Why Humanity Must Overcome Religion | Carl Sagan

"In this video, Carl Sagan explores the vastness of the universe, the power of science, and the limitations of religious belief. He emphasizes the importance of skepticism, evidence, and the scientific method in shaping humanity’s future while questioning the role of faith and mythology in understanding our place in the cosmos."

 

Click on this link for a video compilation of some of Carl Sagan's more famous quotes, leading to the conclusion that humanity's most common and dangerous false belief must be marginalized for humanity to survive.

The Dunning Kruger Effect: An Epidemic Within US Republicans

"The Dunning Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias that makes people believe they are smarter and more capable than they actually are. The effect is related to people’s general inaptitude to recognize their lack of ability. To learn how this comes about and what you can do to avoid it from happening to you, watch our video."

Click on the link below for a 5-minute video clearly explaining this bias within all anti-science thinkers:

The Dunning Kruger Effect

Parental Control

To conservative ideologues, parental rights/control is the top authority regarding the welfare of children. Is that valid? Is that the best for the individual child and for society? Does a parent with an elementary school level of education have the authority to overrule experts in the spectrum of knowledge disciplines? Click on the link below for a short video by Beau of the Fifth Column for answers to these and other questions regarding this matter:

Let's talk about parents and education

We Are Losing The Battle

“We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator" (link)

"On this World Environment Day, June 5, the urgency of the climate emergency is creeping closer and closer to home. Oxfam’s recent report 'Inequality kills' warned that 231,000 people each year could be killed by the climate crisis in poor countries by 2030. This is a conservative estimate, millions could die in the second half of this century." (link)

"We are still nowhere near the scale and pace of emission reductions required to put us on track toward a 1.5 degrees Celsius world. To keep this goal alive, national governments need to strengthen their climate action plans now and implement them in the next eight years.” (link)

The Dangers Of Lack Of Scientific Knowledge

The human brain is finite and subject to many biases. If one rejects or hasn't been exposed to science and science-based thinking, one is open to negative thoughts and actions. Following are two recent articles that are examples of this relationship:

"Public attitudes that are in opposition to scientific consensus can be disastrous and include rejection of vaccines and opposition to climate change mitigation policies. Five studies examine the interrelationships between opposition to expert consensus on controversial scientific issues, how much people actually know about these issues, and how much they think they know. Across seven critical issues that enjoy substantial scientific consensus, as well as attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines and mitigation measures like mask-wearing and social distancing, results indicate that those with the highest levels of opposition have the lowest levels of objective knowledge but the highest levels of subjective knowledge. Implications for scientists, policymakers, and science communicators are discussed."  (link)

"In many of these cases, it is specifically scientific knowledge that is being questioned by conspiracy theorists. While scientists question scientific knowledge all the time, their standards for proof are obviously much higher. When internet celebrities hear that their pet theory has been considered and dismissed by the prevailing researchers, the conspiracist celebrity has to position their beliefs as being under attack by the establishment. This ends up providing the celebrity and their followers with cohesion and an enemy to rally around. It also gives them a sense of purpose, meaning, and identity. " (link)

Only Science (Knowledge) Improves Science (Knowledge)

"So today we're going to look at examples of this in action: cases where sound science had been accepted, and then new data and new discoveries upended work that had been considered solid yesterday, and thus improved our knowledge of the world. Some look at this constant improvement as proof that the very scientific method itself is hopelessly flawed, with the view that if science was wrong yesterday then it's wrong today, therefore anything coming from the scientific method is by definition untrustworthy, and that we should turn instead to intuition, to the metaphysical, to the spiritual. Well, that perspective is half right. They are right in observing that much of what we know now is likely to be improved, but they are wrong in believing that it's best to leave that path and go instead in the opposite direction."

Anti-Science/Magical Thinkers like to point to science's "mistakes" to discredit it. First of all, most of such are not really "mistakes" but additions to prior knowledge. Second, what other epistemology is more likely to determine what is true? Click on the link below for examples of these "mistakes:"

The Day Science Was Overthrown

What Happens When Ignorance Is Normalized

"As the world struggles with war, inflation, and climate change, political leadership is needed now more than ever. Humorist Andy Borowitz believes good leadership is increasingly hard to find these days. His new book, “Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumber and Dumber,” looks at America’s embrace of anti-intellectualism. He joins Walter Isaacson to talk about this trend's danger to our democracy."

Click on the link below for a video of an interview with one of the best satirists in the media today:

Andy Borowitz: How American Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber

"How the Republican Party went crazy with far-right fanaticism & fascism. Trump didn’t start the fascist slide either – it’s been there since the 50s. Think back to Joe McCarthy and every Republican presidency since."

Click on the link below for another video, this one is an interview with David Corn:

How the Republican Party Turned into Crazy Fascists

Are You Self-Aware Of HOW You Understand Reality?

Self-Awareness: how an individual consciously knows and understands their own character, feelings, motives, and desires. (Wikipedia)

One of the most difficult actions humans can take is to look at ourselves from the outside as others may see us without giving in to some of the cognitive biases that all of us tend to have. Some categories of opinions on reality that one can include in self-awareness are politics, economics, history, religion, and medicine.

In these, and other areas, are you forming your opinions to conform to "what you are taught?", or, do you question the claims of relatives, friends, religious organizations, political parties, and the media to which you are exposed? Is comfort or knowing the truth more important? 

What tools do you use to decide what is true: 

• personal feelings/intuition/revelations
• objective evidence

Only one of these two can be justified/verified in understanding reality: the latter (the findings of science). If you think that the former is knowledge in the same sense as science, this link will educate you.

Intelligent Design Debunked By Proponent

If one is not skilled in science-based thinking, it is easy to be deceived. The anti-evolution crowd continues to promote the unfounded "Intelligent Design" hypothesis as science. Click on the link below for a podcast exposing the false foundation of such:

Theorist Accidentally Produces Evidence Against Intelligent Design

Will This Be The Autopsy Of The USA?

Click on the link below for a frightening expose of the serious sickness that probably will condemn the USA to death in the near future. Frankly, I don't see enough people in the country who are science-based thinkers to change its demise. I wish I was wrong, but I do fear for my children, grandchildren, and all of humanity:

Will America's disregard for science be the end of its reign?

What Has The USA Lost And How?

Throughout its history, the USA has been more of an idea of what humanity could be rather than what the USA actually is. It has been a "City on the Hill" since its land was first colonized. However, because of religious factionalism inherent within the colonies, the US Constitution wisely established not only the recognition of basic human rights but also included the separation of religion and government.

Since that time, there has been a slow, gradual and painful advancement towards achieving its ideals. Until recently, the ideals of the USA were held by the vast majority of the public as almost quasi-religious. Yes, there have always been ideological outliers. However, they were effectively marginalized or attenuated by the wisdom of the voters. 

I have spent a significant time in Washington, DC in my 76+ years on this planet. I enjoyed touring the Smithsonian buildings, the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Monuments without having to go through any significant security gauntlets. I could feel their special purposes historically, politically, and practically. I felt that truly I was living in freedom being a resident of the USA. In a secular way, I felt that I was on sacred grounds. With today's security measures in the area, it feels that the USA is under siege. IT IS!!

The religious dogmatists, conspiracy theorists, supporters of alternatives to medicine, and all other anti-science purveyors are winning. How? *The Republican Party has allowed itself to be hijacked by this magical thinking evil. Unless our society adopts science-based thinking, and soon, will the last person leaving turn the light out?

* Of course, I'm not even addressing their discredited economics here. If you support their economics, just peruse this blog to see what I am talking about there.

Authoritarianism In The Guise Of Freedom

Sarah Huckabee Sanders vows not to impose mask, vaccine mandates if elected governor of Arkansas (link). This sounds like "pro-freedom" but is it?. In an authoritarian government, you not only do what the dictator says to do but also don't do what the dictator says you don't need to do. Critical thinking, empathy, and promotion of the general welfare play no role in decisions made by the followers of a dictator. Ironically, the followers think they are acting out of their want for freedom when the government is actually controlling them. Click on the link below for more:

Giving up on freedom 

CNN's SE Cupp (a Republican) also chimes in on the GOP's reluctance to promote Covid-19 vaccinations and its negative consequences for the party (link).

OTHER Countries Are Doing It

"So if we can’t regulate the 'news' or even stop trolls and foreign operatives from inciting Americans, how can we activate the 'immune system' of democracy?"

For as long as I have been out of college I have been actively promoting critical /science-based thinking. I look around me in the USA and it seems that NO organization is doing anything to improve the dismal display of magical thinking and ignorance. Click on the link below for a brief video presenting what OTHER countries are doing to improve the situation:

How Does America Solve Its "Fake News" Crisis?

Examples Of Conservative Blindness

"It is better to be silent and to be thought a fool,

than to speak out and remove all doubt."

(multiple attributions)

Conservatives have disqualified themselves from the rest of us needing to take them seriously. The following videos are emblematic of their erroneous thinking processes:

Rick Santorum

Ben Shapiro

Dave Rubin

Transgenderism: A Target For The Political Right

In recent months, political conservatives have increased their attack against acceptance of the science supporting sex/gender as a spectrum, and are focusing on transgenderism. Two examples are these recent books:

• The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society

• Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters

Following are links debunking these two books:

• SIO284: Debunking "The End of Gender" Part 1

• SIO285: Debunking "The End of Gender" Part 2

• A Review of "Irreversible Damage" by Abigail Shrier

- - - - - - -

This podcast also adds to the understanding of the issue.

Admitting You Are Wrong Is Healthy

"Rethinking your opinions—and changing your views when your facts are proved wrong or someone makes a better argument—can make your life better. It can make you more successful, less anxious, and happier."

Click on the link below for an article that gives reasons and methods to overcome normal human resistance to admitting you are wrong.

How to Get Better at Admitting You Are Wrong

Flat Earthers: The Extreme Of Magical Thinkers

"In this video, I explain what flat earthers believe, why they believe it, and why I think scientists should take flat earthers more seriously." 

Yes, almost everyone finds believers in a flat Earth to be uneducated and resistant to evidence in the extreme. However, understanding how they think gives insight into how ALL magical thinkers think and, thus, clues on how to de-convert all of them. 

Click on the link below for a 16-min video on the topic:

Flat Earth "Science" -- Wrong, but not Stupid

Scientist vs. Science: A Reminder

"Professor Avi Loeb has had a pioneering career in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. He's authored hundreds of academic papers on topics like black holes and the early days of the universe, collaborated on projects with the legendary Stephen Hawking and helmed Harvard's astronomy department for almost a decade, longer than anyone in the department's history.

 
"But despite an impressive resume that runs deep inside some of the world's most revered institutions, Loeb has found himself at odds with the mainstream of science in recent years over his most controversial hypothesis. He's become increasingly convinced a space object many other astronomers assume is just a peculiar space rock is really a piece of alien technology sent in our direction by some sort of extraterrestrial civilization."

This is a classical example of accepting an unsupported hypothesis, and it's a shame that such a noted scientist, who SPECIALIZES in this area of science, has firm views outside of supporting evidence. It is no different than the more common "Black Knight" conspiracy theory, or a religious scientist.

Click on the link below:

Harvard's Avi Loeb more sure than ever we were visited by alien spacecraft

Arguments From Faith Debunked

"Now we could continue to list more definitions, but, honestly, there’s no need – the point has been made; there are many definitions of the word ‘faith’, and people frequently use them interchangeably, which makes them extremely susceptible to committing Equivocation Fallacies… and that, good Sirs and Ladies, is the primary flaw with Arguments from Faith… they quite simply are the embodiment of the Equivocation Fallacy (which I explain within the video)."

Take less than 10 minutes to really understand how bad accepting claims on "Faith" is.

Appeal to Faith Refuted

"Pro Lifers": Attack The CAUSES Of Abortion

"The decision to have an abortion is typically motivated by multiple, diverse, and interrelated reasons. The themes of responsibility to others and resource limitations, such as financial constraints and lack of partner support, recurred throughout the study." (link)

"In most countries, the most frequently cited reasons for having an abortion were socioeconomic concerns or limiting childbearing." (link)

"THE RATE AT WHICH WOMEN are getting abortions has dropped across the developed world as access to effective contraception has increased, according to a new report, which also concludes that laws restricting abortions do not result in the procedure occurring less frequently, merely less safely." (link)

- - - - - - -

The Anti-Choice side of the abortion issue focuses on the potential person within the body of the women and resists the efforts of those who are working to rid society of the causes of abortion. Why? The vast majority of those who are against abortion are conservative and very religious. Conservatives resist governmental efforts to improve the socio-economic status of those in need. (link)

IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THIS, NAME ONE HUMAN RIGHT WHERE CONSERVATIVES ARE IN THE VANGUARD.

MAGICAL THINKING IS A BRAIN POISON