What “Matters”

I am doing some more ‘navel gazing’, but in a very real sense, it is of a skeptical nature. Given the name of this blog space, it should be no surprise that my primary goals include refuting or correcting misinformation. Well, I found some more of the kind I have written about many times here: […]

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Why the “Critical” in Critical Thinking

In an age in which many teens and young adults seem to equate criticism and not getting what they want with disrespect, it should not be surprising that some argue for unconditional positive regard in education and elsewhere. However, criticism is essential to gaining knowledge. I am sure that most people have not thought much […]

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Paved With Good Intentions

From a NY Times article which appeared last week: Some years ago, Dr. Robert A. Burton was the neurologist on call at a San Francisco hospital when a high-profile colleague from the oncology department asked him to perform a spinal tap on an elderly patient with advanced metastatic cancer. The patient had seemed a little […]

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Skeptrack at Dragon*Con 2011

Tuesday I returned home from my third Dragon*Con, “the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!” I’m not a big fan of crowds, so I probably would not choose to attend such an event without getting something significant out of it. In […]

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Take Back Skepticism, Part III: The Dunning-Kruger Effect

First, if you have not read Parts I and II, please read them now. The most important parts of those posts are: Arguments over scope and the conflation of atheism and skepticism have reached a fever pitch, as have arguments over tone. I will talk about some of this, but I will not attempt to […]

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