Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2020

46 MARCH-APRIL 2020 OUR EXPERIENCES astrology are clear examples of the interference of pseudo-sciences. The web offers equal opportuni- ties in the online forums of publica- tions of astronomi- cal observatories and to companies that follow pseudo- scientific principles. Some companies, to the detriment of science, handle the direct approach, “hook,” and lack of scientific sup- port very well. They attempt only the most basic level of understanding in order to reach an audience, then provide no higher level. Legitimate institu- tions and associations must use their prestige in each publication to dis- tinguish themselves from pseudo- sciences, weighing scope, level, pur- lutes the work of the scientific pop- ularizer, calling them into question in a hasty manner. This requires the popularizer to have to then have a certain temperance and respect to be able to defend positions and sci- entific rigor. The flat-Earth idea and provides an independence from the reasoning behind the presentation of a scientific method or any con- text that distorts the message. The search for a “click” via a “hook” in- volves hyperbolic statements that can be far from reality in the pres- entation titles and, in the best of cases, are nuanced and inserted in the context of the development of the article. As an example, “an as- teroid the size of ‘n’ soccer fields threatens or grazes the Earth every five days.” This message is the typi- cal hook in which we later under- stand that “grazing” means a passage of interplanetary distances of several million kilometers (or miles) and that asteroids the size of “n” soccer fields are more common than most people know, regardless of if they’re a danger to Earth. Progress offered by the web clearly has some negative points − both on the parts of the communicators and the public, previously unthinkable situations have arisen. We talk about pseudo-sciences that fight for their part of visibility and the figure of the “troll” of the network that pol-