While exploring the anti-vaccine mindset, Orac assembles this group under one umbrella: One of my interests in skepticism and critical thinking has been the similarity in the fallacious arguments, approach to data, and general behavior of those who are–to put it generously–not so skeptical or scientific in their approach to life. I’m talking about believers…Continue Reading…
A very interesting essay by Andrew Hoffman begins this way: The American debate over climate change turns on two main themes. One is the science of the problem; the other is government measures to fix it. Many believe these themes cover the entire debate. They’re wrong. Far more than science is at play on climate change. At…Continue Reading…
Can people who doubt the phenomena of biological evolution be persuaded by a better demonstration of the evidence? Alan Rogers, an anthropologist at the University of Utah, thinks so. He has authored a newly published book called, “The Evidence for Evolution.” Rogers discusses what motivated him to write the book in this release by Lee…Continue Reading…
Wishful thinking by Bishop Hill, or poor grasp of how things work in the U.S.?
If you are one of “a great many people” who were once believers in catastrophic GW [global warming] and are now skeptical. I keep reading variations of this line expressed by readers on various blogs, and it’s purely anecdotal. Also, a “great many” people who converted from believers to skeptics because of why? I’ve also…Continue Reading…
That’s the clever tagline to an excellent cover story on climate skeptics in the new issue of Skeptic magazine. Alas, the actual article, which aims to distinguish between “Climate Skeptics” and “Climate Deniers,” is available only on newstands or by subscription. But because I’ve been trying to puzzle out the distinction myself of late, I’m…Continue Reading…