Michael Shermer is one of the most well-known skeptics in America, working for decades to advance the scientific outlook in society. (...)
A great guy, that has shown remarkable plasticity over the years, as witnessed by leaving behind his Xian evangelism, and becoming an atheist (though he usually sticks to agnostic which tends to make fewer waves in his milieu), and by accepting the evidence for climate change somewhere in 2006. All that's left is to apply his skepticism seriously to the Invisible Hand, which may take a little more time.
Also check out the video he made recently with the RDF:
"The Baloney Detection Kit" (as mentioned in Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark)
The dumb seem to have a lot of trouble seeing the overwhelming evidence of intelligent design. But I do understand how they would think that the universe came into existence from nothing, the Earth became habitable from a fireball, and thousands of life forms came into existence from light, dirt and water all just by dumb luck. It makes perfectly logical sense.
Michael Shermer is one of the most well-known skeptics in America, working for decades to advance the scientific outlook in society. He is a contributing editor and monthly columnist for Scientific American, and is the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Lecture Series at Caltech. Since his founding of the Skeptics Society in Southern California and Skeptic magazine, he has appeared widely on TV and radio on shows such as 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, Oprah, Unsolved Mysteries, and many more. He is the author of many books, including Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown, and Why People Believe Weird Things. His most recent book is The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics.
In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Michael Shermer discusses skepticism and its possible relationship to libertarianism. He argues that what some organizations define as "humanism" are actually positions that have nothing to do with humanism, but with Marxism and social democracy. He talks about why he has begun speaking out more about libertarianism as a leader in the skeptical movement.
Location: Still in the tunnel, looking for the light. Gender:
Posted:
Jan 19, 2009 - 3:29pm
justin_thyme wrote:
What winter said, squared. We're our own EVOLVED "miracles," not products of some sentient supernatural graybearded entity.
I would have thought that should she exist, she may not sport the old grey beard.
Could be wrong though, should, as I say, she exists. That's not to say that should she does exist she may not to choose to sport a fine flowing beard. Or indeed a neat goatee'n'ponytail combo.
To you and the missus. Hope you and yours are well.
