RationalWiki vs Wikipedia

Alcohol is a colorless volatile liquid formed by the fermentation of sugars which has an intoxicating effect on certain carbon-based life forms, according to the Encyclopedia Galactica.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. It says that the effect of drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.

- Hitchhiker Wiki: Alcohol

Skillnaden mellan den korrekta, om något torra, Encyclopedia Galactica och den lika korrekta men, låt oss säga, lite mer avslappnade Liftarens Guide påminner inte så lite om skillnaden mellan Wikipedia och RationalWiki.

Jämför till exempel vad de två uppslagsverkssajterna inledningsvis har att säga om ämnet kreationism:

Creationism is the religious belief that the Universe and life originated "from specific acts of divine creation." For young Earth creationists, this includes a biblical literalist interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative and the rejection of the scientific theory of evolution. As the history of evolutionary thought developed from the 18th century on, various views aimed at reconciling the Abrahamic religions and Genesis with biology and other sciences developed in Western culture.

- Wikipedia: Creationism

"Several thousand years ago, a small tribe of ignorant near-savages wrote various collections of myths, wild tales, lies, and gibberish. Over the centuries, the stories were embroidered, garbled, mutilated, and torn into small pieces that were then repeatedly shuffled. Finally, this material was badly translated into several languages successively. The resultant text, creationists feel, is the best guide to this complex and technical subject." – Science Made Stupid (1985)

- RationalWiki: Creationism

RationalWiki har tagit som sin uppgift att upplysa om pseudovetenskap och anti-vetenskaplighet av alla de slag. Så långt är det inte mer än en delmängd av Wikipedia. Men man gör det med ett muntert no-nonsense anslag som stundtals får den generella encyklopedin att framstå lika underhållande som en formelsamling. RationalWiki är tillräckligt korrekt och uppdaterad, men kan dessutom läsas för nöjes skull; jag höll på att skriva "enbart för nöjes skull", om det inte var så att man omöjligt kan läsa informativa texter (som det verkligen är frågan om) utan att få i sig ett och annat spår av lärdom.

Några exempel till:

The Loch Ness Monster is a being in folklore that reputedly inhabits Loch Ness, a lake in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next, with most describing it as large. Popular interest and belief in the creature's existence has varied since it was first brought to the world's attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings.

- Wikipedia: Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster (nicknamed "Nessie") is a shy vermiform beast supposedly roaming the murky depths of Scotland's Loch Ness, making the odd teasing surface appearance only to shaky-handed photographers with poorly-focussed cameras. Hoax photographers and others of limited vision tend to cast the dreadful Orm as a plesiosaur, making it more attractive to a juvenile audience (leaving aside the fact that plesiosaurs were physically incapable of holding their neck in the manner depicted).

- RationalWiki: Loch Ness Monster

Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events.

- Wikipedia: Astrology

Astrology is the mass cultural delusion that the apparent position of the sun and planets relative to arbitrarily defined "star signs" at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality.

- RationalWiki: Astrology

RationalWiki ägnar sig inte bara åt "klassisk skepticism".

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, politician, television personality, and candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election.

- Wikipedia: Donald Trump

Donald J. Trump (b. 1946) aka The Donald® is a heel wrestling personality, lifestyle enthusiast, and owner of one of the worst comb-overs in history.

- RationalWiki: Donald Trump

Den här måste ju också med:

In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which the hydroxyl functional group (–OH) is bound to a saturated carbon atom. The term alcohol originally referred to the primary alcohol ethanol (ethyl alcohol), the predominant alcohol in alcoholic beverages.

- Wikipedia: Alcohol

Alcohol is a substance found in many of the drinks that many editors of RationalWiki imbibe in order to stimulate their creativity.

- RationalWiki: Alcohol

Den enda risken med att tipsa om RationalWiki är att man lätt fastnar. Det gällde t.ex. underteckand när han skulle leta reda på exemplen ovan. Lärdomen är att man inte ska vara rädd för en humoristisk touch även när allvarliga ämnen avhandlas, så länge man inte gör det mycket vanliga felet att ta humor för brist på allvar.