http://www.michaelshermer.com/2001/12/more-baloney-detection/ books, essays, columns, reviews, and multimedia clips of famed skeptic Michael Shermer Sun, 12 Feb 2012 03:11:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.michaelshermer.com/2001/12/more-baloney-detection/comment-page-1/#comment-2795 John Gilman Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:10:25 +0000 http://michaelshermer.com/writing/2001/12/01/baloney-detection-ii/#comment-2795 I love your work, Michael. But I take exception to #9. As a matter of fact, as a cause for AIDS, lifestyle explains much more and makes more sense than HIV does, which is precisely why 2,000-plus Ph.D.s, professors, journalists, and research scientists have gone on record as disputing HIV as the cause of AIDS. As you well know, a scientific hypothesis' worth can be measured by how accurate its predictions turn out to be. And a majority of the alarmist predictions of the HIV theorists have turned out to be false, while predictions made by those who posit mundane non-HIV turned out to be true. I agree wholeheartedly that tactic #9 is a good one, but the example provided is a poor one. http://www.whispy.com/community/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=312 I love your work, Michael. But I take exception to #9. As a matter of fact, as a cause for AIDS, lifestyle explains much more and makes more sense than HIV does, which is precisely why 2,000-plus Ph.D.s, professors, journalists, and research scientists have gone on record as disputing HIV as the cause of AIDS. As you well know, a scientific hypothesis’ worth can be measured by how accurate its predictions turn out to be. And a majority of the alarmist predictions of the HIV theorists have turned out to be false, while predictions made by those who posit mundane non-HIV turned out to be true. I agree wholeheartedly that tactic #9 is a good one, but the example provided is a poor one.
http://www.whispy.com/community/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=312

]]> http://www.michaelshermer.com/2001/12/more-baloney-detection/comment-page-1/#comment-301 Pam Miller Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:04:10 +0000 http://michaelshermer.com/writing/2001/12/01/baloney-detection-ii/#comment-301 Thank you so much for your useful and helpful writings. I am SO frustrated by the deluge of pseudoscience and fiction presented as fact all around us, particularly on television and the internet. It is wonderful to have a good source of fact-based rationality to check with when I get confused by the cacaphony of irrational thinking and beliefs all around us. I love your book, Why Smart People Believe Wierd Things, and plan to eventually get every book you've written. Thank you so much for your useful and helpful writings. I am SO frustrated by the deluge of pseudoscience and fiction presented as fact all around us, particularly on television and the internet. It is wonderful to have a good source of fact-based rationality to check with when I get confused by the cacaphony of irrational thinking and beliefs all around us. I love your book, Why Smart People Believe Wierd Things, and plan to eventually get every book you’ve written.

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