Google, Google on the wall ...

In a recent post on Green Chameleon, Patrick Lambe posed the question:

"Google, Google on the wall ... Who's the Guru-est of them all?"

Well, Google as the 21st century magic mirror seems an apt simile - and you'd need a magic mirror to identify the guru-est guru. Peter Drucker, who resented being called a guru, once remarked that:

"I have been saying for many years that we are using the word ‘guru’ only because ‘charlatan’ is too long to fit into a headline."

Should I free-associate on the word "guru", the first word that would come to mind would be "bullshitter". I have to concede, however, that many to whom the term may be applied, would prefer it not te be and may in fact be legitimate experts in a legitimate fields of expertise.

In the context of this blog, I'm more concerned with quackery than gurury (no, I don't think such a word exists, I've just made it up). So ...

"Google, Google on the wall ... What's the Quack-est of them all?"

Let's consider only controversial techniques/approaches/devices that featured in this blog the past year.

First, just off the top of my head, the criteria I would use to label something quackery:

A lack of scientific plausibility

The misapplication of popularised science, i.e. quantum physics, hemispheric asymmetry

Promoted through hyperbole and quacking (if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck)

Appeal to false authority - the authority of the original contriver has to be accepted, even though he or she has no specialised knowledge of the putative underlying science

A granfalloon - have established a meaningless structure, preying on the greed and gullibility of significant numbers of its own "consultants" and on the desperateness and gullibility of its clients

The candidates are:

Brain Gym

Genetic Brain Profiling

Human Pin Code

Bio-Strath (for ADHD)

Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface, or SCIO/QXCI

The number of hits on Google, the modern magic mirror, suggested the quackest quackery. It was done by googling the name of the approach, combined with the label "quack". No, I don't claim this to be research and certainly not science.

The quackest of them all according to Google is Brain Gym (539 hits), followed by the first princess, the Quantum Xrroid Consciousness Interface - SCIO/QXCI (207 hits). Google has spoken.