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Michael Shermer commemorates, with his own personal reading, the 150th anniversary of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address — one of the most memorable speeches in America history, which Lincoln delivered on November 19, 1863.
In this 14-minute introduction to skepticism, Dr. Michael Shermer (Executive Director of the Skeptics Society) discusses why people believe weird things and elaborates on the power of belief systems. This lecture was delivered at the 2006 TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) in Monterey, California.
James Van Praagh and other practitioners of so-called “channeling”—communicating with deceased people—have consistently avoided James Randi’s Million Dollar Challenge test to prove their psychic abilities. In this video, Miklos Jako, a knowledgeable layman, tests Van Praagh’s ability simply by having a session with him and analyzing what went on. The results, though not strictly scientific, are pretty conclusive, as well as entertaining.
Mr. Deity discusses Noah’s flood with a geologist (Skeptic’s own Donald R. Prothero).
Michael Shermer discusses the belief in life after death.
Deepak Chopra interviews Michael Shermer as part of his “soul profiles” series.
Ancient Aliens Debunked is a 3 hour refutation of the theories proposed on the History Channel series Ancient Aliens. It is essentially a point by point critique of the “ancient astronaut theory” which has been proposed by people like Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin as well as many others. All the claims are sourced at the website: http://ancientaliensdebunked.com. It was produced by skeptic and Christian Chris White and includes commentary from Dr. Michael Hesier.
In this discussion panel with audience Q&A, five leading skeptics (Bill Nye, James Randi, Donald Prothero, Brian Dalton, and Michael Shermer) discussed their experiences communicating science to the public. Young audience members took advantage of these experts to ask excellent questions.
Science and faith do battle as archrivals Michael Shermer and Deepak Chopra debate in this ABC Nightline Face-off from March 2010.
Is there an ultimate reality? And if so, can it be accounted for by science?
