying-1.md
category: reference
title: Scrying
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrying
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:19.233598+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scrying-20260505-0
summary:
The Shahnameh, a 10th-century epic work narrating historical and mythological past of Persia, gives a description of what was called the Cup of Jamshid (Jaam-e Jam), which was used by the ancient (mythological) Persian kings for observing all of the seven layers of the universe. The cup was said to contain an elixir of immortality, but without cogent explanation for any relevance of the elixir to the scrying function. === Latter Day Saint movement === In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith founded the Latter Day Saint movement based in part on insights gained from the reflections of seer stones. Smith had at least three separate stones which he used initially in treasure-hunting expeditions. Subsequently, he took to placing his favorite stone inside his hat to read what he said were miraculous reflections from the stone. Smith also said he possessed a pair of spectacles manufactured from seer stones, which he called the Urim and Thummim and which he said enabled him to translate the golden plates that are the stated source of the Book of Mormon. == In folklore == Rituals that involve many acts similar to scrying in ceremonial magic are retained in the form of folklore and superstition.


id: the-secret-life-of-plants-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Plants-0.md
category: reference
title: The Secret Life of Plants
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Plants
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:20.427432+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-secret-life-of-plants-20260505-0
summary:
The Secret Life of Plants (1973) is a book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, which documents controversial experiments that claim to reveal unusual phenomena associated with plants, such as plant sentience and the ability of plants to communicate with other creatures, including humans. The book goes on to discuss philosophies and progressive farming methods based on these "findings". It was heavily criticized by scientists for promoting pseudoscientific claims. Later editions were published with the subtitle A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man. == Authors == Christopher Bird [de] (1928–1996) was a best-selling author who also wrote The Divining Hand: The 500-Year-Old Mystery of Dowsing. Peter Tompkins worked as a journalist, as well as a US military intelligence officer for the OSS in Italy during World War II. The original book cover design was created by underground comix illustrator Gail Burwen. == Summary == The book includes summaries of the life and work of 20th century scientists Jagadish Chandra Bose and Corentin Louis Kervran as well as 19th century scientist George Washington Carver. The book includes experiments on plant stimuli using a polygraph, a method which was pioneered by Cleve Backster. Parts of


id: see-clearly-method-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_Clearly_Method-0.md
category: reference
title: See Clearly Method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_Clearly_Method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:21.615149+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: see-clearly-method-20260505-0
summary:
The See Clearly Method was an eye-exercise program that was marketed as an alternative to the use of glasses, contact lenses, and eye surgery to improve vision. Sales were halted by legal action in 2006. The method is not supported by basic science, and no research studies were conducted prior to marketing. The program is based in part on the Bates method, an alternative therapy devised in the early 20th century, which lacks clinical evidence to support the claim that it can improve eyesight. == History == The See Clearly Method was created by four individuals who called themselves the "American Vision Institute": optometrist David W. Muris, optometrist Merrill J. Allen, psychologist Francis A. Young, and nuclear chemist Steven Beresford. In 1996, they authored a book titled Improve Your Vision Without Glasses or Contact Lenses: A New Program of Therapeutic Eye Exercises, on which the later system was based. When Fairfield, Iowa, businessman Cliff Rose saw the book, he asked that the authors develop the program. Along with attorney David Sykes, Rose created Vision Improvement Technologies, which owned and marketed the See Clearly Method, which was heavily advertised on radio and television from 2001 to 2006, with the endorsement of


id: shrink-ray-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray-0.md
category: reference
title: Shrink ray
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:22.806339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: shrink-ray-20260505-0
summary:
In science fiction, a shrink ray is any device which uses energy to reduce the physical size of matter. Many are also capable of enlarging items as well. A growth ray typically only has the ability to enlarge. == Scientific == Science fiction writer and polymath Isaac Asimov wrote: Miniaturization doesn't actually make sense unless you miniaturize the very atoms which build up matter. Otherwise a tiny brain in a human the size of an insect, composed of normal atoms, is composed of too few atoms for the miniaturized human to be any more intelligent than the insect. Also, miniaturizing atoms is impossible according to the rules of quantum mechanics. Depending on how those atoms were supposed to have been miniaturized, a miniature human may or may not weigh as much as they originally did, which is an observation that has been used for various effects over the years in fictions such as comic books. However, the problems of a miniature human don't stop there. Basic geometry governs parameters such as relationships between cross-sectional area, volume, and surface area. It may be impossible for a one-inch high human to kill themselves in a fall of any conceivable height, but they


id: shrink-ray-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray-1.md
category: reference
title: Shrink ray
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:22.806339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: shrink-ray-20260505-0
summary:
=== Films and television === Dr. Cyclops from the 1940 horror film of that name shrank his victims by locking them inside an "atomic generator". In the 1958 movie Attack of the Puppet People, a scientist captures people and shrinks them to 6 inches in height with an ultrasonic wave device, so he can keep them as company. (He keeps them sealed inside special suspended animation canisters between "puppet shows".) The 1966 science-fiction film Fantastic Voyage (written by Harry Kleiner, novelization by Isaac Asimov) is plotted around such a device, allowing the miniaturized submarine Proteus to carry a crew inside a stricken scientist in an attempt to save his life. They have one hour to cure him before they expand back to normal size. Dr. Shrinker was a segment that aired 16 episodes as part of the ABC network's The Krofft Supershow in 1976. Dr. Shrinker (Jay Robinson) is an evil scientist with a lab on an uncharted island. When teenagers Brad, B.J., and Gordie are stranded on the island, Dr. Shrinker subjects them to his shrinker machine. They manage to escape the lab in miniature form; the series follows their adventures as they try to evade the clutches of


id: shrink-ray-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray-2.md
category: reference
title: Shrink ray
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:22.806339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: shrink-ray-20260505-0
summary:
In "Experiment-a-palooza", Shrink grows Stitch into a giant; the latter goes on a rampage—as he has also reverted to his former destructive programming thanks to the abilities of Experiment 210/Retro—until Yuna manages to calm him down. In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Unremarkable Voyage", Frylock builds a shrink ray (which can also enlarge items). Master Shake quickly gains control of the machine and proceeds to abuse its power for his own benefit. The shrink ray turns out to be faulty, however, as shrunken items return to normal size after a period of time. A shrink ray is a recurring device shown in Venture Brothers, although it never seems to actually work properly. In Despicable Me, Gru used a shrink ray to shrink the Moon and pocket it. The effects of the shrink ray are only temporary, however, and the bigger the mass of an object, the quicker the effect wears off; this is called the "Nefario Principle" (coined after Gru's scientist assistant Dr. Nefario). Vector returns the Moon to satellite orbit before it returns to normal size using his escape pod, but the Moon expands before he could do so in time and his escape pod is consequently destroyed,


id: shrink-ray-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray-3.md
category: reference
title: Shrink ray
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_ray
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:22.806339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: shrink-ray-20260505-0
summary:
=== Radio === The "Pertwee System of Infinite Acceleration" in the Dimension X episode "The Professor Was a Thief" was a shrink ray (November 5, 1950). === Literature === Cold War in a Country Garden (Lindsay Gutteridge, Pocket 1973) concerns the adventures of miniaturized spies. Small World (Tabitha King, 1982) is about a dollhouse enthusiast who gains a device that will shrink anything, and takes it too far. The Atom, Ant-Man, The Wasp, and Doll Man are but a few of the comic book characters who had as a primary power the ability to shrink (usually by technological means). === Video games === Duke Nukem 3D and Duke Nukem Forever have a shrink ray capable of shrinking an enemy, which allows the player character Duke Nukem to step on the shrunken foe, instantly killing it. A similar weapon dubbed the G.L.O.P.P. Ray appears in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. Engineers in World of Warcraft are capable of crafting a Gnomish shrink ray. The Eiffel Tower is reduced in size, then stolen, in the game Evil Genius. In Men in Black: The Series – Crashdown, Agent J uses a shrink ray to shrink himself and battle a group of insectoid aliens. Pandemonium!


id: signature-in-the-cell-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_in_the_Cell-0.md
category: reference
title: Signature in the Cell
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_in_the_Cell
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:24.255967+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: signature-in-the-cell-20260505-0
summary:
Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design is a 2009 book about intelligent design by philosopher and intelligent design advocate Stephen C. Meyer. The book was well received by some within the conservative, intelligent design and evangelical communities, but several other reviewers were critical and wrote that Meyer's claims are incorrect. == Summary == According to Meyer, historical sciences seek to establish past causes of events using three criteria: (1) that a proposed cause was present, (2) that independent evidence establishes that the proposed cause can indeed produce that event, and (3) that there is an absence of evidence of other possible causes. In his view, the first form of life would have been a functioning, self-replicating, and protein-synthesizing system of DNA and proteins, and as such an information-rich system. Meyer believes that chemical evolution, chance, and chemical necessity have not been proven capable of producing information-rich systems, and that intelligent design is therefore the best explanation for the emergence of life on this planet. He argues that definitions of science that would preclude intelligent design from being a science also preclude many other fields, already established as science, from being science. Meyer believes the designing


id: silva-method-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silva_Method-0.md
category: reference
title: Silva Method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silva_Method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:25.454293+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: silva-method-20260505-0
summary:
The Silva Method is a self-help and meditation program developed by José Silva. It claims to increase an individual's abilities through relaxation, improve the intelligence quotient, use the mind to heal the body, develop higher brain functions, and psychic abilities such as clairvoyance. It has been variously classified as a self-religion, a new religious movement, and a cult, and has been criticised as pseudoscience. == Biography of José Silva == José Silva (August 11, 1914- February 7, 1999), an American electronics repairman, grew up in Laredo, Texas. He developed an interest in psychology to see if it could help him increase his children's IQ. After experimenting and being convinced of his daughter's sudden clairvoyance, Silva decided to learn more about the development of psychic abilities. In 1944 Silva began developing his method, formerly known as Silva Mind Control. He used it on his family members and friends before launching it commercially in the 1960s. Silva was the subject of a 1990 biography. == Technique == The technique aims to reach and sustain a state of mental functioning, called alpha state, where brainwave frequency is seven to fourteen Hz.:p19-20 Daydreaming and the transition to sleeping are alpha states.:p19-20 Silva claimed to


id: medical-uses-of-silver-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver-0.md
category: reference
title: Medical uses of silver
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:26.599044+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: medical-uses-of-silver-20260505-0
summary:
The medical uses of silver include its use in wound dressings, creams, and as an antibiotic coating on medical devices. Wound dressings containing silver sulfadiazine or silver nanomaterials may be used to treat external infections. The limited evidence available shows that silver coatings on endotracheal breathing tubes may reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. There is tentative evidence that using silver-alloy indwelling catheters for short-term catheterizing will reduce the risk of catheter-acquired urinary tract infections. Silver generally has low toxicity, and minimal risk is expected when silver is used in approved medical applications. Alternative medicine products such as colloidal silver are controversial. == Mechanism of action == Silver and most silver compounds have an oligodynamic effect and are toxic for bacteria, algae, and fungi in vitro. The antibacterial action of silver is dependent on the silver ion. The effectiveness of silver compounds as an antiseptic is based on the ability of the biologically active silver ion (Ag+) to irreversibly damage key enzyme systems in the cell membranes of pathogens. The antibacterial action of silver has long been known to be enhanced by the presence of an electric field. Applying an electric current across silver electrodes enhances antibiotic action at the


id: medical-uses-of-silver-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver-1.md
category: reference
title: Medical uses of silver
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:26.599044+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: medical-uses-of-silver-20260505-0
summary:
=== Conjugations with existing drugs === Research in 2018 into the treatment of central nervous system infections caused by free-living amoebae such as Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba castellanii, tested the effectiveness of existing drugs as well as the effectiveness of the same drugs when they were conjugated with silver nanoparticles. In vitro tests demonstrated more potent amoebicidal effects for the drugs when conjugated with silver nanoparticles as compared to the same drugs when used alone. They also found that conjugating the drugs with silver nanoparticles enhanced their anti-acanthamoebic activity. === X-ray film === Silver-halide imaging plates used with X-ray imaging were the standard before digital techniques arrived; these function essentially the same as other silver-halide photographic films, although for x-ray use the developing process is very simple and takes only a few minutes. Silver x-ray film remains popular for its accuracy, and cost effectiveness, particularly in developing countries, where digital X-ray technology is usually not available. === Other uses === Silver compounds have been used in external preparations as antiseptics, including both silver nitrate and silver proteinate. Before the development of antibiotics, Credé's prophylaxis used a 2% solution of silver nitrate to prevent neonatal conjunctivitis, which used to account for


id: medical-uses-of-silver-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver-2.md
category: reference
title: Medical uses of silver
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:26.599044+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: medical-uses-of-silver-20260505-0
summary:
Colloidal silver (a colloid consisting of silver nanoparticles suspended in liquid) and formulations containing silver salts were used by physicians in the early 20th century, but their use was largely discontinued in the 1940s following the development of modern antibiotics. Since about 1990, there has been a resurgence of the promotion of colloidal silver as a dietary supplement (used internally), marketed with claims of its being an essential mineral supplement, or that it can prevent or treat numerous diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, HIV/AIDS, herpes, and tuberculosis. No medical evidence supports the effectiveness of colloidal silver for any of these claimed indications. Silver is not an essential mineral in humans; there is no dietary requirement for silver, and hence, no such thing as a silver "deficiency". There is no evidence that colloidal silver treats or prevents any medical condition, and it can cause serious and potentially irreversible side effects, such as argyria. In August 1999, the U.S. FDA banned colloidal silver sellers from claiming any therapeutic or preventive value for the product, although silver-containing products continue to be promoted as dietary supplements in the U.S. under the looser regulatory standards applied to supplements. The FDA has issued numerous warning


id: sinodonty-and-sundadonty-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinodonty_and_Sundadonty-0.md
category: reference
title: Sinodonty and Sundadonty
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinodonty_and_Sundadonty
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:27.772349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sinodonty-and-sundadonty-20260505-0
summary:
In anthropology, Sinodonty and Sundadonty are two patterns of features widely found in the dentitions of the populations of East Asia and Southeast Asia respectively. These two patterns were identified by anthropologist Christy G. Turner II as being within the greater "Mongoloid dental complex". The combining forms Sino- and Sunda- refer to China and Sundaland, respectively, while -dont refers to teeth. == Proto-sundadonty hypothesis == Tsunehiko Hanihara (1993) believed that the dental features of Aboriginal Australians have the characteristic of high frequencies of "evolutionarily conservative characteristics," which he called the "proto-sundadont" pattern, as he believed that the dental pattern of Aboriginal Australians was ancestral to that of Southeast Asians. C.G Turner II, in his 2016 analysis, that sundadonty is the proto-East Eurasian dental morphology and is not connected to the Australian dental morphology, rendering the term "proto-sundadont" inaccurate for the Australian dental morphology. He also shows that sinodonty is predominant in Native Americans. == Super-Sinodont == Analysis on the Sinodonty and Sundadonty of New world groups by G.R. Sott et al. (2016) shows the distinction among East Asians is not nearly as dramatic as the difference between all Asians and all New World groups. Other researchers, such a Stojanowski et


id: sleep-learning-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep-learning-0.md
category: reference
title: Sleep-learning
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep-learning
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:28.924790+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sleep-learning-20260505-0
summary:
Sleep-learning or sleep-teaching (also known as hypnopædia or hypnopedia) is an attempt to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by playing a sound recording to them while they sleep. Although sleep is considered an important period for memory consolidation, scientific research has concluded that sleep-learning is not possible. Once a concept explored in the early history of psychology, sleep-learning appears frequently in fiction and parapsychology, and is widely considered to be pseudoscience. == History == In 1927, Alois Benjamin Saliger invented the "Psycho-Phone" or "Psychophone", a specialized version of Thomas Edison's phonograph, for sleep learning, stating: "It has been proven that natural sleep is identical with hypnotic sleep and that during natural sleep the unconscious mind is most receptive to suggestions." Saliger patented the device in 1932 as the "automatic time-controlled suggestion machine". Since the electroencephalography studies by Charles W. Simon and William H. Emmons in 1956, learning by sleep has not been taken seriously. The researchers concluded that learning during sleep was "impractical and probably impossible". They reported that stimulus material presented during sleep was not recalled later when the subject awoke, unless alpha wave activity occurred at the same time the stimulus material was given. == In


id: sleep-learning-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep-learning-1.md
category: reference
title: Sleep-learning
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep-learning
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:28.924790+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sleep-learning-20260505-0
summary:
In Hugo Gernsback's 1911 story Ralph 124C 41+, one finds the Hypnobioscope, a sleep learning device. In Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World, it is used for the conditioning of children into the novel's fictional future culture. In the novel, sleep-learning was discovered by accident when a Polish boy named Reuben Rabinovitch was able to recite an entire radio broadcast in English after a radio receiver was left on in his sleep. The boy was unable to comprehend what he had heard via hypnopædia, but it was soon realized that hypnopædia could be used to effectively make suggestions about morality. In Robert Heinlein's 1948 novel Space Cadet, the character Matt Dodson is taught to speak Venutian (the language of the planet Venus) while under drug-aided hypnosis. He surprises his Venus-born friend Oscar by spontaneously reproving him when Oscar utters a curse in Venutian. (Later in the novel, Matt appears to have forgotten what he learned and relies on Oscar for translation.) In the BBC Radio series Journey into Space (1953–1958), during the second and third parts of the trilogy, there were said to be Martians abducting people from the Earth and conditioning them to obey instructions or to make


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-0.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:30.155436+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
Sluggish schizophrenia or slow progressive schizophrenia (Russian: вялотеку́щая шизофрени́я, romanized: vyalotekushchaya shizofreniya) was a diagnostic category used in the Soviet Union to describe what was claimed to be a form of schizophrenia characterized by a slowly progressive course; it was diagnosed even in patients who showed no symptoms of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, on the assumption that these symptoms would appear later. It was developed in the 1960s by Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky and his colleagues, and was used exclusively in the USSR and several Eastern Bloc countries, until the fall of Communism starting in 1989. The diagnosis has long been discredited because of its scientific inadequacy and its use as a means of confining dissenters. It has never been used or recognized outside of the Eastern Bloc, or by international organizations such as the World Health Organization. It is considered a prime example of the political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union. Sluggish schizophrenia was the most infamous of diagnoses used by Soviet psychiatrists, due to its usage against political dissidents. After being discharged from a hospital, persons diagnosed with sluggish schizophrenia were deprived of their civic rights, credibility and employability. The usage of this diagnosis has


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-1.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:30.155436+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
== Popularity of diagnosis == Because of diagnoses of sluggish schizophrenia, Russia in 1974 had 5–7 cases of schizophrenia per 1,000 population, compared to 3–4 per 1,000 in the United Kingdom. In the 1980s, Russia had three times as many schizophrenic patients per capita as the US, twice as many schizophrenic patients as West Germany, Austria and Japan, and more schizophrenic patients than any Western country. The city with the highest diagnosed prevalence of schizophrenia in the world was Moscow. Along with paranoia, sluggish schizophrenia was the diagnosis most frequently used for the psychiatric incarceration of dissenters. Darrel Regier of the National Institute of Mental Health, one of the U.S. experts who visited Soviet psychiatric hospitals in 1989, testified that a "substantial number" of political dissenters had been recognized as mentally sick on the basis of such symptoms as "anti-Soviet thoughts" or "delusions of reformism". According to Moscow psychiatrist Alexander Danilin, the nosological approach in the Moscow psychiatric school established by Andrei Snezhnevsky (whom Danilin considered a state criminal) boiled down to the ability to diagnose schizophrenia. == Systematics by Snezhnevsky == The Soviet model of schizophrenia is based on the hypothesis that a fundamental characteristic (by which schizophrenia spectrum


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-2.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:30.155436+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
Only specially instructed psychiatrists could recognize sluggish schizophrenia to indefinitely treat dissenters in a "Special Psychiatric Hospital" with heavy doses of antipsychotic medication. Convinced of the immortality of the totalitarian USSR, Soviet psychiatrists, especially in Moscow, did not hesitate to form "scientific" articles and defend dissertations by using the cases of dissidents. For example, Snezhnevsky diagnosed dissident Vladimir Bukovsky as schizophrenic on 5 July 1962 and on 12 November 1971 wrote to writer Viktor Nekrasov that the characteristics of Bukovsky's mental disease were included in the dissertation by Snezhnevsky's colleague. All the paper products were available in medical libraries. As Semyon Gluzman recollects, when he returned to Kiev in 1982 after his absence of ten years, he was amazed to see all this "scientific" literature in open storage at the Kiev medical library and was even more amazed to read all the "ridiculous stuff" hardly put into scientific psychiatric terminology. In their papers and dissertations on treatment for litigiousness and reformism, Kosachyov and other Soviet psychiatrists recommended compulsory treatment for persons with litigiousness and reformism, in the same psychiatric hospitals used for murderers: Compulsory treatment in psychiatric hospitals of special type is to be recommended in cases of brutal murders


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-3.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:30.155436+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
== Recurrence in post-Soviet countries == In 2010, Yuri Savenko, the president of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia, warned that Professor Anatoly Smulevich, author of the monographs Problema Paranoyi (The Problem of Paranoia) (1972) and Maloprogredientnaya Shizofreniya (Continuous Sluggish Schizophrenia) (1987), which had contributed to the hyperdiagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia, had again begun to play the same role. Under his influence, therapists have begun to widely use antidepressants and antipsychotics but often in inadequate cases and in inappropriate doses, without consulting psychiatrists. This situation has opened up a huge new market for pharmaceutical firms, and the flow of the mentally ill to internists. In their joint book Sociodinamicheskaya Psikhiatriya (Sociodynamic Psychiatry), Doctor of Medical Sciences professor of psychiatry Caesar Korolenko and Doctor of Psychological Sciences Nina Dmitrieva note that Smulevich's clinical description of sluggish schizophrenia is extremely elusive and includes almost all possible changes in mental status and conditions that occur in a person without psychopathology: euphoria, hyperactivity, unfounded optimism, irritability, explosiveness, sensitivity, inadequacy and emotional deficit, hysterical reactions with conversive and dissociative symptoms, infantilism, obsessive-phobic states and stubbornness. At present, the hyperdiagnosis of schizophrenia becomes especially negative due to a large number of schizophreniform psychoses caused by the


id: social-darwinism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-0.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that claim to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics. Social Darwinists believe that the strong should see their wealth and power increase, while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. Social Darwinist definitions of the strong and the weak vary, and differ on the precise mechanisms that reward strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism, while others, emphasizing struggle between national or racial groups, support eugenics, racism, imperialism and/or fascism. Today, scientists generally consider social Darwinism to be discredited as a theoretical framework, but it persists within popular culture. Scholars debate the extent to which the various social Darwinist ideologies reflect Charles Darwin's own views on human social and economic issues. References to social Darwinism since have usually been pejorative. Some groups, including creationists such as William Jennings Bryan, argued social Darwinism is a logical consequence of Darwinism. Academics such as Steven Pinker have argued this is a fallacy of appeal to nature. While most scholars recognize historical links between the popularisation of Darwin's theory and forms of social Darwinism,


id: social-darwinism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-1.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Usage === Social Darwinism has many definitions, not all of which are compatible with one another. As such, social Darwinism has been criticized for being an inconsistent philosophy, which does not lead to any clear political conclusions. For example, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics states:Part of the difficulty in establishing sensible and consistent usage is that commitment to the biology of natural selection and to 'survival of the fittest' entailed nothing uniform either for sociological method or for political doctrine. A 'social Darwinist' could just as well be a defender of laissez-faire as a defender of state socialism, just as much an imperialist as a domestic eugenist. The term social Darwinism has rarely been used by advocates of the supposed ideologies or ideas; instead it has almost always been used pejoratively by its opponents. The term draws upon the common meaning of Darwinism, which includes a range of evolutionary views, but in the late 19th century was applied more specifically to natural selection as first advanced by Darwin to explain speciation in populations of organisms. The process includes competition between individuals for limited resources, popularly but inaccurately described by the phrase "survival of the fittest", a term coined


id: social-darwinism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-2.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
In Galton's view, social institutions such as welfare and insane asylums were allowing inferior humans to survive and reproduce at levels faster than the more "superior" humans in respectable society, and if corrections were not soon taken, society would be awash with "inferiors". Darwin read his cousin's work with interest, and devoted sections of Descent of Man to discussion of Galton's theories. Neither Galton nor Darwin, though, advocated any eugenic policies restricting reproduction, due to their Whiggish distrust of government. Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy addressed the question of artificial selection, yet Nietzsche's principles did not concur with Darwinian theories of natural selection. Nietzsche's point of view on sickness and health, in particular, opposed him to the concept of biological adaptation as forged by Spencer's "fitness". Nietzsche criticized Haeckel, Spencer, and Darwin, sometimes under the same banner by maintaining that in specific cases, sickness was necessary and even helpful. Thus, he wrote: Wherever progress is to ensue, deviating natures are of greatest importance. Every progress of the whole must be preceded by a partial weakening. The strongest natures retain the type, the weaker ones help to advance it. Something similar also happens in the individual. There is rarely a degeneration, a truncation,


id: social-darwinism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-3.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
Nazi Germany's justification for its aggression was regularly promoted in Nazi propaganda films depicting scenes such as beetles fighting in a lab setting to demonstrate the principles of 'survival of the fittest' as depicted in Alles Leben ist Kampf (English translation: All Life is Struggle). Hitler often refused to intervene in the promotion of officers and staff members, preferring instead to have them fight amongst themselves to force the "stronger" person to prevail—"strength" referring to those social forces void of virtue or principle. One key proponent was Alfred Rosenberg, who was hanged later at Nuremberg. Such ideas also helped to advance mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Germany, especially Aktion T4, which targeted mentally ill and disabled people in Germany. The argument that Nazi ideology was strongly influenced by social Darwinist ideas is often found in historical and social science literature. For example, the philosopher and historian Hannah Arendt analysed the historical development via social Darwinist ethics to racist ideology. Another example is recent scholarship that portrays Ernst Haeckel's Monist League as a mystical progenitor of the Völkisch movement and, ultimately, of the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler. Scholars opposed to this interpretation, however, have pointed out that the Monists


id: social-darwinism-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-4.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
=== China === Social Darwinism was formally introduced to China through the translation by Yan Fu of Huxley's Evolution and Ethics, in the course of an extensive series of translations of influential Western thought. Yan's translation strongly impacted Chinese scholars because he added national elements not found in the original. Yan Fu criticized Huxley from the perspective of Spencerian social Darwinism in his own annotations to the translation. He understood Spencer's sociology as "not merely analytical and descriptive, but prescriptive as well", and saw Spencer building on Darwin, whom Yan summarized thus: Peoples and living things struggle for survival. At first, species struggle with species; as they [people] gradually progress, there is a struggle between one social group and another. The weak invariably become the prey of the strong, the stupid invariably become subservient to the clever. By the 1920s, social Darwinism found expression in the promotion of eugenics by the Chinese sociologist Pan Guangdan. When Chiang Kai-shek started the New Life Movement in 1934, he "... harked back to theories of Social Darwinism", writing that "only those who readapt themselves to new conditions, day by day, can live properly. When the life of a people is going through this


id: social-darwinism-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-5.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
Social Darwinism was predominantly found in laissez-faire societies where the prevailing view was that of an individualist order to society. A different form of social Darwinism was part of the ideological foundations of Nazism and other fascist movements. This form did not envision survival of the fittest within an individualist order of society, but rather advocated a type of racial and national struggle where the state directed human breeding through eugenics. Names such as "Darwinian collectivism" or "Reform Darwinism" have been suggested to describe these views to differentiate them from the individualist type of social Darwinism. As mentioned above, social Darwinism has often been linked to nationalism and imperialism. During the age of New Imperialism, the concepts of evolution justified the exploitation of "lesser breeds without the law" by "superior races". To elitists, strong nations were composed of white people who were successful at expanding their empires, and as such, these strong nations would survive in the struggle for dominance. With this attitude, Europeans, except for Christian missionaries, seldom adopted the customs and languages of local people under their empires. === Peter Kropotkin and mutual aid === Peter Kropotkin argued in his 1902 book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution


id: social-darwinism-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism-6.md
category: reference
title: Social Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:31.343708+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: social-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Secondary sources === Bannister, Robert C. (1989), Social Darwinism: Science and Myth in Anglo-American Social Thought, ISBN 9780877225669. Bannister, Robert C. (1987), Sociology and Scientism: The American Quest for Objectivity, 1880–1940, ISBN 9780807817339. Bernardini, J.-M. (1997), Le darwinisme social en France (1859–1918). Fascination et rejet d'une idéologie, CNRS Edition, ISBN 9782271054838. Boller, Paul F., Jr. (1969), American Thought in Transition: The Impact of Evolutionary Naturalism, 1865–1900, OCLC 12715, archived from the original on 4 June 2011{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link). Bowler, Peter J. (2003), Evolution: The History of an Idea (3rd ed.), University of California Press, ISBN 978-0520236936. Crook, Paul (1994), Darwinism, War and History : The Debate over the Biology of War from the 'Origin of Species' to the First World War, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521444651. Crook, Paul (1997), Social Darwinism in European and American Thought, 1860–1945, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511558481, ISBN 9780511558481, archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Crook, Paul (2007), Darwin's Coat-Tails: Essays on Social Darwinism, Peter Lang, ISBN 9780820481388. Degler, Carl N. (1992), In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195063806. Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991), Darwin, London: Michael Joseph,


id: socionics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socionics-0.md
category: reference
title: Socionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:32.583410+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: socionics-20260505-0
summary:
In psychology and sociology, socionics is a pseudoscientific theory of information processing and personality types. It incorporates Carl Jung's work on Psychological Types with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism. In contrast to the generally accepted views in personality psychology on age-related variability of the human psyche, socionics distinguishes 16 psychophysiological types (sociotypes) which it claims go unchanged throughout a person's life. The existence of personality types is extremely controversial in modern personality psychology. Socionics was developed in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily by the Lithuanian researcher Aušra Augustinavičiūtė. The name "socionics" is derived from the word "society", because Augustinavičiūtė believed that each sociotype has a distinct purpose in society. The central idea of socionics is that information is intuitively divisible into eight categories, called information elements, which a person's psyche processes using eight psychological functions. Each sociotype has a different correspondence between functions and information elements, which it posits results in different ways of handling information and distinct thinking patterns. One prevalent idea in socionics is the theory of intertype relations, which is based on the interaction of these functions between types. Independent authors point to the insufficient empirical validity of socionics both in its basis and in its


id: socionics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socionics-1.md
category: reference
title: Socionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:32.583410+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: socionics-20260505-0
summary:
=== Socionics as an academic discipline === Through the work of the International Institute of Socionics and other schools of socionics, there are four scientific peer-reviewed journals (on the practical application of the methods of socionics in management, consulting, psychology, pedagogy, education, psychotherapy, and humanities) and an annual International conference on socionics. The Institute gives "popularization and proliferation of socionic knowledge" as one of its goals. Svetlana V. Ivanova claims that socionics is taught in more than 150 universities in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS and European Union countries. Areas of research include educational socionics, sociological socionics, aviation socionics, library socionics, technical socionics, linguistic socionics, penitentiary socionics, and socionics in other subject areas. Socionics is used in education, not only as a tool for teachers to manage the learning process, but also as a basis for the development and improvement of education and training. Bogdanova claim that a teacher holding socionic knowledge and technologies can consciously collaborate with others and improve professional efficiency. Targeted use of intertype relations helps intensify the didactic process, increase the motivation of students. Socionics is also used to assess the individual psychological and personal qualities to forecast the success of employee career. Izmailova and Kiseleva


id: socionics-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socionics-2.md
category: reference
title: Socionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:32.583410+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: socionics-20260505-0
summary:
== The 16 types == Augustinavičiūtė usually used names like sensory-logical introvert (SLI) to refer to the types. In SLI the leading function is introverted sensation and the creative function is extraverted logic. She also introduced the practice of referring to types by the name of a famous person of the type (although types of these persons are not universally agreed upon, with the old name Napoleon for the SEE being replaced by Caesar after being deemed an inaccurate type assignment). For example, she called the SLI Gabin and the SEI Dumas. Also sometimes names such as Craftsman or Mediator are used to express the social role of the type—a convention introduced by socionist Viktor Gulenko in 1995. Given the formal similarities present between Socionics and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) abbreviations frequently used in English, some prefer to distinguish socionic type names from Myers–Briggs' names by writing the last letter (J or P) in lower case (for example, ENTp, ESFj)—a practice introduced by Sergei Ganin. This is because the relationship between socionics and Myers–Briggs and Keirseyan types is controversial. Dmitri Lytov and Marianna Lytova state that "main spheres of application of socionics are almost the same as for the


id: somatic-psychology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_psychology-0.md
category: reference
title: Somatic psychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_psychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:33.819990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: somatic-psychology-20260505-0
summary:
Somatic psychology or, more precisely, somatic clinical psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on somatic experience, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to the body. It seeks to explore and heal mental and physical injury and trauma through body awareness and movement. Wilhelm Reich was first to try to develop a clear psychodynamic approach that included the body. Several types of body-oriented psychotherapies trace their origins back to Reich, though there have been many subsequent developments and other influences on body psychotherapy, and somatic psychology is of particular interest in trauma work. Trauma describes a long-lasting distressing experience that can be subconsciously stored and bear upon bodily health. Somatic psychology seeks to describe, explain and understand the nature of embodied consciousness and bridge the philosophical mind-body problem. == Origins == The word soma comes from σῶμα, the Ancient Greek word for body; psyche (ψυχή) evolved from a word for breath to mean life or spirit; and -logy (-λογία) means “study of”. Studying the relationship between the body and the psyche, meaning mind, soul or spirit, is an ancient practice. In the West, systematic study and debate about the body-mind relationship intensified with the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution within


id: somatic-psychology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_psychology-1.md
category: reference
title: Somatic psychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_psychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:33.819990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: somatic-psychology-20260505-0
summary:
== Efficiency/positivism == The effectiveness of somatic psychology and experiencing is still unclear. There are studies that show beneficial data points of somatic experiencing on PTSD-associated symptoms and depression. Somatic experiencing also showed positive impacts on affective and somatic symptoms, and general well-being outside of PTSD-treatment. Different limitations are encountered within studies that show positive results, such as small samples and not following rigorous methodological criteria. Insufficient research has been done to evaluate and compare the differential impacts of various modalities, despite the results of those modalities being relatively similar. The data is encouraging, but more objective studies are required to completely comprehend the efficacy of somatic psychology and experiencing, and improving the method-specific factors. == East Asian examples of somatic psychology == == Criticism == Few studies have shown the beneficial effects of implementing somatic psychology into PTSD treatment, but the conclusion on the effectiveness of somatic therapy has yet to be established. Assessing the efficacy of that method, requires a broader examination of scientific research on body-oriented psychotherapy. Another problem regarding the subject is an increased potential for re-traumatization of a patient. While somatic experiencing can be healing, it is also accessing trauma stored deeply in the body.


id: somatotype-and-constitutional-psychology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology-0.md
category: reference
title: Somatotype and constitutional psychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype_and_constitutional_psychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:34.991640+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: somatotype-and-constitutional-psychology-20260505-0
summary:
Somatotype is a theory proposed in the 1940s by the American psychologist William Herbert Sheldon to categorize the human physique according to the relative contribution of three fundamental elements which he termed somatotypes, classified by him as ectomorphic, mesomorphic, and endomorphic. He created these terms borrowing from the three germ layers of embryonic development: The endoderm (which develops into the digestive tract), the mesoderm (which becomes muscle, heart, and blood vessels) and the ectoderm (which forms the skin and nervous system). Later variations of these categories, developed by his original research assistant Barbara Heath, and later by Lindsay Carter and Rob Rempel, are used by academics today. Constitutional psychology is a theory developed by Sheldon in the 1940s, which attempted to associate his somatotype classifications with human temperament types. The foundation of these ideas originated with Francis Galton and eugenics. Sheldon and Earnest Hooton were seen as leaders of a school of thought, popular in anthropology at the time, which held that the size and shape of a person's body indicated intelligence, moral worth and future achievement. In his 1954 book, Atlas of Men, Sheldon categorized all possible body types according to a scale ranging from 1 to 7 for


id: specified-complexity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity-0.md
category: reference
title: Specified complexity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:37.337579+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: specified-complexity-20260505-0
summary:
Specified complexity is a creationist intelligent design argument introduced by William Dembski. According to Dembski, the concept can formalize a property that singles out patterns that are both specified and complex, where in Dembski's terminology, a specified pattern is one that admits short descriptions, whereas a complex pattern is one that is unlikely to occur by chance. An example cited by Dembski is a poker hand, where for example the repeated appearance of a royal flush will raise suspicion of cheating. Proponents of intelligent design use specified complexity as one of their two main arguments, along with irreducible complexity. Dembski argues that it is impossible for specified complexity to exist in patterns displayed by configurations formed by unguided processes. Therefore, Dembski argues, the fact that specified complex patterns can be found in living things indicates some kind of guidance in their formation, which is indicative of intelligence. Dembski further argues that one can show by applying no-free-lunch theorems the inability of evolutionary algorithms to select or generate configurations of high specified complexity. Dembski states that specified complexity is a reliable marker of design by an intelligent agent—a central tenet to intelligent design, which Dembski argues for in opposition to modern


id: specified-complexity-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity-1.md
category: reference
title: Specified complexity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:37.337579+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: specified-complexity-20260505-0
summary:
=== Dembski's definition === Whereas Orgel used the term for biological features which are considered in science to have arisen through a process of evolution, Dembski says that it describes features which cannot form through "undirected" evolution—and concludes that it allows one to infer intelligent design. While Orgel employed the concept in a qualitative way, Dembski's use is intended to be quantitative. Dembski's use of the concept dates to his 1998 monograph The Design Inference. Specified complexity is fundamental to his approach to intelligent design, and each of his subsequent books has also dealt significantly with the concept. He has stated that, in his opinion, "if there is a way to detect design, specified complexity is it". Dembski asserts that specified complexity is present in a configuration when it can be described by a pattern that displays a large amount of independently specified information and is also complex, which he defines as having a low probability of occurrence. He provides the following examples to demonstrate the concept: "A single letter of the alphabet is specified without being complex. A long sentence of random letters is complex without being specified. A Shakespearean sonnet is both complex and specified." In his earlier


id: specified-complexity-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity-2.md
category: reference
title: Specified complexity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:37.337579+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: specified-complexity-20260505-0
summary:
where P(T) is the probability of observing the pattern T, R is the number of "replicational resources" available "to witnessing agents". R corresponds roughly to repeated attempts to create and discern a pattern. Dembski then asserts that R can be bounded by 10120. This number is supposedly justified by a result of Seth Lloyd in which he determines that the number of elementary logic operations that can have been performed in the universe over its entire history cannot exceed 10120 operations on 1090 bits. Dembski's main claim is that the following test can be used to infer design for a configuration: There is a target pattern T that applies to the configuration and whose specified complexity exceeds 1. This condition can be restated as the inequality 10 120 × φ ( T ) × P ⁡ ( T ) < 1 2 . {\displaystyle 10^{120}\times \varphi (T)\times \operatorname {P} (T)<{\frac {1}{2}}.} === Dembski's explanation of specified complexity === Dembski's expression σ is unrelated to any known concept in information theory, though he claims he can justify its relevance as follows: An intelligent agent S witnesses an event E and assigns it to some reference class of events Ω and within


id: specified-complexity-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity-3.md
category: reference
title: Specified complexity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specified_complexity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:37.337579+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: specified-complexity-20260505-0
summary:
The soundness of Dembski's concept of specified complexity and the validity of arguments based on this concept are widely disputed. A frequent criticism (see Elsberry and Shallit) is that Dembski has used the terms "complexity", "information" and "improbability" interchangeably. These numbers measure properties of things of different types: Complexity measures how hard it is to describe an object (such as a bitstring), information is how much the uncertainty about the state of an object is reduced by knowing the state of another object or system, and improbability measures how unlikely an event is given a probability distribution. On page 150 of No Free Lunch Dembski claims he can demonstrate his thesis mathematically: "In this section I will present an in-principle mathematical argument for why natural causes are incapable of generating complex specified information." When Tellgren investigated Dembski's "Law of Conservation of Information" using a more formal approach, he concluded it is mathematically unsubstantiated. Dembski responded in part that he is not "in the business of offering a strict mathematical proof for the inability of material mechanisms to generate specified complexity". Jeffrey Shallit states that Demski's mathematical argument has multiple problems, for example; a crucial calculation on page 297 of No


id: stainless-steel-soap-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel_soap-0.md
category: reference
title: Stainless steel soap
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel_soap
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:38.527818+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: stainless-steel-soap-20260505-0
summary:
Stainless steel soap is a piece of stainless steel, in the form of a soap bar or other hand-held shape. Its purpose is to neutralize or reduce strong odors such as those from handling garlic, onion, durian, guava, salami, or fish. No published scientific studies are known to have been conducted on the efficacy of these soaps, about which serious doubts have been raised. == Proposed mechanism == === The chemistry of garlic === The characteristic taste and odor of garlic is due to an oily, slightly yellow organosulfur compound S-Allyl prop-2-ene-1-sulfinothioate, commonly called allicin. Fresh garlic has little odor until it is chopped or crushed. Allicin is produced from alliin (a derivative of the amino acid cysteine) by the enzyme alliinase. Allicin is unstable and breaks down to form other sulfur compounds such as diallyl sulfides. These compounds contribute to the smell of fresh garlic. When on the hands these sulfur compounds can further degrade into other sulfur compounds, including sulfuric acid, in the presence of water. === The chemistry of stainless steel === Steel is an alloy made up of iron mixed with carbon. Stainless steel is composed of steel mixed with at least 10.5% chromium, and often


id: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)-0.md
category: reference
title: Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:39.702710+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-0
summary:
Stargate Project was a secret United States Army unit established in 1977 at Fort Meade, Maryland, by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Stanford Research Institute (SRI), a California contractor, to investigate the potential for psychic phenomena in military and domestic intelligence applications. The project, and its precursors and sister projects, originally went by various code names — including "Gondola Wish", "Grill Flame" and "Center Lane" under INSCOM, "Sun Streak" and "Star Gate" under the DIA, "Star Gate" and "SCANATE" under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and "Project CF" — until 1991, when they were consolidated and collectively renamed the "Stargate Project". The Stargate Project's work primarily involved remote viewing, the purported ability to psychically "see" events, sites, or information from a great distance. The project was overseen until 1987 by Lt. Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater (born 1947), an aide and "psychic headhunter" to Maj. Gen. Albert Stubblebine, and later president of the Monroe Institute. The unit was small-scale, comprising about 15 to 20 individuals, and was run out of "an old, leaky wooden barracks". The Stargate Project was terminated and declassified in 1995 after a commissioned review by the CIA concluded that it was never useful in any intelligence


id: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)-1.md
category: reference
title: Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:39.702710+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-0
summary:
=== Closure (1995) === In 1995, the defense appropriations bill directed that the program be transferred from DIA to CIA oversight. The CIA commissioned a report by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) that found that remote viewing had not been proved to work by a psychic mechanism, and said it had not been used operationally. The CIA subsequently cancelled and declassified the program. In 1995 the project was transferred to the CIA and a retrospective evaluation of the results was done. The appointed panel consisted primarily of Jessica Utts, Meena Shah and Ray Hyman. Utts and Hyman were appointed because, in addition to their extensive scientific credentials, they represented both sides of the paranormal controversy, although the AIR considered both of them 'fair and open-minded scientists'. Hyman had produced an unflattering report on Uri Geller and SRI for the government two decades earlier, but the psychologist David Marks found Utts' appointment to the review panel "puzzling" given that she had published papers with Edwin May, one of the main researchers on the Stargate Project, considering this joint research likely to make her "less than [im]partial". A report by Utts claimed the results were evidence of psychic functioning; however, Hyman


id: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)-2.md
category: reference
title: Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:39.702710+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-0
summary:
== Methodology == According to Joseph McMoneagle, the Stargate Project created a set of protocols designed to make the research of clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences more scientific, and to minimize as much as possible session noise and inaccuracy. He wrote that the term "remote viewing" emerged as shorthand to describe this more structured approach to clairvoyance. McMoneagle said Project Stargate would only receive a mission after all other intelligence attempts, methods, or approaches had already been exhausted. McMoneagle claims that at peak manpower there were over 22 active military and civilian remote viewers providing data, and people leaving the project were not replaced so that when the project closed in 1995 this number had dwindled down to three, one of which was using tarot cards. According to McMoneagle, "The Army never had a truly open attitude toward psychic functioning", hence, the use of the term "giggle factor". and the saying, "I wouldn't want to be found dead next to a psychic". == Civilian personnel == === Hal Puthoff === In the 1970s, CIA and DIA granted funds to Harold E. Puthoff to investigate paranormal abilities, collaborating with Russell Targ in a study of the purported psychic abilities of Uri Geller,


id: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)-3.md
category: reference
title: Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_(U.S._Army_unit)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:39.702710+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: stargate-project-u-s-army-unit-20260505-0
summary:
McMoneagle claims he had a remarkable memory of very early childhood events. He grew up surrounded by alcoholism, abuse and poverty. As a child, he had visions at night when scared, and began to hone his psychic abilities in his teens for his own protection when he hitchhiked. He enlisted in the Army to get away from home. McMoneagle became an experimental remote viewer while serving in U.S. Army Intelligence. === Ed Dames === Ed Dames' role was intended to be as session monitor and analyst as an aid to Fred Atwater rather than a remote viewer, Dames received no formal remote viewing training. After his assignment to the remote viewing unit at the end of January 1986, he was used to "run" remote viewers (as monitor) and provide training and practice sessions to viewer personnel. He soon established a reputation for pushing CRV to extremes, with target sessions on Atlantis, Mars, UFOs, and aliens. He has been a frequent guest on the Coast to Coast AM radio shows. == Archives of the Impossible == The Archives of the Impossible (AOTI) of Rice University at Houston, Texas is a special collection founded in 2014 by Jeffrey J. Kripal, a professor


id: statement-analysis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statement_analysis-0.md
category: reference
title: Statement analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statement_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:40.874512+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: statement-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
Statement analysis, also called scientific content analysis (SCAN), is a pseudoscientific technique for analyzing the words people use to try to determine if what they said is accurate. Proponents claim this technique can be used to detect concealed information, missing information, embedded confessions and whether the information that person has provided is true or false. Multiple empirical studies have found SCAN techniques to be unreliable at correctly separating true and false statements. SCAN is generally not accepted by courts and has been described as a form of pseudoscience. == About == Related to statement analysis is a different technique for analyzing the words people use called "statement validity assessment" (SVA). The SVA is a tool that was originally designed to determine the credibility of child witnesses testimonies in trials for sexual offences. The "criteria-based content analysis" (CBCA) is a core component of the SVA and is a tool used to distinguish true statements from false statements as CBCA scores are expected to be higher for truth tellers than liars. A qualitative review of the CBCA analyzed 37 studies, strong support for the tool was established as truth tellers obtained significantly higher CBCA scores compared to the liars. More recently, a


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The Strauss–Howe generational theory, devised by William Strauss and Neil Howe, describes a theorized recurring generation cycle in American and Western history in which historical events are associated with recurring generational personas called archetypes. Each generational persona unleashes a new era (called a "turning") lasting around 21 years, in which a new social, political, and economic climate ("mood") exists. They are part of a larger cyclical "saeculum", a long human life, which usually spans around 85 years, although some saecula have lasted longer. The theory states that a crisis recurs in American history after every saeculum, which is followed by a recovery ("high"). During this recovery, institutions and communitarian values are strong. Ultimately, succeeding generational archetypes attack and weaken institutions in the name of autonomy and individualism, which eventually creates a tumultuous political environment that ripens conditions for another crisis. Academic response to the theory has been mixed, with some applauding Strauss and Howe for their "bold and imaginative thesis", while others have criticized the theory as being overly deterministic, unfalsifiable, and unsupported by rigorous evidence. The theory has been influential in the fields of generational studies, marketing, and business management literature. However, the theory has also been described by


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
They attempted to find the reason why the Boomers and the G.I.s had developed such different ways of looking at the world, and what it was about these generations' experiences growing up that prompted their different outlooks. They also wanted to find patterns in previous generations, and their research discussed historical analogs to the current generations. They ultimately described a recurring pattern in the Anglo-American history of four generational types, each with a distinct collective persona, and a corresponding cycle of four different types of eras, each with a distinct "mood". Strauss and Howe laid the groundwork for their theory in their book Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (1991), which discusses the history of the United States as a series of generational biographies going back to 1584. Strauss and Howe followed in 1993 with their second book 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?, which was published while Gen Xers were teenagers and young adults. The book examines the generation born between 1961 and 1981, "Gen-Xers" (which they called "13ers", describing them as the thirteenth generation since the US became a nation). The book asserts that 13ers' location in history as under-protected children during the Sexual Revolution


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-2.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
== Defining a generation == Strauss and Howe describe the history of the U.S. as a succession of Anglo-American generational biographies from 1433 to the present, and theorized a recurring generational cycle in American history. The authors posit a pattern of four repeating phases, generational types, and a recurring cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises, from the founding colonials of America through the present day. Strauss and Howe define a social generation as the aggregate of all people born over a span of roughly 21 years or about the length of one phase of life: childhood, young adulthood, midlife, and old age. Generations are identified (from the first birthyear to last) by looking for cohort groups of this length that share three criteria. First, members of a generation share what the authors call an age location in history: they encounter key historical events and social trends while occupying the same phase of life. In this view, members of a generation are shaped in lasting ways by the eras they encounter as children and young adults and they share certain common beliefs and behaviors. Aware of the experiences and traits that they share with their peers, members of a generation


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-3.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Cycle === The authors describe each turning as lasting circa 21 years. Four turnings make up a full cycle of circa 85 years, which the authors term a saeculum, after the Latin word meaning both "a long human life" and "a natural century". Generational change drives the cycle of turnings and determines its periodicity. As each generation ages into the next life phase (and a new social role) society's mood and behavior fundamentally change, giving rise to a new turning. Historical events shape generations in childhood and young adulthood; then, as parents and leaders in midlife and old age, generations in turn shape history. Each of the four turnings has a distinct "mood" that recurs every saeculum. Strauss and Howe describe these turnings as the "seasons of history". At one extreme is the Awakening, which is analogous to summer, and at the other extreme is the Crisis, which is analogous to winter. The High and the Unraveling are similar to spring and autumn, respectively. Strauss and Howe have discussed 26 theorized turnings over 7 saecula in Anglo-American history, from the year 1433 to today. The core of Strauss and Howe's ideas is a basic alternation between two different types


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-4.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
==== Arthurian Generation ==== The arthurian generation was born between 1433 and 1460 and is of the hero archetype. Members of the generation grew up during England's retreat from the Hundred Years' War in France, during an era of rising civil unrest. ==== Humanist Generation ==== The humanist generation was born between 1461 and 1482 and is of the artist/adaptive archetype. This generation grew up at the height of the Middle Ages, just prior to the Reformation and Renaissance. The educated middle classes are influenced by Renaissance Humanist teaching and presented with a clear career path through the church or State bureaucracy. Humanist influences took hold across Europe, and in many ways prepared the intellectual landscape for the coming reformation. Their youth coincided with the development of the European Printing press allowing greater dissemination of knowledge. According to Strauss and Howe, they became Greek language tutors, international scholars, poets, prelates, and literate merchants and yeomen. They described their education produced by the humanist generation as being focused on the qualitative and the subjective, rather than the quantitative and the objective. Some of the notable people who influenced this generation include Thomas More, Erasmus, Thomas Linacre, John Colet, Cardinal Wolsey, Michelangelo,


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-5.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
==== Republican Generation ==== The republican generation (hero archetype) was born between 1742 and 1766. This generation is known for participating in several global revolutionary movements during the Age of Revolution. This generation witnessed political turmoil in response to the widespread expansion of European imperialism and the vast social inequalities exacerbated by ruthless competition between rival empires in Europe, the Americas and Asia. They came of age during a time when the viability of mercantilism and imperialism was being questioned both in Europe and the Americas. Relying on Enlightenment philosophy, they unleashed violent episodes of revolution, vilified Monarchy, and promoted Republicanism. In colonial America, they participated in the American Revolutionary War, secured America's independence from British rule, and established the American government. Many founding fathers and leading figures in the early years of the independent United States belong to this generation, including U.S. presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, as well as the leading figures of the French Revolution such as Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Camille Desmoulins. ==== Compromise Generation ==== The compromise generation was born between 1767 and 1791 and was of the artist archetype. They "rocked in the cradle of the Revolution" as they watched


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-6.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
== Timing of generations and turnings == Strauss and Howe argue that the basic length of both generations and turnings—approximately 21 years—derives from longstanding socially and biologically determined phases of life. This is the reason it has remained relatively constant over centuries. Some have argued that rapid increases in technology in recent decades are shortening the length of a generation. According to Strauss and Howe, this is not the case. As long as the transition to adulthood occurs around age 21, the transition to midlife around age 43, and the transition to old age around age 65, they say the basic length of both generations and turnings will remain the same. In their book, The Fourth Turning, Strauss and Howe say that the precise boundaries of generations and turnings are erratic. Strauss and Howe compare the saecular rhythm to the four seasons, which they say similarly occur in the same order, but with slightly varying timing. They claimed that the same is true for a Fourth Turning in any given saeculum. == Critical reception == The Strauss and Howe interpretation of history through a generational lens has received mixed reviews and described as a form of pseudoscience. Some reviewers have


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-7.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 === After the publication of their first book Generations, Morton Keller, a professor of history at Brandeis University, said that the authors "had done their homework". He said that their theory could be seen as pop sociology and that it would "come in for a lot more criticism as history. But it's almost always true that the broader you cast your net, the more holes it's going to have. And I admire [the authors'] boldness." Sociologist David Riesman and political scientist Richard Neustadt offered strong, if qualified, praise. Riesman found in the work an "impressive grasp of a great many theoretical and historical bits and pieces" and Neustadt said Strauss and Howe "are asking damned important questions, and I honor them." The Times Literary Supplement called it "fascinating", but also "about as vague and plausible as astrological predictions". Publishers Weekly called it "as woolly as a newspaper horoscope". In 1991, Jonathan Alter wrote in Newsweek that Generations was a "provocative, erudite and engaging analysis of the rhythms of American life". However, he believed it was also "an elaborate historical horoscope that will never withstand scholarly scrutiny." He continued, "these sequential


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-8.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== The Fourth Turning === In his review for the Boston Globe, historian David Kaiser called The Fourth Turning "a provocative and immensely entertaining outline of American history, Strauss and Howe have taken a gamble". "If the United States calmly makes it to 2015, their work will end up in the ashcan of history, but if they are right, they will take their place among the great American prophets." Kaiser has since argued that the crises which Strauss and Howe predicted seem to have occurred, citing events such as 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and the recent political gridlock. Kaiser has incorporated Strauss and Howe's theory in two historical works of his own, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War (2000), and No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War (2014). Michael Lind, a historian and co-founder of the New America Foundation, wrote that The Fourth Turning (1997) was vague and verged into the realm of "pseudoscience"; "most of the authors' predictions about the American future turn out to be as vague as those of fortune cookies". Lind said that the theory is essential "non-falsifiable" and "mystifying." For The New York Times in


id: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory-9.md
category: reference
title: Strauss–Howe generational theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:42.254783+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strauss-howe-generational-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== General === In 2006, Frank Giancola wrote an article in Human Resource Planning that stated "the emphasis on generational differences is not generally borne out by empirical research, despite its popularity". In 2016 an article was published that explains the differences in generations, observed with the employer's position, through the development of working conditions, initiated by the employer. This development is due to the competition of firms on the job market for receiving more highly skilled workers. New working conditions as a product on the market have a classic product life-cycle and when they become widespread standard expectations of employees change accordingly. One criticism of Strauss and Howe's theory and generational studies is that conclusions are overly broad and do not reflect the reality of every person in each generation regardless of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, or genetic information. For example, in 2009 Eric Hoover cited the case of Millennials, noting that "... commentators have tended to label white, affluent teenagers who accomplish great things as they grow up in the suburbs, who confront anxiety when applying to super-selective colleges, and who multitask with ease as their helicopter parents hover reassuringly above them as


id: suggestopedia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suggestopedia-0.md
category: reference
title: Suggestopedia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suggestopedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:43.489493+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: suggestopedia-20260505-0
summary:
Suggestopedia, a portmanteau of "suggestion" and "pedagogy" is a teaching method used to learn foreign languages developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist Georgi Lozanov. It is also known as desuggestopedia. First developed in the 1970s, suggestopedia utilised positive suggestions in teaching language. In 1978, Lozanov presented the method to a commission in Paris at UNESCO. Two years later in 1980, UNESCO issued their final report with various mixed views on the theory. On the one hand, it affirmed suggestopedia as a language learning technique for second-language speakers, but the report also included various criticisms of the theory. == Practice == Suggestopedia asserts that the physical surroundings and atmosphere of classroom are vital factors in making sure that "students feel comfortable and confident". It also promotes various techniques, including art and music, in teaching languages. The pedagogy of suggestopedia consists of three phases: deciphering, concert session, and elaboration. Deciphering: In the deciphering phase, a teacher introduces to their students some written or spoken content. In most materials the foreign-language text is on the left half of the page with a translation on the right half. Concert session: The concert session phase consists of active and passive sessions. In the active session, the


id: sun-language-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Language_Theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Sun Language Theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Language_Theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:44.652220+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sun-language-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The Sun Language Theory (Turkish: Güneş Dil Teorisi) was a Turkish pseudolinguistic, pseudoscientific quasi-hypothesis developed in Turkey in the 1930s that proposed that all human languages are descendants of one proto-Turkic primal language. The theory's promotion of Turks as a progenitor race led to it finding favour among Turkish ultranationalists, who used it to justify their nationalist ideology. It claims that primal language had close phonemic resemblances to Turkish and, because of this, all other languages can be traced back to Turkic roots. According to the theory, this primal language originated among Central Asian worshippers who created it as a means to salute the omnipotence of the sun and its life-giving qualities, hence the name. == Origins == Influences on the theory included: the ideas of the French historian Hilaire de Barenton, expressed in "L'Origine des Langues, des Religions et des Peuples" ("The Origin of Languages, Religions and Peoples"), that all languages originated from hieroglyphs and cuneiform used by Sumerians. Turkish linguists claimed a Turkish origin for the Sumerians, and therefore the origin of language was Turkish. a paper of the Austrian linguist Hermann F. Kvergić of Vienna entitled "La psychologie de quelques éléments des langues Turques" ("The Psychology of


id: superconscious-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconscious-0.md
category: reference
title: Superconscious
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconscious
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:45.814674+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superconscious-20260505-0
summary:
The superconscious (also super-conscious or super conscious) is a proposed aspect of mind to accompany the conscious and subconscious and/or unconscious. According to its proponents, the superconscious is able to acquire knowledge through non-physical or psychic mechanisms and pass that knowledge to the conscious mind. It therefore is purported to transcend ordinary consciousness. The term is also used to describe transcendental states of consciousness achieved through meditation and related practices, thus accessing the superconscious mind directly. According to this model, knowledge acquired by the superconscious need not be from the present or nearby. It may be from the past or future, from a physically remote present, or of beings undetectable by the physical senses. Superconsciousness is therefore believed by its supporters to provide an explanation for psychic phenomena such as precognition, remote vision and seances. Mainstream science does not recognise such psychic phenomena as genuine, and therefore regards theories to account for them as pseudoscience. == History == An early exponent of the superconscious was William Walker Atkinson, an American occultist and prolific author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea was expanded on by British novelist, playwright, World War I-era activist and spiritualist Edith Lyttelton. More


id: superstition-in-pakistan-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_Pakistan-0.md
category: reference
title: Superstition in Pakistan
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_Pakistan
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:48.219387+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superstition-in-pakistan-20260505-0
summary:
Superstition in Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستانی توهم پرستی) is widespread and many adverse events are attributed to the supernatural effect. Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any physical process linking the two events, such as astrology, omens, witchcraft, etc., that contradicts natural science. In Pakistan, the Magical thinking pervades as many acts and events are attributed to supernatural and ritual, such as prayer, sacrifice, or the observance of a taboo are followed. Many believe that magic is effective psychologically as it has placebo effect to psychosomatic diseases. Scholars of Islam view superstition as shirk, denying the unity of God and against Sharia. Within Islam, shirk is an unforgivable crime; God may forgive any sins if one dies in that state except for committing shirk. Sleeping on your right side and reciting the Ayat-ul-Kursi (Urdu: آيت الكرسی ) of the Quran can protect person from the evil. In Pakistan, mental illness and psychological problems are considered by some to be an encounter with Shaitan (Satan) (Urdu: شيطان), evil jinns (Urdu: جن) or demons who have taken over one's body and mind. It is also assumed that it is caused by the


id: surrounded-by-idiots-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrounded_by_Idiots-0.md
category: reference
title: Surrounded by Idiots
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrounded_by_Idiots
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:49.367168+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: surrounded-by-idiots-20260505-0
summary:
Surrounded by Idiots (Swedish: Omgiven av idioter) is a 2014 self-help book by Swedish author Thomas Erikson. It became an international bestseller, being translated into 55 languages and selling 1.5 million copies worldwide. The book categorizes people into four personality types using the DISC assessment and is meant to help readers understand and adapt to different behavioral styles in personal and professional interactions. == Synopsis == Surrounded by Idiots explores human behavior through a framework of four personality types, each represented by a color: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. These categories claim to help readers understand themselves and others, providing insights into communication styles and interpersonal dynamics. Erikson illustrates how recognizing these types can enhance relationships, both personally and professionally. The Red personality embodies dominance and assertiveness. Reds are natural leaders who crave control and make quick decisions. While they can be inspiring and decisive, they often come off as aggressive or confrontational to other personality types. Understanding the Red type is crucial for managing conflict and fostering a collaborative environment. Yellows are the life of the party, characterized by their enthusiasm and sociability. They are creative and energetic, often inspiring others with their charisma. However, their scattered focus can


id: ingo-swann-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann-0.md
category: reference
title: Ingo Swann
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:50.545854+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ingo-swann-20260505-0
summary:
Ingo Douglass Swann (September 14, 1933 – January 31, 2013) was an American psychic, artist, and author, whose claims of clairvoyance were investigated as a part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Stargate Project. Swann is credited as the creator of the term “Remote Viewing," a term which refers to the use of extrasensory perception to perceive distant persons, places, or events. == Early life == Swann was born in Telluride, Colorado, on September 14th, 1933. Swann claimed to have out-of-body experiences beginning at three years of age, during a tonsil removal operation, after which he began to see colorful 'auras' around certain objects. These experiences continued throughout childhood, and eventually prompted Swann to volunteer as a participant in parapsychology research at the age of 37. == Remote viewing == Swann was a prominent celebrity Scientologist during the 1970s having attained the level of Operating Thetan through Scientology auditing. It is purported that the attainment of the level may extend one’s psychic abilities including controlled out-of-body experiences, called "exteriorization" in Scientology. During this time, Swann demonstrated his exteriorization skills at the Stanford Research Institute in experiments that would come to be known secularly as remote viewing. These experiments caught the attention


id: ingo-swann-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann-1.md
category: reference
title: Ingo Swann
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:50.545854+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ingo-swann-20260505-0
summary:
== Magnetometer psychokinesis tests == When Swann arrived at SRI, Harold Puthoff decided he would first be tested for PK. On June 6, 1972, the two men visited Dr. Arthur Heberd and his quark detector, a magnetometer, at the Varian Physics Building. The well-shielded magnetometer had a small magnetic probe in a vault five feet beneath the floor. The oscillation ran silently for about an hour, tracing a stable pattern on the chart recorder. Puthoff asked Swann if he could affect the magnetometer's magnetic field. Swann said he focused his attention on the interior of the magnetometer and was getting nothing. Then, there are different versions of the following events. Puthoff states that after about a five-second delay, Heberd says it was a ten- to fifteen-minute delay, the frequency of the trace recorder oscillation doubled for about 30 seconds, reportedly a common occurrence due to variations in the shared helium line to the laboratory. Heberd continued, and when the curve burped, Swann asked, "Is that what I am supposed to do?" Swann said he responded, "Is that an effect?" According to Heberd, Swann crossed the room, taking his attention away from the chart recorder. Swann said he took his mind


id: ingo-swann-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann-2.md
category: reference
title: Ingo Swann
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:50.545854+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ingo-swann-20260505-0
summary:
[6:06:20] Very high in the atmosphere there are crystals ... they glitter. Maybe the stripes are like bands of crystals, maybe like rings of Saturn, though not far out like that. Very close within the atmosphere. [Unintelligible sentence.] I bet you they'll reflect radio probes. Is that possible if you had a cloud of crystals that were assaulted by different radio waves? [6:08:00] Now I'll go down through. It feels really good there [laughs]. I said that before, didn't I? Inside those cloud layers, those crystal layers, they look beautiful from the outside. From the inside they look like rolling gas clouds – eerie yellow light, rainbows. [6:10:20] I get the impression, though I don't see, that it's liquid. [6:10:55] Then I came through the cloud cover. The surface – it looks like sand dunes. They're made of very large grade crystals, so they slide. Tremendous winds, sort of like maybe the prevailing winds of Earth, but very close to the surface of Jupiter. From that view, the horizon looks orangish or rose-colored, but overhead it's kind of greenish-yellow. [6:12:35] If I look to the right there is an enormous mountain range. [6:14:45] I feel that there's liquid somewhere. Those


id: swiss-policy-research-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Policy_Research-0.md
category: reference
title: Swiss Policy Research
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Policy_Research
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:51.761395+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: swiss-policy-research-20260505-0
summary:
Swiss Policy Research (SPR; before mid-May 2020, Swiss Propaganda Research) is a website that has been criticized for spreading conspiracy theories, including claims that QAnon was a psyop of the FBI and theories relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. German public broadcaster Tagesschau calls SPR a propaganda tool. Due to the persistent use of the German letter ß, which is not commonly used in Switzerland, it has been suspected that the creator is not from Switzerland, contrary to what the website title suggests. == Criticism == === Authority based criticism === In 2017 a University of Zurich report on media in Switzerland analyzed "six of the most-discussed 'alternative media'", including SPR, that "resort to conspiracy theories." Daniel Vogler concluded that SPR appears to be a "a pseudoscientific media research project." Andrea Haefely wrote a critique of the website in the magazine Beobachter in May 2020, noting: "The website Swiss Propaganda Research assumes that the Swiss media does what SPR itself does: feed the readers with questionable information." She also suggested that the persistent use of the letter ß on the site suggests that the content creator is likely to be from outside Switzerland, as this particular letter form is not in


id: sympathetic-alphabet-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_alphabet-0.md
category: reference
title: Sympathetic alphabet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_alphabet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:52.915006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sympathetic-alphabet-20260505-0
summary:
A sympathetic alphabet was a supposed form of communication used in the 17th century by Rosicrusians and Magnetisers. Two parties would remove a section of skin from their arms or hands and mutually transplant it while still fresh. It was believed that the transplanted piece of flesh kept a close sympathy with the original limb so that its owner was still aware of any injury done to it. On the transplanted flesh was tattooed an alphabet whereby, by pricking the letters with a magnetic needle, the users believed they could communicate instantaneously across great distances. A similar myth from the same time period claimed that needles alone could be used to communicate over long distances. After touching two needles against a "special species of lodestone," they would become "sympathetic" to each other, and from then on always point in the same direction regardless of distance. These needles would then be installed inside a dial, with the alphabet listed around the rim. By pointing one of the needles in the direction of a particular letter the other needle would follow suit, allowing for distant correspondence. The early Cooke and Wheatstone electric telegraph also worked by deflecting magnetic needles, but without the


id: synergetic-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetic_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Synergetic theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetic_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:54.124686+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: synergetic-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Synergetic theory, also known as "synergy" and referred to by some as a pseudoscientific theory, was developed by René-Louis Vallée and first disseminated in 1971 with the publication of his book L'énergie électromagnétique matérielle et gravitationally (Material and Gravitational Electromagnetic Energy). The magazine Science et Vie published several articles on the subject, and in 1975, it reported on an experiment that allegedly generated more energy than was input into the system. This sparked a long-standing controversy over the discovery of "free energy." The following year, La Recherche examined Vallée's book and, under his guidance, commissioned physicists to conduct a rigorous test to verify or refute the initial claims. The results were negative: no excess energy was observed. A critical examination of the theory in question reveals a multitude of inconsistencies. It becomes evident that the author's work is based on his personal beliefs, formulating a set of disconnected equations. Vallée opposed modern physics, viewing the theoretical advancements of the 20th century as overly intricate and incompatible with reality. Vallée was affiliated with the Alexandre Dufour Physics Circle and supported by free-energy enthusiasts until the early 2000s, which enabled him to achieve a certain degree of media presence before synergetics faded


id: synergetic-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetic_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Synergetic theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetic_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:54.124686+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: synergetic-theory-20260505-0
summary:
René-Louis Vallée offered a critique of the complexity of special relativity but drew extensively upon its conceptual framework. He put forth a concept of "synergy", or total energy, which he expressed through the formula S=mc2. This formula is identical to Albert Einstein's, but it incorporates not only the system's energy but also the diffuse energy of the medium surrounding it. However, his other theoretical propositions diverged from the prevailing consensus. For Vallée, space was Euclidean, time was universal, and the speed of light was not constant. He also proposed that gravitation is a force of electromagnetic origin, which contrasts with Einstein's advancements in the field, which deepened understanding but lacked definitive explanations. === Laws === Synergetics puts forth two hypotheses regarding the conversion between energy and matter. The first is the "law of materialization", which posits that energy can be transformed into matter. The second is the "upper limit value of the electric field", which suggests that matter can be transformed into energy when a field reaches a value of 39 × 1015 V/m. These laws are, in fact, hypotheses. Vallée characterizes the law of materialization as "a fundamental law of nature that was missing from the known laws of


id: synergetic-theory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetic_theory-2.md
category: reference
title: Synergetic theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetic_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:54.124686+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: synergetic-theory-20260505-0
summary:
== Legacy == Synergetic theory, which was promoted by free-energy advocates from the 1970s to the early 2000s, enjoyed a brief period of popularity between its coverage in Science et Vie and its definitive refutation in La Recherche. It has since become an example of "alter-science", according to Alexandre Moatti, and a scientific imposture, per Michel de Pracontal. Moatti drew a parallel between Vallée and Maurice Allais, who developed an interest in physics at a relatively advanced age and published his inaugural theory on the subject at the age of 86. Allais is renowned for challenging the prevailing theories of Newton and Einstein. He shares similarities with Vallée in this regard. Nevertheless, the term "synergetics" is more frequently linked with Nikola Tesla and his notion of free energy. In the early 20th century, renowned engineer Nikola Tesla sought to transmit electricity wirelessly and harness cosmic radiation energy. Despite the discovery of X-rays in 1895, Tesla rejected the concept of energy contained within matter. In 1931, he claimed to have constructed a "cosmic energy receiver" and used it to power a vehicle. Like Vallée, Tesla rejected overly theoretical science, dismissed the theory of relativity as false, and announced a "unified theory


id: shivkar-bapuji-talpade-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivkar_Bapuji_Talpade-0.md
category: reference
title: Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivkar_Bapuji_Talpade
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:55.285345+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: shivkar-bapuji-talpade-20260505-0
summary:
Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade () was an Indian instructor with an interest in Sanskrit and aviation. He lived in Mumbai, and is claimed to have constructed and flown an unmanned, heavier-than-air aircraft in 1895. Contemporary accounts of a successful flight do not exist, and no reliable historical records document its existence. Pseudo-historical narratives about Talpade proliferated in India in the early 2000s among adherents of the Hindu-nationalist right-wing. These included the false claim that Talpade had "invented the modern aircraft". == Talpade's aircraft == Talpade is claimed to have constructed an unmanned, heavier-than-air aircraft, named Marutsakhā ("friend of the air"), and flown it above Bombay's Chowpatty Beach in 1895. Contemporary accounts of a successful flight do not exist, and no reliable historical records document its existence. Talpade's aircraft was reputed to have flown to a height of 1,500 feet (460 m). Pratap Velkar, a local architect who has researched Talpade's life and written a book about him, denies this, stating that it rose to a small height before crashing. The aircraft has been described as a cylinder of bamboo, with claims it used mercury or urine as a fuel. Some of Talpade's drawings were said to have been sent to Hindustan


id: tapas-acupressure-technique-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas_Acupressure_Technique-0.md
category: reference
title: Tapas Acupressure Technique
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapas_Acupressure_Technique
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:56.469706+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: tapas-acupressure-technique-20260505-0
summary:
Tapas Acupressure Technique (or TAT) is an alternative medicine therapy that claims to clear negative emotions and past traumas. Though the full technique was invented in 1993 by Tapas Fleming, TAT incorporates elements of and builds on other acupressure techniques. TAT is classified as energy therapies as TAT claims to employ Qi (chi). This is the “energy” that has historically been believed to flow through the body in Asian medicine. There is no scientific proof that qi exists. However this claim of qi flow is not to be confused with putative energy for which no scientific basis has been found and no biophysical means of action determined. TAT shows many characteristics consistent with pseudoscience. == History == Invented in 1993 by Tapas Fleming, the underlying idea claims that unresolved emotional trauma leads to a blockage of the natural flow of putative energy. Practitioners of TAT claim that self application of light pressure to four areas of the head (inner corner of both eyes, one-half-inch above the space between the eyebrows, and the back of head) while placing attention on a series of verbal steps releases this blockage and allows for healing. TAT was originally intended to be an allergy elimination


id: john-taylor-oculist-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(oculist)-0.md
category: reference
title: John Taylor (oculist)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(oculist)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:57.646686+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: john-taylor-oculist-20260505-0
summary:
John Taylor (c. 1703 – 1770 or 1772) was an early British eye surgeon, self-promoter and medical charlatan of 18th-century Europe. He was responsible for the surgical mistreatment of George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, and perhaps hundreds of others. Both Handel and Bach died shortly after the botched surgery performed by Taylor. == Career == Taylor was born in Norwich, possibly in 1703. He was the son of a surgeon named John Taylor, who died in 1709. He studied in London under the pioneering British surgeon William Cheselden at St Thomas' Hospital, and by 1727 had produced a book, An Account of the Mechanism of the Eye, dedicated to Cheselden. While his practice grew, operating on celebrities of the time such as Edward Gibbon, making the acquaintance of Viennese courtier and patron of composers Gottfried van Swieten, and being appointed royal eye surgeon to King George II, his flair for self-promotion grew with it, then beyond it. Taylor later claimed that during his visit to Marseille in 1734 he stimulated Jacques Daviel (the initiator of cataract extraction as opposed to couching) to pursue ophthalmic practice seems to be supported by contemporaneous evidence. Taylor dubbed himself "Chevalier", though the source


id: technical-analysis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-0.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
In finance, technical analysis is an analysis methodology for analysing and forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. As a type of active management, it stands in contradiction to much of modern portfolio theory. The efficacy of technical analysis is disputed by the efficient-market hypothesis, which states that stock market prices are essentially unpredictable, and research on whether technical analysis offers any benefit has produced mixed results. It is distinguished from fundamental analysis, which considers a company's financial statements, health, and the overall state of the market and economy. == History == The principles of technical analysis are derived from hundreds of years of financial market data. Some aspects of technical analysis began to appear in Amsterdam-based merchant Joseph de la Vega's accounts of the Dutch financial markets in the 17th century. In Asia, technical analysis is said to be a method developed by Homma Munehisa during the early 18th century which evolved into the use of candlestick techniques, and is today a technical analysis charting tool. Journalist Charles Dow (1851–1902) compiled and closely analyzed American stock market data, and published some of his conclusions in editorials for The Wall Street


id: technical-analysis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-1.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Market action discounts everything === Based on the premise that all relevant information is already reflected by prices, technical analysts believe it is important to understand what investors think of that information, known and perceived. === Prices move in trends === Technical analysts believe that prices trend directionally, i.e., up, down, or sideways (flat) or some combination. The basic definition of a price trend was originally put forward by Dow theory. An example of a security that had an apparent trend is AOL from November 2001 through August 2002. A technical analyst or trend follower recognizing this trend would look for opportunities to sell this security. AOL consistently moves downward in price. Each time the stock rose, sellers would enter the market and sell the stock; hence the "zig-zag" movement in the price. The series of "lower highs" and "lower lows" is a tell tale sign of a stock in a down trend. In other words, each time the stock moved lower, it fell below its previous relative low price. Each time the stock moved higher, it could not reach the level of its previous relative high price. Note that the sequence of lower lows and lower highs did


id: technical-analysis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-2.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Neural networks === Since the early 1990s when the first practically usable types emerged, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have rapidly grown in popularity. They are artificial intelligence adaptive software systems that have been inspired by how biological neural networks work. They are used because they can learn to detect complex patterns in data. In mathematical terms, they are universal function approximators, meaning that given the right data and configured correctly, they can capture and model any input-output relationships. This not only removes the need for human interpretation of charts or the series of rules for generating entry/exit signals, but also provides a bridge to fundamental analysis, as the variables used in fundamental analysis can be used as input. As ANNs are essentially non-linear statistical models, their accuracy and prediction capabilities can be both mathematically and empirically tested. In various studies, authors have claimed that neural networks used for generating trading signals given various technical and fundamental inputs have significantly outperformed buy-hold strategies as well as traditional linear technical analysis methods when combined with rule-based expert systems. While the advanced mathematical nature of such adaptive systems has kept neural networks for financial analysis mostly within academic research circles, in recent


id: technical-analysis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-3.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
Technical analysis, also known as "charting", has been a part of financial practice for many decades, but this discipline has not received the same level of academic scrutiny and acceptance as more traditional approaches such as fundamental analysis. One of the main obstacles is the highly subjective nature of technical analysis – the presence of geometric shapes in historical price charts is often in the eyes of the beholder. In this paper, we propose a systematic and automatic approach to technical pattern recognition using nonparametric kernel regression, and apply this method to a large number of U.S. stocks from 1962 to 1996 to evaluate the effectiveness of technical analysis. By comparing the unconditional empirical distribution of daily stock returns to the conditional distribution – conditioned on specific technical indicators such as head-and-shoulders or double-bottoms – we find that over the 31-year sample period, several technical indicators do provide incremental information and may have some practical value. In that same paper Lo wrote that "several academic studies suggest that ... technical analysis may well be an effective means for extracting useful information from market prices." Some techniques such as Drummond Geometry attempt to overcome the past data bias by projecting support


id: technical-analysis-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-4.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
==== Random walk hypothesis ==== The random walk hypothesis may be derived from the weak-form efficient markets hypothesis, which is based on the assumption that market participants take full account of any information contained in past price movements (but not necessarily other public information). In his book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Princeton economist Burton Malkiel said that technical forecasting tools such as pattern analysis must ultimately be self-defeating: "The problem is that once such a regularity is known to market participants, people will act in such a way that prevents it from happening in the future." Malkiel has stated that while momentum may explain some stock price movements, there is not enough momentum to make excess profits. Malkiel has compared technical analysis to "astrology". In the late 1980s, professors Andrew Lo and Craig McKinlay published a paper which cast doubt on the random walk hypothesis. In a 1999 response to Malkiel, Lo and McKinlay collected empirical papers that questioned the hypothesis' applicability that suggested a non-random and possibly predictive component to stock price movement, though they were careful to point out that rejecting random walk does not necessarily invalidate EMH, which is an entirely separate concept from RWH.


id: technical-analysis-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-5.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific technical analysis == Caginalp and Balenovich in 1994 used their asset-flow differential equations model to show that the major patterns of technical analysis could be generated with some basic assumptions. Some of the patterns such as a triangle continuation or reversal pattern can be generated with the assumption of two distinct groups of investors with different assessments of valuation. The major assumptions of the models are the finiteness of assets and the use of trend as well as valuation in decision making. Many of the patterns follow as mathematically logical consequences of these assumptions. One of the problems with conventional technical analysis has been the difficulty of specifying the patterns in a manner that permits objective testing. Japanese candlestick patterns involve patterns of a few days that are within an uptrend or downtrend. Caginalp and Laurent were the first to perform a successful large scale test of patterns. A mathematically precise set of criteria were tested by first using a definition of a short-term trend by smoothing the data and allowing for one deviation in the smoothed trend. They then considered eight major three-day candlestick reversal patterns in a non-parametric manner and defined the patterns as a set


id: technical-analysis-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-6.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
Until the mid-1960s, tape reading was a popular form of technical analysis. It consisted of reading market information such as price, volume, order size, and so on from a paper strip which ran through a machine called a stock ticker. Market data was sent to brokerage houses and to the homes and offices of the most active speculators. This system fell into disuse with the advent of electronic information panels in the late 60's, and later computers, which allow for the easy preparation of charts. Jesse Livermore, one of the most successful stock market operators of all time, was primarily concerned with ticker tape reading since a young age. He followed his own (mechanical) trading system (he called it the 'market key'), which did not need charts, but was relying solely on price data. He described his market key in detail in his 1940s book 'How to Trade in Stocks'. Livermore's system was determining market phases (trend, correction etc.) via past price data. He also made use of volume data (which he estimated from how stocks behaved and via 'market testing', a process of testing market liquidity via sending in small market orders), as described in his 1940s book. ==


id: technical-analysis-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis-7.md
category: reference
title: Technical analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:25:58.819339+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: technical-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
Average directional index – a widely used indicator of trend strength. Commodity channel index – identifies cyclical trends. MACD – moving average convergence/divergence. Momentum – the rate of price change. Relative strength index (RSI) – oscillator showing price strength. Relative Vigor Index (RVI) – oscillator measures the conviction of a recent price action and the likelihood that it will continue. Stochastic oscillator – close position within recent trading range. Trix – an oscillator showing the slope of a triple-smoothed exponential moving average. Vortex Indicator – an indicator used to identify the existence, continuation, initiation or termination of trends. === Volume-based indicators === Accumulation/distribution index – based on the close within the day's range. Money flow index – the amount of stock traded on days the price went up. On-balance volume – the momentum of buying and selling stocks. === Trading with Mixing Indicators === MACD & Average directional index MACD & Super Trend MACD & Moving average MACD & RSI MACD & Moving Averages == See also == == References == == Bibliography == == Further reading == Azzopardi, Paul V. Behavioural Technical Analysis: An introduction to behavioural finance and its role in technical analysis. Harriman House, 2010. ISBN 978-1905641413


id: telekinesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Telekinesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:00.125597+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telekinesis-20260505-0
summary:
Telekinesis (from Ancient Greek τηλε- (tēle-) 'far off' and -κίνησις (-kínēsis) 'motion') (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Simply put, it is the moving or manipulating of objects with the mind, without directly touching them. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no reliable evidence that telekinesis is a real phenomenon, and the topic is generally regarded as pseudoscience. == Reception == === Evaluation === There is a broad scientific consensus that telekinetic research has not produced a reliable demonstration of the phenomenon. A panel commissioned in 1988 by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that:despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or "mind over matter" exercises ... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist.In 1984, the National Academy of Sciences, at the request of the US Army Research Institute, formed a scientific panel to


id: telekinesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Telekinesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:00.125597+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telekinesis-20260505-0
summary:
Philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge has written that:[telekinesis] violates the principle that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did, no experimenter could trust his readings of measuring instruments.) It also violates the principles of conservation of energy and momentum. The claim that quantum mechanics allows for the possibility of mental power influencing randomizers—an alleged case of micro-[telekinesis]—is ludicrous since that theory respects the said conservation principles, and it deals exclusively with physical things.Physicist John Taylor, who has investigated parapsychological claims, has written that an unknown fifth force causing telekinesis would have to transmit a great deal of energy. The energy would have to overcome the electromagnetic forces binding the atoms together, because the atoms would need to respond more strongly to the fifth force than to electric forces. Such an additional force between atoms should therefore exist all the time and not during only alleged paranormal occurrences. Taylor wrote there is no scientific trace of such a force in physics, down to many orders of magnitude; thus, if a scientific viewpoint is to be preserved, the idea of any fifth force must be discarded. Taylor concluded that there is no possible physical mechanism for telekinesis, and it is


id: telekinesis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis-2.md
category: reference
title: Telekinesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:00.125597+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telekinesis-20260505-0
summary:
Some of the worst examples of confirmation bias are in research on parapsychology ... Arguably, there is a whole field here with no powerful confirming data at all. But people want to believe, and so they find ways to believe. Psychologist Daniel Wegner has argued that an introspection illusion contributes to belief in telekinesis. He observes that in everyday experience, intention (such as wanting to turn on a light) is followed by action (such as flicking a light switch) in a reliable way, but the underlying neural mechanisms are outside awareness. Hence, though subjects may feel that they directly introspect their own free will, the experience of control is actually inferred from relations between the thought and the action. This theory of apparent mental causation acknowledges the influence of David Hume's view of the mind. This process for detecting when one is responsible for an action is not totally reliable, and when it goes wrong there can be an illusion of control. This can happen when an external event follows, and is congruent with, a thought in someone's mind, without an actual causal link. As evidence, Wegner cites a series of experiments on magical thinking in which subjects were induced


id: telekinesis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis-3.md
category: reference
title: Telekinesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:00.125597+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telekinesis-20260505-0
summary:
There have been claimants of telekinetic ability throughout history. Angelique Cottin (ca. 1846) known as the "Electric Girl" of France was an alleged generator of telekinetic activity. Cottin and her family claimed that she produced electric emanations that allowed her to move pieces of furniture and scissors across a room. Frank Podmore wrote there were many observations which were "suggestive of fraud" such as the contact of the girl's garments to produce any of the alleged phenomena and the observations from several witnesses that noticed there was a double movement on the part of Cottin, a movement in the direction of the object thrown and afterwards away from it, but the movements so rapid they were not usually detected. Spiritualist mediums have also claimed telekinetic abilities. Eusapia Palladino, an Italian medium, could allegedly cause objects to move during séances. However, she was caught levitating a table with her foot by magician Joseph Rinn, and using tricks to move objects by psychologist Hugo Münsterberg. Other alleged telekinetic mediums exposed as frauds include Anna Rasmussen and Maria Silbert. Polish medium Stanisława Tomczyk, active in the early 20th century, claimed to be able to perform acts of telekinetic levitation by way of an


id: telekinesis-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis-4.md
category: reference
title: Telekinesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekinesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:00.125597+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telekinesis-20260505-0
summary:
Psychics have also claimed the telekinetic ability to bend metal. Uri Geller was famous for his spoon bending demonstrations, allegedly by telekinesis. He has been caught many times using sleight of hand. According to science writer Terence Hines, all of Geller's effects have been recreated using conjuring tricks. The French psychic Jean-Pierre Girard has claimed he can bend metal bars by telekinesis. He was tested in the 1970s but failed to produce any paranormal effects in scientifically controlled conditions. He was tested on January 19, 1977, during a two-hour experiment in a Paris laboratory, directed by physicist Yves Farge. A magician was also present. Girard failed to make any objects move paranormally. He failed two tests in Grenoble in June 1977 with magician James Randi. He was also tested on September 24, 1977, at a laboratory at the Nuclear Research Centre, and failed to bend any bars or change the metals' structure. Other experiments into spoon-bending were also negative, and witnesses described his feats as fraudulent. Girard later admitted he sometimes cheated to avoid disappointing the public, but insisted he had genuine psychic power. Magicians and scientists have written that he produced all his alleged telekinetic feats through fraudulent means.


id: telepathy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy-0.md
category: reference
title: Telepathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:01.372359+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telepathy-20260505-0
summary:
Telepathy (from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle) 'distant' and πάθος/-πάθεια (páthos/-pátheia) 'feeling, perception, passion, affliction, experience') is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), and has remained more popular than the earlier expression thought-transference. Telepathy experiments have historically been criticized for a lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no good evidence that telepathy exists, and the topic is generally considered by the scientific community to be pseudoscience. Telepathy is a common theme in science fiction. == Origins of the concept == According to historians such as Roger Luckhurst and Janet Oppenheim the origin of the concept of telepathy in Western civilization can be traced to the late 19th century and the formation of the Society for Psychical Research. As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to mental phenomena (e.g., animal magnetism), with the hope that this would help to understand paranormal phenomena. The modern concept of telepathy emerged in this context. Psychical researcher Eric Dingwall criticized


id: telepathy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy-1.md
category: reference
title: Telepathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:01.372359+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telepathy-20260505-0
summary:
In the first place, an intuitive wife, who knows her husband intimately, may be able to guess with a fair degree of accuracy what he is likely to draw—particularly if the picture is related to some freshly recalled event the two experienced in common. At first, simple pictures like chairs and tables would likely predominate, but as these are exhausted, the field of choice narrows and pictures are more likely to be suggested by recent experiences. It is also possible that Sinclair may have given conversational hints during some of the tests—hints which in his strong will to believe, he would promptly forget about. Also, one must not rule out the possibility that in many tests, made across the width of a room, Mrs. Sinclair may have seen the wiggling of the top of a pencil, or arm movements, which would convey to her unconscious a rough notion of the drawing. The Turner-Ownbey long distance telepathy experiment was discovered to contain flaws. May Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory whilst Sara Ownbey claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment Turner would think of a symbol and write it down whilst Ownbey would write her


id: telepathy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy-2.md
category: reference
title: Telepathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:01.372359+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telepathy-20260505-0
summary:
== In parapsychology == Within parapsychology, telepathy, often along with precognition and clairvoyance, is described as an aspect of extrasensory perception (ESP) or "anomalous cognition" that parapsychologists believe is transferred through a hypothetical psychic mechanism they call "psi". Parapsychologists have reported experiments they use to test for telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of Zener cards and the Ganzfeld experiment. === Types === Several forms of telepathy have been suggested: Latent telepathy, formerly known as "deferred telepathy", describes a transfer of information with an observable time-lag between transmission and reception. Retrocognitive, precognitive, and intuitive telepathy describes the transfer of information about the past, future or present state of an individual's mind to another individual. Emotive telepathy, also known as remote influence or emotional transfer, describes the transfer of kinesthetic sensations through altered states. Superconscious telepathy describes use of the supposed superconscious to access the collective wisdom of the human species for knowledge. === Zener cards === Zener cards are marked with five distinctive symbols. When using them, one individual is designated the "sender" and another the "receiver". The sender selects a random card and visualizes the symbol on it, while the receiver attempts to determine that


id: telepathy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy-3.md
category: reference
title: Telepathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:01.372359+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telepathy-20260505-0
summary:
The most suspicious pattern was that the hit rate for a given target increased with the frequency of occurrence of that target in the experiment. The hit rate for the targets that occurred only once was right at the chance expectation of 25%. For targets that appeared twice the hit rate crept up to 28%. For those that occurred three times it was 38%, and for those targets that occurred six or more times, the hit rate was 52%. Each time a videotape is played its quality can degrade. It is plausible then, that when a frequently used clip is the target for a given session, it may be physically distinguishable from the other three decoy clips that are presented to the subject for judging. Surprisingly, the parapsychological community has not taken this finding seriously. They still include the autoganzfeld series in their meta-analyses and treat it as convincing evidence for the reality of psi. Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld experiments were flawed because they did not preclude the possibility of sensory leakage. In 2010, Lance Storm, Patrizio Tressoldi, and Lorenzo Di Risio analyzed 29 ganzfeld studies from 1997 to 2008. Of the 1,498 trials, 483 produced hits, corresponding to a


id: telepathy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy-4.md
category: reference
title: Telepathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:01.372359+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telepathy-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific reception == A variety of tests have been performed to demonstrate telepathy, but there is no scientific evidence that the power exists. A panel commissioned by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or 'mind over matter' exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist." The scientific community considers parapsychology a pseudoscience. There is no known mechanism for telepathy. Philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge has written that telepathy would contradict laws of science and the claim that "signals can be transmitted across space without fading with distance is inconsistent with physics". Physicist John Taylor has written that the experiments that have been claimed by parapsychologists to support evidence for the existence of telepathy are based on the use of shaky statistical analysis and poor design, and attempts to duplicate such experiments by the scientific community have failed. Taylor also wrote the arguments used by parapsychologists for the feasibility of such phenomena are


id: telesthesia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telesthesia-0.md
category: reference
title: Telesthesia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telesthesia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:02.546409+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: telesthesia-20260505-0
summary:
Telesthesia (also spelled telaesthesia) is a term used in two primary contexts. In parapsychology, it refers to purported non-sensory perception of distant events or stimuli. In media studies, it has also been used metaphorically to describe technologically mediated experiences of remote perception, particularly through telecommunications and digital media. == Etymology == The word derives from the Ancient Greek têle (τῆλε), meaning "at a distance", and aisthēsis (αἴσθησις), meaning "perception" or "sensation". == Definitions == Reputable dictionaries define telesthesia as: "Sensation or perception received at a distance without the normal operation of the recognized sense organs." – Dictionary.com "An impression supposedly received at a distance without the normal operation of the organs of sense." – Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary "The ability to know that something has happened or is in a place without using hearing, seeing, touch, taste, or smell." – Cambridge Dictionary == Use in Parapsychology == In parapsychology, telesthesia is considered a subtype of extrasensory perception (ESP), and is often used synonymously with or alongside clairvoyance and remote viewing. Historical accounts in spiritualist and psychical research literature describe people reportedly sensing the condition or experiences of distant others. These claims remain anecdotal and lack empirical validation. == Scientific Evaluation ==


id: ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-percent-of-the-brain_myth-0.md
category: reference
title: Ten-percent-of-the-brain myth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-percent-of-the-brain_myth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:03.716505+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-20260505-0
summary:
The ten-percent-of-the-brain myth or ninety-percent-of-the-brain myth states that humans generally use only one-tenth (or some other small fraction) of their brains. It has been misattributed to many famous scientists and historical figures, notably Albert Einstein. By extrapolation, it is suggested that a person may 'harness' or 'unlock' this unused potential and increase their intelligence. Changes in grey and white matter following new experiences and learning have been shown, but it has not yet been proven what the changes are. The popular notion that large parts of the brain remain unused, and could subsequently be "activated", rests in folklore and not science. Though specific mechanisms regarding brain function remain to be fully described—e.g. memory, consciousness—the physiology of brain mapping suggests that all areas of the brain have a function and that they are used nearly all the time. == Origin == A likely origin for the "10% myth" is the reserve energy theories of Harvard psychologists William James and Boris Sidis. In the 1890s, they tested the theory in the accelerated raising of the child prodigy William Sidis. Thereafter, James told lecture audiences that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim. The concept


id: ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-percent-of-the-brain_myth-1.md
category: reference
title: Ten-percent-of-the-brain myth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-percent-of-the-brain_myth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:03.716505+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ten-percent-of-the-brain-myth-20260505-0
summary:
Studies of brain damage: If 10% of the brain is normally used, then damage to other areas should not impair performance. Instead, there is almost no area of the brain that can be damaged without loss of abilities. Even slight damage to small areas of the brain can have profound effects. Brain scans have shown that no matter what one is doing, all brain areas are always active. Some areas are more active at any one time than others, but barring brain damage, there is no part of the brain that is absolutely not functioning. Technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allow the activity of the living brain to be monitored. They reveal that even during sleep, all parts of the brain show some level of activity. Only in the case of serious damage does a brain have "silent" areas. The brain is enormously costly to the rest of the body, in terms of oxygen and nutrient consumption. It can require up to 20 percent of the body's energy—more than any other organ—despite making up only 2 percent of the human body weight. If most of it were unnecessary, there would be a


id: theistic-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_science-0.md
category: reference
title: Theistic science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:04.925296+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theistic-science-20260505-0
summary:
Theistic science, also referred to as theistic realism, is the proposal that the central scientific method of requiring testability, known as methodological naturalism, should be replaced by a philosophy of science that allows occasional supernatural explanations which are inherently untestable. Proponents propose supernatural explanations for topics raised by their theology, in particular evolution. Supporters of theistic realism or theistic science include intelligent design creationism proponents J. P. Moreland, Stephen C. Meyer and Phillip E. Johnson. Instead of the relationship between religion and science being a dialogue, theistic science seeks to allow exceptions to the basic methods of science, and present miraculous interventions as a scientific explanation when a natural explanation has not been found. As Notre Dame theologian Alvin Plantinga acknowledges, this is a "science stopper", and these concepts lack any mainstream credence. == Johnson == In 1987 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Edwards v. Aguillard that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public school science classes, along with evolution, was unconstitutional because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. Academic UC Berkeley law professor Phillip E. Johnson, a prominent supporter of the law, became convinced that creationists had lost the


id: theistic-science-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_science-1.md
category: reference
title: Theistic science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:04.925296+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theistic-science-20260505-0
summary:
'Unnatural Science', 'Creation Science,' 'Theistic Science' — call it what you will: what we need when we want to know how to think about the origin and development of contemporary life is what is most plausible from a Christian point of view. What we need is a scientific account of life that isn't restricted by that methodological naturalism. He suggests that generally God uses secondary causes, but miracles may be needed when theistic scientists are unable to find a materialistic explanation. In 1997 he wrote "Why couldn't a scientist think as follows? God has created the world, and of course He created everything in it directly or indirectly. After a great deal of study, we can't see how he created some phenomenon P (life, for example) indirectly; thus probably he has created it directly." Plantinga also refers to this concept as Augustinian science, and states that "in doing Augustinian science, you start by assuming the deliverances of the faith, employing them along with anything else you know in dealing with a given scientific problem or project." Plantinga argues for the acceptance of differing worldview-partisan sciences in place of a single common science. Plantinga employs a conflict thesis in assessing the


id: therapeutic-touch-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_touch-0.md
category: reference
title: Therapeutic touch
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_touch
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:06.136926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: therapeutic-touch-20260505-0
summary:
Therapeutic touch (TT), or non-contact therapeutic touch (NCTT), is a pseudoscientific energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. "Therapeutic Touch" is a registered trademark in Canada for the "[s]tructured and standardized healing practice performed by practitioners trained to be sensitive to the receiver's energy field that surrounds the body;...no touching is required." Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate what they say is the patient's energy field. One highly cited study, designed by the then-nine-year-old Emily Rosa and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, found that practitioners of therapeutic touch could not detect the presence or absence of a hand placed a few inches above theirs when their vision was obstructed. Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst concluded in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment that "the energy field was probably nothing more than a figment in the imaginations of the healers". The American Cancer Society noted, "Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that TT can cure cancer or other diseases." A 2004 Cochrane review found no good evidence that it helped with wound


id: therapeutic-touch-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_touch-1.md
category: reference
title: Therapeutic touch
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_touch
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:06.136926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: therapeutic-touch-20260505-0
summary:
== Skeptical view of therapeutic touch == When examining the existing literature on therapeutic touch, it has been observed that these studies tend only to cite research that favours the desired findings. There have been studies focused on therapeutic touch that have failed to include any research that has contradictory findings. However, studies such as these need to report all results found from other studies, even if they may contradict the present study's hypothesis. It is also important to use the appropriate controls in such studies. There have been studies such as that by Grad, Cadoret, and Paul that have appeared at first glance to show the effectiveness of therapeutic touch, yet once replicated using the appropriate controls, they were shown to have nonsignificant results, therefore rendering the original results inconclusive. Researcher bias has been noted in studies examining therapeutic touch, such as that by Turner, in which he included such statements as, "If we can successfully complete this study, this will be the first real scientific evidence there is for therapeutic touch". It is important for researchers not to bias the results to achieve their desired outcome, as bias can lead to a misrepresentation of the true effectiveness of


id: thought-field-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Field_Therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Thought Field Therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Field_Therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:07.355322+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: thought-field-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a fringe psychological treatment developed by American psychologist Roger Callahan. Its proponents say that it can heal a variety of mental and physical ailments through specialized "tapping" with the fingers at meridian points on the upper body and hands. The theory behind TFT is a mixture of concepts "derived from a variety of sources. Foremost among these is the ancient Chinese philosophy of chi, which is thought to be the 'life force' that flows throughout the body". Callahan also bases his theory upon applied kinesiology and physics. There is no scientific evidence that TFT is effective, and the American Psychological Association has stated that it "lacks a scientific basis" and consists of pseudoscience. == Theory and treatment == Callahan terms his treatment "Thought Field Therapy" because he theorizes that when a person thinks about an experience or thought associated with an emotional problem, they are tuning into a "thought field." He describes this field as "the most fundamental concept in the TFT system," stating that it "creates an imaginary, though quite real scaffold, upon which we may erect our explanatory notions". Perturbations are said to be precisely encoded information contained in the thought field; each


id: thought-field-therapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Field_Therapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Thought Field Therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Field_Therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:07.355322+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: thought-field-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Assessments and critiques == There is concern by clinical psychologists of the adoption of TFT as an unvalidated and pseudoscientific therapy by government bodies and the public at large. In 2000, an article was published in the Skeptical Inquirer which argued that there is no plausible mechanism to explain how TFT could work, and described it as a baseless pseudoscience. A 2006 Delphi poll of psychologists on discredited therapies, published in an APA journal, indicated that on average, participants rated TFT as "probably discredited". The sample included both practicing clinical psychologists and academic psychologists. Devilly states that there is no evidence for the claimed efficacy of power therapies including TFT, Emotional Freedom Techniques, and others such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and they all exhibit the characteristics of pseudoscience. Lilienfeld, Lynn & Lohr also use TFT as an example of a therapy that contains some of the hallmark indicators of a pseudoscience. Specifically, they note its evasion of the peer review system and absence of boundary conditions. Previous studies performed on TFT have received criticism in the medical literature. For example, an exploratory study done by Charles Figley, a psychologist who endeavored to find more effective treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder


id: time-cube-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Cube-0.md
category: reference
title: Time Cube
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Cube
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:08.534485+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: time-cube-20260505-0
summary:
Time Cube was a pseudoscientific personal web page set up in 1997 by Otis Eugene "Gene" Ray. It was a self-published outlet for Ray's "theory of everything", also called "Time Cube", which posits that each day actually consists of four days occurring simultaneously. Ray described himself as the "wisest man on earth" and a "godlike being with superior intelligence who has absolute evidence and proof" for his views. Ray asserted that the academic world had not taken Time Cube seriously and that all modern sciences are participating in a worldwide conspiracy to omit his theory. Ray died in March 2015, and the Time Cube website registration expired in August 2015. == Website == The Time Cube website did not have a navigation structure such as a menu or a central home page; instead, it was one long continuous page. A large amount of self-invented jargon is used throughout, often never defined. In one paragraph, Ray claimed that his wisdom "so antiquates known knowledge that a psychiatrist examining [his] behavior" diagnosed him with schizophrenia. Adi Robertson of The Verge commented that Ray's theory of time is "an incredibly confusing one peppered with racism and homophobia". The link, www.timecube.com, is now a


id: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Time-traveler UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:09.758979+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The time-traveler hypothesis, also known as chrononaut UFO, future humans, extratempestrial model and Terminator theory is the proposal that unidentified flying objects are humans traveling from the future using advanced technology. Some notable people have given recent public exposure to the hypothesis, such as retired NASA aerospace engineer Larry Lemke, Wisconsin congressman Mike Gallagher, and American filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The time-traveler hypothesis is considered extremely implausible by mainstream scholars and is generally regarded as unorthodox even among UFO theorists who argue that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft or interdimensional phenomena. == Antecedents == === Origins of time travel speculation === The notion of time travel from the future to the past is thought to have been introduced for the first time in literature by French botanist and geologist Pierre Boitard in his popular 1861 book Paris avant les hommes (Paris before Men), featuring a man sent back to prehistoric Earth where he interacts with an ape-like ancestor. A few years later, in 1887, Camille Flammarion published Lumen, a novel featuring an alien soul traveling through different worlds and historical periods. Although traveling back in time is almost-universally considered physically impossible, theoretical research has explored whether it might be possible. It has


id: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Time-traveler UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:09.758979+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
It is unclear exactly when the hypothesis in its complete form was first proposed. Early versions surfaced between the 1970s' pseudoscientific literature and 1990s internet culture, at times associated with the idioms "chrononaut UFOs", "time traveling humans" or simply "future humans". Examples include contributions by Jacques Vallée in his book The Invisible College, Radford University anthropology professor and former Forbes contributor David S. Anderson, Jenny Randles' 2001 book Time Storms, James Herbert Brennan's 1997 book Time-travel: a new perspective, which also draws parallels between the time travelers and elements of the pseudoarchaeological notion of ancient astronauts and Ooparts, and many others. In their 1998 book The Day After Roswell, US Army officer Philip J. Corso and American novelist William J. Birnes reported that German physicist and engineer Dr Hermann Oberth believed the craft recovered at Roswell could have been a time machine. On April 27, 2012 History aired the "Time Travelers" episode from season 4 of the series Ancient Aliens produced by Prometheus Entertainment, available on Netflix since 2022. In the same year, the "Time Benders" episode from season 18 of the same series aired on History, exploring other aspects of the concept and featuring more speakers, including American professor


id: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis-2.md
category: reference
title: Time-traveler UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:09.758979+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== In popular culture === The 1966 Sherwood Schwartz TV series It's About Time portrays 20th-century astronauts being sent back to the Stone Age after traveling around the earth faster than the speed of light. The astronauts have to contend with the suspicions and superstitions of local cave-dwellers, who regard their advanced technology as sorcery. The astronauts eventually repair their space capsule and return to 1967 with the prehistoric family they befriended. Similar plots were involved in Lost in Space's episode Visit to a Hostile Planet (1967), Star Trek episodes Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1969) and Little Green Men (1995) from the Deep Space Nine series, as well as Futurama's Roswell That Ends Well (2001). In Gregory Benford’s 1980 novel Timescape, scientist Saul Shriffer, a colleague of Frank Drake at the SETI Project Ozma, believes that a cryptic signal is of extraterrestrial origin, when it fact it had been sent thirty-four years into the past by humans in the future. In his 1984 science fiction/fantasy novel Birds of Prey, American author David Drake describes six sterile and mutually telepathic sisters who time travel back in time to save humanity from an intelligent but monstrous alien species similar to social insects. The


id: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis-3.md
category: reference
title: Time-traveler UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:09.758979+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: time-traveler-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Terminology and connection to other theories === Although in his books and publications Dr Masters uses the neologism "extratempestrial" to describe his model and the alleged beings piloting the UFOs, the overall idea has been dubbed "the time-traveler hypothesis" by executive director of nonprofit Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), Jan Harzan. The time-traveler hypothesis and the interdimensional hypothesis overlap by a certain degree. People in the ufology community, such as former MUFON director for the state of Pennsylvania John Ventre in an interview with KDKA News Radio, as well as American parapsychologist and engineer Harold E. Puthoff, refer to the two interchangeably. Dr Masters has stated that he considers his extratempestrial model a subcategory of the interdimensional hypothesis. Indeed, from a more scientific standpoint – albeit controversially – within the framework of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, temporal paradoxes could be avoided if the time traveler would move from one dimension, or parallel universe, or timeline, to another. Similarly to how the extraterrestrial hypothesis represents a potential solution to Fermi's paradox, the time-traveler hypothesis provides an alternative explanation for the absence of future time travelers. In an interview with Nova on PBS, astrophysicist and skeptic Carl Sagan stated that


id: tin-foil-hat-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat-0.md
category: reference
title: Tin foil hat
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:11.001324+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: tin-foil-hat-20260505-0
summary:
A tin foil hat is a hat made from one or more sheets of tin foil or aluminium foil, or a piece of conventional headgear lined with foil, often worn in the belief or hope that it shields the brain from threats such as electromagnetic fields, mind control, and mind reading. The notion of wearing homemade headgear for such protection has become a popular stereotype and byword for paranoia, persecutory delusions, and belief in pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. "Tin foil" is a common misnomer for aluminium foil in English-speaking countries; packaging metal foil was formerly made out of tin before it was replaced with aluminium. == Origin == Some people – "Tin Foil Hatters" – have a belief that such hats prevent mind control by governments, spies, mobsters, corporations, extraterrestrial, or paranormal beings that employ ESP or the microwave auditory effect. People in many countries who believe they are "targeted individuals", subject to government, corporate, or criminal spying or harassment, have developed websites, conference calls, and support meetings to discuss their concerns, including the idea of protective headgear. Vice Magazine wrote that the tin foil hat in popular culture "can be traced back in a very weird and prescient short


id: titanic-conspiracy-theories-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_conspiracy_theories-0.md
category: reference
title: Titanic conspiracy theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_conspiracy_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:12.182628+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: titanic-conspiracy-theories-20260505-0
summary:
On April 14, 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg, damaging the hull's plates below the waterline on the starboard side, causing the front compartments to flood. The ship then sank two hours and forty minutes later, with approximately 1,496 fatalities as a result of drowning or hypothermia. Since then, many conspiracy theories have been suggested regarding the disaster. These theories have been refuted by subject-matter experts. == Olympic exchange hypothesis == One of the controversial and elaborate theories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic was advanced by Robin Gardiner in his book Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank? (1998). Gardiner draws on several events and coincidences that occurred in the months, days, and hours leading up to the sinking of the Titanic, and concludes that the ship that sank was in fact Titanic's sister ship Olympic, disguised as Titanic, as an insurance scam by its owners, the International Mercantile Marine Group, controlled by American financier J. P. Morgan, who had acquired the White Star Line in 1902. Researchers Bruce Beveridge and Steve Hall took issue with many of Gardiner's claims in their book Olympic and Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy (2004). Author Mark Chirnside has also raised serious


id: alfred-tomatis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Tomatis-0.md
category: reference
title: Alfred Tomatis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Tomatis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:13.348746+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alfred-tomatis-20260505-0
summary:
Alfred Tomatis (1 January 1920 – 25 December 2001) was a French otolaryngologist and inventor. He received his Doctorate in Medicine from the Paris School of Medicine. His alternative medicine theories of hearing and listening are known as the Tomatis method or Audio-Psycho-Phonology (APP). Tomatis' approach, a type of auditory integration training, is known as the Tomatis Method. It is promoted as being of benefit to people with autism, but there is no good evidence to support these claims and the Method has been classified as a pseudoscience. == Tomatis' life and work == Alfred Tomatis grew up in a musical family in France. His father was an opera singer, and he spent much of his childhood traveling with him and watching his opera performances from the wings. At an early age, however, he and his parents decided he was not fit for the stage. So he went into medicine and eventually became an Ear, Nose and Throat physician. Soon after he began his practice, his father began referring him opera colleagues with vocal problems. Tomatis soon discovered traditional treatments inadequate but also that there was very little research on the voice itself. He formulated the theory that many vocal


id: tondemo-bon-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tondemo-bon-0.md
category: reference
title: Tondemo-bon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tondemo-bon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:14.516596+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: tondemo-bon-20260505-0
summary:
Tondemo (トンデモ, Tondemo) means "outrageous" or "preposterous" + bon (本, hon) "book" in Japanese. Recently the word has gained another meaning thanks to the activity of Togakkai (the Academy of Tondemo books) which annually award Nihon Tondemo-bon Taisho (Japan Tondemo Book Award), which is similar to the Golden Raspberry Award or the Ig Nobel Prize. Tondemo-bon is defined by the academy as "something amusing from a perspective that differs from what the author intends". The award covers not just conspiracy theory or pseudoscience but also includes historical revisionism as well as atheists or scientific sceptics who make rather biased attacks toward the former. The members of Togakkai included religious figures as well as scientists and other academics. In Japan, this genre has superseded similar activities of scientific sceptics. == Togakai tondemobon taisho winners == Here is a list of winners of the Nihon Tondemo-bon Taisho (Japan Tondemo Book Award): Ninja, Its Origin and Technique(「忍者のラビリンス」) by Amano Jin, an ostensibly scholarly exploration of the history of ninja techniques, including the secret magical hand gestures Winner in 2001 was,Amazing Science Fiction Weapons(「奇想天外SF兵器) by Kei yoshio, a notoriously poorly researched book detailing the weapons and plots of science fiction series Winner in 2000


id: torsion-field-pseudoscience-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion_field_(pseudoscience)-0.md
category: reference
title: Torsion field (pseudoscience)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion_field_(pseudoscience)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:15.697826+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: torsion-field-pseudoscience-20260505-0
summary:
A torsion field (also called axion field, spin field, spinor field, and microlepton field) is a reoccurring feature of many pseudoscientific proposals. It posits that the quantum spin of particles can be used to cause emanations to carry information through vacuum orders of magnitude faster than the speed of light. == History == The first torsion field proposals were proposed in the late Soviet Union by a group of physicists in the 1980s who loosely based their ideas on Einstein–Cartan theory and some variant solutions of Maxwell's equations that do not have a solid grounding in scientific fact. The group, led by Anatoly Akimov and Gennady Shipov, began the research as the state-sponsored Center for Nontraditional Technologies. They disbanded in 1991 when their research was exposed by physicist Eugene Alexandrov as a fraud and an embezzlement of government funding. Akimov and Shipov received financing for torsion field research from the Russian Ministry of Science from 1992 to 1995 and from the Russian Ministry of Defense from 1996 to 1997, and secretly continued their research, with a private enterprise called The International Institute for Theoretical and Applied Physics (later called UVITOR). Presently championed exclusively outside of reputable scientific research due to


id: traditional-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: Traditional Chinese medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:18.063455+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: traditional-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or logical mechanism of action. Some TCM ingredients are known to be toxic and cause disease, including cancer. Medicine in traditional China encompassed a range of sometimes competing health and healing practices, folk beliefs, literati theory, Taoist and Confucian philosophy, herbal remedies, food, diet, exercise, medical specializations, and schools of thought. TCM as it exists today has been described as a largely 20th century invention. In the early twentieth century, Chinese cultural and political modernizers worked to eliminate traditional practices as backward and unscientific. Traditional practitioners then selected elements of philosophy and practice and organized them into what they called "Chinese medicine". In the 1950s, the Chinese government sought to revive traditional medicine (including legalizing previously banned practices) and sponsored the integration of Chinese and Western medicine. In the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, the government promoted TCM as inexpensive and popular. The creation of TCM was largely spearheaded by Mao Zedong, despite the fact that, according to The Private Life of Chairman Mao, he did


id: traditional-chinese-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: Traditional Chinese medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:26:18.063455+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: traditional-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Shang dynasty === Traces of therapeutic activities in China date from the Shang dynasty (14th–11th centuries BCE). Though the Shang did not have a concept of "medicine" as distinct from other health practices, their oracular inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells refer to illnesses that affected the Shang royal family: eye disorders, toothaches, bloated abdomen, and such. Shang elites usually attributed them to curses sent by their ancestors. There is currently no evidence that the Shang nobility used herbal remedies. Stone and bone needles found in ancient tombs led Joseph Needham to speculate that acupuncture might have been carried out in the Shang dynasty. This being said, most historians now make a distinction between medical lancing (or bloodletting) and acupuncture in the narrower sense of using metal needles to attempt to treat illnesses by stimulating points along circulation channels ("meridians") in accordance with beliefs related to the circulation of "Qi". The earliest evidence for acupuncture in this sense dates to the second or first century BCE. === Han dynasty === The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing), the oldest received work of Chinese medical theory, was compiled during the Han dynasty around the first century BCE on the basis


