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Skeptic Magazine, Volume 23 Number 2
Table of Contents
Special Section: The Rise of the Nones
- Imagining No Heaven
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The Rise of the Nones and the Decline of Religion
by Michael Shermer - Never Doubting God
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Surveys on Belief in God’s Existence
by Charles S. Reichardt
Skeptic Investigates
- Is the Earth Flat?
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Flat Earthers Are Back—How do You Best Make the Argument for a Round Earth?
by Daniel Loxton
Junior Skeptic
- Perpetual Motion
-
Today I’d like you to imagine two impossible, magical machines: The first machine runs forever. You may picture a complex tangle of gears and wheels, or something as simple as a spinning top, but imagine that it never runs down—once started it just keeps going without ever needing more energy. Now imagine a second machine. This one may require fuel or energy to run, but somehow, through some fantastic process, it generates more energy than it consumes. We aren’t the first to imagine these two types of “perpetual motion” machines. Inventors have dreamed of such devices for centuries. How has their search unfolded? Let’s find out!
By Daniel Loxton. This issue’s cover by Daniel Loxton is based upon a perpetual motion machine designed in 1790.
Columns
- Cover illustration by Pat Linse
- The SkepDoc
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Premature Ejaculation in the News: How Headlines Influence Our Thinking
by Harriet Hall, M.D. - The Gadfly
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Please Touch
by Carol Tavris
Excerpt
- Persistence of Belief In a Purposeful Universe
- by Ralph Lewis
Reviews
- Honor, Dignity, Victim
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A review of The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars, by Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning
reviewed by Kevin McCaffree - Reason (and Science) for Hope
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A review of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker
reviewed by Michael Shermer - Realizing Rawls’ Just Society
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A review of It’s Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear, by Gregg Easterbrook
reviewed by Michael Shermer - Unsubstantiated
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A review of Unacknowledged. A new Netflix documentary purports to provide proof of alien visitation but fails to deliver.
reviewed by Tim Callahan
Articles
- Conspiracy Theorists, and the Harm They Do
- by James K. Lambert
- The Last One Forgotten
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Bruce Perkins and Another Terrible Tragedy of the Recovered Memory Movement
by L. Kirk Hagen - The Rooney Rule
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The Value of Diversity In Birds, Bees, and People
by Todd M. Freeberg - Deterrence and Its Discontents
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Now That Nuclear War Seems to Be Getting More Likely Again, It’s Time to Turn a Skeptical Eye on Deterrencen
by David Barash
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