http://www.michaelshermer.com books, essays, columns, reviews, and multimedia clips of famed skeptic Michael Shermer Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:20:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A film challenging evolution, by game show host and financial analyst Ben Stein, is a case study in antiscience propaganda “Should I be worried about the Crips and the Bloods up here?” These were the first words out of the mouth of Ben Stein as he entered my office ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/06/expelled-exposed/ Metaphors, modules and brain-scan pseudoscience The atom is like a solar system, with electrons whirling around the nucleus like planets orbiting a star. No, actually, it isn’t. But as a first approximation to help us visualize something that is so invisible, that image works as a metaphor. Science traffics in metaphors because ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/05/a-new-phrenology/ Anticipating success with their feature film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Producers Mark Mathis, Logan Craft and Walt Ruloff have already leaked a teaser trailer for the film's sequel. Their "teach the controversy" slogan seemed to work well in getting the general public to believe that Intelligent Design is a viable ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/04/expelled-parody/ Emotions are as much a product of our evolutionary heritage as they are our environmental circumstances The next time you come face to face with a dog wagging its tail, you can make a quick determination on whether to reach out and pet it or step back in deference: check ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/04/wag-the-dog/ Belief, disbelief and uncertainty generate different neural pathways in the brain During an early episode of the über-pyrotechnic television series MythBusters, Adam Savage was busted by the camera crew for misremembering his predictions of the probability of an axle being ripped out of a car, à la American Graffiti. When ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/03/adams-maxim-spinozas-conjecture/ Imagine reading the following press release: Hello, Jews. We are anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye… Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/02/scientology-anonymous/ Evolutionary economics explains why irrational financial choices were once rational Since 99 percent our evolutionary history was spent as hunter-gatherers living in small bands of a few dozen to a few hundred people, we evolved a psychology not always well equipped to reason our way around the modern world. What ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/02/mind-of-the-market/ A torrid tale of quackbusting in 1920s America sheds light on modern medical scares A review of Pope Brock’s Charlatan. America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam. Human cognition has a problem — anecdotal thinking comes naturally whereas scientific thinking does not. The ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/02/faith-healing/ The new science of evolutionary economics offers an explanation for capitalism skepticism In his magnum opus on the power of free markets, Human Action, the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises noted: “The truth is that capitalism has not only multiplied population figures but at the same time improved the people’s standard of ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/01/why-people-don%e2%80%99t-trust-free-markets/ Michael Shermer discusses his book The Mind of the Market as part of the Authors @ Google series. How did we evolve from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumer-traders? Why are people so irrational when it comes to money and business? Dr. Michael Shermer argues that evolution provides an answer to both ... http://www.michaelshermer.com/2008/01/authors-at-google/