I'm a skeptic - ask me anything!

[derby378]

I can't promise an answer, but I can at least try...

[kick-ass-bob]

1. You do know I can kick your ass, right?

:bounce:

[derby378]

6. But "know" can be such an abstract concept... (n/t)

[Gothic Sponge]

2. Are we still going to Mars?

[derby378]

7. That would be nice

What I personally would like to see is more emphasis on the International Space Station and basic scientific research. A trip to Mars is great, but only if you're doing it for more than just a glorified photo-op.

[MsAnthropy]

3. Why do people believe weird things?

[Caution]

5. Here you go

http://www.skeptic.com/b62pb.html

[DS1]

4. Why should we believe you?

[MsAnthropy]

8. Oooooh--excellent!!

[derby378]

9. Should you?

The idea is not to believe or disbelieve any sort of authority figure, whether real or imaginary - but to maintain a healthy suspicion of any information you receive without absolute proof.

Sextus Empiricus' Outlines of Pyrrhonism is one place to start. Then there's Michael Shermer, James Randi, Carl Sagan, etc.

[ChickMagic]

10. As a skeptic, I object to "absolute" proof

Science doesn't have "absolute proof" about anything. Further evidence can change what we think we know at any time.

[derby378]

12. A healthy attitude!

But the typical skeptic doesn't rule out the possibility of an absolute reality that underlies all that we perceive. Just because one may exist, however, doesn't mean that we can get a really good handle on what that reality might be. M-theory is often advanced as a theory of All That Is, but loop-quantum gravity also has its disciples.

[MsAnthropy]

15. You may be right but don't let the creationists hear you say that

I'm tired of arguing with with them!

[derby378]

18. Creationists are dogmatists

If there's one thing skeptics can't stand, it's dogma - political, religious, philosophical, or otherwise.

The skeptic, being a lover of his kind, desires to cure by speech, as best as he can, the rashness of the dogmatists. - Sextus Empiricus

[ChickMagic]

20. I've had tangles with creationists

One of the notorious ones has misquoted me in his slide show. One thing he didn't like is that I said he graduated magna cum postage from a drop box address. I don't care that he didn't like it - it's true. Their psuedoscience is completely non-predictive and in order for science to work, it must be predictive.

[derby378]

22. Oh, I remember that guy

Didn't he tell you to go look up "appendix" in the encyclopedia?

[ChickMagic]

24. That's right!

He told me the appendix produces antibiotics and that I should look it up. In an encyclopedia!!!!

[jimbo fett]

11. Well, then you need some anti-skeptic spray, don't you?

[derby378]

13. What's wrong with being inquisitive? (n/t)

[Richardo]

14. D'oh!

Good one, jimbo fett.

[jdots]

16. are you a skeptic tank ?

thats funny (not) it's just that next door they had to go thru 9 billion posts about if the tanks that showed up at the federal building in L.A. were real or not. SO MISTER or MS. SKEPTIC
is there human life on Earth ?

[derby378]

19. It sure appears that way

I'd give it a very high degree of probability. :silly:

[Socialist Dem]

17. How come skeptics can't seem to get rid of people like

John Edward (biggest douche in the universe)?
He can make one think he talks to dead people by using the fact that a grieving person will only remember the "good" information and none of the "irrelevant" stuff that makes no sense. Of course, once you realize how he does his trick, it no longer works, (I went to one of his shows and was amazed at how lame he really is when he doesn't have and editing machine, yet people were really believing this douche.)

[derby378]

21. Every age has its own John Edward types

It's a constant struggle, I admit, but one that has to be fought. Edward probably wouldn't stand a chance against Harry Houdini.

The wise man knows what is right. The foolish man knows what will sell. - Confucius

[Socialist Dem]

30. Please...Houdini would eat Edward alive....

He's not even that good at what he does....just talk as fast as you can till you get a "hit", then let the person give you all the answers.

[ChickMagic]

23. When there's money to be had

The roaches will keep going for it. Peter Popoff had his "faith healing" completely and utterly exposed by Johnny Carson when James Randi hooked up a radio receiver and heard Popoff's wife prompting him with "prayer cards" the audience had filled out previously. He went away for a while, but he's back and scamming like nothing happened.

[Caution]

25. Shermer on John Edwards

http://www.skeptic.com/newsworthy13.html

[eataTREE]

26. Is The Demon-Haunted World your favourite book?

It's pretty damn close to being mine.

[derby378]

27. It's a good one...

...but my personal favorite is probably Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife.

[Caution]

28. The Skeptics Dictionary

http://skepdic.com/contents.html

[derby378]

36. Yep - that's a good 'un

Great place to get your feet wet.

[TalkingDog]

29. I'm skeptical of your skepticism

1) What color should I paint the guest bedroom?

2) Do you believe that the idea of floccinaucinihilipilification should be applied to the content of this thread? If so, why?

[derby378]

33. Answers

1) It's your bedroom, man - express yourself.

2) Depends on whether you're talking about the thread itself or some of the issues being raised in the thread. My floccinaucinihilipilification of claims proven to be fraudulent but promoted anyway is shared by almost all skeptics, in my own experience.

[BiggJawn]

31. Don't it wear you out, all those people who tell you...

...that you're going to "Hell"?

It wears me out.

Seriously, I'm very tired.

[derby378]

34. That's their trip

Some of them probably tell me that because they're afraid they're going to Hell themselves, and would like to have some company in the afterlife.

[BiggJawn]

39. And I'm GLAD they're going to "Heaven"...

Because I want to be as far away from them as possible....(Knowing, as I do, that the possiblitiy of there being either a "Heaven" or a "Hell" is very remote and has not been proven to my satisfaction)

[qnr]

32. Do you enjoy The X-Files?

And other things of that ilk?

I'm a skeptic too, but I still enjoy suspending disbelief for movies and whatnot.

[derby378]

35. I enjoyed the series until it "jumped the shark"

I think the writers went all Twin Peaks on the series - they started making it up as they went along. At least J.K. Rowling has some sort of roadmap for her Harry Potter series.

[Book Lover]

37. Why do they hate us?

Is it for our freedoms?

[derby378]

38. Maybe...

...it's because we tend to make self-professed "experts" explain themselves.

[Deja Q]

40. Will * attack Palestine before he pounds Iran?

:shrug: