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Skeptoid: Epic Cognitive Dissonance
Rebecca at Skepchick has written a critique of Brian Dunning’s latest work. I originally heard the thing through the podcast feed, and it’s not quite as awful in audio-only. I groaned at most of it, chuckled a couple times, and assumed the style and execution was meant as a tongue-in-cheek self-deprecating parody. It still has…
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On paradox and burden
Science started out fairly modestly; with a collection of mostly wrong ideas that seemed plausible at the time. It has accreted and evolved over time to offer compelling and staggeringly consistent explanations for most of the observed universe. There are still puzzle pieces that don’t fit perfectly: paradoxes, disagreements, ideas we may never be able…
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Gmail is the new AOL
My HP 110 Mini netbook’s battery pack suddenly failed (0% available, charging… forever). Finding an official HP brand replacement battery turned out to be nearly impossible, not to mention it would cost at least as much as the crappy netbook was worth. So, I got a replacement from one of the second string, ebay store,…
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Our stories whisper
Listening to the always excellent Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe this week, I was delighted to hear an interview with the lovely, talented, Sara Mayhew (whose blog name I (not so?) cleverly reference here in meme form). The blog has been in my skeptic list for some time, but I previously knew precious little of…
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Your intuitions are not Magic
From Less Wrong: we need to study the cognitive sciences, figure out the way our intuitions work and how we might correct for mistakes. Above all, we need to learn to always question the workings of our minds, for we need to understand that they are not magical.
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What sort of mirror?
While composing this post on No Agenda Forums, an interesting problem came up. How can I show someone their own biases? They are obvious to me, but (by definition) the other person’s entire system of thinking is arranged in such a way as to find their biases valid. After coming to understand the limitations of…
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You make and break your own religion
Note: I addressed the following essay to the general population of the No Agenda Forums, a community that I cherish despite frequent frustration. It is peopled by many conspiracy theorists and champions of various “alternative” things, such as alternative explanations, alternative medicine, etc. In short, people I cannot really reach on a level of reason. …
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Emit poetry
Science consensus Bucked by genius, and morons. The latter is common.
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Prejudice isn’t a discussion
I received an email forward today from an extended family member, and it upset me more than if it had been spam or malware. It was a mal-meme: This is not sent for discussion. If you agree, forward it. If you don’t, delete it. I don’t want to know one way or the other. By…
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More debate fail
I love everything about this Skeptoid post, in which Brian makes great points about the peril of debating when the truth is on your side. It’s counter-intuitive on first consideration, but as I’ve mused previously, debating has relatively little to do with truth and mostly pivots on charisma and debate tactics (many of which pragmatically…