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Pseudoscience in the State Duma

The debate about pseudoscience has expanded beyond the scientific community. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, pseudoscience has entered public politics. One State Duma deputy calls the Commission on Pseudoscience of the Russian Academy of Sciences obscurantists and inquisitors, another proposes to bring its existence up for discussion in the State Duma...

An open letter to State Duma deputy V.S. Seleznev

Dear Mr. Seleznev!

The question of the activities of the Commission on Pseudoscience in the Russian Academy of Sciences, which you intend to discuss in the State Duma, seems to me extremely important. Both I and my colleagues at the Academy are very interested in ensuring that such a discussion takes place, is absolutely transparent and properly covered in the media. Because this is essentially a question of our society’s trust in the Academy of Sciences.

But before this discussion takes place, I would like to clarify a few things. You suggest that the activities of the Commission on Pseudoscience may be motivated by some kind of selfish interests. This is in no way possible, because the commission functions exclusively on a voluntary basis. Created on the initiative of Nobel laureate V.L. Ginsburg, it unites noble idealists who selflessly serve society. I am not afraid to use these words, since I myself am not a member of this commission and observe its activities from the outside. Any professional scientist is deeply disgusted by pseudoscience, but not everyone is so selfless as to find the strength and time to actively fight it.

You are surprised by the fact that during its existence the commission has issued a thousand negative reviews and not a single positive one. There is nothing surprising in this. The fact is that the Commission on Pseudoscience is not the first authority for evaluating scientific projects sent to the RAS. Projects undergo preliminary consideration by the RAS staff, and only obviously absurd ones, in which elementary scientific truths are denied, are sent to the commission. Therefore, the Commission on Pseudoscience plays for the most part the role of a forensic doctor, giving an official conclusion on the death of a particular subject.

The Commission on Pseudoscience at the Russian Academy of Sciences performs a vital public function. Pseudoscience is not a harmless social phenomenon. If you don’t fight back, it turns into a black hole where huge amounts of money from the state budget go. Suffice it to recall the so-called torsion generators, the launch of the notorious gravity gun into space, or the dispersal of clouds over Moscow using a Chizhevsky lamp. In addition, pseudoscientists are not always eccentrics far from life. The most successful of them are very aggressive and cunning people who establish connections in the highest echelons of power. Here we cannot fail to mention the scandalous collaboration of adventurer V.I. Petrik with Speaker of the State Duma B.V. Gryzlov. Since pseudoscience is easily vulnerable to scientific examination, pseudoscientists use all sorts of administrative levers to stifle scientific criticism, which does not in any way contribute to the development of democracy in the country. In addition, by fighting with elementary common sense, they poison the atmosphere in society, which is already fairly poisoned by all kinds of psychics, telepaths and sorcerers. Before calling for consideration of the feasibility of the existence of a Commission on Pseudoscience at the Russian Academy of Sciences, think about the fact that pseudoscience replaces rational activity with fiction, provokes corruption, slows down modernization and undermines the country’s defense potential.

If the expert opinion of the commission created by the Russian Academy of Sciences does not inspire confidence in you, I suggest conducting the following experiment. Take a list of the top two hundred universities in the world and select three universities from that list. Select the project that you consider unfairly rejected and send them this project for examination. I have no doubt that the request sent on behalf of the Russian Parliament will be considered most carefully. When such an experiment is carried out, it will be possible to begin hearings on this issue in the State Duma. Let me emphasize once again that we, representatives of the scientific community, consider a professional and qualified discussion of the problem of pseudoscience to be highly desirable.

Yours sincerely,
Academician RAN
V.E. Zakharov

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