Δευτέρα 30 Μαΐου 2011

Ο Μάικλ Σέρμερ σχολιάζει την πίστη σε περίεργα πράγματα.

About this talk

Γιατί οι άνθρωποι βλέπουν την Παρθένο Μαρία σε ένα σάντουιτς με τυρί ή ακούνε διαμονικούς στίχους στο "Stairway to Heaven"; Χρησιμοποιώντας βίντεο και μουσική, ο σκεπτικιστής Μάικλ Σέρμερ δείχνει πως πείθουμε τον εαυτό μας να πιστέψει - και να παραβλέψει τα γεγονότα.

About Michael Shermer

Cover via AmazonMichael Shermer debunks myths, superstitions and urban legends, and explains why we believe them. Along with publishing Skeptic Magazine, he's author of Why People Believe Weird Things and The Mind of the Market.

Why you should listen to him:

As founder and publisher of Skeptic Magazine, Michael Shermer has exposed fallacies behind intelligent design, 9/11 conspiracies, the low-carb craze, alien sightings and other popular beliefs and paranoias. But it's not about debunking for debunking's sake. Shermer defends the notion that we can understand our world better only by matching good theory with good science. Thus, in order to explore a conspiracy theory that pre-planted explosives caused the World Trade Center towers to fall on 9/11, the magazine called on demolition experts.

Shermer's work offers cognitive context for our often misguided beliefs: In the absence of sound science, incomplete information can powerfully combine with the power of suggestion (helping us hear Satanic lyrics when "Stairway to Heaven" plays backwards, for example). In fact, a common thread that runs through beliefs of all sorts, he says, is our tendency to convince ourselves: We overvalue the shreds of evidence that support our preferred outcome, and ignore the facts we aren't looking for.

"Michael Shermer, as head of one of America’s leading skeptic organizations, and as a powerful activist and essayist in the service of this operational form of reason, is an important figure in American public life."

Stephen Jay Gould