Sunday, January 29, 2012

Massimo Pigliucci - How to Tell Science from Bunk

Massimo Pigliucci talks about whether people believe in science too much or believe in science too little. He describes to what extent areas on the frontiers of science, such as transhumanism and life-extension, merit open-mindedness. He explains why he is skeptical of artificial intelligence, and why the skeptics movement generally dismisses transhumanism and why he does not.



Massimo Pigliucci talks about the responsibilities of the skeptics movement regarding public education about global warming, and why so many high profile skeptics are skeptics or deniers of global warming, including Penn and Teller, Michael Shermer, James Randi.

Massimo Pigliucci explores how the libertarian skepticism of big government may fuel global warming denialism. He describes the perils of the pleasures of skepticism. Massimo Pigliucci argues that to be a skeptic means two things: first, a commitment to furthering critical thinking among the general public, and second, a defense of science. And Massimo Pigliucci reveals the criteria for distinguishing pseudoscience, fringe science, and consensus science, and why some pseudosciences, while theoretically unsound, may be have more empirical evidence for them than some widely-accepted theories of consensus science.

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