Fringe Theories - Fringe Science

Fringe Science

The term is not well defined, and ranges from valid, but non mainstream, science to wild ad hoc theories and "New Age mumbo jumbo", with the dominance of the latter resulting in the tendency to dismiss all fringe science as the domain of pseudoscientists, hobbyists, or quacks. Other terms used for the portions of fringe science that lack scientific integrity are pathological science, voodoo science, and cargo cult science. Junk science is a term typically used in the political arena to describe ideas that protagonists erroneously, dubiously, or even fraudulently, claim have scientific backing.

On the other hand, the theory of continental drift has moved from being a contested, fringe theory in geology, to becoming very widely accepted in the form of the theory of plate tectonics - one of the outstanding scientific successes of the 20th Century and the main current theory in Earth Sciences regarding the development of our planet Earth.

Fringe scientific theories tend to involve original ideas, the validity of which is still uncertain. Consequently they may be controversial and even contentious. They may represent possible future breakthroughs, or they could fade into obscurity. Demarcations are often difficult to place, especially when there are several conceptual theories or candidate solutions that are competing for acceptance. Very often these theories are incomplete working models, so it can be difficult to test them. Thus the validity of these can be uncertain: they cannot be proven or disproven. Acceptance of such theories is a matter of personal belief, hence contention. For example, the Grand unification theory, the Theory of everything, and M-theory meet the definition of fringe science as they are of uncertain validity, yet are taken seriously by many in their fields.