[ExI] Let's stop lowering our IQs.

[BillK]

On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 5:46 AM, spike  wrote:
> JR, don’t forget your assignment bud.  You brought it on yourself with the
> original question.  Now enquiring minds want to know: have you been able to
> find any references that look reliable or plausible that show fluoride in
> the water is harmful?


That is actually quite a difficult task if you don't already have a
reasonable science / engineering education.

What search terms do you use?
A general google search will produce thousands of links to sound
science sites mixed in with anti-science sites. The sound science
sites tend to be boring reports where readers eyes rapidly glaze over.
On the other hand, the anti-science sites are exciting, with lots of
DANGER!, WARNING!, ACTION NEEDED NOW! signs. These fire off the
adrenaline responses in the human brain, make readers want to read
more, and there is no background knowledge to spot the misinformation.

People can try different search terms, different search engines, even
Google Scholar, but the sound science reports will still be hard work
for inexperienced readers.

A better route is probably to bookmark a list of skeptical sites like
snopes.com or quackwatch.com whose objective is to expose all the
frauds and hoaxes that infest the internet. Any frauds they find are
discussed in detail with lots of links to more information. At least
you will learn about the many techniques used to fool people.

BillK