Anti-Pseudoscience Defaultism

The assumption that the default position on any claim that is not rigorously proven by mainstream science is to dismiss it as “pseudoscience” until proven otherwise. Unlike healthy skepticism, which proportionates belief to evidence, defaultism treats anything outside current scientific consensus as automatically suspect—often regardless of the claim’s plausibility or the harm of being wrong. It reverses the burden of proof even for low‑stakes, non‑harmful beliefs (e.g., spiritual practices, traditional crafts). Defaultism is a cognitive shortcut that avoids the work of genuine inquiry, and it often masks a covert materialism or scientism as neutral reason.

Anti-Pseudoscience Defaultism Example: “He dismissed the indigenous ecological practice as ‘pseudoscience’ without ever asking if it worked—anti‑pseudoscience defaultism, assuming that anything not peer‑reviewed is automatically false.”

Anti-Pseudoscience Defaultism by Abzugal May 5, 2026