Scepticism
This is closely related to the atheism page.
Believers in astrology and the paranormal
also believe in extraordinary things without evidence.
They use the same type of logical errors,
unverifiable anecdotes,
lack of predictive ability, and post hoc interpretations of unrepeatable events,
as are often used in support of religious claims.
And it is not just that the tools of scepticism
are the only way of finding out what is true.
They are also good for society.
Scepticism is opposed to all totalitarianism,
and is a far better defence against such than religion,
which has a long history of
collaboration with totalitarianism
and
killing on its own behalf.
To teach our children to question authority,
to read forbidden books,
to distrust political and religious movements and leaders,
and to regard faith
(belief without evidence) as an intellectual failing,
is the best thing we can do to ensure the future of human civilization.
The values of atheism and scepticism
are the values of science, freedom and liberal democracy.
- Yahoo
- Google
- Wikipedia
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
(and here)
- sci.skeptic
- Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
(formerly CSICOP)
- Skeptics Society
- Rational Enquirer
- The Skeptic (UK)
- The Skeptic (Australia)
- Irish Skeptics Society
- Carl Sagan
(and here)
- Richard Dawkins
- Something needs to be said about the depressing modern interest in superstitious hokum like UFO's and the X-Files,
and it is this:
These things are only popular because they are not accepted by science.
That is, they are only popular because there is no good evidence that they are true.
If the existence of Atlantis was proved, it would become part of serious science and archaeology,
and it would not be interesting any more.
"Mysteries" are an attempt by the ordinary person to reclaim some area from the professionals.
Unfortunately, because the professionals are so diverse and numerous and are interested in so many things,
the only things left for you to claim are by definition rubbish.
- That is why, for example,
cryptozoology
is not science.
If there was any decent evidence (even fragmentary evidence),
it would be zoology
not cryptozoology.
After all, zoologists are discovering new species all the time.
- James Randi
(and here
and here)
(magician, atheist and skeptic)
- Penn and Teller
(magicians, atheists and skeptics)
-
Alternative medicine
(and here)
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
(and index)
- Alternative healthcare
- article by Jack Raso
- Homeopathy
- Aromatherapy
- Acupuncture
- Criticism
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
- "Traditional Chinese medicine is not based upon
knowledge of modern physiology, biochemistry, nutrition, anatomy or any
of the known mechanisms of healing. Nor is it based on knowledge of cell
chemistry, blood circulation, nerve function, or the existence of hormones
or other biochemical substances."
- Reflexology
- Chiropractic
- Quackwatch
- Chinese Medicine
- "herbal" medicine
- sums up what is wrong with the idea that traditional medicine
has many potent herbs that are ignored by western medicine:
"When potent natural substances are discovered, drug companies try to isolate and synthesize the active chemical in order to provide a
reliable supply."
- Why wouldn't they?
Why would any drug company ignore a source of easy money?
Similarly, why would any medical researcher ignore a source of
easy publications, doctorates, fame and tenure?
Astrology is based on the concept of
constellations,
such as Aquarius, Capricorn, Taurus, etc.
It's important to note
that constellations don't exist.
If you have to ask why, you have obviously never thought about it.
Astrology
was disproved by the discovery of
Uranus
by
William Herschel
in England in 1781.
If you have to ask why, you have obviously never thought about it.
-
Astrology
(and here)
- Astrology and science
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
- Astrology test
- Activities With Astrology
-
The Real Romance in the Stars
by Richard Dawkins
- "On a moonless night when the only clouds to be seen are
the Magellanic Clouds of the Milky Way, go out to a place far from street light pollution,
lie on the grass and gaze out at the stars.
What are you seeing? Superficially you notice constellations, but
a constellation is of no more significance
than a patch of curiously shaped damp on the bathroom ceiling.
Note, accordingly, how little it means to say something like "Uranus moves into Aquarius".
Aquarius is a miscellaneous set of stars all at different distances from us,
which have no connection with each other except that they constitute a (meaningless) pattern
when seen from a certain (not particularly special) place in the galaxy (here).
A constellation is not an entity at all, not the kind of thing that Uranus,
or anything else, can sensibly be said to "move into".
The shape of a constellation, moreover, is ephemeral. A million years ago
our Homo erectus ancestors gazed out nightly
... at a set of very different constellations.
A million years hence, our descendants will see yet other shapes in the sky,
and their astrologer ... will be fabricating their oracles on the basis of a different zodiac."
Because we have no
proper models of how the brain works yet,
psychology lends itself
(and will continue to lend itself
for decades to come) to
mythology and pseudoscience like Freudian theory
and "ritual abuse".
Pseudo-scientific psychologists, backed by a callous state,
have caused untold misery in the modern age.
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
- Repressed memory
- Sexual abuse exists, but
Satanic "ritual abuse"
does not:
-
The Broxtowe "Satanic ritual abuse" case
-
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
- Your child dies, and pseudo-scientists get you imprisoned
and your other children taken away forever.
And you and the media are forbidden from even talking about it.
-
Professor Sir Roy Meadow
-
Lives ruined in secret
by Nick Cohen
- "Thousands of children may have been snatched from families
because of evidence given in camera
...
the greatest miscarriage of justice of our times
...
The grotesque snatching of thousands of children
was an operation conducted under conditions of the strictest secrecy.
Anyone who blew the whistle on the proceedings of the family courts faced
prosecution for contempt.
...
During the years of Meadow's ascendancy, the family courts resembled a
secret society.
...
Secrecy allowed incompetence and mania to flourish, as it has done for 20
years. It is not too great an exaggeration to say that families have been forced
into a legal world whose practices and assumptions are closer to those of a
tyranny than a democracy."
- The Sally Clark case
- Mothers Against Munchausen by Proxy Allegations
- Aussie Mums Under Munchausen syndrome by proxy Suspicion
- The only thing like "Satanic ritual abuse" that does exist in the West is this:
Child abuse
Child abuse
and rape
are crimes that historically were ignored and covered up,
so the modern confrontation is a welcome correction.
But we may have over-compensated, to the extent that our response to them
is sometimes based on hysteria rather than reason.
As a result we are susceptible (and will remain susceptible) to periodic
hysterical witchhunts like the above.
Consider the following:
- It sometimes seems in a world
confused about morals
as if child sexual abuse is the one thing we can agree on
as the ultimate evil.
We sometimes seem to have lost sight of the fact that
killing or permanently disabling someone is worse.
For example, paedophiles get burnt out of their homes, and attacked and killed in prison, and so on,
in a way that murderers don't.
And yet surely the murderer has committed an even worse crime.
-
Don't get me wrong.
I don't have a problem with long prison sentences for
child abuse and rape.
I just think the sentences for murder and disabling should be even longer.
To be a murderer should be a stigma even worse than being a paedophile.
- All sexual crimes, by their nature,
lend themselves easily to miscarriage of justice.
If someone says
they were sexually assaulted, how can you prove them wrong?
Historical claims of child abuse and rape
years after the fact
will have no forensic support.
They may of course be true,
but clearly there is a higher risk of miscarriage of justice
than in other crimes.
- As a result of our somewhat over-the-top
reaction to child abuse,
we cast suspicion on all interactions of men with children
(even though hardly any men are paedophiles),
and we are driving away men (other than their fathers) from childrens' lives
(and this at a time when more and more children do not even have their father around).
Due to paranoia about child abuse,
there is a steady drop in
male primary school teachers, boy scout leaders, etc.
And all research shows that this is really bad for boys in particular.
We complain that boys have no steady male role models in their life.
And yet we look with suspicion on any adult male who interacts with them.
- Due to fear of paedophiles,
we also prevent our children playing outdoors, walking to school, etc.,
in a way we never did before.
Yes, there is a risk. But the risk is actually small.
While the negative impact on children's health is definite and large.
Other topics
Conspiracy theories
- Conspiracy theories
(and here)
-
9/11 conspiracy nuts
(and here)
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
on 9/11 conspiracy nuts:
- On the claim that crashed planes did not cause the 9/11 destruction,
he asks well what happened to the passengers then?
"What do Sheen and Griffin have to say to the family members of
those who were on those flights?
Were they herded away by airline officials and CIA agents to Afghanistan
where they were killed or now live as slaves?"
- On the generic conspiracy:
"Do they really believe that thousands of government agents
could work in secrecy to accomplish the faking of hijacked planes,
the faking of plane crashes into buildings or fields,
and all the other fakery that must have occurred to pull off this hoax?"
And then not one of those thousands of government agents has opened his mouth?
9/11 Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Al Qaeda Says
- The Onion
on 9/11 Truthers.
Al Qaeda spokesman:
"I can assure you, we did not use
thermite bombs.
I did the research myself.
It would not have worked.
We flew an enormous airplane into a building, ok.
I think it is obvious what caused the building to crumble."
9/11 truther:
"Why are you being so closed minded to this, sir?"
Al Qaeda spokesman:
"Bush's administration, they are a den of jackals.
We certainly have common ground there.
What does not follow is
why would they kill 3,000 of their own infidels?"
The Al Qaeda guy starts producing papers about the operation.
"The voucher for the flight lessons."
9/11 truther:
"Oh come on, did President Bush give you these himself?"
Prophecies of Mother Shipton
of Yorkshire:
"In Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-six
build houses light of straw and sticks.
For then shall mighty wars be planned
and fire and swords shall sweep the land."
"The World then to an end shall come
In Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-one."
(Actually this used to read "In Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-one."
Her believers modified it after that year passed uneventfully.)
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page.