We’re still alive Thursday, October 2, 2008
Posted by ThomDG in Skepticism.Tags: Skepticism
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I assure you that we are not dead. We are just both quite busy with school. I intend to post more over my fall and winter breaks. Thanks to everyone who has been checking out the site. Although it seems we often encounter people with different viewpoints then us, we still enjoy you visiting us. I am going to end this post with a question and my response, I’d love to hear some of yours too. What does being a skeptic mean to you?
To me it means that I require evidence to believe in something. I need this evidence to meet a certain standard. It has to be testable, it has to be empirical, and it has to hold up to the scientific method and peer review. I am not closed minded. I don’t hate mysteries. I love them. I love learning new things. I wish a lot of these things were true. I just don’t think they are. I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes by Carl Sagan, one that sums up my view of skepticism quite well. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Oh! Oh! I’ve got first comment! I’d like to reiterate Thom’s point about us still being alive. We are, even if some of us had to move out of their apartments and still find time to pass midterm exams. Sorry everyone, but something had to give and it wasn’t going to be my GPA.
Now, to Thom’s question. I feel that being a skeptic is about looking at things unfiltered- without bias, agenda, or stigmas. It is also learning to recognize what needs a skeptical eye and what doesn’t. In my life, I’ve spent a good deal of time applying my skeptical toolkit to religion. This is because by the very nature of faith, it is outside of rational and logical processes (I’m also fascinated by the entire concept of religion, but that’s a little unrelated). While on the other hand, I would postulate there’s no reason to be skeptical of the blueness of the sky. Ok, it’s not a great example, but it’s late and that’s all I’ve got.