Digital Bits Skeptic

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By Nicholas Covington
Article ID: 143

Can miracles occur today?

Let’s look at the evidence by examining three kinds of miracles: One type is “Marian apparitions”. Another is the spontaneous remission of cancer, in which malignant tumors reduce or disappear, and can’t be attributed to any standard medical treatment. The final type is what I call “mundane miracles”, seemingly inexplicable and fortunate events which people attribute to the supernatural.

I wrote this article for two reasons. First, I am genuinely curious about these strange events. They need explanation, and could perhaps tell us something meaningful about reality. Second, the faiths that we Westerners are most familiar with (like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) all depend upon the idea that miracles occurred in the past. If there is insufficient evidence that miracles occur today, or if there is evidence against miracle claims, this presents difficulty for those who want to argue that miracles occurred in history.

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By Nicholas Covington
Article ID: 142

In my journey of skeptical thinking, I have gradually realized the quirks in human thinking that so often lead me astray. I want to share these habits of good skepticism so others may have a better chance of finding truth.

1) Your belief will not change reality

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 141

imagine

the Creation of the Universe

watch

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1350

2009 has been an interesting year for skeptics.

Our skeptical partners-in-crime are busier than ever: late in 2008, Phil Plait took over as president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, but after a presidency lasting about a year, Phil passed on the reigns to D.J. Grothe. The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe continued their dual missions: 1) increase the prevalence and force of the skeptical mindset, and 2) put all other podcasts to shame.

Skepticism was all over the media: The TV show MythBusters continued busting things, and the last I heard from an interview of co-host Adam Savage, the shows ratings continue to climb. I wasn’t able to find any ratings info on a certain non-family-friendly show starring Penn & Teller, but the ratings can’t be that bad since the show is cranking through its seventh season.

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By Nicholas Covington
Article ID: 1349

Let’s examine the evidence for a god’s existence. Some arguments are well-known and very well covered, like the Problem of Evil, the First Cause Argument, the Argument from Design. Instead, let’s look at four lesser-known, overlooked oddities. Welcome to the strange world of religious apologizing.

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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1348

On October 9, 2009, NASA’s LCROSS mission (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) slammed a “Centaur” rocket into the moon, into a dark, ancient crater named “Cabeus”. After a silent explosion of moon guts, the rocket was destroyed. The resulting ejecta was huge, measuring six miles across. NASA then surveyed that moon plume, and found water. Even in the tiny section of the plume that the instruments could survey, they found about 27 gallons of water! H2O! Translucent gold!

By Earth standards, the moon is still extremely dry, about as dry as a desert. But, even a desert can still hold enough water to support life.

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By Sandra L Hubscher
Article ID: 1347

Editor’s note: The author submitted this article with the following private message. It’s important enough that, with the author’s permission, I’m posting it here:

“I enjoyed writing this article in that I enjoy writing, but other than that, really I hated it. The subject is so irredeemably sad, and filled with anguish for so many, that I wouldn’t want to write something like this again anytime soon. It’s hard to imagine facing these parents and telling them these things. I know they’ve probably all heard it before and none of them will likely take the time to read this, but even if they’ve been slapped a hundred times before by this information, the 101st isn’t much lessened.”

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By Nicholas Covington
Article ID: 1346

I have just finished reading what is now one of my favorite books. At the time of this writing, it was published precisely 150 years ago. Ever since, it’s been a brilliant, revolutionary, and even dangerous work. The book I read is “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” by Charles Darwin. I cherish this book for many reasons: Because I am an outspoken defender of Darwin’s ideas, because of the careful reasoning and observation Darwin showed in the book, because of the joy in learning about how living things came to be, because of the fascinating and airtight case Darwin had for evolution (even in spite of his ignorance of genetics and the meager fossil record of the time), and because this book has so much relevance today, even though it was written a century and a half ago.

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Editor’s note #1: This article contains spoilers about The Flight of Dragons movie.

Editor’s note #2: This article uses many audio clips from The Flight of Dragons. To fully appreciate this article, listen to the podcast or use the above audio player.

By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1345
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By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1344

Hi everyone, Andy Kaiser here.

The majority of people who visit Digital Bits Skeptic are – you’ll be shocked to know – mostly skeptics. Many of us here have related interests in critical thinking, in science, and in wondering about how the world works. This is just a guess, but it’s an educated one; these topics often go hand-in-hand.

It is with this shared interest that I’d like to introduce you to my latest project, a book called “The League of Scientists”. If the book is successful, we’ll take it to a series. The full title for this first book is “The League of Scientists and the Ghost in the Water”.

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