The Truth Hurts: People acting like lawyers rather than scientists

When emotion takes hold, humans tend to act like lawyers, furiously working to justify their beliefs, cherry picking their evidence. This tends to be exacerbated by the echo-chamber of the internet media, but this tendency existed long before modern times. Chis Mooney suggests that we are wired this way, because we have evolved to act quickly. The following PBS video uses the examples of global warming and the purported end of the world to explore the way many people are wired:

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

I agree with many of the points made in the above video, but I there is also a well-documented social component to "motivated reasoning." If trusted others are believing X, you will be tempted to do likewise.

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Chris Mooney: New Atheists’ attack on religion is counter-productive

Chris Mooney is the author of The Republican War on Science, Storm World, and Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future (co-authored by Sheril Kirshenbaum). He is also an atheist who, for years, has engaged with believers on the validity of religious claims. He strongly believes that those who respect the scientific method should question religious claims. In this interview with D.J. Grothe at Point of Inquiry, however, Mooney takes on the New Atheists (starting here at about the 10:30 minute mark). Instead of attacking religions, Mooney advocates that we should promote scientific literacy. Yes, we should refute the baseless claims of fundamentalists, but it is equally critical to "mobilize the religious moderates," and not alienate them by attacking all religions. Mooney argues that the New Atheists have painted with much too broad a brush, and that they have used an aggressive tone that achieves "nothing at all." He points to P.Z. Myers as being one of the most prominent culprits.

Continue ReadingChris Mooney: New Atheists’ attack on religion is counter-productive