Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Yes, it is almost Olympic time, so obviously I have no idea what could have possibly inspired a team of researchers led by Dr Carl Heneghan of Oxford’s centre for evidence-based medicine to look into the claims made for sports related products. The BMJ has their study and it is entitled “Mythbusting sports and exercise products“. … Read more
There are a lot of reports circulating in Facebook groups and also many Islamic blogs regarding a claim that thousands of Muslims have been slaughtered in Burma and that the world remains silent about it all. Pictures such as that shown here are common. This comes with some text that usually reads … “50 thousand … Read more
Connie Schultz, a nationally syndicated columnist based at The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, was apparently challenged on July 9th. She received the following email … Dear Ms. Shultz, We are doing an expose on journalists in the elite media who socialize with elected officials they are assigned to cover. … Read more
There is an article in which Skype founder Jaan Tallinn claims …”Machines are becoming so intelligent that they could pose an existential threat“. Really!! OK, lets take a look. The article is in the Sidney Morning Herald . Claim: “Jaan Tallinn argues human-driven technological progress has largely replaced evolution as the dominant force shaping our … Read more
Losing Faith In Faith – Dan Barker In 1984 Dan Barker, an evangelical minister, wrote the following article for “Freethought Today” to explain how he had lost faith in faith. Religion is a powerful thing. Few can resist its charms and few can truly break its embrace. It is the siren who entices the wandering … Read more
Is Science a Religion? – Richard Dawkins The following article was first published in the Humanist, January/February 1997. It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, “mad cow” disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s … Read more