Critical Thinking

New Skeptics Dictionary – Just for Kids … cool.

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The Skeptic’s Dictionary is a fabulous collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays written by a really smart chap called Bob Carroll. He has published it all on his website, skepdic.com, and also made it available as a book. If you have never seen it, then you really should go check it out, I highly recommend it. The site itself started in 1994, but it was not until 2003 that the book came out. Is it popular? Well, according to the back cover of the book, the on-line version receives approximately 500,000 hits per month, so he must be doing something right.

So what is it all about? Basically he tackles all flavors of woo including: alternative medicine, cryptozoology, UFOs,  new age beliefs, the paranormal,  the supernatural, etc… Is this another of those “balanced” works that present all views? Thankfully no, instead he opts for truth and rips into all the silly claims (quite right too).

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JREF on ABC’s Primetime Nightline, Weds. 10pm / 9pm Central

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I’ve cut and pasted the following article written by Sadie Crabtree  from here …

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Wednesday night at 10:00pm (9:00pm Central), ABC’s Primetime Nightline will air a one-hour special on psychic abilities.

James Randi, along with JREF President D.J. Grothe, JREF’s Million Dollar Challenge Director Banachek, and advisor Jamy Ian Swiss, worked with Nightline producers on two of the segments and participated in three days of taping, including the JREF’s first-ever open Million Dollar Challenge event where hundreds of New York City psychics were invited to take our tests.

Watch ABC’s 30-second teaser for the show here, click “Read More” for behind-the-scenes photos, and make sure to watch Wednesday night!

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Fraudlent Islamic Claim – Professor Kroner confirms Qu’ran is scientific

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kroner

kronerThere exists a modern claim that the Qu’ran contains verses that describe things known only to modern science, but since it was all written 1400 years ago when such things were unknown then “Allah did it”. Challenge this and ask for the best example and you usually are given a poetical phrase which has been quote-mined and twisted out of context to enable some modern thinking to be retro fitted in.

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Atheism Debunked by Muslims – You know this will be silly, right?

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For the past week I’ve had a bit of free time on my hands, so for fun (and perhaps also for a bit of Critical Thinking practice), I’ve been hanging out in a couple of Facebook groups where Muslims attempt to debunk Atheism.

It has been exactly what you might expect …

  • Number of silly utterly insane arguments presented – lots
  • Amount of credible evidence presented – zero.

I must confess to being a bit naive, for I truly had no idea just how loopy things would get. Purely for your entertainment and amusement, here now are some examples (I’ll not be providing any names).

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Paranormal Investigator Joe Nickell Reveals the Truth Behind Modern Cryptozoological Myths

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IO9 has a great interview with, Paranormal investigator and cryptozoologist , Joe Nickell (picture here is mine, not theirs). Please do not allow words such as, Paranormal investigator,  fool you, for while indeed many practitioners of woo claim such titles, Joe is 100% solid skeptic. When I saw him myself a few weeks ago, he explained that he once worked for a well-known detective agency, but since he is not permitted to utilize their name for publicity purposes, lets just say that their name starts with ‘P’ and they went after Jessy James. The point is this, he now applies the rigor you would use  at a crime scene to paranormal and monster claims. In other words he is on a quest for the truth, and is not after evidence to prove his specific beliefs.

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Argument From Authority – Baroness Greenfield on Autism

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She is at it again, making silly pronouncements, this time it is Autism. Least you missed it, in New Scientist, she has been casually linking internet use with autism. (So no not vaccines, just using the Internet). Now, since this is Baroness Greenfield, CBE,  scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords, specializes in the physiology of the brain, and has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease – we can just take her word for it … right?

Exactly, the old “I’m a doctor just trust me” line simply does not cut it when it comes to claims like this. So what do you need? How about some actual “Evidence”.

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