Michael Shermer
Publisher Skeptic Magazine, Monthly columnist Scientific American, Presidential Fellow Chapman University
Thought Leader
#8 The New Center
Last synced from Twitter 7d ago
Camille Paglia: ‘Hillary wants Trump to win again’
Spectator USA 8d 10 tweets
The author and academic Camille Paglia discusses her 2020 predictions, Donald Trump, the deep state, multiculturalism and Jordan Peterson
Michael Shermer The incomparable Camille Paglia... "Right now, the campus religion remains nihilist, meaning-destroying post-structuralism, whose pilfering god, the one-note Foucault..." 7d
Why Is Average IQ Higher in Some Places?
Scientific American 7d 1 tweets
A surprising theory about global variations in intelligence
Richard Dawkins & Michael Shermer in Berlin, 11.11.2018
YouTube 8d 1 tweets
Richard Dawkins & Michael Shermer: Vernunft, Wissenschaft & Moral 11. November 2018 in der Urania Berlin Was ist der Wert und sind die Werte der Wissenschaft...
Michael Shermer Richard Dawkins & Michael Shermer in Berlin, 11.11.2018. High quality recording. We talk God, religion, science, skepticism, abortion, education, politics, terrorism, moral progress/regress, Trump, and more. 8d
Kids Today Are Being Socialized to Think They're Fragile Snowflakes
Michael Shermer - Scientific American 20d 4 tweets
A looming crisis and how to avert it
Michael Shermer "Kid's These Days!" My latest Scientific American column, this one on how today's youth are being socialized to think they're fragile snowflakes. A haunting illustration from Izhar Cohen. 9d
Intersectionality Score Calculator
Intersectionality Score Calculator 12d 15 tweets
Find your Intersectionality Score!
Michael Shermer My Instersectionality Score: 13. I am "more privileged than 67% of others". The best part of this idiocy is the section on how you can "improve" your score. I need to find religion, get younger, & grow poorer. But those with high scores may be oppressive! 11d
The New Evolution Deniers
Quillette 12d 33 tweets
Evolutionary biology has always been controversial. Not controversial among biologists, but controversial among the general public. This is largely because Darwin’s theory directly contradicted the supernatural accounts of human origins rooted in...
Donate with PayPal Giving Fund
Paypal.com 15d 1 tweets
Michael Shermer Today is #GivingTuesday — a global day of giving that kicks off the charitable season. Thru Dec. 31, PayPal Giving Fund will add 1% to all donations. 101% of your donation will be forwarded to the Skeptics Society when you donate via Thanks! 15d
2018-11-20 Michael Shermer im DAI
Google Photos 15d 1 tweets
18 new photos · Album by Holger Mairon
Michael Shermer Thanks to German photographer Holger who documented my talk in Heidelberg. Star Trek image illustrating problem of identity: are you material or information (Theseus' ship)? Does the transporter copy & paste or move atoms? Anyone recognize the episode? 15d
What’s the matter with Portland?
Spectator USA 16d 7 tweets
Portland has become the epicenter of street brawls and political violence in America, as the antifa protest I went to showed
1
Michael Shermer "The city has gained a comic reputation as a bastion of wokeness due to the comedy sketch show Portlandia. That’s way off the mark. Real life Portland is much, much worse, and it’s no joke." — 15d
Mission Control Live: NASA InSight Mars Landing
YouTube 16d 6 tweets
See inside mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as signals return from the InSight mission as it lands on Mars. Landing commentary includes in...
Michael Shermer Congrats NASA, JPL, and the Mars InSight team on nailing the landing. And to our species for another milestone in our drive to becoming a multi-planetary species. 16d
xkcd: Isolation
Xkcd.com 17d 1 tweets
1
Michael Shermer Another reply to pessimists bemoaning modern technologies as soul-crushing and isolating. As usual, XKCD nails it. 17d
Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice | About the Film | American Masters | PBS
American Masters 17d 1 tweets
For the first time, the American Masters series profiles a magician: the inimitable Ricky Jay, considered one of the world’s greatest conjurers, capable of creating a profound sense of wonder and disbelief in even the most jaded of audiences. He is...
Michael Shermer This PBS American Masters documentary on Ricky Jay is well worth watching. He truly was an American Master. 17d
Ricky Jay, Master Magician and Actor in ‘Deadwood,’ ‘Boogie Nights,’ Dies at 72
Pat Saperstein - Variety 17d 3 tweets
Ricky Jay, a master magician who also acted in films and TV shows such as “Boogie Nights,” “House of Games” and “Deadwood,” died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was …
Michael Shermer RIP Ricky Jay. One of the giants of magic & illusion, "the intellectual élite of magicians" says Steve Martin at whose home I heard Jay give a talk on the history of magic posters while Steve expertly performed card magic. A memorable day, a huge loss. 17d
‘It’s happening, it’s now,’ says U.S. government report on climate change
PBS NewsHour 18d 3 tweets
On Friday, the federal government released its most dramatic report yet on the effects of climate change. According to scientists, the country is already experiencing serious consequences from rising global temperatures, including more frequent and...
1
Michael Shermer In light of the government's new report on climate change & its serious consequences this century see also "A climate solution is under our feet". Remember we are a problem solving species. We can solve this one in time 18d
The landscape of the U.S. could be part of its climate solution
latimes.com 18d 1 tweets
Natural climate solutions that are based on conserving, restoring and properly managing lands have the potential to mitigate 21% of U.S. annual greenhouse gas emissions.
1
Michael Shermer In light of the government's new report on climate change & its serious consequences this century see also "A climate solution is under our feet". Remember we are a problem solving species. We can solve this one in time 18d
Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer (from The Concert in Central Park)
YouTube 215d 2 tweets
Michael Shermer For personality psychologists, behavior geneticists, evolutionary psychologists...some deep insight from Simon & Garfunkel, The Boxer. Note this stanza is only in the live version (that I know of) not in the original cut. 18d
Watch Hackers Steal a Tesla
Motherboard 19d 1 tweets
The thieves appear to hack the key fob’s signal to open the doors and start the car.
Michael Shermer It's not just BMWs susceptible to thieves stealing key fob signals. ANY cars with similar systems may be hackable. Here's a Tesla being stolen through key fob signal detection 19d
The Betrayal of Asia Bibi
Quillette 22d 13 tweets
Among the string of resignations triggered by the draft Brexit agreement with the European Union (EU), one stood out. In a double whammy for an embattled Prime Minister, Rehman Chishti the MP for Gillingham and Rainham resigned as both Vice Chairman...
Michael Shermer If Asia Bibi sought asylum in the U.S. & needed security I would gladly seed a crowd-funded financed security detail, which is very expensive. I strongly suspect hundreds of thousands of secularists & Christians alike would as well. Do it 19d
Who’s Afraid of Ludwig Wittgenstein? Explaining the Lack of Women in Philosophy
Quillette 19d 8 tweets
While criticism surrounding gender disparity in academia often is concentrated on STEM fields, there is at least one liberal-arts discipline in which the underrepresentation of women is equally as stark: philosophy. While women outnumber men in the...
Michael Shermer As Yogi Berra said "If people won't come to the ballpark, you can't stop them." As said "all the available evidence suggests that the lack of women is a result of their freely choosing to pursue other fields that they find more interesting." 19d
Christof Koch: The Future of Consciousness - Schrödinger at 75: The Future of Biology
YouTube 20d 1 tweets
Koch joined the Allen Institute as Chief Scientific Officer in 2011 and became President in 2015. He received his baccalaureate from the Lycée Descartes in R...
Michael Shermer Looking for high quality binge watching this holiday week? I recommend "Schrödinger at 75: The Future of Biology" series of stellar talks, most notably Christof Koch: The Future of Consciousness & The Future of Life 20d