2021/06/26

Michael Shermer - Wikipedia

Michael Shermer - Wikipedia

Michael Shermer

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Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer wiki portrait4.jpg
Shermer on the Skeptics Society Geology Tour on June 8, 2007
BornSeptember 8, 1954 (age 66)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationPepperdine University (BA)
California State University, Fullerton (MA)
Claremont Graduate University (PhD)
OccupationAcademic historian of science and editor
TitleEditor-in-chief of Skeptic, senior research fellow at Claremont Graduate University and adjunct professor at Chapman University
WebsiteOfficial website
Signature
Shermer.jpg

Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor-in-chief of its magazine Skeptic,[1] which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members.[2] Shermer engages in debates on topics pertaining to pseudoscience and religion in which he emphasizes scientific skepticism.

Shermer is producer and co-host of the 13-hour Fox Family television series Exploring the Unknown which was broadcast in 1999. From April 2001 to January 2019,[3] he was a monthly contributor to Scientific American magazine with his Skeptic column. He is also a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).[4]

Shermer was once a fundamentalist Christian, but ceased to believe in the existence of God during his graduate studies. He accepts the labels agnostic,[5] nontheist,[6][7] atheist and others.[8][9][10] He has expressed reservations about such labels for his lack of belief in a God, however, as he sees them being used in the service of "pigeonholing", and prefers to simply be called a skeptic.[10] He also describes himself as an advocate for humanist philosophy[11] as well as the science of morality.[12]

Early life[edit source]

Michael Brant Shermer was born on September 8, 1954 in Los Angeles.[13][14] Shermer is a quarter Greek through his grandfather, while his grandmother was from Cologne, Germany.[15]

An only child, he was raised in Southern California, primarily in the La Cañada Flintridge area.[8][16][17] His parents divorced when he was four[16] and later remarried, his mother to a man with three children, who became Shermer's step-sister and two step-brothers, and his father to a woman with whom he had two daughters, Shermer's half-sisters. His father died of a heart attack in 1986, and his mother of brain cancer in 2000.[8][18]

Although Shermer went to Sunday school, he says that neither his biological parents, stepparents nor siblings were religious nor non-religious, as they did not discuss that topic often, nor did they attend church or pray together. Shermer began his senior year of high school in 1971, when the evangelical movement in the United States was beginning to gain popularity. One night at the behest of his best friend George, whose parents were Christian, Shermer converted to Christianity. The next day the two friends attended the Glendale, Presbyterian Church, where a sermon was given by what Shermer describes as "a very dynamic and histrionic preacher who inspired me to come forward at the end of the sermon to be saved." For the next seven years he evangelized door-to-door as part of his profoundly held beliefs.[8][18]

Shermer attended an informal Christian study fellowship group at a place called "The Barn" in La Crescenta, California, which Shermer describes as "a quintessential 1970s-era hang-out with a long-haired hippie-type, guitar-playing leader who read Bible passages that we discussed at length." Shermer enjoyed the social aspects of religion, and particularly relished its theological debates.[8]

Shermer was raised with guns. His stepfather was a hunter who took Shermer and their hunting dogs with him on hunting excursions half a dozen times a year, shooting game such as doves, ducks, and quail with shotguns. They ate everything they killed, for which Shermer's stepfather also displayed culinary skills. Growing up, Shermer owned a BB gun, then a pellet gun, then a 20-gauge shotgun, and then a 12-gauge shotgun.[19]

Shermer graduated from Crescenta Valley High School in 1972.[17] Desiring serious theological training, he enrolled at Pepperdine University with the intent of becoming a theologian. He initially majored in Christian theology. In addition to taking courses on the Bible, Shermer studied the writings of C.S. Lewis, and he attended chapel twice a week, which was required for all students. Despite the restrictions imposed on students, such as a ban on dancing and visiting the dorm rooms of opposite sex, Shermer found the university a good experience, and he accepted its teachings as a valid guide for behavior.[8] When he learned, however, that doctoral studies in theology required proficiency in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Aramaic, Shermer, who did not find foreign languages to be his forte, switched his major to psychology.[8][17][20]

He has stated that at this point he "mastered one of the languages of science: statistics", and that he learned about forming hypotheses, the null hypothesis and testing hypotheses, which led to a change in his thinking.[8] He completed his BA in psychology at Pepperdine in 1976.[21]

Graduate studies and change of beliefs[edit source]

Shermer's master's degree in experimental psychology at the California State University, Fullerton, led to many after-class discussions with professors Bayard Brattstrom and Meg White at a local pub—The 301 Club—that went late into the night. These discussions,[8][22] along with his studies in the natural and social sciences, led him to question his religious beliefs.[18][22] He abandoned his devout religious views, fueled by what he perceived to be the intolerance generated by the absolute morality he was taught in his religious studies; the hypocrisy in what many believers preached and what they practiced; and his growing awareness of other religious beliefs, and how they were determined by the temporal, geographic, and cultural circumstances in which their adherents were born. From this, Shermer came to conclude it is "obvious that God was made in our likeness and not the reverse."[8] By midway through his graduate training, he removed the Christian silver ichthys medallion that he had been wearing around his neck for years.[18][22] He completed his MA degree from the California State University in psychology in 1978.[21]

The final step in Shermer's abandoning religion came when his college sweetheart, Maureen, was in an automobile accident that broke her back and rendered her paralyzed from the waist down. Shermer relates:[8]

When I saw her at the Long Beach Medical Center ER, the full implications of what this meant for her begin to dawn on me. There, in the ER, day after dreary day, night after sleepless night, I took a knee and bowed my head and asked God to heal Maureen's broken back. I prayed with deepest sincerity. I cried out to God to overlook my doubts in the name of Maureen. I willingly suspended all disbelief. At that time and in that place, I was once again a believer. I believed because I wanted to believe that if there was any justice in the universe — any at all — this sweet, loving, smart, responsible, devoted, caring spirit did not deserve to be in a shattered body. A just and loving God who had the power to heal, would surely heal Maureen. He didn't. He didn't, I now believe, not because "God works in mysterious ways" or "He has a special plan for Maureen" — the nauseatingly banal comforts believers sometimes offer in such trying and ultimately futile times — but because there is no God.[8][23]

Competitive cycling[edit source]

After earning his MA in experimental psychology in 1978, Shermer was unable to secure a position in a PhD program, and landed a job writing for a bicycle magazine in Irvine, California. His first assignment, a Cycles Peugeot press conference featuring John Marino, who had just ridden from Los Angeles to New York in 13 days, one hour, and 20 minutes, made a deep impression on Shermer.[8][24] He bought a bike and entered the Yoplait Yogurt 50-kilometer race through Griffith Park in Los Angeles the following weekend. His interest grew rapidly, and within a short time he had completed his first century ride (100 miles). Before long he was riding hundreds of miles a week.[8]

Shermer began competitive cycling in 1979, and he spent a decade as a professional rider. Shermer's best known bicycling is in the very long distance ultramarathon road racing discipline. Shermer is a founding member of the Ultra Cycling Hall of Fame.[25]

During the course of his cycling career, Shermer worked with cycling technologists in developing better products for the sport. During his association with Bell Helmets, a bicycle-race sponsor, Shermer advised them on design issues regarding their development of expanded-polystyrene for use in cycling helmets, which would absorb impact far better than the old leather "hairnet" helmets used by bicyclists for decades. Shermer advised them that if their helmets looked too much like motorcycle helmets, in which polystyrene was already being used, and not like the old hairnet helmets, no serious cyclists or amateur would use them. This suggestion led to their model, the V1 Pro, which looked like a black leather hairnet, but functioned on the inside like a motorcycle helmet. In 1982, Shermer worked with Wayman Spence, whose small supply company, Spenco Medical, adapted the gel technology Spence developed for bedridden patients with pressure sores into cycling gloves and saddles to alleviate the carpal tunnel syndrome and saddle sores suffered by cyclists.[26]

During the decade in which he raced long distances, he helped to found the 3,000-mile nonstop transcontinental bicycle Race Across America (known as "RAAM", along with Lon Haldeman and John Marino), in which he competed five times (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1989), was an assistant race director for six years, and the executive race director for seven years.[8][27] An acute medical condition is named for him: "Shermer Neck" is pain in and extreme weakness of the neck muscles found among long-distance bicyclists. Shermer suffered the condition about 2,000 miles into the 1983 Race Across America.[28] Shermer's embrace of scientific skepticism crystallized during his time as a cyclist, explaining, "I became a skeptic on Saturday, August 6, 1983, on the long climbing road to Loveland Pass, Colorado", after months of training under the guidance of a "nutritionist" with an unaccredited PhD. After years of practicing acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, negative ions, rolfing, pyramid power, fundamentalist Christianity, and "a host of weird things" (with the exception of drugs) to improve his life and training, Shermer stopped rationalizing the failure of these practices.[29] Shermer later produced several documentary films on cycling.[27]

Shermer still cycles actively, and participated in the Furnace Creek 508 in October 2011, a qualifying race for RAAM, finishing second in the four man team category.[20][30]

Shermer has written on the subject of pervasive doping in competitive cycling and a game theoretic view of the dynamics driving the problem in several sports. He wrote specifically about r-EPO doping, which he saw as both widespread and well known within the sport, which was later shown to be instrumental in the doping scandal surrounding Lance Armstrong in 2010.[31][32][33]

Earning his PhD and teaching[edit source]

While cycling, Shermer taught Psychology 101 during the evenings at Glendale Community College, a two-year college. Wanting to teach at a four-year university, he decided to earn his PhD. Because Shermer's interests lay in behaviorism and he did not believe he could make a difference in the world by working in a lab with Skinner boxes, he lost interest in psychology and switched to studying the history of science,[8] earning his PhD at Claremont Graduate University in 1991. His dissertation was titled Heretic-Scientist: Alfred Russel Wallace and the Evolution of Man: A Study on the Nature of Historical Change.[34]

Shermer later based a full-length book on his dissertation; the book, titled In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History, was published in August 2002.[35][36][37]

Earlier that year, in his book The Borderlands of Science, Shermer rated several noted scientists for gullibility toward "pseudo" or "borderland" ideas, using a rating version, developed by psychologist Frank Sulloway, of the Big Five model of personality. Shermer rated Wallace extremely high (99th percentile) on agreeableness/accommodation and argued that this was the key trait in distinguishing Wallace from scientists who give less credence to fringe ideas.[38][clarification needed]

Shermer then became an adjunct professor of the history of science at Occidental College, California. In 2007, Shermer took a position as a senior research fellow at Claremont Graduate University. In 2011, he took a position as an adjunct professor at Chapman University,[39][40] and was later made a Presidential Fellow.[41] At Chapman, he teaches a yearly critical thinking course called Skepticism 101, in which he tries out new ideas on students.[8]

Scientific skepticism[edit source]

In 1992, Shermer founded the Skeptics Society, which began as a hobby in his garage, but eventually grew into a full-time occupation. The Skeptics Society publishes the magazine Skeptic, and organizes the Caltech Lecture Series. As of 2008, it has over 55,000 members.[2][42]

Shermer is also a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).[4]

Published works[edit source]

Shermer is the author of books which attempt to explain the ubiquity of irrational or poorly substantiated beliefs, including UFOs, Bigfoot, and paranormal claims. In 1997, he wrote Why People Believe Weird Things, which explores a variety of "weird" ideas and groups (including cults), in the tradition of the skeptical writings of Martin Gardner. A revised and expanded edition was published in 2002. He writes in the Introduction:

So we are left with the legacy of two types of thinking errors: Type 1 Error: believing a falsehood and Type 2 Error: rejecting a truth. ... Believers in UFOs, alien abductions, ESP, and psychic phenomena have committed a Type 1 Error in thinking: they are believing a falsehood. ... It's not that these folks are ignorant or uninformed; they are intelligent but misinformed. Their thinking has gone wrong.

In How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science, Shermer explored the psychology behind the belief in God. In its introduction, Shermer wrote "Never in history have so many, and such a high percentage of the population, believed in God. Not only is God not dead as Nietzsche proclaimed, but he has never been more alive."[citation needed]

From April 2001 to January 2019, he wrote the monthly Skeptic column for Scientific American.[3] He has also contributed to Time magazine.[43]

In February 2002, he characterized the position that "God had no part in the process [of the evolution of mankind]" as the "standard scientific theory".[44] This statement was criticized in January 2006 by the scientist Eugenie Scott, who commented that science makes no claim about God one way or the other.[45]

In May 2002, Shermer and Alex Grobman published their book Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It?, which examined and refuted the Holocaust denial movement. This book recounts meeting various denialists and concludes that free speech is the best way to deal with pseudohistory.

Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown was released in 2005. His 2006 book Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design marshals point-by-point arguments supporting evolution, sharply criticizing intelligent design. This book also argues that science cannot invalidate religion, and that Christians and conservatives can and should accept evolution.

In June 2006, Shermer, who formerly expressed skepticism regarding the mainstream scientific views on global warming, wrote in Scientific American magazine that, in the light of the accumulation of evidence, the position of denying global warming is no longer tenable.[46]

The Mind of The Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics was released in 2007. In it Shermer reports on the findings of multiple behavioral and biochemical studies that address evolutionary explanations for modern behavior. It garnered several critical reviews from academics, with skeptic Robert T. Carroll saying: "He has been blinded by his libertarianism and seduced by the allure of evolutionary psychology to explain everything, including ethics and economics."[47][48][49]

In February 2009, Shermer published The History of Science: A Sweeping Visage of Science and its History, a 25-hour audio lecture.[citation needed] In May 2011, Shermer published The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies: How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths.[50][51][52]

Prior to work on science and skepticism, Shermer published books on cycling and others on child education in the math and science disciplines. These include collaborations with Arthur Benjamin.[20]

In January 2015, Shermer published The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.

Harriet Hall says of Shermer's 2018 publication, Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia, that "the topics of Heavens on Earth are usually relegated to the spheres of philosophy and religion, but Shermer approaches them through science, looking for evidence -- or lack thereof." She goes on to say that "[s]ome will argue that Shermer goes beyond the science" but that "it will definitely ... make the reader think."[53]

In a January 2019 Ask Me Anything podcast, Shermer announced plans for three upcoming books publications: a collection of essays and scholarly works spanning the last 15 years, a collection of the final 70 Skeptic columns previously published in Scientific American, and a non-fiction book on an undisclosed topic.[3]

Media appearances and lectures[edit source]

Shermer giving a talk at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Nevada in July 2016

Shermer appeared as a guest on Donahue in 1994 to respond to Bradley Smith's and David Cole's Holocaust denial claims, and in 1995 on The Oprah Winfrey Show to challenge Rosemary Altea's psychic claims. Shermer made a guest appearance in a 2004 episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit!, in which he argued that events in the Bible constitute "mythic storytelling", rather than events described literally. His stance was supported by the show's hosts, who have expressed their own atheism. The episode in question, The Bible: Fact or Fiction?, sought to debunk the notion that the Bible is an empirically reliable historical record. Opposing Shermer was Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University.[54]

Shermer made several appearances on NBC's daytime paranormal-themed show The Other Side in 1994 and 1995. After getting to know the show's producers, he made a formal pitch to their production company for his own skepticism-oriented reality show whose aim would be to present points of view of both believers and skeptics. His proposals were not fruitful, but several years later, one of the executives of that company went to work for the then-newly formed Fox Family Channel, and impressed with Shermer's show treatment, requested he pitch it to the network. The network picked up the series, Exploring the Unknown, of which Shermer became a producer and cohost. The series, which was budgeted at approximately $200,000 per episode, was viewed by Shermer as a direct extension of the work done at the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine, and would enable Shermer to reach more people. The equivocal title was chosen so as to not tip off guests or viewers as to the skeptical nature of the show.[55] Various segments from Exploring the Unknown can be found on Shermer's YouTube channel.[56] In 1999, Shermer produced and co-hosted the Fox Family TV series Exploring the Unknown.[citation needed]

Shermer has been a speaker at all three Beyond Belief events from 2006 to 2008. He also spoke at the 2006 TED Conference on "Why people believe strange things".[57] In 2008, he delivered the commencement speech at Whittier College, which awarded him with an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters.[58] He is also an occasional guest on Skepticality, the official podcast of Skeptic.[31]

Shermer has debated Deepak Chopra on multiple occasions,[59][60] including during their March 2010 appearance on the ABC News program Nightline.[61] He has named Chopra his personal favourite debating partner.[20]

On August 21, 2010, Shermer was honored with an award recognizing his contributions in the skeptical field, from the Independent Investigations Group during its 10th Anniversary Gala.[62]

Personal life[edit source]

As of 2007, Shermer lives in Altadena, California.[63] He married Jennifer Graf, a native of Cologne, Germany, on June 25, 2014.[64] The ceremony was performed by Shermer's sister, Tina, who was ordained online for the occasion.[65] A lifelong dog lover, he previously had a dog named Darwin, and as of April 2018, they have a Chocolate Labrador Retriever named Hitch, in honor of Christopher Hitchens.[66]

Political positions[edit source]

Politically, Shermer has described himself as a lifelong libertarian.[67] In a 2015 interview, Shermer stated that he prefers to talk about individual issues, lamenting that, in the past, people would refuse to even listen to him because of his self-description as a libertarian. In this same interview, he also mentioned that his research into gun control led him to believe that some measures to reduce gun-related violence would be beneficial.[68] The first president he voted for was Richard Nixon in 1972, which, in light of the Watergate scandal, he calls his "most embarrassing vote".

In 2000, he voted for Harry Browne to "vote his conscience", on the assumption that the winner of the Al Gore – George W. Bush contest would be irrelevant. He later regretted this decision, believing that Bush's foreign policy made the world more dangerous, and he voted for John Kerry in 2004. Shermer has named Thomas Jefferson as his favorite president, for his championing of liberty and his application of scientific thinking to the political, economic, and social spheres. He says of Jefferson, "When he dined alone at the White House there was more intelligence in that room than when John F. Kennedy hosted a dinner there for a roomful of Nobel laureates."[69]

Positions on gun control[edit source]

Shermer once opposed most gun control measures, primarily because of his beliefs in the principle of increasing individual freedom and decreased government intervention, and also because he has owned guns for most of his life. As an adult, he owned a .357 Magnum pistol for a quarter of a century for protection, although he eventually took it out of the house, and then got rid of it entirely. Though he no longer owns guns, he continues to support the right to own guns to protect one's family.[19] However, by 2013, the data on gun homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings convinced him that some modest gun control measures might be necessary.[70]

Positions on capital punishment[edit source]

Shermer also previously favored capital punishment, primarily in sympathy for victims' families, but later he came to oppose the death penalty, partially out of a resistance to giving the government too much power – in light of the hundreds of executed individuals who were later revealed to be innocent – and partially from his view that retributive justice is driven by humanity's baser instincts, and it does not effect restorative justice.[8] He changed his mind about the issue during research for The Moral Arc, reasoning that "[Capital punishment] is one of these barbaric practices that we need to get rid of. [The United States of] America is really the last of the 19 industrialized democracies to have the death penalty. (...) The Italian enlightenment philosopher Cesare Beccaria, in his book On Crimes and Punishments, put forward the idea that the punishment should fit the crime and that the criteria should be whether it keeps people from committing crimes, and the Death Penalty does not do that."[68]

Awards and honors[edit source]

Bibliography[edit source]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Books[edit source]

Articles and chapters[edit source]

  • "Agnosticism". Invited contribution in Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, edited by J. Gordon Melton. ABC-CLIO. 2010.
  • "The Chain of Accidents and the Rule of Law: The Role of Contingency and Necessity in Evolution". Contribution for edited volume, The Nature of Nature (Bruce L. Gordon, Editor). 2010.
  • "A noble conception". Commentary. Nature Physics, 2009, 5, 162-163
  • "Testing Tenure: Let the Market Decide". Invited commentary on "Is Tenure Justified?" by Stephen J. Ceci, et al., Behavioral and Brain Sciences, December, 2006, Volume 29, No. 6, 584-585.
  • "Science and Pseudoscience". Encyclopedia of Philosophy. MacMillan, 2006.
  • "The Skeptic's Chaplain: Richard Dawkins as a Fountainhead of Skepticism". Contribution for edited volume in tribute to Dawkins, Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • "Pseudoscience". Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Carl Mitcham (Ed.) Macmillan Reference. In Press, 2004.
  • "Skepticism". Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Carl Mitcham (Ed.) Macmillan Reference. In Press, 2004.
  • "Rethinking Stephen Jay Gould: Science and Politics in Evolutionary Theory". Rethinking Marxism, Winter, 2003.
  • "How to be Open-Minded Without Your Brains Falling Out". Journal of Thought. July, 2003.
  • "Agnosticism." Entry in Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. J. Gordon Melton and martin Baumann, Editors. Denver: ABC-CLIO, Vol. 1: 22-23. 2002.
  • "This View of Science: Stephen Jay Gould as Historian of Science and Scientific Historian". Social Studies of Science. September, 2002.
  • "The Crooked Timber of History: History is Complex and Often Chaotic. Can We Use This to Better Understand the Past?" Complexity, Vol. 2, No.6. July/August 1997: 23-29.
  • "Chaos Theory". Invited entry in The Encyclopedia of Historiography. D.R. Woolf (Ed.) New York: Garland Publishing. 1996.
  • "Exorcising Laplace's Demon: Chaos and Antichaos, History and Metahistory". Invited paper for History and Theory. Wesleyan University. Vol. 34, No. 1. 1995. 59-83.
  • "The Chaos of History: On a Chaotic Model that Represents the Role of Contingency and Necessity in Historical Sequences". Nonlinear Science. Vol. 2, No. 4. 1993: 1-13.
  • Shermer, Michael Brant (1991). "Science Defended, Science Defined: The Louisiana Creationism Case". Science, Technology, & Human Values. SAGE Publications. 16 (4): 517–539. doi:10.1177/016224399101600405. ISSN 0162-2439. S2CID 144767620.
  • Shermer, Michael (1990). "Darwin, Freud, and the Myth of the Hero in Science". Knowledge. SAGE Publications. 11 (3): 280–301. doi:10.1177/107554709001100305. ISSN 0164-0259. S2CID 143000899.
  • Shermer, Michael (June 2010). "When ideas have sex". Scientific American. Vol. 302 no. 6. p. 18. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0610-32.
  • — (April 2013). "Proof of hallucination : did a neurosurgeon go to heaven?". Skeptic. Scientific American. Vol. 308 no. 4. p. 67. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  • — (May 2013). "Gun science : how data can help clarify the gun control debate". Skeptic. Scientific American. Vol. 308 no. 5. p. 69. Retrieved 2016-02-11.[74]
  • — (February 2018). "Our Actions Don't Matter in a Cosmic Sense—But That Doesn't Mean They Don't Matter". Scientific American. Vol. 318. p. 1. Retrieved 2018-01-17.

Media work and appearances[edit source]

Television[edit source]

Exploring the Unknown (1999)
Other television and film appearances

Audio courses[edit source]

  • Shermer, Michael (2009), The History of Science: A Sweeping Visage of Science and its History (audio lecture) (Audio lecture of 1991 course)
  • Shermer, Michael (2009), War: History, Causes, and Solutions (audio lecture)
  • Shermer, Michael (2013), Skepticism 101: How to Think like a Scientist (audio lecture), The Great Courses

Radio and Web appearances[edit source]

Public lectures, speeches and debates[edit source]

References[edit source]

  1. ^ Shermer, Michael (ed.). "Masthead". Skeptic. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Mouallem, Omar (August 27, 2008). "Making a living of bullshit detecting". VUE Weekly.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b c Michael Shermer. "Dr. Michael Shermer — Ask Me Anything # 2". Skeptic.com (Podcast). The Skeptics Society. Event occurs at 5:35. Retrieved January 17,2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Our Team". American Council on Science and Health. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  5. ^ Shermer, Michael (2002). Why People Believe Weird Things. Henry Holt. p. 136
  6. ^ Shermer, Michael (November 14, 1999). "Response To Positive Atheism's December, 1999, Column 'Atheism & Fundamentalism'"". Positive Atheism. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  7. ^ Shermer, Michael (July 25, 2007). "Is tenure justified? Testing Tenure". Skeptic
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Michael Shermer Interview". April 27, 2015. TheBestSchools.org. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  9. ^ Stossel, John. Stossel. December 16, 2010 Fox Business Channel.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b Shermer, Michael (June 2005). "Why I Am An Atheist". michaelshermer.com
  11. ^ "Humanist Manifesto III Public Signers". American Humanist Association. 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  12. ^ Shermer, Michael (January 2011). "The Science of Right and Wrong". michaelshermer.com
  13. ^ Shermer, Michael (September 2004). "Mustangs, Monists & Meaning". Scientific American. The Work of Michael Shermer. 291 (3): 38. Bibcode:2004SciAm.291c..38S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0904-38. PMID 15376748. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  14. ^ Meyer, Ronald Bruce (2013-09-08). "September 8: Michael Shermer (1954)". Freethought Almanac. Retrieved 2015-05-02.
  15. ^ Shermer, Michael (April 2, 2019). "Nicholas A. Christakis — Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society (SCIENCE SALON # 60)". Skeptic/YouTube. 10:40 mark. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  16. ^ Jump up to:a b Shermer, Michael. The Believing Brain. 2011. Times Books. Chapter 4
  17. ^ Jump up to:a b c Shermer, 2002, p. 127
  18. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Shermer, The Believing Brain, Chapter 6
  19. ^ Jump up to:a b Shermer, Michael (2013). "The Sandy Hook Effect". Skeptic. Vol. 18 No. 1. p. 39
  20. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "Michael Shermer". Meet The Skeptics. November 2011. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  21. ^ Jump up to:a b "Skeptic Magazine: Meet Michael Shermer". The Skeptics Society. 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  22. ^ Jump up to:a b c Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, 2002, p. 128
  23. ^ Shermer (2011), The Believing Brain, "Chapter 3: A Skeptic's Journey"
  24. ^ Fleming, Ed (March 2, 2014). "UltraCycling Hall of Fame Founding Member: John Marino" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, ultracycling.com. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  25. ^ Lumia, Carrie (March 2, 2014). "Michael Shermer – Ultra Cycling Hall of Fame". UltraMarathon Cycling Association. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
  26. ^ Shermer, Michael (2007). The Mind of The Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics. Holt Paperbacks. pp. 59 -61 ISBN 978-0-8050-7832-9
  27. ^ Jump up to:a b "Michael Shermer: Curriculum Vitae". michaelshermer.com. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  28. ^ Libby. "A Pain in the Neck: Shermer's Neck". UltraMarathon Cycling Association. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  29. ^ Shermer (2002), pp. 13–15.
  30. ^ "2011 Furnace Creek 508 – Great American Toad – team data". AdventureCORPS, Inc. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  31. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Skepticality: Episode 200. Michael Shermer". Skepticality. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2014., 1h20 onward
  32. ^ "Nash Equilibrium, the Omerta Rule, and Doping in Cycling". True/Slant. 7 July 2010. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  33. ^ Shermer, Michael (2008). "The Doping Dilemma". Scientific American. 298 (4): 82–9. Bibcode:2008SciAm.298d..82S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0408-82. PMID 18380145.
  34. ^ Shermer, Michael Brant (1991). Heretic-scientist: Alfred Russel Wallace and the evolution of man : a study on the nature of historical change (Thesis/dissertation, Manuscript). Claremont Graduate School. OCLC 26379537.
  35. ^ van Wyhe, John (March 14, 2003). "In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History by Michael Shermer" Human Nature Review, Volume 3: 166-68
  36. ^ Manning, Aubrey (2003). "Review: In Darwin's Shadow". Reports of the NCSE. Volume 23. National Center for Science Education. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  37. ^ Mallet, James (October 10, 2002). "Move over Darwin: A look at the co-disocoverer of natural selection. Neo-Wallaceism anyone?". Nature (Vol 419), pg. 561. University College London website. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  38. ^ Greenspan, Stephen (December 30, 2008). Annals of Gullibility: Why We Get Duped and How to Avoid It. Praeger. p. 160. Archived at Google Books. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
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  40. ^ "Michael Shermer" profile at RateMyProfessors.com. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
  41. ^ "Presidential Fellows", Chapman University website. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  42. ^ "Skeptic » Upcoming Lectures » Upcoming Science Salons". skeptic.com.
  43. ^ Shermer, Michael (November 25, 2014). "The Reason Every One of Us Should Be Thankful". Time.
  44. ^ Shermer, Michael (2002). "The Gradual Illumination of the Mind". Scientific American. 286 (2): 35. Bibcode:2002SciAm.286b..35S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0202-35. PMID 11828698. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  45. ^ Scott, Eugenie. (2006). "Intelligent Design and the Creationism/Evolution Controversy" (00:42:42~00:43:53). University of Michigan. YouTube. July 12, 2013.
  46. ^ Shermer, Michael (June 2006). "The Flipping Point". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
  47. ^ Carroll, Robert. "Shermer's March to Nirvana". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2016-07-14.
  48. ^ Drutman, Lee. "The economics of man's nature". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  49. ^ Cowen, Tyler. "For Sale: Big Ideas About Humanity". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  50. ^ "The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies: How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  51. ^ Chivers, David (August 17, 2011). "Book Review: The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer". The Humanist. American Humanist Association. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  52. ^ Bailey, Ronald (August 2, 2011). "A Trick of the Mind: Looking for patterns in life and then infusing them with meaning, from alien intervention to federal conspiracy". Reason. Reason Foundation. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  53. ^ Hall, Harriet (2018). "Tackling the Big Questions". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (4): 59–60.
  54. ^ Jump up to:a b "The Bible: Fact or Fiction?", Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Season 2. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  55. ^ Shermer, Michael (2001). The Borderlands of Science. Oxford University Press, pp. 10–13.
  56. ^ "Skeptic (Michael Shermer)". YouTube. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  57. ^ Michael Shermer: Professional Skeptic, TED Conference website, November 2006.
  58. ^ Jump up to:a b "105th Whittier College Commencement Ceremony" Archived 2015-07-10 at the Wayback Machine. May 23, 2008.
  59. ^ "The Great Debate:Deepak Chopra v. Michael Shermer". Skeptic. September 28, 2005
  60. ^ Shermer, Michael (April 5, 2011). "The Woo of Creation:My evening with Deepak Chopra". Skepticblog.
  61. ^ Harris, Dan (March 23, 2010) "'Nightline' 'Face-Off': Does God Have a Future?". ABC News.
  62. ^ "The IIG Celebrates its 10th Anniversary". Independent Investigations Group. Retrieved September 5, 2010
  63. ^ Shermer, Michael (2007). "The Skeptic's Chaplain: Richard Dawkins as a Fountainhead of Skepticism". Skeptic. Vol. 13. p. 47.
  64. ^ Shermer, Michael (September 16, 2014). "Anomalous Events That Can Shake One's Skepticism to the Core". Scientific American. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  65. ^ Shermer, Michael (June 25, 2014). "Married by Minister Tina, AKA my sister. Ordained online on the spot with Open Ministry (free instant!) what a world". Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
  66. ^ Shermer, Michael (April 16, 2018). "Dr. Gregory Berns — What It's Like to Be a Dog: Animal Neuroscience (Science Salon # 22)". Skeptic. Skeptics Society/YouTube. Event occurs at 0:50; 2:18. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  67. ^ Shermer, Michael (September 13, 2009). "The Case for Libertarianism". HuffPost. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  68. ^ Jump up to:a b Shermer, Michael (February 17, 2015). "Arcing Toward Morality - Interview with Dr. Michael Shermer". Skepticality. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  69. ^ Shermer, Michael (November 2004). "Who's Getting Your Vote?". Reason.
  70. ^ Shermer, Michael (October 2013). "When Science Doesn’t Support Beliefs", Scientific American, October 2013.
  71. ^ "Anniversary Meeting 2001" Archived 2013-05-13 at the Wayback Machine. The Linnean (January 2004). Vol 2, No 1, p. 1 Linnean Society of London.
  72. ^ "Skeptic Magazine Founder to Address Library Patrons" Archived 2015-07-11 at the Wayback Machine. CSUF News, California State University, Fullerton. February 17, 2015.
  73. ^ "NCAS Philip J. Klass AwardOctober 2006". National Capital Area Skeptics. October 2006.
  74. ^ Scientific American often changes the title of a print article when it is published online. This article is titled "The Science of Guns Proves Arming Untrained Citizens Is a Bad Idea" online.
  75. ^ "Michael Shermer and Out of Body Experiences" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, originally broadcast on Wide World of Sports (ABC), August 1983
  76. ^ "Michael Shermer on How to Fake UFO Photographs" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  77. ^ "Michael Shermer on Spoonbending" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  78. ^ "Michael Shermer Firewalking Across Hot Coals" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, June 2, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  79. ^ "Michael Shermer Tests the Polygraph and Lie Detection, Part 1" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  80. ^ "Michael Shermer Tests the Polygraph and Lie Detection, Part 2" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  81. ^ "Michael Shermer Learns the Art of Con Games, Part 1" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  82. ^ "Michael Shermer Learns the Art of Con Games, Part 2" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  83. ^ "Michael Shermer Decodes the Bible Code" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official YouTube channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  84. ^ "Michael Shermer Explores Graphology/Handwriting Analysis, Part 1" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  85. ^ "Michael Shermer Explores Graphology/Handwriting Analysis, Part 2" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  86. ^ Michael Shermer Remote Viewing Experiment Part 1 on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official YouTube channel, July 9, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  87. ^ "Michael Shermer Remote Viewing Experiment Part 2 " on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, July 23, 2007, Originally broadcast on Exploring the Unknown, Fox Family, 1999
  88. ^ "Michael Shermer Abducted by Aliens in Race Across America" on YouTube, Michael Shermer's official channel, June 19, 2007, Originally broadcast on television news segment, August 1983
  89. ^ "Does God Have a Future?", Nightline, ABC, March 23, 2010, Full debate on YouTube
  90. ^ "What Were You Thinking?", Dateline NBC, NBC News, April 25, 2010
  91. ^ "Did You See That?", Dateline NBC, NBC News, July 16, 2010
  92. ^ "Show Summary". Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  93. ^ "Mr. Deity and the Skeptic" on YouTube. September 15, 2009.
  94. ^ "Mr. Deity and the Believing Brain" on YouTube. August 3, 2011.
  95. ^ Shermer appeared on Skepticality on 29 January 2013, May 24, 2011 and July 13, 2005
  96. ^ The Rubin Report. "Michael Shermer and Dave Rubin: Skepticism, Conspiracy Theories, Libertarians (Full Interview)". Retrieved 2016-01-24 – via YouTube.
  97. ^ "JRE #770 - MICHAEL SHERMER". 7 March 2016.
  98. ^ "JRE #846 - MICHAEL SHERMER". 14 September 2016.
  99. ^ "JRE #961 - MICHAEL SHERMER". 16 May 2017.
  100. ^ "JRE #1068 - MICHAEL SHERMER". 24 January 2018.
  101. ^ "JRE #1222 - MICHAEL SHERMER". 10 January 2019.
  102. ^ Roaming Millennial (2017-01-26), Interview with Michael Shermer | Skepticism, Irrational Beliefs & Ideologies (Part 1), retrieved 2017-01-27
  103. ^ Roaming Millennial (2017-01-26), Interview with Michael Shermer | The Science of Morality (Part 2), retrieved 2017-01-27
  104. ^ Reality Trip with Ben Fama Jr. (27 August 2017). "Michael Shermer: Why Do People Still Believe Weird Things".
  105. ^ Shermer, Michael (February 2006). "Why people believe weird things". TED
  106. ^ Shermer, Michael (February 2010). "The pattern behind self-deception". TED.
  107. ^ Torgovnick May, Kate (March 10, 2014). "Introducing the TED All-Stars: 50+ speakers who’ll return to the stage at TED2014". TED Blog.
  108. ^ Reasonable Doubt on YouTube
  109. ^ Morrison, Patt (March 23, 2012). "The 'Reason Rally:' Atheists gather en masse in D.C. this weekend". 89.3 KPCC.
  110. ^ Shermer, Michael (March 2012). "Reason Rally Rocks". michaelshermer.com
  111. ^ Shermer, Michael (March 24, 2012). "The Moral Arc of Reason". skeptic.com
  112. ^ "Does Science Refute God?". NPR. December 11, 2012
  113. ^ "Science Refutes God". Intelligence Squared: Debates. December 5, 2012

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