Entry 628, on 2007-10-21 at 21:34:18 (Rating 3, Skepticism)
I listen to a lot of skeptical podcasts and read a lot of scientific skeptical material, so I thought it might be a good idea to get some balance and listen to at least one podcast which presents the opposing opinion. Originally it was something called "Beyond Science" which I abbreviated to "bs" (and most of it really was bs too).
When that finished I subscribed to one called "Skeptiko" instead. The presenter has a clear bias towards accepting certain paranormal beliefs, especially the idea that the mind is more than biological and that near death experiences are real. Originally he made some sort of effort to be balanced, but after a while it became clear that he was really just another credulous believer who was very prepared to cherry pick his evidence.
Maybe his most annoying attribute is his insistence on using false premises and indulging in straw man attacks. For example, on a recent podcast which discussed intelligent design he claims science insists on a simple Darwinian approach to evolution. I don't think that is true at all, because every evolutionist I have heard has insisted that, while Darwin was essentially correct, we have refined the theory considerably since his time.
So I'm getting to the point where I can't be bothered listening to any more Skeptiko nonsense, which is unfortunate because it is good to get some balance. But if the opposing beliefs are too extreme, or the presenters indulge in too many illogical fallacies, it just strengthens my skeptical tendencies. I think "if this is the best the supporters of paranormal theories can do then I don't really feel the need to listen to them at all".
Of course this illustrates the danger of being too certain of your beliefs and not demonstrating sufficient credulity from either perspective. Skeptics should also be careful that they don't indulge in the automatic belief that their ideas are right and they should be especially careful to not attack believers ideas as they perceive them instead of what they really believe.
So I guess I'll continue to listen to Skeptico, because intelligent design and NDEs are a lot easier to accept than giants in the Bible, antigravity, the hollow Earth, ancient astronauts, and the Nephilim which were biscussed on BS (I should add that the presenter of that podcast didn't indicate he believed all of those "alternative" theories).
Comment 1 by BF on 2007-11-09 at 09:34:13:
I have listened to some Skeptiko podcasts. The host often says that the skeptics refuse to have an open mind on this subject. How do we know that OJB isn't biased on this subject?
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