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Michael Shermer vs. Michael Shermer

fls said:
Within the context of that chapter, it becomes clearer that he is referring to his doubt with respect to the various DIM therapies he was using in his training, rather than his appearance as a full-fledged skeptic.

Please let us know his response. I'm on tenterhooks waiting to see whether it will be necessary to entirely revamp my philosophy of truth and beauty.

Linda
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Don't worry, I will. And thanks for clarifying Shermer's quote.

P.S. You should introduce yourself here, Linda. I thought you were world-famous, and yet CFLarsen doesn't seem to know you. :)
 
Wowbagger said:
I've done a similar thing. When people ask me about when I became a skeptic, I have given two sets of answers, both accurate and legit, though superficially they sound like they should contradict each other
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The same with me. When people ask about how I became so sceptical about psychism and thye paranormal, I tell them about the time that I was a Spiritualist and the argument I had with with a church medium; her "channelled" talk from her spirit guide was obvious nonsense and she took umbrage when I showed up her ignorance.
But, really, the whole time I was in Spiritualism I always had some doubts and was actively looking for evidence that people were communicating with the dead. The incident with he medium was just the culmination of many, many failures to demonstrate that these "messages from beyond" came from anywhere but the mediums' imagination.
 
Mojo said:
For UK posters: a UK edition was published a couple of months ago by Souvenir Press. A copy is sitting six feet away as I type this.
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My condolences for having to wait so long to have it published there. :p

Back to the skeptical epiphany thing... mine wasn't any particular moment either, but I'd embraced paranormal woo during my formulative years - Bigfoot, UFOs, not some of the crazier stuff - but over time, during college and in the years afterwards I realized that what I thought was fun, cool, mysterious and interesting had been supplanted by the seeds sewn when I'd watched Cosmos when I was 12 and my growing revulsion to fundamentalist Christianity, conspiritorial wooism, fraudulent psychics, and numerous other BS claims.

Mine was an evolution of attidute that occured long before I got my first copy of The Skeptic, realized Randi was more than a telented illusionist or declared myself an enemy of creduloidism.
 
Well, I guess this discredits Shermer as the man to fill Randi's shoes when he's gone

Maybe James Hydrick???? He never contradicted himself. He always claimed to be what he isn't. No contradiction ever. :D
 
Aw, nuts! Now my whole skeptical outlook has been completely discredited.

Are there any good UFO cults I can join?
 
fls said:
Within the context of that chapter, it becomes clearer that he is referring to his doubt with respect to the various DIM therapies he was using in his training, rather than his appearance as a full-fledged skeptic.

Please let us know his response. I'm on tenterhooks waiting to see whether it will be necessary to entirely revamp my philosophy of truth and beauty.

Linda
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Okay, I already have a response. Unlike Bob Park, who never answered my question about lie detector tests despite two different e-mails to his two e-mail addresses, Michael Shermer isn't ducking. His response, in its entirety, is:

"It's really not a pinpoint question. My cycling story really just targets when I became skeptical of nutritional supplements claims, although I used it as a literary device to discuss skepticism in general."

While I doubt if a skeptic would accept the "literary device" out as credible from a non-believer turned believer (such as Michael Prescott), being the compassionate, soft-touch person you know me to be, ;) I'll give Shermer the benefit of the doubt. I did, however, go on to ask him what his rebuttal is to the Jeffrey Armstrong astrology video on You Tube. I'll let you know what his response is on the Michael Shermer vs Jeffrey Armstrong thread.
 
Rodney said:
Okay, I already have a response. Unlike Bob Park, who never answered my question about lie detector tests despite two different e-mails to his two e-mail addresses, Michael Shermer isn't ducking. His response, in its entirety, is:

"It's really not a pinpoint question. My cycling story really just targets when I became skeptical of nutritional supplements claims, although I used it as a literary device to discuss skepticism in general."

While I doubt if a skeptic would accept the "literary device" out as credible from a non-believer turned believer (such as Michael Prescott), being the compassionate, soft-touch person you know me to be, ;) I'll give Shermer the benefit of the doubt.
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Thank you for clarifying what the point of your OP was.

I did, however, go on to ask him what his rebuttal is to the Jeffrey Armstrong astrology video on You Tube. I'll let you know what his response is on the Michael Shermer vs Jeffrey Armstrong thread.
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I didn't look at that thread until now. I didn't watch the video (yet), but now I see where this thread came from.

I was kidding earlier. It turns out that regardless of whether Randi picks his nose, Shermer makes up stories about himself, Penn rips the heads off live bats, and Phil sells children into slavery, I probably wouldn't really turn into a close-minded* believer.

Linda

*As in closed to the possibility of being wrong.
 
ravdin said:
Aw, nuts! Now my whole skeptical outlook has been completely discredited.

Are there any good UFO cults I can join?
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You can join the Ayn Rand cult... or would that cause this thread to implode in on itself?*


*I'm guessing only people have actually read Why people believe weird things will get this joke.
 
UnrepentantSinner said:
You can join the Ayn Rand cult... or would that cause this thread to implode in on itself?*


*I'm guessing only people have actually read Why people believe weird things will get this joke.
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That's good- I like it!

At least in the Ayn Rand cult, I won't have to sign over all of my worldly possessions so that Rand (or her undistinguished successor, I can't remember his name) will have 99 gold Rolls Royces. I'll have to consider it.
 
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