This was a continuation of the previous #FullMoonMashup discussion on this hot topic. We decided to keep this one online due to the full moon happening in the middle of what is generally a holiday period in South Africa. There was a small turnout (5 people in total) but interesting conversations took place.
Summary:
Suresh and Upendra from NASO gave an overview of the challenges related to this topic in Nepal:
– There is a general lack of dedicated science journalists in Nepal so the media can often make mistakes that confuse what is science and what is psuedoscience
– NASO is often approached to verify stories and a large percentage of time can be spent on this.
– There is a lot of influence in Nepal from Indian media – which can have both pros and cons
– NASO is trying to set up Memoranda of Understanding between various social media groups to ensure that information going out is accurate.
Ram joined from IUCAA in India and related challenges in that country:
– In India there is a history of mixing science and religion e.g. there was a session on Mythological Science at the National Science Congress (it was noted that such interactions could in fact be positive because it creates dialogue between communities which may not interact otherwise)
– A challenge related to the “decolonising science” conversation is that schools are teaching students to value mythological science as well.
– There are several activist groups in India but they are small and may not have significant influence.
– A major challenge is that some practicing scientists could champion various pseudoscience agendas.
The following potential interventions came up during the conversation:
– Hold a “build-off” to challenge pseudoscientists to “prove” the effectiveness of their beliefs e.g. in South Africa there is a belief that lightning can be created by certain people – one could have a challenge where a scientist “creates” lightning and a psuedoscientist is asked to do the same; in Nepal some groups claim to be able to build satellites (“psuedo-engineers”); etc.
– Activist groups from India could interact with groups in Nepal – they may not have as much influence in a big country like India compared to a smaller one like Nepal.
– Try to hold “controlled controversy” sessions at science meetings where pseudo-scientists are invited to debate their ideas with relevant scientists.
– A project that was also highlighted at the previous discussion: draw people into an astrological predictor/platform which gives people their “real” star signs based on the actual astronomical position of objects and publish “horoscopes” that are linked to actual astronomical events e.g. transients, gravitational wave detection, etc. Once people are drawn in then engage with them on the science or non-science of making predictions about people’s lives based on astronomical objects.