I listen to several science/skeptical podcasts and like to browse the latest science headlines on Science Daily occassionally. I was searching for something the other day and came upon 2 news items that I find fascinating.
Atheists are often labeled as nihilistic, all doom and gloom, angry and miserable. But while I can be just as grumpy or unhappy as the next person, I like to revel in the beauty and complexity of the natural world. I find it awesome and inspiring. See? It’s totally reasonable to be a happy, moral and thoughtful person and be completely godless.
The first news report is from June 5, 2008. Humans Have TEN TIMES More Bacteria Than Human Cells. How amazing is that!? Only 10% of the cells in and on your body are human. The rest are bacteria. Now, before you grab that horrid antibacterial soap you insist on using, pay attention. Read more…
I read something the other day that was titled Atheistic Societies are Happy Societies. It’s based on a study by Phil Zuckerman and finds that the most organically atheistic countries in the world are better off.
The top 10 non-religious countries according to the study are:
- Sweden
- Vietnam
- Denmark
- Norway
- Japan
- Czech Republic
- Finland
- France
- South Korea
- Estonia
This is from the paper, from the site I was at: Read more…
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Atheism, Atheist, believing problem, fascinating, health, humanity, interesting, lifestyle, religion, Think
Ohmygosh, I’m really sorry. I really wanted to get another logical fallacy up today. But it just isn’t going to happen tonight, I don’t think. Why? Oh, how kind of you to ask!
Well, it all started a few weeks ago. I was talking to Jill, a friend of mine, about diet and exercise. She linked me to LiveStrong.com, namely, The Daily Plate. It’s a site by Lance Armstrong. I don’t use all of it, but The Daily Plate is really cool.
I get to put in what I eat every day and what exercise I do and it tells me how many calories I’ve burned and how many more calories I can eat and still lose a bit of weight, maintain my weight, or even gain, if that’s my goal. I have my measurements in there and am tracking all kinds of neat little things that are incredibly motivating. It’s free, I don’t use the premium features, which are available, but the free parts are quite excellent on their own. Read more…
Yesterday I confessed my addictions to woo and how I realized it was all a pack of lies and nonsense. It’s been hard to learn to think more critically and skeptically about pseudo-science (the fancy grownup term for woo). Unless someone teaches you how to think critically, there’s really no way to easily pick out the slick pack of lies and shiny bullshit for what it is.
For instance, I just found out last month that Airborne is not only pseudo-scientific and completely useless, but can also be harmful. And here I was, just the day before, trying to get my husband to take it for an oncoming cold. Sigh…. The battle never ends.
For me, my bullshit radar with religion is very sensitive. Then again, if it’s about an invisible man in the sky, it’s complete nonsense, so that’s pretty easy. But when it comes to products on the market, any kind of scientific sounding news or claim, I am less sure about what to accept or what to reject.
A couple of days ago, I was listening to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe podcast and they took the time to talk about how to spot pseudo-science for what it is. Since the list is so important and helpful, I took the time to write it down for all of us. Hopefully this will make it much easier:
Some Main Features of Pseudo-Science by Dr. Steven Novella on the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. Episode 164, September 10, 2008.
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believing problem, critical thinking, Science, Skeptical, Think, woo
Lately I’ve been talking to Jane. (not her real name) I am having trouble talking to her, and I think I figured out why. We knew each other about 10 years ago in a state far, far away. We were acquaintances, but we had a lot in common. (here’s where I tell you some dark secrets) We were into many different kinds of woo.
Woo: (n or adj) when you uncritically believe unsubstantiated or unfounded ideas. Short for woo woo, according to the Urban Dictionary, definition 4.
I was into reiki, divination, numerology, you name it. While I was an agnostic back then, I still clung to the idea of a kind of Universal Energy. Not really an intelligence, but kind of “magical” principles to energy that science just hadn’t quantified or qualified yet. I held to the beliefs that ancient societies knew secrets that had been lost. Like the Chinese were better at medicine than modern science, or the Mayans had some secret knowledge about the Universe that we were missing out on, as seen in their calendar stopping in 2012. Read more…
Agnostic, Atheism, Science, Skeptical, Study, Superstition, Think, believing problem, energy, health, help, question, shiny, woo
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Atheism, Important, Science, fascinating, health, interesting, wow
Atheism, fascinating, health, Important, interesting, Science, wow
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