Comments on: Quickhit: Michael Shermer video version of Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit

By: tigtog

tigtog — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:38:04 +0000

Good point – that could have been easily demonstrated by some shots of a newspaper zodiacal astrology column, sitting next to the advice-from-angels column, or someone very obviously not stepping on the cracks in the pavement or not walking under a ladder (although that at least does have some Occ. Health & Safety justification).

By: Aqua of the Questioners

Aqua of the Questioners — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:42:45 +0000

I liked the video overall, but I was rather bothered by the point about superstition and false learning being illustrated by some old footage of Amazon Indians (I think) dancing (at 0:55 – 1:00). We have more than enough superstition and false learning in our own culture that it doesn’t need to be treated as something “savages” are more prone to.

By: tigtog

tigtog — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:03:02 +0000

I like to make a distinction between non-rational and irrational myself – such as my belief that my kids are the best kids in the world – that’s non-rational (how could it be measured?) but I bristle at it being described as irrational because that word has acquired a stigma that its etymology does not justify.

But strictly speaking, many/most human emotions are irrational. Love especially. That doesn’t make love a bad thing, far from it. It just makes it a non-rational thing.

By: Nacey

Nacey — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:43:44 +0000

Science is great, and it’s my first go-to when trying to understand something. But there are some things science can’t explain. And I’ve tried, I really have tried. The only way of explaining these things is to say that someone that means the world to me is delusional or mad, or that I’m delusional or mad. I know those aren’t true. I know what I’ve experienced and this does not make me irrational. I can’t prove it to anyone, but that doesn’t bother me.

I just hate being told I’m irrational all the time because I believe in something more than what hard science can explain.