Call it unreason, irrationality, illiteracy, (modern) superstition, or any other name you like. It happens to be a dangerous epidemic in modern society. The real problem is not Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster, but nonsensical ideas spread by authors like Fritjof Capra, Rupert Sheldrake, Deepak Chopra, Brian Josephson (a physics Nobel Laureate), Robert Laughlin (another physics Nobel Laureate), and Stephen Wolfram (of Mathamatica fame). Most - otherwise intelligent - people believe in the claptrap spattered by these authors because of the scientific background of the latter.
In the past six months I have been developing skepticaleducator.org, a website dedicated almost entirely to debunking these ideas using simple, basic, and fundamental scientific concepts. I believe that my background as a college physics teacher of an introductory course, partially devoted to debunking anti-science, has helped me grasp the fundamental weakness of the ideas above and lay bare the balderdash in them. For example, Intelligent Sugar Molecule I-IV expose Deepak Chopra's absurd syllogisms and sophomoric understanding of (quantum) physics; Dancing Wu Li Quack shows how a coin becomes conscious if Gary Zukav's reasoning is used; A New Cuckoo Science uncovers some of the blunders and swindles in Wolfram's 1200-page tome, A New Kind of Science.
I have also uploaded a multimedia presentation on YouTube about the common origin of science and religion and their subsequent departure after Newton's discovery of the laws of motion and gravity, despite Templeton Foundation's $1.7M prize which has lured many physicists to finding a commonality between modern science and spirituality.
I urge you to see the movie, visit my site (sorry for any glitches ... I am a novice to wordpress), and read some of the posts and pages there. Share them with others, especially your students if you are an educator. Let's discuss the ideas expressed there either here or in comments on the site - or elsewhere. A single person - as passionate and dedicated as he/she may be - cannot be significantly effective. But if we join our ideas on how to fight the irrationality spread by scientists, whose authorities the public accepts without question, perhaps we can make a dent, as small as it may be.
In the past six months I have been developing skepticaleducator.org, a website dedicated almost entirely to debunking these ideas using simple, basic, and fundamental scientific concepts. I believe that my background as a college physics teacher of an introductory course, partially devoted to debunking anti-science, has helped me grasp the fundamental weakness of the ideas above and lay bare the balderdash in them. For example, Intelligent Sugar Molecule I-IV expose Deepak Chopra's absurd syllogisms and sophomoric understanding of (quantum) physics; Dancing Wu Li Quack shows how a coin becomes conscious if Gary Zukav's reasoning is used; A New Cuckoo Science uncovers some of the blunders and swindles in Wolfram's 1200-page tome, A New Kind of Science.
I have also uploaded a multimedia presentation on YouTube about the common origin of science and religion and their subsequent departure after Newton's discovery of the laws of motion and gravity, despite Templeton Foundation's $1.7M prize which has lured many physicists to finding a commonality between modern science and spirituality.
I urge you to see the movie, visit my site (sorry for any glitches ... I am a novice to wordpress), and read some of the posts and pages there. Share them with others, especially your students if you are an educator. Let's discuss the ideas expressed there either here or in comments on the site - or elsewhere. A single person - as passionate and dedicated as he/she may be - cannot be significantly effective. But if we join our ideas on how to fight the irrationality spread by scientists, whose authorities the public accepts without question, perhaps we can make a dent, as small as it may be.
via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1k0uGJX
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