Generally, the hard to detect effects that those scientists research are not ones which
-- have been enthusiastically promoted by nonscientists
-- conflict with basic scientific principles that are well-studied and well-understood (often the proponents don't even understand that what they are suggesting conflicts with such principles)
-- have been well-studied themselves and already found to be false
-- conflict with basic scientific principles that are well-studied and well-understood (often the proponents don't even understand that what they are suggesting conflicts with such principles)
Given the Fermi paradox the existence of aliens doesn't violate scientific principles. Yet aliens are outside of what you can study scientifically.
-- have been well-studied themselves and already found to be false
When it comes to that class we don't really talk about judging them "prior to empirical investigation".
-- have been enthusiastically promoted by nonscientists
It looks like it. It's about status.
It would be a powerful tool to be able to dismiss fringe phenomena, prior to empirical investigation, on firm epistemological ground.
Thus I have elaborated on the possibility of doing so using Bayes, and this is my result:
Using Bayes to dismiss fringe phenomena
What do you think of it?