The Very Essence of Pseudoscience – Sciolism
At the central core of pseudoscience are the self-professed “experts.” Food Babe. David Wolfe. Stephanie Seneff. Joseph Mercola…. Just to name a few.
I was listening to the latest episode (jump to 40:35 in the show) of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe yesterday when the word of the week was Sciolism. It means a pretentious attitude of scholarship, superficial knowledgeability, a superficial show of learning, or a person who pretends to be knowledgeable and well informed.
I hadn’t heard the word before and thought it would make for an excellent graphic.
According to Cara Santa Maria:
A person displaying sciolism is a sciolist.
It’s really a fantastic word.
Can you name all 20 sciolists in the graphic? Who do you think is the most dangerous?