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Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer Books

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“Creationists have also changed their name ... to intelligent design theorists who study 'irreducible complexity' and the 'abrupt appearance' of life—yet more jargon for 'God did it.' ... Notice that they have no interest in replacing evolution with native American creation myths or including the Code of Hammurabi alongside the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools.”

SchoolScienceEvolutionNative AmericanFirst AmendmentSuperstitionSeparation Of Church And StateTen CommandmentsMythsJargonPseudoscienceIntelligent DesignOrigin Of LifeSophistryCreation MythsCreationistsGod Did ItIrreducible ComplexityHammurabiCode Of HammurabiGoddidit
Author:Michael Shermer
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“For Paley, a watch is purposeful and thus must have been created by a being with a purpose. A watch needs a watchmaker, just as a world needs a world-maker—God. Yet both Wallace and Paley might have heeded the lesson from Voltaire's Candide (1759), in which Dr. Pangloss, a professor of "metaphysico-theology-cosmolonigology," through reason, logic, and analogy "proved" that this is the best of all possible worlds: '"Tis demonstrated that things cannot be otherwise; for, since everything is made for an end, everything is necessarily for the best end. Observe that noses were made to wear spectacles; and so we have spectacles. Legs were visibly instituted to be breeched, and we have breeches" (1985, p. 238). The absurdity of this argument was intended on the part of the author, for Voltaire firmly rejected the Panglossian paradigm that all is best in the best of all possible worlds. Nature is not perfectly designed, nor is this the best of all possible worlds. It is simply the world we have, quirky, contingent, and flawed as it may be.”

LogicFallacyPangloss
Book:Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
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“Rather than there being two distinct and unambiguous categories of constrained and unconstrained (or tragic and utopian) visions of human nature, I think there is just one vision with a sliding scale. Let’s call this the Realistic Vision. If you believe that human nature is partly constrained in all respects—morally, physically, and intellectually—then you hold a Realistic Vision of human nature.”

Human Nature
Book:Brain, Belief, and Politics
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“...Spinoza’s Conjecture:“Belief comes quickly and naturally, skepticism is slow and unnatural, and most people have a low tolerance for ambiguity. The scientific principle that a claim is untrue unless proven otherwise runs counter to our natural tendency to accept as true that which we can comprehend quickly. Thus it is that we should reward skepticism and disbelief, and champion those willing to change their mind in the teeth of new evidence. Instead, most social institutions-most notably those in religion, politics, and economics-reward belief in the doctrines of the faith or party or ideology, punish those who challenge the authority of the leaders, and discourage uncertainty and especially skepticism.”

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Author:Michael Shermer
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“Of all the chemical transmitter substances sloshing around in your brain, it appears that dopamine may be the most directly related to the neural correlates of belief. Dopamine, in fact, is critical in association learning and the reward system of the brain that Skinner discovered through his process of operant conditioning, whereby any behavior that is reinforced tends to be repeated. A reinforcement is, by definition, something that is rewarding to the organism; that is to say, it makes the brain direct the body to repeat the behavior in order to get another positive reward.”

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Book:The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
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“According to her [Erica Chenoweth's] data, “no campaigns failed once they’d achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5 percent of the population—and lots of them succeeded with far less than that.” Further, she notes, “Every single campaign that did surpass that 3.5 percent threshold was a nonviolent one. In fact, campaigns that relied solely on nonviolent methods were on average four times larger than the average violent campaign. And they were often much more representative in terms of gender, age, race, political party, class, and urban-rural distinctions.”

Nonviolent ResistanceNonviolent Conflict ResolutionPolitical ParticipationPolitical CampaignsCivil ResistanceErica Chenoweth
Book:The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People
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“...there ... remains a huge following [of Ayn Rand's philosophy] of those who ignore the indiscretions, infidelities, and moral inconsistencies of the founder and focus instead on the positive aspects of her philosophy. There is much in it to admire, if you do not have to accept the whole package... Criticism of the founder or followers of a philosophy does not, by itself, constitute a negation of any part of the philosophy... Criticism of part of a philosophy does not gainsay the whole.”

IfsThinkingDoePhilosophyWholeAcceptingMoralFocusHugeAspectCriticismRemainsFollowingAdmireFollowersFoundersInfidelityPackagesInconsistencyNegation
Author:Michael Shermer
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“The first-cause and prime-mover argument, brilliantly proffered by St. Thomas Aquinas in the fourteenth century (and brilliantly refuted by David Hume in the eighteenth century), is easily turned aside with just one more question: Who or what caused and moved God?”

ThinkingFirstsCausesCenturyArgumentMovedJust OnePrimeHumeSt Thomas
Book:Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
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“Ultimately all hominids came from Africa, and therefore everyone in America should simply check the box next to 'African-American.' My maternal grandmother was German and my maternal grandfather was Greek. The next time I fill out one of those forms I am going to check 'Other' and write in the truth about my racial and cultural heritage: 'African-Greek-German-American.' And proud of it.”

ThinkingShouldWritingAmericaFormNextProudBoxesChecksAfrican AmericanGreekGrandmotherHeritageGrandfatherNext TimeCultural HeritageHominids
Book:Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
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“No such individual would find the Golden Rule surprising in any way because at its base lies the foundation of most human interactions and exchanges and it can be found in countless texts throughout recorded history and from around the world - a testimony to its universality.”

WorldWayHumansLyingFoundIndividualFoundationGoldenAround The WorldSurprisingInteractionTestimonyGolden RuleUniversality
Book:The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule
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“The evening was very professionally organized, and most of the people were exceptionally polite, although it did make me a little nervous when one church official told me after the debate when a big crowd of people surrounded me that he had assigned me a body guard "just in case." Just in case what? I thought Christians were suppose to be exceptionally tolerant. Well, in any case, I guess I was grateful for the gesture, "just in case."”

PeopleWellsLittlesBodyBigsChristianChurchCasesAtheismGratefulCrowdsDebateNervousEveningOfficialsOrganizedGesturesPolite
Author:Michael Shermer
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“Mysteries once thought to be supernatural or paranormal happenings - such as astronomical or meteorological events - are incorporated into science once their causes are understood.”

CausesMysteryEventsHappeningsUnderstoodParanormal
Book:The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths
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“I am an atheist. There, I said it. Are you happy, all you atheists out there who have remonstrated with me for adopting the agnostic moniker? If "atheist" means someone who does not believe in God, then an atheist is what I am. But I detest all such labels. Call me what you like - humanist, secular humanist, agnostic, nonbeliever, nontheist, freethinker, heretic, or even bright. I prefer skeptic.”

IfsBelieveMeanDoeSaidAtheistLabelsCall MeHumanistBelieve In GodSecularAgnosticSkepticFreethinkerHereticAdoptingDetest
Author:Michael Shermer
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“Flawed as they may be, science and the secular Enlightenment values expressed in Western democracies are our best hope for survival.”

MayValuesDemocracySurvivalEnlightenmentWesternSecularFlawedHoping For The Best
Book:The Believing Brain: From Spiritual Faiths to Political Convictions – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths.
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