History Main / ScienceIsWrong

* In ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40k'' Ritsuko becomes increasingly aggravated with the Evangelion pilots, Shinji especially, due to their wanton disregard for the laws of physics. She eventually decides to share the misery, publishing scientific papers on the latest proof-by-Evangelion that ScienceIsWrong. Reading the hate-mail from other scientists keeps her going.

Often any AgentScully questioning the magic isn't really using ''science'' but rather a belief in machines. A ''good'' scientist wouldn't only complain that something isn't possible upon discovering something that contradicts previous knowledge. They'd explore the implications, test why the result is happening, see if it can be replicated, and list the various causes and effects that can be observed related to the event -- although, admittedly, many would be quick to dismiss any claims of the supernatural out of hand, because the supernatural is kind of by definition stuff that ''shouldn't'' work. TL;DR: If Science is Wrong is proven, it becomes ''a scientific worldview''.

* As a system of beliefs and processes crafted by '''D'''ead '''W'''hite '''E'''uropean '''M'''en (DWEM) and thus irrelevant and destructive to groups X, Y, Z...

* ZigZagged in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'': On the one hand, the Imperium's scientific and mechanical equipment does work thanks to the tireless devotion of the Adeptus Mechanicus (aka the Machine Cult). On the other hand, scientific knowledge only survived by being turned into a series of rigid religious rituals and the belief that all knowledge was once held in the digital blueprints called Standard Template Constructs (how important are they to the Mechanicus? A pair of IG scouts once found an STC for a slightly improved combat knife and handed it over, receiving a planet in thanks. Each.), so any experimentation that doesn't involve said [=STCs=] is deemed heretical (and so the Dark Mechanicus are the only one turning out new designs, usually involving daemon-possessed machines). Also, they very likely worship an EldritchAbomination that hates humanity.

* ZigZagged in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'': On the one hand, the Imperium's scientific and mechanical equipment does work thanks to the tireless devotion of the Adeptus Mechanicus (aka the Machine Cult). On the other hand, scientific knowledge only survived by being turned into a series of rigid religious rituals and the belief that all knowledge was once held in the digital blueprints called Standard Template Constructs (how important are they to the Mechanicus? A pair of IG scouts once found an STC for a slightly improved combat knife and handed it over, receiving a planet in thanks. Each.), so any experimentation that doesn't involve said STCs is deemed heretical (and so the Dark Mechanicus are the only one turning out new designs, usually involving daemon-possessed machines). Also, they very likely worship an EldritchAbomination that hates humanity.

Strongly associated with the Romanticist side of RomanticismVersusEnlightenment, along with ScienceIsBad. See also MotherNatureFatherScience, {{Aesoptinum}}, ScienceMarchesOn. A common feature of TheMasquerade. When overlapping with ScienceIsBad, can be associated with DumbIsGood. If ScienceIsUseless, this may be because it's wrong. May be presented through a StrawVulcan.

** Early in the first book has Harry mentioning that Science as "the great religion of the 20th Century" has been treated as the source of all the answers and those answers don't include monsters or magic, which means people are left without a clue when they encounter the supernatural. One character [[spoiler:Butters]] confrontation with this is something of a subplot in ''Literature/DeadBeat''.
** That said the series actually treats science with a fair amount of respect. Harry is often shown using(abusing really) various laws of physics, usually mass and/or momentum, to assist his spells in order to enhance their effects or impact. And [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome there was that thing with the dinosaur]]. Late in the series [[spoiler:Butters]] combines his scientific mind and training with Bob's exhaustive knowledge and is able to develop several new and powerful applications of magic.
** On balance while science is wrong this stems from important facts being missing from its models due to society having decided the supernatural does not exist not that any particular portion of it views are individually wrong.

* Played straight with the German Sterligov, Russian millionaire. He takes it UpToEleven, claiming that science is not only ''wrong'' but downright [[TechnologyIsEvil Evil]], and therefore should be purged from the Earth [[KnightTemplar along with all the scientists and teachers]]. He promptly followedhis own advice and moved with his family to a house in the middle of nowhere, to live in his ideal lifestyle without all that damned technology, education and medical care. He still preaches his views. [[{{Hypocrite}} Through the Internet]].

** That said the series actually treats science with a fair amount of respect. Harry is often shown using(abusing really) various laws of physics, usually mass and/or momentum, to assist his spells in order to enhance their effects or impact. And [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome there was that thing with the dinosaur]]. Late in the series [[spoiler:Butters]] combines his scientific mind and training with Bob's exhaustive knowledge and is able to develop several new and powerful applications of magic.

* ScottAdams loves this trope in his written work. See his statements on the paranormal and evolution.

* One RogueAngel has this as belief of a group of extreme {{Nature Lover}}s who feel even the most basic advances like farming are evil and wish to return humanity to it's hunter-gatherer roots.

* Deconstructed by Dara O'Briain in one of his live shows, where he discusses homeopathy and his irritation with it. He points out that the real-life accusation levelled at science that "it doesn't know everything" is inherently flawed because the whole point of science is that scientists are ''fully aware'' that they don't know everything, and if they did "it'd stop" -- there would be no point in continuing. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDYba0m6ztE&feature=related Enjoy!]] Don't drink while he's talking.
* ''Music/TimMinchin'' really hates this trope and will often go on rants about homepathy but perhaps the best example of this would be his beat poem [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUQn0HhGEk Storm]]

* Believers in the paranormal-- PsychicPowers, AlienAbduction, and other NewAge ideas-- often criticize science for being too closed-minded to accept their ideas. These people usually fail to give compelling evidence to wake the interests of more conventional scientists. Naturally, the latter group would be excited by new stuff; imagine dropping a ghost on the table of a scientist, they would be delighted to analyze it and help you out with more. Alas, since that hasn't happened yet, most of them remain sceptical.

* Played straight with the German Sterligov, russian millionare. He takes it UpToEleven, claiming that science is not only ''wrong'' but downright [[TechnologyIsEvil Evil]], and therefore should be purged from the Earth [[KnightTemplar along with all the scientists and teachers]]. He promptly follows his own advice and moved with his family to a house in the middle of nowhere, to live in his ideal lifestyle without all that damned technology, education and medical care. He still preaches his views. [[{{Hypocrite}} Through the Internet]].

* ''Series/{{QI}}'': Joked about when Creator/DavidMitchell goes on a rant upon being informed that the ''Principia Mathematica'', published in 1910, takes around 500 pages to prove that "1 + 1 = 2".

** Early in the first book has Harry mentioning that Science as "the great religion of the 20th Century" has been treated as the source of all the answers and those answers don't include monsters or magic, which means people are left without a clue when they encounter the supernatural. One character [[spoiler:Butters]] confrontation with this is something of a subplot in ''Dead Beat''.

** In the sourcebook ''Second Sight'', science is presented not only as being wrong about PsychicPowers, but actively ''damaging'' to their activation - scientific scrutiny makes them harder to use. Which is, of course, why no use of psychic ability ever passed the Randi Challenge (aside from the fact that everyone who entered was a charlatan; actual psychics were too busy conning casinos or playing the stock market). To be even more specific, it's not science itself but ''skepticism'' which weakens psychic powers, it just unhappily coincides that scientists are the best equipped and inclined to be skeptical. As presented, psychic powers are strengthened in the presence of true believers, but a group of skeptics (or just one who has bought the Merit "Doubting Thomas") will alter probability to the point where the likelihood of success becomes equal to the likelihood of achieving a CriticalFailure.

* One common misunderstanding about what science is regards "procedural naturalism", a concept that actually goes back to the 12th century. The basic idea is that one must assume natural causes and only use natural causes in describing phenomena. There are two sides to this. First is that something like Intelligent Design is not, by definition, scientific. This is not to say that assuming intelligent design cannot lead to practical applications with repeatable results and such, but it doesn't follow the paradigm. To the extent that making non-natural assumptions leads to falsifiable predictions that are confirmed, science is wrong (or at least, incomplete). The second part is taking procedural naturalism (as an assumption) and making the leap to an assertion that only natural causes can describe phenomena. This is known as ontological or philosophical naturalism and is a metaphysical proposition. As such, it cannot be "proven" right or wrong, at least not by what is itself considered to be science. Whether it's Hume's Problem with Induction or Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, there is no way to be sure. Making the assertion is itself not scientific. This trope includes the opposite assertion which - not surprisingly - is just as unscientific, but alleged to be moreso because of this confusion.
* Scientific approaches to questions of morality can be criticized as not scientific because abstract concepts of right, wrong, good, evil and the like have no physical characteristics - in and of themselves - from which empirical observations can be made. Hume's Law laid out the Is-Ought Problem: normative prescriptions can not be deduced from empirical observation and description. To describe good or evil, one must define it, but that is the whole point: you must choose axioms for what is good or evil before you can test them. Noting the above entry, one can assume that morals are a product of evolutionary psychobiology but that is still just an assumption. It may even provide descriptive and predictive power but there is no way to show that someone "should" do something in some circumstance without falling back on your original assumption. You can't tell if it is correct, but it is bad science. This trope can assert that the things that are most important to human beings - love, beauty, justice - cannot be measured and therefore cannot be approached scientifically. While scientists can study one's brain's composition and activity to determine what triggers certain emotions and the effects of experiencing what one likes / dislikes, claiming that personal preferences are objectively "right or wrong" is a very flawed statement.

* Krzysztof Kieślowski's ''Decalogue I'': professor father and genius son think everything can be understood in mathematics and solved through their computer. The computer is able to calculate what the mother is doing, but comes up blank when the son asks what she is dreaming of (a religious aunt is able to provide the answer: she is dreaming of her son of course). The son goes skating on a frozen lake, because the computer says the ice will hold three times his weight. The ice breaks and the son is frozen to death.

This can also contradict one of the most prevalent sub-tropes of ScienceIsBad, namely, NewTechnologyIsEvil. After all, evil technology presumably ''works'', which means that at least ''that'' science wasn't (empirically) wrong. One possible way to have both tropes is {{Aesoptinium}}; ''because'' science is wrong, the technology became evil in a way the scientists didn't intend, though we can still say Science Is Bad because the scientists [[GenreSavvy should have known better]] than to make something with PotentialApplications.

* [[http://arassara.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/quino-fisica.jpg This strip]] by ''ComicStrip/{{Quino}}'' illustrates {{God}}'s opinion on the Laws of Physics.

** Early in the first book has Harry mentioning that Science as "the great religion of the 20th Century" has been treated as the source of all the answers and those answers don't include monsters or magic, which means people are left without a clue when they encounter the supernatural. One character (Butters) confrontation with this is something of a subplot in ''Dead Beat''.

* Played straight with the German Sterligov, russian millionare. He takes it UpToEleven, claiming that science is not only ''wrong'' but downright [[TechnologyIsEvil Evil]], and therefore should be purged from the Earth [[KnightTemplar along with all the scientists and teachers]]. He is promptly follows his own advices and moved with the family to house in the middle of nowhere, to live in his ideal lifestyle without all those damned technology, education and medical care. He is still preach his views. [[{{Hypocrite}} Through the Internet]].

* Subtly played with in ''ComicBook/TheBooksOfMagic'', wherein it is explained that the magical explanation for a supernatural event is always correct... but so is the scientific explanation, depending on who is observing the supernatural. People who truly do not believe in magic will never, ever encounter it in the DCUniverse because of this effect.

* ''Literature/GoodOmens'' fits this pretty nicely, since within the book the universe really is about 6000 years old (having been created in 4004 BC), Literature/TheBible is pretty literally correct, etc. Scientists aren't exactly portrayed as ''bad,'' just kind of pointless. ("The whole business with the fossilized dinosaur skeletons was a joke the palaeontologists haven't seen yet.") Let's not forget that by the end [[spoiler: it's been proven that even the immortal creatures who have existed more or less since the dawn of time (the angels and demons) don't really have any idea what's going on either; they're just better at pretending they do.]] As the book puts it,

* There is a well-regarded journal article titled [[http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 Why Most Published Research Findings Are False]], which posits that entire fields of contemporary science may be "null fields," i.e. completely bogus. Quite possibly including, ironically, [[http://biostats.bepress.com/jhubiostat/paper135/ that very article.]]

* There is a well-regarded journal article titled [[http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 Why Most Published Research Findings Are False]], which posits that entire fields of contemporary science may be "null fields," i.e. completely bogus. Quite possibly including, ironically, [[http://biostats.bepress.com/jhubiostat/paper135/ that very article]].

* This comes up in the ''FanFic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' outtake dealing with ''Film/TheMatrix'', at the bottom of [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/64/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality this page]].