: Episode 893 – Dr. Michael Shermer joins Vinnie to discuss several interesting topics such as skeptics, religion, psychics, and a shared connection with the Badwater 508.
DR. SHERMER
- Does a lot of work in the sphere of morality
- Publisher of Skeptic magazine
- Has written a number of books, including The Moral Arc
- While he discusses a lot of morality, religion, and less tangible things, he also believes that science is incredibly important
- Also very into health and fitness
SKEPTICS
- Lots of cultural elements involved with religious
- Finding meaning in random things
- Auditory, visual illusions
- People can make signs out of nothing
- The patterns, the illusions, the non-randomness all in our minds
- Really it is random
- The patterns, the illusions, the non-randomness all in our minds
- Veganism – another thing to be skeptical about
- PETA doesn’t care about your health, they only care about animals (and even then that’s questionable)
- The Standard American Diet is another thing to be skeptical about
- Gary Taubes is a truther
- Psychic shows are also largely BS
- They only select out of 12 hours, about 45 minutes that confirms their “psychic prowess”
- They figure out patterns and generalities
- Dogs have good intuition, too
- Usually “spooky” things, or things that seem to good to be true, are just that
DIET AND RELIGION
- Many people treat diet as a religion
- Just like old time religion, certain food is taboo, etc.
- People also get this attachment to food similar to some’s attachment to food
- There is a church of food
- This also can make breaking bad eating habits more difficult
