| (Website under construction as of February 1, 2008. Several pages up, more on the way. Please bookmark and visit again soon. Email suggestions to: editor "at" martinricher.net ~Thanks, Martin Richer) |
"The good student shaves daily with Ockham's Razor."
Just about everyone agrees... the universe is so vast there must be other intelligent beings somewhere, so this means UFOs are real, right? And what about creatures like bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster? Surely so many eyewitness accounts can't all be wrong. Same with ghosts, right?
Many dubiously evidenced topics in our culture are widely (and wildly) believed to be true and real.... ghosts, psychic powers, magical healing practices, special 'energies', alien abductions, conspiracy theories, free energy devices, etc. The list is despairingly long. Websites and TV shows promoting these phenomena present a lot of 'evidence' and are quite convincing for many people, but do they tell the whole story? Is there a better way to evaluate these claims so that a reliable conclusion may be obtained as to their existence?
The School Of Skepticism answers that question with a resounding yes, and seeks to provide a general, basic education on how to evaluate paranormal and supernatural claims using the tenets and practices of skepticism.
|
 |
| *sigh* |
|
|
|
So..... choose from the link buttons along the right to navigate among pages addressing skepticism, logical fallacies, critical thought, etc., as well as examples of their application to the popular paranormal and supernatural claims of our day.
*BTW....... See the photo at upper right? The nasty lookin' little feller with the demon-green eyes? I posted that photo at a pro-UFO/alien type message board and reported it as a photo of a recently captured baby chupacabras. A live chupacabras had been captured! Astonishingly, my claim was accepted without question despite it being my first post on a message board where I was a total stranger. In fact, I received kudos and bravos from just about everybody, and was instantly afforded a sort of rock star status. I soon received many PM-ed accolades with requests for copies of 'my' photo - and for any 'off the record' information (aka 'gossip') about the discovery.
Alas, the critter in the photo is not a chupacabras; I had deceived them. The photo showed a baby with a face only a mother could love, that of the aye-aye, a lemur native to Madagascar.
What makes people simply accept wild claims - from strangers, entirely on faith - without questions asked? Exploring that question requires an able knowledge base in scientific skepticism. After all, we cannot think critically about things of which we've little knowledge, and critical, skeptical thinking is a discipline, though one not at all difficult to understand and learn. This website is for learning how to approach claims skeptically before one attempts to evaluate the evidence for a given paranormal or supernatural claim. Get those two out of order -knowing how and doing so -and you will enjoy a life-long parade of minor embarrassments...
|
 |
| Seeing is believing? |
|
|
 |
| Perhaps not........ |
|
|
"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking." - AA Milne
|
For LINK RECIPROCITY email:
editor 'at' martinricher.net
|
| Comments? Suggestions? Use the field below. If you want a reply include your email address. Your email address will be kept private, used only to reply to your comment. |
|