Michael Shermer

Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#perceptions #storytelling #perception

Believers can have both religion and science as long as there is no attempt to make A non-A, to make reality unreal, to turn naturalism into supernaturalism. (125) ↗

— Michael Shermer

#darwinism #evolution #intelligent-design #religion #science

But because we live in an age of science, we have a preoccupation with corroborating our myths. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#because #live #myths #our #preoccupation

The reason is that in a group, individual errors on either side of the true figure cancel each other out. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#each #either #errors #figure #group

We think of our eyes as video cameras and our brains as blank tapes to be filled with sensory inputs. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#brains #cameras #eyes #filled #inputs

Anecdotal thinking comes naturally; science requires training. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#comes #naturally #requires #science #thinking

But there is only one surefire method of proper pattern recognition, and that is science. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#only #pattern #proper #recognition #science

But the power of science lies in open publication, which, with the rise of the Internet, is no longer constrained by the price of paper. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#internet #lies #longer #open #paper

Dualists hold that body and soul are separate entities and that the soul will continue beyond the existence of the physical body. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#body #continue #entities #existence #hold

For solving a surprisingly large and varied number of problems, crowds are smarter than individuals. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#individuals #large #number #problems #smarter