Stephen Beckner reviews season one of HBO’s most-watched TV series Westworld, and considers some of the concepts presented in the first ten episodes: creation, evolution, artificial intelligence, memory, consciousness, self-awareness, free will, and suffering. WARNING: This review contains spoiler alerts.
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eSkeptic for eSkeptic for January 11, 2017
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Out of the Loop, Lost in the Maze:
The Stealth Determinism of Westworld
Stephen Beckner reviews season one of HBO’s most-watched TV series Westworld, and considers some of the concepts presented in the first ten episodes: creation, evolution, artificial intelligence, memory, consciousness, self-awareness, free will, and suffering. WARNING: This review contains spoilers from season one, and speculation about future events.
eSkeptic for eSkeptic for June 29, 2016
In this week’s eSkeptic, James “The Amazing” Randi ruminates on the reality of biological evolution.
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Accepting the Reality of Biological Evolution
James “The Amazing” Randi ruminates on the reality of biological evolution.
eSkeptic for eSkeptic for June 15, 2016
In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer dispels seven myths of terrorism. This is an excerpt from his book The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom. This excerpt also appeared in Skeptic magazine 20.1—a special issue on Terrorism—in 2015.
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Merry Kitzmas! The 10th Anniversary of the Dover Decision and the Demise of Intelligent Design
Sunday, December 20, marked the 10th anniversary of Judge John Jones’ decision in the landmark Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District case, better known as the court case that finally put intelligent design (ID) creationism on trial. In this article, Donald R. Prothero recounts details from that momentous case and its aftermath in the battle between creationism and evolution.
eSkeptic for eSkeptic for December 23, 2015
Sunday, December 20, marked the 10th anniversary of Judge John Jones’ decision in the landmark Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District case, better known as the court case that finally put intelligent design (ID) creationism on trial. In this week’s eSkeptic, Donald R. Prothero recounts details from that momentous case and its aftermath in the battle between creationism and evolution
INSIGHT
Science Affirmers
Donald Prothero describes encouraging science-based developments on the California political stage.
INSIGHT
What the Heck is a Biostratigrapher?
Listen as a quick and easy 10-minute radio interview explains how fossils help scientists to reconstruct the geological history of the Earth.
INSIGHT
Monkey Business
How in the heck did the New World monkeys get to South America? Donald Prothero digs into the mystery.
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Detecting Baloney
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For a class project, a pair of 11th grade physics students created the infographic shown below, inspired by Michael Shermer’s Baloney Detection Kit: a 16-page booklet designed to hone your critical thinking skills.
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Top 10 Myths About Evolution (and how we know it really happened)
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Learn to do Psychic “Cold Reading” in 10
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Psychic readings and fortunetelling are an ancient art — a combination of acting and psychological manipulation.
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