Michael Shermer's Baloney Detection Kit

Posted by Anonymous On Friday, April 30, 2010 0 comments

Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and has written numerous books including "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time." I usually find myself disagreeing with Shermer's conclusions on religious matters but this video of his, hosted by the Richard Dawkins Foundation, I found myself agreeing with most of what he says.

Shermer gives ten questions we should ask when examining a claim:

    • How reliable is the source of the claim?
    • Does the source make similar claims?
    • Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
    • Does this fit with the way the world works?
    • Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
    • Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
    • Is the claimant playing by the rules of science?
    • Is the claimant providing positive evidence?
    • Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
    • Are personal beliefs driving the claim?


      Posted by Anonymous at 1:48 PM
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