Tag Archives: Skepticism
“We are a thinking species”: Carl Sagan on creationism, skepticism, and why science is the birthright of everyone
In 1981, Carl Sagan — astronomer and science educator par excellence — was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association, and delivered his acceptance speech at the association’s annual conference in San Diego. The AHA has now … Continue reading
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Savage humanism, cont’d
Adam Savage’s outstanding speech at last weekend’s Reason Rally in Washington DC: Transcript here. My previous post on Savage and the skeptical spirit of Mythbusters here. (via Twitter)
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On being wrong, cont’d: “It feels like being right”
Kathryn Schulz talks about being open to the possibility of being wrong: Schulz has some really good insights here, I think, particularly about a couple of things. First, our fear of being wrong is closely tied to our fear that … Continue reading
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“Every mystery ever solved has turned out to be NOT MAGIC.”
Hot off the presses, here’s DC Turner’s short animated film of Tim Minchin’s celebrated beat poem “Storm”: (Update: Interviews with Minchin and the filmmakers here and here.) Very well done, I think, though I prefer Minchin’s live delivery (which you … Continue reading
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Captain Sagan battles pseudoscience!
Graphic artist Michael Lester at the blog Ninjerktsu has a brilliant take on Carl Sagan and his “Spaceship of the Imagination” from the series Cosmos (click on the images for the full storyboard and dialogue): Astrology is really too easy … Continue reading
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Science is real, cont’d: Ben Goldacre on bad science
Ben Goldacre — author of the Guardian’s weekly “Bad Science” columns and the book of the same title — speaks on the dangers of pseudoscience, badly devised tests and surveys, and the very real and deadly effect bad science can … Continue reading
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Freedom from the gods: the legacy of Athens
In an article for City Journal, philosopher André Glucksmann examines ancient Greek conceptions of freedom and explores the difference between epic freedom (“the assumption of a cosmic mastery” whose goal is “the progressive emancipation of man”) and tragic freedom (which … Continue reading
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“Consider Humanism”
I’d always admired the British Humanist Association’s recent PR campaign — which famously put ads on buses that read “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” — and wondered if anything like that could ever take … Continue reading
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Half-baked ideas
I’m rereading Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth with my daughter and rediscovering what a delight it is. The whimsy and wordplay just get better with time, as the reader returns to the story armed with more vocabulary and experience; and … Continue reading
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