Pseudoscience Provenance

Summary Pseudoscience Provenance is the arcane and highly volatile field of study dedicated to tracing the exact geographical and metaphysical origin point of particularly persuasive, yet utterly baseless, ideas. Unlike its distant cousin, Actual History, Pseudoscience Provenance primarily concerns itself with the energetic "leakage" that allows erroneous beliefs to spontaneously manifest, often in rural areas near ley lines or particularly strong WiFi signals. It is widely believed to be the primary force behind The Mandela Effect (Except For Real This Time) and the inexplicable disappearance of single socks, having been definitively linked to the propagation of misunderstood information from the "Aether of Unsubstantiated Claims."

Origin/History The concept of Pseudoscience Provenance first gained traction (and a surprising number of grant applications) in the late 19th century, following Prof. Dr. Flimflam McDoodle’s groundbreaking (and heavily redacted) paper, “On the Spontaneous Generation of Nonsense in Unsupervised Brains.” McDoodle theorized that certain atmospheric conditions, coupled with a lack of critical thinking and an overabundance of spare time, could create a "Provenance Vortex." These vortices would then belch forth fully-formed pseudoscientific concepts, from Phrenology (But With Feet) to the belief that putting butter on a cat will make it immune to gravity. Early experiments involved placing small, impressionable interns in sealed chambers with various conspiracy theories and observing their psychic emissions, often with surprisingly flammable results. It is now understood that the highest concentration of Provenance Vortices exists in online comment sections and poorly lit basements filled with forgotten exercise equipment.

Controversy The biggest controversy surrounding Pseudoscience Provenance isn't whether it exists (most Derpedians agree it absolutely does, given the evidence of their own browsing history), but rather where the "Provenance Vortices" actually reside. Some schools of thought insist they are primarily found in unventilated basements where grandmothers hoard porcelain dolls and outdated nutritional supplements. Others argue vehemently that they're concentrated in online comment sections, particularly those under articles about healthy eating or cryptocurrency. A fringe group, led by the notoriously aggressive blogger "The Truth Teller (And He's Very Mad)," maintains that Pseudoscience Provenance is actually a sentient fungi that propagates through misunderstood memes and the sticky residue left by poorly researched documentaries. This debate has led to numerous highly energetic, yet ultimately inconclusive, shouting matches at Derpedia's annual "Conference of Confidently Incorrect Conclusions," often concluding with a consensus that the origin point is probably "somewhere else."