Science, scientism or pseudoscience?

Cold case (Malayalam; 2021)

Amazon Prime

We thought science had an answer for all of Man's woes. The recent pandemic just put it in plain sight to us how inadequate we are. With all the latest armamentarium, statistics and cutting-edge biomedical technology at our disposal, one year into the Covid-19, we are still groping in the dark of how to sound the death knell of this near-invisible foe.

Logically, science, with its systematic application of knowledge of the material world, which uses methodical and unbiased analysis, should uncover truths and fundamental laws of the world. There was a time when advances in the sciences helped squash beliefs propagated by religious men and shamans who claim to communicate with the netherworld to find solutions to our problems. We sniggered at them, labelling their sciences as pseudoscience or mumbo-jumbo.

Our belief in science in the 21st century is shaken. All the statistics and data in various rhymes and reasons fail to tackle the root of the problem. It seems that the virus is taking us for a spin and is having the last laugh.

Practitioners of alternatives are starting to suggest that perhaps our excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques, i.e. scientism, needs reassessment. After all, many of the fields which were dismissed as quackery never really disappeared. Telepathy, morphic resonance, synchronicity and even religion had been rejected as they cannot be verified by scientific inquiry. They suggest that we descend from our high horses and give a little credence to this field of so-called pseudosciences.

After all, the wisdom of many ancient Eastern civilisations did not fall from the sky or was infused via ancient alien transmission of technology. All the astronomical calculations, architectural par excellence and seafaring prowess, did not materialise from thin air. Maybe we have to rediscover, remind and relearn the knowledge that our ancestors knew. We need to find the key to that treasure chest, which probably got misplaced in the annals of time when we got too complacent with the pleasures of life.

I thought this movie was very nicely made, albeit its occasional holes in its plots. (Like my daughter would say, “don’t ask too many questions!”) The storytelling and the build-up are slightly different. One crime, but there are two ways the victim and the perpetrators are pinned down.

 
A fisherman nets a black garbage bag from a lake. The police are called in when he finds a human skull in it. The forensic team then determines that it belonged to a young female. Through digital facial reconstruction techniques and intelligent detective work, it is determined that the deceased is a certain Eva Maria.

On the other side of town, a recently divorced TV journalist with a young child moves into a rented house. Her area of work is paranormal activity. She soon notices some unusual occurrences in her new home. Through her guest in one of her previous shows, a seer is summoned. The seer senses the presence of an unsettled soul of a lady yearning to be heard.

Through imaginative storytelling and parallel investigations, the storytellers try to tie the twisted ends to give an intelligent and plausible explanation to the turn of events whilst pinpointing the wrongdoer in the end. The story tells us that science and mystic knowledge should complement one another to solve man's problems, not to be at loggerheads to prove one's superiority over the other. Maybe, just maybe, we should not write off non-science knowledge as mere mumbo jumbo.

scientism
excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques.

morphic resonance
the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species.

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