![]() Just to be clear: Dawkins is comparing Lawrence Krauss to Charles Darwin. He writes in the book’s afterword: "If On the Origin of Species was biology's deadliest blow to supernaturalism, we may come to see A Universe From Nothing as the equivalent from cosmology." Krauss’s book doesn’t come close to fulfilling the promise of its title, but Dawkins loved it. He claims that physics is answering the old question, Why is there something rather than nothing? ![]() ![]() Krauss recently wrote a book, A Universe from Nothing. Here’s an example involving two idols of Capital-S Skepticism: biologist Richard Dawkins and physicist Lawrence Krauss. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber. They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. When people like this get together, they become tribal. I don’t hang out with people who self-identify as capital-S Skeptics. So I’m a skeptic, but with a small S, not capital S. That keeps me busy, because, as you know, most peer-reviewed scientific claims are wrong. I point out gaps between scientific hype and reality. I don’t celebrate science, I criticize it, because science needs critics more than cheerleaders. But you’re skeptics, so I have to bash skepticism. ![]() If you were Buddhists, I’d bash Buddhism. Swiss didn’t let me take questions, so I promised the audience that I would post the talk here (slightly edited) and would welcome skeptical comments or emails. I hadn’t brought up Bigfoot, but I decided to mention him in my talk. He asked what I planned to say, and I told him, and he furiously defended his opposition to belief in Bigfoot. I originally titled my talk “Skepticism: Hard Versus Soft Targets.” The references to “Bigfoot” in the headline above and text below were inspired by a conversation I had with conference Emcee Jamy Ian Swiss before I went on stage. Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, whom I met recently, got me invited, and he might regret that, because I decided to treat the skeptics skeptically. Yesterday I spoke at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, NECSS, a “celebration of science and critical thinking” held May 12-15 in New York City. ![]()
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