Critical Thinking Archives • Page 59 of 84 • Skeptical Science

Last Day for planet earth? … Nope.

March 19, 2017December 20, 2012 by Dave

Given the date today, it is perhaps time to repost an article I wrote about two years ago. When it comes to the year 2012, our current culture appears to have picked up a bit of silly doomsday baggage. The fact that this has happened is no surprise, because we have a thriving industry focused … Read more

Witchcraft and magic cures

March 6, 2018December 3, 2012 by Dave

Being critical of daft ideas matters … it really does. Every now and then somebody who is stupid enough to believe gets into a position of power where they then proceed to do real harm on an almost industrial scale. I have an example for you, Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh truly believes that witchcraft is real, as reported … Read more

A bit of fun …Messing about with Gravity

September 16, 2012 by Dave

There exists a very strange place on planet earth, so weird that gravity as we know it does not appear to work as we expect.

Here is a clip by well-known skeptic, Brian Dunning, illustrating this weird anomaly. It is located within Death Valley deep inside one of the hidden canyons (Mosaic Canyon) and caught my attention because I was in that exact spot a couple of months ago myself and was quite amazed by it. Anyway, here is Brian explaining …

OK, so what is going on here, is this credible or is there something else happening? Does gravity really behave like this?

Why do some reject Science?

September 22, 2019September 7, 2012 by Dave

Within a scientific context we know specific things to be true, not because they are the current fad or preference, but rather because that is where the data has led us. If new surprising data arrives that leads us to a different conclusion, then that is where we go. If however you reject the process, … Read more

Fallacy Zoo: The March of the Straw men

December 9, 2016September 1, 2012 by Dave

The deployment of straw men is often used to craft the illusion of a strong argument. The metaphor is one in which your opponent will surreptitiously substitute your actual argument for a weak passive dummy and then rapidly demolish it. It conjurers up images of assault troops marching out to do battle against a field … Read more

Fallacy Zoo – Appeal To Authority

May 31, 2020August 27, 2012 by Dave

News24 is a well-known vector for daft claims, perhaps because much of what you get there is user generated and has not been filtered. I came across an article by a chap called Kevin King that is a great example of an appeal to authority. What is that? OK, quick basic summary Person, book, etc… … Read more