Definitions by Abzugal

Charlatanification

The act of labeling anyone who promotes non‑mainstream health, spiritual, or metaphysical practices as a “charlatan,” regardless of their sincerity, training, or results. Charlatanification is common in anti‑pseudoscience and neo‑atheist communities. It conflates honest practitioners who may be mistaken with deliberate frauds. It also ignores cultural traditions where such practices are normative and respected. Critics argue that charlatanification is a form of ad hominem argument: instead of engaging with evidence, one attacks the character of the practitioner.

Charlatanification Example: “The anti‑pseudoscience activist charlatanified the herbalist as ‘a snake oil salesman’ without examining the herbalist’s training, patient outcomes, or cultural role. The label substituted for analysis.”

Charlatanification by Abzugal June 5, 2026

Trickification

A milder form of deceptionification, where non‑mainstream practices are explained as “tricks” (magic tricks, sleight of hand, cognitive illusions) rather than outright fraud. Trickification is common in debunking of mentalists, psychics, and alternative healers. While some such phenomena indeed involve tricks, trickification generalizes to all anomalous claims, assuming that any unexplained phenomenon must be a trick. It often ignores the possibility of genuine anomalous experiences or the limits of current science. Critics argue it is a form of rhetorical closure: once you say “trick,” the investigation stops.

Trickification Example: “The magician‑turned‑debunker trickified a psychic reading as ‘cold reading’ without examining the specific claims. He assumed trickery; he never tested his hypothesis.”

Trickification by Abzugal June 5, 2026

Deceptionification

The act of explaining any non‑mainstream belief, practice, or experience as deliberate deception—fraud, charlatanism, lying. Deceptionification is common in debunking communities and anti‑pseudoscience activism. It assumes bad faith: believers are either deceivers or self‑deceived. It rarely considers that people might genuinely hold different worldviews, or that there might be honest disagreement about evidence. Critics argue that deceptionification is a form of intellectual paranoia: it sees fraud everywhere and cannot tolerate cognitive diversity. It also ignores the social and psychological functions of beliefs.

Deceptionification Example: “The skeptic deceptionified the faith healer as ‘a con artist stealing from the vulnerable.’ He never considered that the healer might believe in their own powers, or that patients might find genuine comfort.”

Deceptionification by Abzugal June 5, 2026

Illusionification

The act of explaining away any phenomenon that challenges a materialist or scientistic worldview as “illusion.” Consciousness is an illusion, free will is an illusion, meaning is an illusion, the self is an illusion. Illusionification is common in reductionist neuroscience and some forms of Buddhism (misappropriated). It treats the manifest image of everyday life as systematically deceptive, while claiming that the scientific image is the only true one. Critics argue that illusionification is self‑refuting: if all beliefs are illusions, then the belief in illusionification is also an illusion. It also fails to explain why evolution would have built such systematically false experiences.

Illusionification Example: “The illusionifier declared that ‘consciousness is an illusion.’ When asked who is experiencing the illusion, he had no answer. The claim eats its own tail.”

Illusionification by Abzugal June 5, 2026

Cognitofication

The act of explaining all spiritual, religious, metaphysical, esoteric, mystical, paranormal, or supernatural experiences as products of delusion, psychosis, illusion, or deception. Cognitofication is common in hard‑narrow scientism, neo‑atheist circles, and strong‑restricted debunking communities. It dismisses visions as hallucinations, meditation insights as cognitive bias, and near‑death experiences as anoxia. It rarely engages with the content or meaning of these experiences, instead pathologizing or fraud‑accusing the experiencer. Critics argue it is a form of epistemic arrogance that mistakes its own materialist metaphysics for objective reality.

Cognitofication Example: “He cognitofied her mystical vision as ‘temporal lobe epilepsy’ and ignored the spiritual transformation, the ethical insights, and the cultural tradition that validated the experience. For him, it was just a brain glitch.”

Cognitofication by Abzugal June 5, 2026

Cognification

The reduction of all mental and social phenomena to cognitive processes—information processing, memory, attention, reasoning, problem‑solving. Cognification is common in AI, cognitive science, and some branches of psychology. It treats emotions as appraisals, culture as shared schemas, and society as distributed cognition. While less reductionist than neurofication, cognification still tends to ignore embodied, affective, and material dimensions. It also often assumes a universal model of cognition based on Western educated subjects. Critics call for situated, embodied, and extended approaches.

Cognification Example: “The cognification of love treats it as a set of cognitive appraisals, memory associations, and attachment schemas. It misses the sweaty palms, the butterflies, and the cultural scripts.”

Cognification by Abzugal June 5, 2026

Neurofication

A portmanteau of “neuro” (neuroscience) and “fication” (making into), meaning the reduction of human experience, behavior, and society to brain processes. Neurofication is the program of replacing psychological, social, and cultural explanations with neural ones. It includes neuroeconomics (explaining markets with brain scans), neurolaw (judging responsibility by brain imaging), and neuroeducation (designing teaching based on brain activity). Critics argue that neurofication is a form of reductionist imperialism: it colonizes other disciplines by claiming that only the neural level is “real.” It also ignores that brains develop in bodies, bodies in environments, and environments in history.

Neurofication Example: “The neurofication of criminology led to proposals for brain‑based lie detectors and ‘dangerous mind’ scans. Critics warned that this would target minorities and ignore social causes of crime.”

Neurofication by Abzugal June 5, 2026