The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge

by Matt Ridley

I have become steadily less, rather than more, confident in my ability to distinguish pseudoscience from true science. I am close to certain that astronomy is a science; astrology is a pseudoscience. Evolution is science; creationism is pseudoscience. Molecular biology is science; homeopathy is pseudoscience. Vaccination is science; vaccination scares are pseudoscience. Oxygen is science; phlogiston was pseudoscience. Chemistry is science; alchemy was pseudoscience. I am also pretty sure that the belief that the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare is pseudoscience. So are the beliefs that Elvis is still alive, Princess Diana was killed by MI5, JFK was killed by the CIA, and 9/11 was an inside job. So are ghosts, UFOs, telepathy, the Loch Ness monster, alien abductions and pretty well everything to do with the paranormal.