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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 12/05/2003 : 10:51:52
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Just a couple of things I've found in the last hour or so...
Firstly, Chris Mooney's latest "Doubt and About" is "Abuses of Skepticism." A good reminder for everyone.
Secondly, in James Randi's Commentary today, he says,quote:
I'll report on the state of skepticism in Finland and Sweden, next week....
I don't know where in Sweden he is, but thought it would make a nice heads-up for Dr. Mabuse, since it sounds like Randi will be somewhere "nearby," at least on Saturday (December 6th). 
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- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Maglev
Skeptic Friend
Canada
65 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2003 : 13:07:45 [Permalink]
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Thanks for links Dave :)
As a follow-up to Mooney's article, you may wish to check out Michael Fumento's recent article on biotech's advancements in anti-aging research (lots of links to follow):
http://www.fumento.com/biotech/longevity.html
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Maglev
"The awe it inspired in me made the awe that people talk about in respect of religious experience seem, frankly, silly beside it. I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day."
--Douglas Adams, on evolutionary biology. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2003 : 22:51:46 [Permalink]
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quote:
DaveW:
Firstly, Chris Mooney's latest "Doubt and About" is " Abuses of Skepticism ." A good reminder for everyone.
This reminds me of Carl Sagan's warning from my favorite essay of his, "The Burden of Skepticism"
quote:
Carl Sagan:
If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) But every now and then, maybe once in a hundred cases, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress.
On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the useful as from the worthless ones. If all ideas have equal validity then you are lost, because then, it seems to me, no ideas have any validity at all.
Some ideas are better than others. The machinery for distinguishing them is an essential tool in dealing with the world and especially in dealing with the future. And it is precisely the mix of these two modes of thought that is central to the success of science.
If you have not read "The Burden of Skepticism" here is a link to the essay:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/sagskept2.html
Enjoy... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2003 : 14:46:49 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Just a couple of things I've found in the last hour or so...
I don't know where in Sweden he is, but thought it would make a nice heads-up for Dr. Mabuse, since it sounds like Randi will be somewhere "nearby," at least on Saturday (December 6th).
GAAHHHH! Just missed it... It's 22:44 in the evening and "somewhere nearby" has probably closed already. Besides, I've spiked my coffee with too much Amaretto to drive my car anywhere.
Especially since there's a fresh layer of snow and ice on the roads.
Thanks for the heads-up anyway!
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
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Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 12/06/2003 14:49:02 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 12/07/2003 : 19:47:47 [Permalink]
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| Sorry, Dr. Mabuse, but James Randi didn't give people a lot of warning, either. It was in his Friday commentary that he'd be back in the U.S. on Sunday. Heck, for all I know, he went to Sweden first, but listed it and Finland in alphabetical instead of chronological order. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2003 : 01:00:31 [Permalink]
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Well, James Randi's promise to tell us about the "state of skepticism" in Finland and Sweden did not pan out. He pretty much just told us about his trip. As far as Sweden went, Dr. Mabuse, he mostly had this to say,quote:
At the end of the week, I hopped over to Stockholm and spoke at the Royal Institution auditorium to another full house.
No details, and not much of true interest. I am very disappointed. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Sea Sorbust
Skeptic Friend
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 12/15/2003 : 10:31:39 [Permalink]
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Sagan: "There is a woman in the State of Washington who claims to make contact with a 35,000-year-old somebody, "Ramtha"-she, by the way, speaks English very well with what sounds to me to be an Indian accent."
Yuk! Yuk!! Yorkle! Yorkle!! "...a 35,000-year-old somebody...[who] speaks English very well with...an Indian accent." Yuk! Yuk!! Yorkle! Yorkle!!  "With an Indian accent!" Yuk!
Sagan writes near the end of his paper:
quote:
If science were explained to the average person in a way that is accessible and exciting, there would be no room for pseudoscience. But there is a kind of Gresham's Law by which in popular culture the bad science drives out the good. And for this I think we have to blame, first, the scientific community ourselves for not doing a better job of popularizing science, and second, the media, which are in this respect almost uniformly dreadful. Every newspaper in America has a daily astrology column. How many have even a weekly astronomy column? And I believe it is also the fault of the educational system. We do not teach how to think. This is a very serious failure that may even, in a world rigged with 60,000 nuclear weapons, compromise the human future.
Extract: "And I believe it is also the fault of the educational system. We do not teach how to think."
Think that Sagan is shortchanging the truth with "We do not teach how to think." A slight rearrangement of the sentence's words gives a much better insight.We teach how not to think. Or, even better:We teach how to not-think." [ irony on ] Well, fortunately, we don't spend much on education. [ irony off ]
Kil, am usually intolerant of lengthy discourse but Sagan's theme is one that I'm very glad to have read. Thanks!
Randi's blurb may have been made from a viewpoint that makes my following comment silly but I disagree with some of his thesis: Skepticism is not symmetric. For example, not many years ago "global warming" was nearly universally poo-poo'ed. Only the "crazies" or anti-industrialists were supposed to favor the theory. Yet, even without mathematical or computer models, which didn't exist then, pure and careful reasoning coupled with a sufficient knowledge of physics led to the "global warming" conclusion. Skepticism about something virtually all of scientific opinion poo-poo'd paid in the long run. Truth has finally prevailed.
I agree with Randi that once science begins to study a hypothesis and the preponderance of the evidence indicates that the hypothesis is essentially correct, it is time for skepticism to redirect itself.
Nice article, Randi's. Thanks for the link, Gentleman Dave.
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"This is the forest primeval...."  |
| Edited by - Sea Sorbust on 12/15/2003 10:50:09 |
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