Ten Characteristics of NotScience - Summary
 There are so many elements of NotScience it is difficult to provide a generalization that covers all aspects.  Below are some of the more important characteristics, and you can see how they contrast with science, PseudoScience and BiasScience.
  1. NotScience beliefs, attributes and activities are concerned with all aspects of the human experience EXCEPT the specific processes and findings of science.  However, NotScience beliefs are critical to Science because they control how and why scientific knowledge is acquired and dictate how that knowledge is interpreted and used.

    Strong beliefs and biases should never influence the collection and interpretation of evidence.  It is difficult to suppress bias and beliefs, so that is why blinded studies are very important where possible. 

  2. NotScience knowledge involves discovering and creating an understanding of the interaction of humans with each other, with all other elements of the natural world and with spiritual realms.
  3. NotScience beliefs and interpretations of the world are Subjective (a person's perception of reality).  However, the methods of science are employed to accumulate Objective knowledge which is then used to support and justify NotScience beliefs.

    Ideally, Science and NotScience function in a symbiotic relationship -- NotScience beleifs and ethics guide the scientists and provide a moral foundation for the interpretation and application of scientific knowledge while accurate, factual, morally neutral scientific knowledge provides the foundation on which the physical components of human civilization are built.

  4. As far as anyone can reliably demonstrate, the natural world can only be observed, measured and tested using our 5 basic senses (and tools that can extend them), and this information also contributes to our NotScience understanding of the world.  Much of NotScience, though, involves personal, internal reactions to events happening within the natural world - belief, disbelief; happy, sad; fearful, confident; moral and artistic feelings and judgments.  These reactions cannot be judged by the methods of science.  Similarly, the validity of any spiritual beliefs cannot be judged (or tested) by the methods of science.
  5. It is difficult to make generalization about the Transparency of NotScience beliefs and activities since the category covers so many disparate areas of human activity and belief.  Most NotScience assumes the consistency and predictability of nature (or the spiritual realm), however.  Similarly, the concept of reproducibility of results, as use in the description of Science, does not apply to NotScience.
  6. NotScience is a Human Endeavor - Consequently:
    • NotScientists beliefs and activities are afflicted with human eccentricities.
    • NotScience is often messy.
    • All sorts of evidence - some scientific and some not - is used to support the various beliefs and activities within the NotScience realm.
  7. It is impossible to describe Consensus within the NotScience realm.  However, typically individual groups like those with specific political, religious, artistic, philosophical, etc. beliefs and goals will have a Consensus of beliefs within the group.
  8. In the realm of NotScience, belief in the permanence of knowledge, and the manner it might be subject to change, is extremely variable and depends exclusively on the group.  Some beliefs constantly change (like many artistic endeavors), some have beliefs that are a bit more fixed (like law and politics), and some are relatively unchanging (like many religions).
  9. Specific moral beliefs are a central component of (and define) many NotScience endeavors.
  10. The complexity of beliefs about the working of the natural and spiritual realms varies with the NotScience endeavor, and consequently no generalizations can be made.