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superstition

The Spectres That Haunt Africa: Strange Ailment in Kenya Sets Social Media Alight

In response to recent (often ominous) reports from western Kenya regarding a bizarre condition that swept through a Christian all-girls high school, medical sociologist and journalist Robert E. Bartholomew reminds us that these types of outbreaks should be seen for what they are: collective manifestations of distress.

Tanya Luhrmann on How Gods and Spirits Come to Feel Vividly Real to People

Shermer and Luhrmann discuss: the anthropology of religion • what it means when people say they “hear the voice of God” or are “walking with God” • normal “voices within” vs. hallucinations and psychoses • mystical experiences • anomalous psychological experiences • sleep paralysis and other cognitive anomalies • belief in angels and demons • absorption and religious beliefs • prayer vs. meditation vs. mindfulness • sensed presences • why people believe in God • empirical truths, religious truths, mythic truths…

Joseph Henrich — The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous

WEIRD: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries?

eSkeptic for September 22, 2020

In Science Salon podcast # 134, Michael Shermer speaks Joseph Henrich about his book: The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous.

eSkeptic for January 9, 2019

In this article from Skeptic magazine 23.1 (2018) Ken Levy examines arguments put forth by theists that God’s existence is perfectly compatible with all the violence, pain, suffering, and premature death we experience.

Michael Shermer — Ask Me Anything # 2

Shermer reviews the latest issue of Skeptic magazine • introduces upcoming podcast guests Rachel Kleinfeld, Bruce Schneier, Mark W. Moffett, and Jared Diamond • discusses his book publishing plans for 2019, including an essay collection of his last 70 Scientific American columns • reflects on his 18 years writing for Scientific American and reads aloud the final column, titled “Stein’s Law and Science’s Mission”.

eSkeptic for April 25, 2018

In this week’s eSkeptic, Harriet Hall, M.D. (aka the SkepDoc) reviews Horoscopes: Reality or Trickery? by Kimberly Blaker (Green Grove Press. 2018. 78 pages.), a delightful new book for children age 9–13 that encourages readers to ask questions and gives them the tools to find the answers for themselves.

Not in Your Stars

Harriet Hall, M.D. (aka the SkepDoc) reviews Horoscopes: Reality or Trickery? by Kimberly Blaker (Green Grove Press. 2018. 78 pages.), a delightful new book for children age 9–13 that encourages readers to ask questions and gives them the tools to find the answers for themselves.

The Science Behind Why People See Ghosts

Do you know someone who has had a mind altering experience? If so, you know how compelling they can be. A life can be changed or an entire religion founded on the basis of a single brain-generated hallucination. These phenomena are so powerful that throughout history seekers of knowledge have sought to induce them. They are one of the foundations of widespread belief in the paranormal. But as skeptics are well aware, accepting them as reality can be more than…

11-05-18

In this week’s eSkeptic, Anondah Saide reviews the book Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture by Christopher D. Bader, F. Carson Mencken, and Joseph O. Baker.

11-04-08

In this eSkeptic, Michael Shermer announces his lecture schedule for Illinois and Wisconsin for April 2011.

10-09-08

In this week’s eSkeptic, we present an article from the archives of Skeptic magazine, volume 13, number 1 in which Marjaana Lindeman & Kia Aarnio offer a new and integrative model that aims to explain superstition, magical thinking, and paranormal beliefs.

Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science

From uttering a prayer before boarding a plane, to exploring past lives through hypnosis, why has superstition become so pervasive in an age of science? Robert Park, the University of Maryland physics professor and the best-selling author of Voodoo Science, asks why people persist in superstitious convictions long after science has shown them to be ill-founded…

06-06-20

In this week’s eSkeptic, John C. Snider reviews Galileo’s Children: Tales of Science vs. Superstition.

When They Severed Earth From Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth

Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don’t exist? Strange though they sound, however, these “myths” did not begin as fiction…

04-03-18

In this week’s eSkeptic, Don Lattin reviews Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Two short articles look at homophobia in Tennessee and superstitions in Glasgow. Michael Shermer discusses the origins of evil and The Science of Good and Evil receives a positive review.

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