The potential harm that pseudoscientific thinking can have on our society should not be underestimated. Science is the best tool we have for understanding the world we inhabit, and to reject it in favor of a mentality in which “elite” scientists hold a monopoly on knowledge and exist in opposition to the public is to rely instead on personal bias, emotion, and misinformation. This is a worldview that gives rise to belief systems such as climate change denial and anti-vaccination. These are not just philosophical problems- they are impacting the real world, as governments refuse to enact environmental protections and outbreaks of measles spread. We have to do something more to combat them.
Pseudoarchaeology in particular is concerning because it deals with alternate interpretations of the past. Accurately understanding the human past is necessary in order to give context to the issues faced by modern society. By contrast, pseudoarchaeology attempts to find evidence to promote a particular distorted view of history. For instance, fascists often promote a romanticized image of the past as a better state of existence that we should return to. The idea of a “lost continent” from which advanced civilization emerged is the most extreme version of this concept. However, it is not only the most ardent nationalist pseudoarchaeology that has problematic implications.
People who believe that “ancient aliens” built ancient works such as the pyramids or the Moai of Easter Island are belittling the capabilities of people who inhabited different places in time and space from them. They assume that the people of the past were not as sophisticated and intelligent as the people of today, and are trying to find an alternate explanation rather than acknowledge that their expectations might be wrong. Furthermore, it is hardly a coincidence that monuments built by non-white, non-Western civilizations attract the most skepticism of this kind. This racist dismissal of indigenous cultures echoes the historic belief of Europeans that the ruins at Great Zimbabwe could not have been built by Africans.
Pseudoarchaeological claims might seem harmless, but it’s important to recognize the tactics that their proponents use in order to sway public opinion. Not only are these beliefs themselves harmful to our society, they are just one category of misinformation that the media presents to the public as scientifically valid. People should be taught to tell the difference between science and pseudoscience so that they can evaluate these claims as they come.
