Digital Bits Skeptic

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By Navin Kumar
Article ID: 1413

The “veil of ignorance” is a thought experiment: Imagine you have to design a society. You have to decide if slavery will be permitted or not. Are women supposed to stay at home? Are they allowed to work? Or must they do a bit of both? How high are income taxes? How are they applied? After you design your society, you become one of the positions in that society.

Here’s the kicker: you aren’t allowed to choose your position. You get one at random. So you could end up male or female, rich or poor, black or white, slave or owner, scientist or secretary. Since you don’t know what position you will occupy, you are said to be designing this society from behind a ‘veil of ignorance’.

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By Nicholas Covington
Article ID: 1412

Here’s how you can research the answer to (almost) any question you can think of, and how you can be reasonably certain that the answer is correct.

All research begins with questions. Researching a topic means you need to know more about it, which means that there is something you don’t know about it. What you don’t know forms your questions. The goal of your research is to answer these questions.

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by Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1411

“The computer: an extension of the human intellect.

…soon, the ultimate tool will become the ultimate enemy.”

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by Kevin Bridges
Article ID: 1410

What do you think of when you hear the words “out of body experience”? Perhaps you imagine an ill-fated victim of a car accident, a spirit floating inside an ambulance looking down at EMTs as they try frantically to revive his broken, unconscious body.

Explore the wilds of the Internet and you’ll get plenty of variations on the “out of body” theme. Plenty of people claim to have out-of-body experiences, saying “I’ve had one of those!” Or “I’ve had a dozen!” Or “I had one last night!” Did they all have traffic accidents? Do that many people fall off the roof trying to take down their Christmas lights? How accident-prone can a person be?

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 149

You remember the book I’m writing, right? It’s “The League of Scientists”, about a group of science geeks who investigate supposedly supernatural mysteries. Well, the book publication process is moving along – we’re now in the final stages of proofing, finalizing the internal artwork, planning advertising, and I’ve also started writing book #2. You’ll be able to buy it soon – the release countdown is less than a year away.

That’s all fine, and it’s old news to some of you. But I didn’t want to write this article without giving you some other important information. I told you before that “The League of Scientists” book #1 will have a “skeptic celebrity” endorsement, a mini-review we could perhaps put on the book cover, website and other advertising copy.

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by Nick Josh Karean from Science, Reason & Rationality
Article ID: 148

“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 147

Hi everyone, Andy Kaiser here.

Okay, okay, okay! I hear you! I hear you… and you, and you and you and – don’t think I forgot – you!

I wrote the previous podcast intending to stop publication of the podcast itself. And, well… I’ll just skip the detail and get to the point: I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to stop the podcast.

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 146

Hi everyone, Andy Kaiser here.

I’m making some changes. I’d like to tell you about them. What’s more important, I’d like to get your opinion. There are specific things in my mind, but I’d like to develop some of the details with you.

I’ve got three things to talk about:

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[Due to this article's length, there is no podcast - do you really want to hear my voice for thirty minutes straight? Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go read my daughter a bedtime story. ...That poor kid.  -Andy]

By R.C. Symes
Article ID: 145

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 144

As some of you know, I’m writing the first book in what will hopefully be a young adult mystery series called “The League of Scientists“. It takes place in the “real world” – it’s not fantasy or science fiction. It’s about the adventures of friends who use critical thinking and applied science to solve seemingly-supernatural mysteries.

It’s already been accepted by “Science, Naturally!“, a traditional book publisher, but it’s not yet available in stores. It should be available in late 2010 or early 2011.

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