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Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer Quotes

Writer

Michael Shermer is an American writer, historian, and science writer. Born on September 8, 1954, he is known for his research on science, pseudoscience, and rational behavior. Shermer is a contributing writer for 'Scientific American' magazine and the founder and publisher of 'Skeptic' magazine. His writings cover a wide range of topics from history to scientific philosophy.

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Famous Michael Shermer Quotes

“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.”

“We want to be special. We want our place in the cosmos to be central. We want evolution-even godless evolution-to have been directed toward us so that we stand at the pinnacle of nature's ladder of progress. Rewind the tape of life and we want to believe that we (Homo Sapiens) would appear again and again. Would we? Probably not.”

Want Believe Has Beens Progress Special Evolution Cosmos Tape Again And Again Ladders Homo Sapiens Pinnacle Rewind

Author:Michael Shermer

“We are a fluke of nature, a quirk of evolution, a glorious contingency.”

Evolution Glorious Quirks Contingency Flukes

Book:How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God

Source: How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God

“Mammals are sentient beings that want to live and are afraid to die. Evolution vouchsafed us all with an instinct to survive, reproduce and flourish.”

Want Dies Evolution Instinct Mammals Sentient Beings

Author:Michael Shermer

“Accepting evolution does not force us to jettison our morals and ethics, and rejecting evolution does not ensure their constancy.”

Doe Force Accepting Moral Evolution Ethics Rejecting Constancy

Book:Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

Source: Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

“People have a hard time accepting free-market economics for the same reason they have a hard time accepting evolution: it is counterintuitive. Life looks intelligently designed, so our natural inclination is to infer that there must be an intelligent designer--a God. Similarly, the economy looks designed, so our natural inclination is to infer that we need a designer--a government. In fact, emergence and complexity theory explains how the principles of self-organization and emergence cause complex systems to arise from simple systems without a top-down designer.”

“...evolution is not a religious tenet, to which one swears allegiance or belief as a matter of faith.. It is a factual reality of the empirical world. Just as one would not say 'I believe in gravity," one should not proclaim 'I believe in evolution.”

World Should Believe Matter Reality Belief I Believe Religious Evolution I Believe In Gravity Swear Allegiance Factual

Book:Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

Source: Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

“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 Hammarabi alongside the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools.”

“The concept of God is generated by a brain designed by evolution to find design in nature (a very recursive idea).”

Ideas Religion Brain Atheism Design Evolution Concepts Design In Nature

Author:Michael Shermer

“No single discovery from any of these fields denotes proof of evolution, but together they reveal that life evolved in a certain sequence by a particular process.”

Together Certain Process Fields Particular Evolution Discovery Proof Sequence Single Life

Author:Michael Shermer

“We know evolution happened not because of transitional fossils such as A. natans but because of the convergence of evidence from such diverse fields as geology, paleontology, biogeography, comparative anatomy and physiology, molecular biology, genetics, and many more.”

Knows Happened Fields Evolution Evidence Biology Diverse Fossils Genetics Anatomy Geology Physiology Convergence Paleontology Molecular Biology Anatomy And Physiology

Book:Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

Source: Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

“Darwin matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the preeminent story of our age, an epic saga about who we are, where we came from and where we are going.”

Matter Stories Age Evolution Who We Are Epic Saga Where We Came

Book:Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

Source: Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

“We know evolution happened because innumerable bits of data from myriad fields of science conjoin to paint a rich portrait of life's pilgrimage.”

Knows Bits Rich Happened Fields Evolution Paint Data Portraits Pilgrimage

Book:Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye

Source: Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye