trentmkelly/rationalwiki huggingface dataset:
Testimonial

{{sources needed}}
[[File:Mariani pope.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Pope Leo XII endorses Mariani wine, a [[patent medicine]] laced with [[drugs|cocaine]].]]
{{Pseudosciencenav}}
A '''testimonial''', in the context of evaluating a treatment or other medical or social intervention, is the report of an individual about the success or failure of such an intervention.  It is generally considered the weakest level of [[evidence]] and is very closely related to using [[anecdotal evidence|anecdata]]. Testimonials used as evidence are common in the fields of [[woo]], [[pseudoscience]], and [[alternative medicine]], where claims being refuted or supported are somewhat vague and difficult to test. It may also be the case that some people do not wish to have their claims evaluated in a formal analysis (probably because a formal analysis will 
reveal their claims to be wrong
 somehow interfere with their art).

Usually, the reason for studying a particular treatment is to see if it would work on others. In order to achieve this end, it is necessary to study large numbers of people (a "sample"), ideally in similar circumstances, and who do not know whether or not they are receiving the treatment, after which, one can make a valid prediction as to the effect on a similar, larger "population".

==Are testimonials always to be ignored?==
Testimonials may provide useful information, but it depends entirely on the context and the nature of the sources of the testimonials. Comments posted on an online message-board should be viewed skeptically — particularly if there's no validation of the identities of the users leaving comments. Such mediums are prone to [[sock puppet|sock puppetry]] and [[Astroturf|astroturfing]] — whereby those posting positive or negative comments do so with an agenda or with an undeclared interest. Examples of this can be found at online retailing sites, such as Amazon, where users can post reviews of books they've never read — either in support of someone with a shared [[ideology]] or as an attack against an author with whom they disagree.

On the other hand, an experience relayed by a trusted source may provide useful information, but cannot be relied upon in a formal statistical analysis. The experience of one person, while often interesting, does not allow for generalization to others. The experiences of multiple people, as in a list of testimonials, is also invalid, as this is simply a list of individual stories, and not a systematic study.

==See also==
*[[Double-blind]] testing
*[[Statistics|Statistical analysis]]
*[[Anecdote]]

[[Category:Evaluating arguments]]

Categories: Evaluating arguments
Texas Citizens for Science

{{crenav}}
{{update}}
'''Texas Citizens for Science''' is a citizens' group which was established to monitor the [[Texas State Board of Education]]'s work on textbook standards for [[Texas]] public schools. In particular, this group opposes the efforts of [[Discovery Institute]] (DI) and several of its supporters on the board to insert [[intelligent design]] (ID) in the textbooks under the guise of "correcting errors" ([[Teach the controversy]]). This organization has a variety of information on their website and a newsletter. Recently, they were able to catch an ''ex parte'' attempt of one of the board members (Don McLeroy) to intimidate publishers into including ID materials in textbooks, despite a vote and the decision of the entire board not to include the [[bullshit]] material.

The work of this group is important beyond the scope of Texas, as Texas is a large purchaser of textbooks, and textbook publishers are likely to sell books - once approved for use in Texas - in other states. In working to prevent the Discovery Institute from inserting intelligent design into Texas books, they are helping everyone get [[pseudoscience]] out of science books elsewhere.

==External links==
*[https://archive.is/qjmnN Texas Citizens for Science]

{{stub|creationism}}
{{crebox}}

[[Category:EvoWiki ports]]
[[Category:Texas]]

Categories: EvoWiki ports, Texas
Thabo Mbeki

[[File:Thabo-mbeki-district-six.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Mbeki in 2001 in District Six, Cape Town.]]{{denialism|1}}
'''Thabo Mbeki''' {{lived|1942}} is a [[South African]] [[politician]] who served as the second President of post-[[apartheid]] [[South Africa]] after [[Nelson Mandela]]. During his time in office, he became one of the world's most powerful critics of the [[scientific consensus]] that [[HIV denialism|HIV causes AIDS]]. His administration appointed denialists to serve in government positions as consultants and on academic advisory panels. His health ministry adopted policies denying AIDS patients access to anti-retroviral drugs that Mbeki described as "poisons".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/12/aids.chrismcgreal | title=How Mbeki stoked South Africa's Aids catastrophe | work=The Guardian | date=11 June 2001 | accessdate=4 June 2014 | author=McGreal, Chris}}</ref> Instead, his appointed health minister promoted the use of [[herbal medicine]] to treat AIDS.

Predictably, in a country where ''one out of every six'' adults is HIV-positive,<ref>{{cite web|title=South Africa - CIA - The World Factbook|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html|work=https://www.cia.gov|date=4 April 2007}}</ref> Mbeki's policies had catastrophic effects, leading to the preventable deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of people from AIDS.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Nattrass|first=N.|title=AIDS and the Scientific Governance of Medicine in Post-Apartheid South Africa|journal=African Affairs|date=16 February 2008|volume=107|issue=427|pages=157–176}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Chigwedere P, Seage GR, Gruskin S, Lee TH, Essex M |title=Estimating the Lost Benefits of Antiretroviral Drug Use in South Africa |journal=Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) |volume= 49|issue= 4|pages= 410–415|date=October 2008|laysummary=http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2008-releases/researchers-estimate-lives-lost-delay-arv-drug-use-hivaids-south-africa.html}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mbeki, Thabo}}

{{stub|denialism}}

[[Category:HIV/AIDS]]
[[Category:African politicians]]
[[Category:Alternative medicine promoters]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:Social democrats]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:South Africa]]

Categories: HIV/AIDS, African politicians, Alternative medicine promoters, Government incompetence, Social democrats, Living people, Pseudoscience promoters, South Africa
The Advancement of Sound Science Center

{{denialism||2}}
'''The Advancement of Sound Science Center''' (formerly The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, abbr. '''TASSC''' or '''[[Fun:Asshole|The ASS Center]]''') is an [[astroturf|asstroturf]] lobby group that promotes cigarette butts, originally funded by tobacco company Philip Morris and APCO to fight [[smoking]] regulations. It is now focused primarily on replacing facts about smoking, pesticides, and [[climate change]] with their so-called "[[sound science]]" to protect the tobacco's industry long and deep bottom-line. It is run by [[Steve Milloy]]. Although he claims that he has "not lobb[ied] for ANYONE" (no emphasis added), a 1994 Philip Morris memo listed TASSC among its "Tools to Affect Legislative Decisions".<ref>[http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/dtv34e00 1994 TASSC document]</ref>

==Known tools to affect legislative decisions==

*[[Steve Milloy]], who runs the website [http://junkscience.com/ Junk Science] and shows up on [[Fox News]] every once in a while as their resident "Junk Science" Expert. He is also an [[Anti-environmentalism|anti-environmentalist]] (surprise, surprise). He popularized the term "junk science" to describe inconvenient facts, and "sound science" to describe convenient lies.
*[[Michael Fumento]], [[Steve Milloy|Stevie's]] BFF, an attorney who denies the importance of second-hand smoke, climate change, AIDS, SARS, swine flu, and the possibility of an avian flu epidemic.
*Mickey Edwards, former Republican congressman (former congressman, that is, not former Republican). He's known mostly for his part in the {{wpl|House_banking_scandal | House Banking Scandal}}.
*[[Frederick Seitz]], all-round [[expert for hire]] climate change denier who sat on the scientific advisory board until his death in 2008.
*[[S. Fred Singer]], like Seitz a proliferous expert for hire, was a [[Irony|scientific]] advisor to TASSC.<ref>Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/books/89/8903books.html ''Merchants of Doubt'']. Bloomsbury Press, 2011. ISBN 1-608-19394-2, p. 151. Fumento and Seitz are listed here right alongside Singer, btw.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Sound science]]

==External links==
*[http://web.archive.org/web/19980112140017/http://www.tassc.org/index.html/ TASSC website] (via archive.org)
*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Advancement_of_Sound_Science_Coalition SourceWatch entry]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{stub|denialism}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Advancement of Sound Science Center, The}}
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]

Categories: Misnomers, Right-wing activists
The Ant

{{sources needed}}
{{islam}}
'''The Ant''' is the twenty-seventh surah of the [[Qur'an]]. It is notable largely for a weird bit in which King Solomon claims to "have been taught the language of birds" and forms armies of men, [[jinn]] and birds; he then comes across some ants, and "an ant exclaimed: O ants! Enter your dwellings lest Solomon and his armies crush you, unperceiving." Shortly afterwards Solomon turns to the birds in his army and asks "How is it that I see not the hoopoe, or is he among the absent? I verily will punish him with hard punishment or I verily will slay him, or he verily shall bring me a plain excuse." The hoopoe turns up on cue, however. Phew!

There's also some condemnation of [[homosexuality]]. "And Lot! when he said unto his folk: Will ye commit [[abomination]] knowingly? Must ye needs lust after men instead of women?... Then We saved him and his household save his wife; We destined her to be of those who stayed behind. And We rained a [[rain]] upon them. Dreadful is the rain of those who have been warned." (Quran 27:55)

==See also==
*[[RationalWiki:Annotated Qur'an]] ({{Qur'an|27|5=The Ant}})
*[[Qur'an]]
*[[Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge]]
*[[Qur'anic scientific errors]]
*[[Qur'anic contradictions]]
*[[List of actions prohibited by the Qur'an]]

{{stub|Islam|Islam}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ant, The}}
{{qurbox}}

[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Suras]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]

Categories: Homophobia, Suras, Purity culture
The Astonishing Hypothesis

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Astonishing Hypothesis''}}
{{sources needed}}
{{Books}}
[[Image:DNA chemical structure.svg|left|thumb|Some of the lines, colors, letters, and numbers that make up you and all of your futile hopes and dreams.]]
'''''The Astonishing Hypothesis''''' is a book authored by [[scientist]] [[Francis Crick]], one of the [[Nobel Prize]]-winning co-discoverers of the molecular structure of [[DNA]]. It attempts to place the study of human [[consciousness]], a topic traditionally left to the realms of [[religion]] and [[philosophy]], firmly within the domain of observable, testable science. 

In the book, Crick posits that the mental activities often attributed to the [[soul]] are the result of the behavior of [[brain]] [[cells]] and the [[atoms]], ions, and [[molecule]]s that they are composed of. Crick's argument is that the outdated conception of a non-material [[soul]] must be replaced with an understanding of how consciousness is created through the processes of a very physical brain.

Less astonishing than Crick's [[hypothesis]] are the vast numbers of people who would be upset with the notion that humans and all of their associated thoughts, feelings, and experiences are little more than the products of a bunch of atoms bouncing around. However, the book remains a bit too dry and sciencey to have made it firmly into the realm of [[Popular science|pop-science]], so many of the people who would take issue with its message have likely never heard of it, or would not understand it if they tried to read it.

==See also==
*[[Materialism]]
*[[Methodological naturalism]]
*[[Non-materialist neuroscience]]
{{stub|books}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astonishing Hypothesis, The}}
[[category:books]]
[[category:science]]
[[category:biochemistry]]

Categories: books, science, biochemistry
The Atheist Afterlife

{{books}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Atheist Afterlife''}}
'''''The Atheist Afterlife: The odds of an afterlife - Reasonable. The odds of meeting God there - Nil''''' ({{Isbn|9781897435298}}) is a book on [[afterlife|life after death]] written by [[philosopher]] David Staume and published by Agio Publishing House in 2009.

==Author==

Staume is a philosopher, [[atheist]], secular [[humanist]] and public speaker. He also claims to be a member of [[rationalist]] and freethinking associations.

==Overview==

{{cquote|An [[afterlife]] based on reason has profound implications. An afterlife that requires only physics requires no [[God]]; it makes the concept of God irrelevant and removes the 'God of the Gaps' completely. It enables us to prove that many religious conceptions of an afterlife are false, including the concepts of judgement, selectivity based on belief, and the existence of Heaven and Hell. It removes the concept of an afterlife from its religious associations, so humanists and other rationalists can examine it on its own merit.|||From the back of the book.}} 

Staume makes the bizarre claim that the survival of [[consciousness]] after death is somehow compatible with the law of [[conservation of energy]] and is consistent with the laws of [[physics]]. He does this via for the largely discredited idea of  mind-body [[dualism]]. He writes that "If an afterlife exists, it must be an externalised inner reality. This is the only rational and possible context of life after death".<ref>Staume (2009) p. 29</ref> According to Staume the afterlife will be the same as a [[dream]] experience while we're actually dreaming it.

He compares the afterlife with dreaming: "If an afterlife exists, it would be the same as the dream state, with three qualifications: we won't be waking up in the morning; it would be as real as our life is now; and it would correlate with the actual dream experience, rather than remembered dream experience".<ref>Staume (2009) p. 32</ref> He writes that the afterlife is controlled by thoughts and feelings, for example totally new objects and scenes in the afterlife are created via imagination and thought processes.

While there is no manual stating what self-identified atheists should or should not believe, it seems likely that the majority would not be in agreement with Mr Staume.

==Other works==

Mr Staume has also written the somewhat remarkably-titled "''The Beginner's Guide to Sex in the Afterlife: An Exploration of the Extraordinary Potential of Sexual Energy''".<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/132556.David_Staume The Beginner's Guide to Sex in the Afterlife]</ref> - which may - or may not - improve his credibility.

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atheist Afterlife, The}}
[[Category:Afterlife]]
[[Category:Atheism]]
[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Religious books]]

Categories: Afterlife, Atheism, Books, Religious books
The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

'''The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity''' were first outlined by Carlo M. Cipolla, Professor Emeritus of Economic History at Berkeley, in an essay called ''The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity''. D'oh!

==The Laws of Stupidity == 
===Zeroth Law===

There is no upper bound on the amount of stupidity<ref>The question whether there exists a unit of stupidity is irrelevant.  The existence of quantifiable stupidity follows from the [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stupid existence of the comparative and superlative] word forms.</ref> that can exist within any particular individual.

===First Law===
We always underestimate the number of stupid people.

''Not as obvious as it sounds, because:''
#''people we had thought to be rational and intelligent [[Fun:Sudden Moron Syndrome|suddenly]] turn out to be unquestionably stupid;''
#''day after day we are hampered in whatever we do by stupid people who invariably turn up in the least appropriate places, and''
#''the underestimation is after the first law itself is already accounted for.''

===Second Law===
The probability of a person being stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

===Third (and Golden) Law===

A stupid person is someone who causes damage to another person, or a group of people, without any advantage accruing to himself (or herself) — or even with some resultant self-damage.

===Fourth Law===

Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid people.<ref>Sadly the law still stands {{wpl|Hofstadter's law|even if you already took into account the fourth law itself}}.</ref> They constantly forget that at any moment, and in any circumstance, associating with stupid people invariably constitutes an expensive mistake.

===Fifth Law===
A stupid person is the most dangerous person in existence. Prof. Cipolla adds a corollary to the fifth law: a stupid person is thus more dangerous than a bandit.

==See also==

*[[Dunning-Kruger effect]]
*[[Hanlon's Razor]]

==External links==
*[http://gandalf.it/stupid/home.htm The Power of Stupidity] by Giancarlo Livraghi
*[http://www.stupidity.net/story2/index2.htm Understanding Stupidity] by James Welles
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basic Laws of Human Stupidity}}
[[Category:Rationalism]]

Categories: Rationalism
The Crying Boy

{{significantly problematic}}[[File:Bragolin Crying Boy.jpeg|thumb|right|165px|''The Crying Boy'' by Bragolin]]{{title-italics}}{{folklore}}
'''''The Crying Boy''''' was one of a series of kitschy paintings by 20<sup>th</sup> century [[Italy|Italian]] painter {{wpl|Giovanni Bragolin}} who produced paintings of crying children. Prints of it were popular and widely distributed in [[Europe]] from the 1950s to the 1980s, its popularity ended due to [[Mass hysteria|mass panic]] over its being "[[curse]]d".

==Urban legend==
Mass panic was propagated by the [[United Kingdom|British]] tabloid ''[[The Sun]]'' in 1985. The first article, published in September, brought up Essex-based firefighters who were disturbed by copies of the painting surviving undamaged in several house fires. Over the next two months the story developed into claims that an alarming number of house fire victims were owners of the painting, fueling belief that the painting was somehow causing fires &mdash; as opposed to it simply being a very popular painting that was bound to end up in a house fire at some point. By the end of November ''The Sun'' began organizing mass burnings of copies to satisfy its readership, apparently forgetting that it was the paintings' ''not'' burning that supposedly made them special. An investigation by the [[BBC]] radio show ''Punt PI'' claimed that the mass-produced paintings were treated with a varnish that contained a fire retardant.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v697r ''Punt PI'', Episode 4, Series 3] [[BBC]] Radio 4.</ref>

==References==
<references/>
{{stub|conspiracy theories}}
[[Category:Urban legends]]

Categories: Urban legends
The Dark Side of Charles Darwin: A Critical Analysis of an Icon of Science

{{crenav}}{{title-italics}}
'''''The Dark Side of Charles Darwin: A Critical Analysis of an Icon of Science''''' is an anti-[[evolution]] book written in 2011 by [[Jerry Bergman]], a Christian [[young earth creationist]].

==Overview==

In the book Bergman writes that the majority of the public have been brainwashed into thinking [[Charles Darwin]] was a nice man when in reality he was a sexist and emotionally unstable husband, sadistic killer of animals, supporter of [[eugenics]] and [[racism]] and was mentally ill. Bergman also claims Darwin was evil and [[satanic]].<ref>[http://ed5015.tripod.com/ReligDarwinDarkSide143.html The Dark Side of Charles Darwin Review by Kitty Foth-Regner]</ref><ref>[http://www.cuttingedge.org/detail.cfm?ID=2317 Creationist Website]</ref><ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:0cef5GIfUtsJ:tccsa.tc/articles/review_dark_side.pdf+The+Dark+Side+of+Charles+Darwin+by+Jerry+Bergman&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShthzXz1S-KVBAgCGdG3kvTia2HgWlTePBsGIEdfOoTPc3TG6cSOPLgN_VTg1x0ROTVrU96ek0d3pFXNTW3h7qXXxCeRRJe9nShHhvdv3JY_2uqBK7ODMRyUfr9N_cbTPBiJ3jT&sig=AHIEtbTeWuHPlInMVEew9GA7H_fF98Cxmg Review of The Dark Side of Charles Darwin]</ref>

==Reception==

Most scientists have ignored the book as it contains no evidence against [[evolution]]. Sara Joan Miles, a Historian of Science, reviewed the book and wrote:

{{cquote|'''Ad hominem arguments, which are the essence of this book, provide irrelevant and insufficient grounds for evaluating scientific theories. Just as scientific hagiographies distort the scientist and his or her work by portraying an idealized person, books such as Bergman’s distort the individual and his or her accomplishments by demonizing the person. Neither is good scholarship and both should be eschewed'''.<ref>[http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Book%20Reviews2005-/6-12.html#Bergman Review by Sara Joan Miles]</ref>}} 

Even if all the claims in the book were true about Darwin's character and personal life it would not change the validity of the theory, since scientific theories are grounded on the evidence behind them, not the personal character of those who create them.

==See also==
*''[[The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin]]''
*[[Ad hominem]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Side of Charles Darwin: A Critical Analysis of an Icon of Science, The}}
{{crebox}}

[[Category:Religious books]]

Categories: Religious books
The Edge of Evolution

{{crenav}}{{title-italics}}
'''''The Edge of Evolution''''' is a book written by [[Michael Behe]] which claims to describe the limits of random [[mutation]] and [[natural selection]]. 

Behe's argument is a classic [[Creationist mathematics#BIG NUMBERS|argument ad big number]], ignoring the fact that [[improbable things happen]]. Basically, he claims that it is impossible to [[evolve]] anything that requires two binding sites. He uses examples from drug resistance in [[malaria]] as being impossible from a standard model perspective (this of course means the mysterious designer purposefully inserted drug resistance into malaria). 

The fact of the matter is that multiple binding sites have been '''observed''' to evolve in the laboratory.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160507161416/http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2007/05/behes_bad_math.html Behe’s bad math] </ref> This pretty much throws out the whole book. The rest of it is a tortuous [[straw man]] creation trying to argue that local maxima on fitness landscapes are "traps" that evolution cannot overcome. Several critics have succinctly and convincingly shown how Behe is, again, totally wrong, and that local maxima are easily overcome.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080706163847/https://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2007/05/behes_dreadful_new_book_a_revi_1.php Behe's Dreadful New Book: A Review of "The Edge of Evolution"]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220509152253/http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2007/06/look-ma-no-math.html Look Ma! No math! (Or apostrophes, apparently.)]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Behe:The Edge of Evolution, Interview]]
*[[Richard Lenski#Lenski's long-term E. Coli evolution experiment and intelligent design|Lenski results challenge creationism]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edge of Evolution, The}}
{{crebox}}

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Creationism]]
[[Category:Religious books]]
{{stub|creationism}}

Categories: Pseudoscience, Creationism, Religious books