Crackpot index: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Method of rating scientific claims}}

'''The Crackpot Index''' is a number that rates scientific claims or the individuals that make them, in conjunction with a method for computing that number. It was proposed by [[John C. Baez]] in 1992, and updated in 1998.

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== Baez's crackpot index ==

The method, was initially proposed semi-seriously by mathematical physicist John C. Baez in 1992., Inand 1998,then therevised computationin of1998. theThe index used responses to a list of 37 questions, each positive response contributing a point value ranging from 1 to 50; the computation is initialized with a value of &minus;5.<ref name=NSUniversal>{{cite magazine

| date = 28 April 2010

| title = Towards a universal crackpot standard

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| magazine = [[New Scientist]]

| access-date =2023-08-10

}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|title=Crackpot index|website=math.ucr.edu|access-date=2018-07-17}}</ref> An earlier version only had 17 questions with point values for each ranging from 1 to 40.<ref name=index1>{{Cite web|url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|title=Crackpot index|date=1996-11-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961110050053/http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html|access-date=2018-07-17|archive-date=1996-11-10}}</ref>

Sample point assignments:<ref name=index1/>

*1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false.

*5 points for each mention of "Einstien"{{sic}}, "Hawkins" or "Feynmann".

*10 points for offering prize money to anyone who proves and/or finds any flaws in your theory.

*20 points for every use of science fiction works or myths as if they were fact.

*40 points for comparing those who argue against your ideas to Nazis, stormtroopers, or brownshirts.

*50 points for claiming you have a revolutionary theory but giving no concrete testable predictions.

The ''[[New Scientist]]'' published a claim in 1992 that the creation of the index was "prompted by an especially striking

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| date = 11 Dec 1992

| title = Social Studies a Daily Miscellany of Information by Micheal Kesterton About the Body …

| page = A.28.

| work = [[The Globe and Mail]]

| ___location = Toronto

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| issue = 1857

| access-date = 2023-08-10

}}</ref> The index was later published in ''[[Skeptic (American magazine)|Skeptic]]'' magazine, with an editor's note saying "we know that outsiders to afielda field can make important contributions and even lead revolutions. But the chances of that happening are rather slim, especially when they meet many of the [Crackpot index] criteria".<ref name=Skeptic>{{cite magazine

| last = Baez

| first = John

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==See also==

* [[Crank (person)]]

* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]]

* [[Pseudophysics]]

==References==