Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
There are some individuals who, when confronted with facts that clearly conflict with a belief, will become even more entrenched within the belief, not less. The observation that this happens is known as the backfire effect. The “backfire effect” is a name that was first coined by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, for the finding that, given evidence against … Read more
We do not just impart information, but often construct a narrative and tell stories to each other – now here is something odd / amusing / strange / funny / scary that happened to me / a friend / somebody famous – and often when doing so we are simply repeating something we have heard … Read more
First a Bit Of Background – What the heck is the Turing Test? The idea is to test how intelligent a machine is. The basic idea is that if you communicate via a screen, can you tell if you are talking to another human, or to a machine? If you think you are taking to a … Read more
As I look back and ponder about how I managed to make the transition from being very religious to a far more rational position, one observation is that it was a slow process and not an instant flash of insight. The transition in my thinking was perhaps reflected by the religious groups I attended and so the process … Read more
Franklin Graham, son of the more famous Billy Graham and also CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has written an article in which he claims that those that do not believe in God are fools. Since he has a quote from the bible that says this is so, then I guess it just must be true … Read more