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June 24, 2009

The Baloney Detection Kit

Michael Shermer lays out ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim. From the Richard Dawkins Foundation:

Posted by Abbas Raza at 11:45 PM | Permalink

Comments

I see that the guy who discovered ulcers were caused by bacteria would've fallen foul of most of these points. Which is why he was ridiculed for about 10 years before he was allowed to prove it...

Posted by: hidflect | Jun 25, 2009 7:26:23 AM

Seems like Dawkins & Dennett fall foul on most of these as well in their work on Atheism.

Which would be fine if they were both not explicitly saying in their respective works (God Delusion & Breaking the Spell) that they were being scientific. Still waiting for Dennett to publish the results of the research he promised to deliver in his… < *crickets* >

Posted by: Carlos | Jun 25, 2009 9:10:51 AM

Hidflect: Finally the scientific consensus went his way (i.e. his results were verified by others).

Scientists are human beings with their own set of personal petty desires and obnoxious habits...just like any other human being. This does not negate the scientific method as a means of learning how the world works!

BTW- what do Dawkin's and Dennett's works on Atheism have to do with this?

Posted by: Bill | Jun 25, 2009 2:30:29 PM

"BTW- what do Dawkin's and Dennett's works on Atheism have to do with this?"

Off limits? Sorry, my bad.

Posted by: Carlos | Jun 25, 2009 2:58:29 PM

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