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The Borderlands of Science
by Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer is a well known skeptic and editor of Skeptic magazine. One of his roles as a skeptic is to help expose frauds and debunk various pseudo-scientific theories. However, in the book, The Borderlands of Science, his aim is different; it is to show where the boundary between commonly acceptable science and nonsense lies and what kind of science and people lie on the boundary between the two.

The book starts by offering a 'Boundary Detection Kit'. These are a series of questions that you should ask when you examine a claim. These include whether the claim comes from a reliable source, is the claim independently reproducible, has the claimant examined and shown that alternative explanations do not cover the claim and so on. Using this kit, he shows why some theories like evolution, quantum mechanics and relativity are considered 'normal' science, theories like astrology, UFOs or remote viewing are considered nonsense. On the boundary like theories like SETI, hypnosis or superstring theory: these are theories that do not meet all the conditions of normal science, yet are credible enough to have their claims seriously investigated.

The rest of the book is divided into three parts. In the first part, he looks at theories that lie at the boundary between acceptable science and nonsense. These include Punctuated Equilibrium (which is now one of the accepted way evolution by Natural Selection works), Theories of Everything (mostly nonsense) and Cloning (where political rhetoric has clouded the scientific issues). He shows why some theories, like Punctuated Equilibrium, where originally considered borderline science but have now been accepted as part of normal science while others, like many Theories of Everything (of the, "My Theory of Oneness is Right! Einstein was Wrong!" variety) are nonsense.

Next, the book looks at the personality of people who embrace theories on the boundaries of science and why they do so. He starts off by looking at the startling work done by Frank Sulloway in his book, Born to Rebel, which shows that birth order is a significant factor that indicates whether a person is more or less willing to accept heretical ideas. Firstborns tend to embrace conservative ideas which laterborns tend to embrace radical ideas. Using this idea, the book goes to show how Copernicus's Heliocentric Theory (that all planets orbit the sun) took time to be accepted, why scientist Alfred Russell Wallace (co-discoverer, with Charles Darwin, of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection) was willing to accept spiritualism as a part of science and why Carl Sagan was so adept at accepting some borderland science (exobiology, SETI), while rejecting others (UFOs, Velikovsky).

In the last part, the book examines some myths that arise due to borderland science and their resolutions. These include the myth of the 'Beautiful People': hunter-gathering societies who live in harmony with nature (where he provides research that shows that many committed eco-suicide by destroying the ecosystem), the myths about how geniuses like Mozart come about (he probably practised earlier and much harder at music than everyone else), the myth about Alfred Russell Wallace being 'downgraded' as the co-discovered of Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection (not true) and the Piltdown Man Hoax, which shows that scientists are human and can be fooled but not forever.

This is a fascinating book that gives quite a good look at some of the theories that lie of the borders of science and some nonsense that does not. It also gives a good and interesting look at the history of some theories that challenged orthodox scientific theories of their time and just why they became an accepted part of science. The book also shows that for a radical theory to become acceptable, a maverick is needed; Punctuated Equilibrium wasn't really noticed until Stephen Jay Gould help bring it to the attention of scientist.

The book is a useful guide to those of us constantly being bombarded by strange explanations and theories and should help to distinguish those that lie of the borderland but may become an acceptable part of science and those that will forever remain nonsense.

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The Borderlands of Science by Michael Shermer

The Borderlands of Science
by Michael Shermer