by J. Jerrald Hayes | Jun 9, 2017 | Critical Thinking
The Toxoplasma Of Rage “Nobody makes an IRC channel for no reason. Who are we doing this versus?” – topic of #slatestarcodex I. Some old news I only just heard about: PETA is offering to pay the water bills for needy Detroit families if (and only if)...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Jun 6, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
When I post some article or video on FaceBook about GMOs being safe, Homeopathy being a fraud, Chiropractic being pseudoscience, Gluten sensitivity being an imagined condition, or anything else from my list I invariably get people who disagree with me and instead of...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | May 3, 2017 | Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking, Irrational Thinking
Wow,… this is arguably one of the very best explanations of why we believe what we believe and perhaps more importantly why it is so hard for us to change our minds. It’s long for The Oatmeal but it is well worth it. You’re not going to believe what...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Apr 27, 2017 | Critical Thinking
This is an awesome info graphic of the baloney detection kit. The Baloney Detection Kit Sandwich (Infographic) For a class project, a pair of 11th grade physics students created the infographic shown below, inspired by Michael Shermer’s Baloney Detection Kit : a...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Apr 19, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Science
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by J. Jerrald Hayes | Apr 17, 2017 | Cognitive Bias, Critical Thinking
Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Apr 17, 2017 | Critical Thinking, The Media
Only You, Not Facebook Or Google, Can Stop Fake News Facebook has made some efforts, however ineffective, to stop the plague of fake news on their platform. Now Google is trying to stem the tide of false information online, along with their past attempts to shut down...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Apr 15, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Pseudoscience, The Media
Doctors have decades of experience fighting “fake news.” Here’s how they win. Some lessons from the health community’s long battle with...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Apr 3, 2017 | • Politics, Critical Thinking, The Democrats
Arguably the words we choose to use matter more than any logical argument we use in discussing a topic. Elizabeth Parker write —”If we on the Left want to start winning again, we need to study how conservatives have mastered politics and language, and start...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Mar 22, 2017 | Critical Thinking, Science
Lawrence Krauss: Stop Validating Ignorance – Video Lawrence Krauss: It amazes me that people have pre-existing notions that defy the evidence of reality. But that they hold onto them so...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Mar 12, 2017 | Critical Thinking
A philosopher’s 350-year-old trick to get people to change their minds is now backed up by psychologists The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager which, in the first formal use of decision theory, argued that...
by J. Jerrald Hayes | Mar 9, 2017 | Brain Science, Cognitive Bias
Bias can contaminate eyewitness testimony, which is the biggest contributor to wrongful convictions in the United...
