The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets NonsenseAs author of the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe, and Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer has emerged as the nation's number one scourge of superstition and bad science. Now, in The Borderlands of Science, he takes us to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another. Shermer argues that science is the best lens through which to view the world, but he recognizes that it's often difficult for most of us to tell where valid science leaves off and borderland science begins. To help us, Shermer looks at a range of topics that put the boundary line in high relief. For instance, he discusses the many "theories of everything" that try to reduce the complexity of the world to a single principle, and shows how most fall into the category of pseudoscience. He examines the work of Darwin and Freud, explaining why one is among the great scientists in history, while the other has become nothing more than a historical curiosity. He also shows how Carl Sagan's life exemplified the struggle we all face to find a balance between being open-minded enough to recognize radical new ideas but not so open-minded that our brains fall out. And finally, he reveals how scientists themselves can be led astray, as seen in the infamous Piltdown Hoax. Michael Shermer's enlightening volume will be a valuable aid to anyone bewildered by the many scientific theories swirling about. It will help us stay grounded in common sense as we try to evaluate everything from SETI and acupuncture to hypnosis and cloning. |
From inside the book
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Page 6
... question their protocol criteria. There was, however, one gentleman in our group whose results needed to be cut no slack at all. He drew a picture of big stones in a circle, and wrote at 4 (S4) (Bank Gásio matrix} {tobed...googo or a ...
... question their protocol criteria. There was, however, one gentleman in our group whose results needed to be cut no slack at all. He drew a picture of big stones in a circle, and wrote at 4 (S4) (Bank Gásio matrix} {tobed...googo or a ...
Page 10
... questions that I ask about all claims that I investigate for Skeptic magazine, a science publication that I edit, and for a television series on the Fox Family Channel called Exploring the Unknown, for which I am a cohost and coproducer ...
... questions that I ask about all claims that I investigate for Skeptic magazine, a science publication that I edit, and for a television series on the Fox Family Channel called Exploring the Unknown, for which I am a cohost and coproducer ...
Page 14
... questions, solve mysteries, and understand our cosmos, our world, and ourselves. Science cannot solve all mysteries (thus, Solved Mysteries was rejected as a potential show title), but it can solve a lot more mysteries than most people ...
... questions, solve mysteries, and understand our cosmos, our world, and ourselves. Science cannot solve all mysteries (thus, Solved Mysteries was rejected as a potential show title), but it can solve a lot more mysteries than most people ...
Page 17
... questions one might ask about a claim in an attempt to distinguish between legitimate historical revisionism and ... question—before all others: If I were to ask the holders of the claim if they feel that they and their beliefs were ...
... questions one might ask about a claim in an attempt to distinguish between legitimate historical revisionism and ... question—before all others: If I were to ask the holders of the claim if they feel that they and their beliefs were ...
Page 18
... question. In many cases questioning the belief holder is not practical, but the fairness question still works as a hypothetical standard toward which to aim. Given these caveats, here are ten useful questions to ask in determining the ...
... question. In many cases questioning the belief holder is not practical, but the fairness question still works as a hypothetical standard toward which to aim. Given these caveats, here are ten useful questions to ask in determining the ...
Contents
1 | |
Borderlands Theories | 35 |
Borderlands People | 127 |
Borderlands History | 239 |
Notes | 321 |
Bibliography | 339 |
About the Author | 353 |
Index | 355 |
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Common terms and phrases
accepted answer appear asked become believe body borderlands brain called cause century chapter claims cloning complete concludes considered course culture Darwin discovered earth environment equilibrium evidence evolution evolutionary example experience explain fact field Figure forces fossil genius Gould hand happened hero human Ibid ideas important individual interest knowledge later less letter living look matter mean mind moved myth natural selection nature never notes observer original paradigm personality physical Piltdown present problem produced published punctuated question Quoted radical reason remote result Sagan scientific scientists selection Skeptic social Society species spiritualism Sulloway theory things thought turned understand universe viewing Wallace Wallace's writing written
Popular passages
Page 125 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
Page v - The proper study of mankind is man. Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great : With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer...
Page 155 - Sans check, to good and bad: but when the planets In evil mixture to disorder wander, What plagues, and what portents, what mutiny, What raging of the sea. shaking of earth, Commotion in the winds, frights, changes, horrors, Divert and crack, rend and deracinate The unity and married calm of states Quite from their fixture!
Page 277 - IN Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree : Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round : And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
Page 96 - Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate : I am the captain of my soul.
Page v - Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd; The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!
Page 276 - The author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least of the external senses, during which time he has the most vivid confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two to three hundred lines...
Page 72 - Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.
Page 47 - I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.
Page 273 - I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gambolling before my eyes. This time the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered more acute by repeated visions of this kind, could now distinguish larger structures, of manifold conformation: long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all turning and twisting in snakelike motion. But look ! what was that?