The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

In Science Salon # 47, Dr. Michael Shermer speaks with Dr. Susan Blackmore about: how science can test subjective mystical experiences; memes and tremes; free will and determinism; the hard problem of consciousness, out of body experiences, near-death experiences, and God.

In Science Salon # 47, Dr. Michael Shermer speaks with Dr. Susan Blackmore about: how science can test subjective mystical experiences; memes and tremes; free will and determinism; the hard problem of consciousness, out of body experiences, near-death experiences, and God.

In Science Salon # 37, Michael Shermer and Neil deGrasse Tyson take a deep dive into the history of science and war, and the strange but productive alliances that have been formed over the centuries—particularly those between astrophysicists and politicians, governments, military, and corporations.

Nathan H. Lents reviews The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution by Charles S. Cockell, and The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will by Kenneth R. Miller.

In their second Science Salon conversation Michael Shermer and Colin McGinn discuss paradoxes and puzzles of philosophy, pseudo-questions, realism v. antirealism, how to deal with unknown unknowns, immortality and the nature of the self and soul.

In their second Science Salon conversation Michael Shermer and Colin McGinn discuss paradoxes and puzzles of philosophy, pseudo-questions, realism v. antirealism, how to deal with unknown unknowns, immortality and the nature of the self and soul.

In Science Salon # 29, Michael Shermer talks with philosopher Colin McGinn about his public criticism of Shermer’s latest Scientific American column on the mysteries of consciousness, free will, and God.

In his July 2018 ‘Skeptic’ column for Scientific American, Michael Shermer ponders how, for millennia, the greatest minds of our species have grappled to gain purchase on the vertiginous ontological cliffs of three great mysteries—consciousness, free will and God—without as­cending anywhere near the thin air of their peaks.

Did you miss Science Salon # 23 with Dr. Ken Miller last month? The recording is now available for free viewing on skeptic.com. Or, if you prefer to listen on your commute, download the podcast audio via iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Soundcloud.

Dr. Miller presents a radical, optimistic exploration of how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will, contra scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris who tell us that our most intimate actions, thoughts, and values are mere byproducts of thousands of generations of mindless adaptation.