Atheists are often accused of not being nice, for a variety of reasons. One is, we have no outside moral guidance such as scripture, so we obviously have no morals – like morality is this unintuitive concept (hey, some people assume you are as godawful stupid as they are.) Mostly, however, it’s from the idea that we don’t let people slide on concepts like special pleading, arguments
Category: Critical Thinking
It’s a head-scratcher
Richard Wiseman is very fond of conducting psychological research on his blog, and I have to appreciate his latest. He asks, very simply, that if you had the power to make a child either smart or pleasant (but not both,) which would you choose? I’m going to examine this a little after the jump, so if you prefer to participate unbiased by my thoughts, go there now before proceeding.
Now this is proof
I’ve had discussions about evidence with a lot of people, mostly in the effort to establish to them that what they were relying on as their own “proof” was questionable at best – more often simply wishful thinking. Confirmation bias is perhaps the worst trait that humans have, allowing us to assure ourselves that we’re right, without all the hassle of actually establishing
Shhhh! TV…
I know it’s short notice, but I just found out about it myself, courtesy of The Manatee. If you get Discovery Channel, there is a new show premiering tonight right after Mythbusters, going by the pseudonym of Penn & Teller Tell A Lie, and it sounds like it should be pretty cool. I’ll be recording it, so if you miss it, come on by and bring popcorn.
But not beer…
See?
Cultural blind spot
People who pride themselves on skepticism and critical thinking sometimes get accused of being as guilty as anyone else of bias, and of favoring their existing viewpoint when examining the facts, with arguments such as, “atheism requires just as much faith as religion.” Such accusations are occasionally true (not as often as they’re used, mind you.) Being totally open-minded
In the interests of balance
Part of adopting a critical-thinking cap is being willing to look at all sides of an issue, and seriously consider the arguments counter to the views you hold. Anyone who’s poked around on this blog long enough knows that I have an interest in evolution, so I feel obligated to feature Bobbie-The-Jean’s post of 50
Apply directly to forehead
Philosophy is a very curious thing, and I’ve been working out my feelings towards it for the past couple of years now. What I think I’ve finally settled on is that it has its uses, but about 10% of what it is usually given credit for.
Most agree that it was born in Greece a few millennia ago – or at least, that this was the period in time that it was structured and recorded. If
From within or without?
I had mentioned working on some 80s lyrics quizzes a few posts back, and this little exercise sparked the recognition of some interesting aspects of our thought processes, and how they are often misinterpreted. It’s examples like this that I hope can demonstrate the difference between “spiritual guidance” and meaningless neural activity.
First, in case someone is wondering what
Book review: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Yes, you might have noticed that I haven’t been concentrating on new publications, and this is for two reasons. One is that I haven’t been reading very much in the way of new publications, and the second is, I’m recommending books that I think people should read ;-)
Douglas Adams is best known for the Hitchhiker’s Guide series, which is very entertaining but has several
Does science lead to atheism?
Update September 2012 – This was one of the sample posts chosen for the podcasting experiment click below to listen, if you like (it is identical to the text):
Walkabout podcast – Does science lead to atheism?
The title question is actually an interesting one it is hard for me to say how many people ask it, or assume to already know the answer. It bears some examination