More Recent Comments

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Why People Believe Weird Things

 
WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS

FEATURING DR. MICHAEL SHERMER


Friday, October 2, 7pm
J.J.R. MacLeod Auditorium
Medical Sciences Building
University of Toronto (1 King's College Circle)

Ever wonder why people believe in UFO abductions, mind-reading, reincarnation, urban legends, not to mention "scientific creationism" and the pernicious myth that the Holocaust never happened?

Dr. Michael Shermer, the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, is a genuine ghost-buster, a relentless crusader against superstition and pseudoscience. Based on his bestselling book, Why People Believe Weird Things, Dr Shermer^Òs lecture will debunk junk science, bad science, voodoo science, pathological science, pseudoscience, and plain old nonsense. The event will be filled with humour,insight, and personal anecdotes - a highly entertaining wake-up call that has proved a hit on college campuses.

Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech, and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University.

ADMISSION
$8 regular
$5 students and Centre for Inquiry Members.
This event is FREE to New and Renewing Centre for Inquiry members and one guest.

CONTACT
Visit the event webpage at http://tinyurl.com/ntssw7 or contact
416-971-5676 or jtrottier@centerforinquiry.net


6 comments :

charlie wagner said...

That sounds like the title of the book I'm writing:

"How Really Smart People Can Believe Really Stupid Things"

charlie wagner said...

It is inspired by, and dedicated to Malcolm Gladwell...

crf said...

Shermer in Sciam on why Smart people believe weird things. He also wrote an article on this topic in Skeptic magazine, Vol 10, issue 2.

CrystalCowboy said...

I hope someone will ask Shermer how a person could believe (and write) this weird thing:

"from an evolutionary viewpoint, 25 percent of a child's genes come from each parent, about 6 percent from each grandparent, 1.5 percent from each great-grandparent, and so on."

From Why People Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer, 1997, first edition.

Anonymous said...

I think I'll have to read this one. It sounds like something I'd like.

Richard said...

I wonder if it might be something like this. He certainly provides some interesting arguments.