Science vs. Skepticism
Skepticism is to science as a braking system is to an automobile. But just as one would not equate a braking system with an automobile, so should one not equate skepticism with science. This simple logic seems to have evaded the "skeptic" subculture, in which pervasive negativity, superior attitudes, false dichotomies, simplistic interpretations of "critical thinking" and a-priori dismissal of unorthodox ideas have often been the methodologies of choice.
We hope the pages below will shed some constructive light on this key issue and perhaps encourage "skeptics" to apply some critical thinking to their own attitudes and behavior.
"I'M A SKEPTIC"
A 5-minute computer-animated short that dramatizes (with tongue in cheek) why a scientist can be skeptical, but a "skeptic" cannot be scientific.
ZEN ... AND THE ART OF DEBUNKERY
Or, How to Debunk Just About Anything
An indispensible "how-to" guide for the pathological skeptic
A BOOK FOR BURNING?
Some have dismissed his controversial ideas as pseudoscience. To others, he is a visionary genius of the stature of Darwin or Einstein. British scientist Rupert Sheldrake has proposed an astonishing hypothesis about the nature of living things, memory, social patterns, and perhaps the very nature of physical laws. Time, and the rigors of the scientific method, will prove who is right.
AN INTERVIEW ON SKEPTICISM
In this interview by Jime Sayaka, publisher of the Subversive Thinking blog, I answer some questions about my background and how I became skeptical of the travesties and abuses of critical thinking that masquerade as modern "skepticism." This page also includes many excellent links to further resources addressing science vs. skepticism.
A MODERN HISTORY OF KNEEJERK SKEPTICISM
An undocumented and possibly apocryphal timeline of classic debunkery, assembled from anonymous internet sources.