The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets NonsenseOxford University Press, 17/05/2001 - 368 من الصفحات As author of the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe, and Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer has emerged as the nation's number one scourge of superstition and bad science. Now, in The Borderlands of Science, he takes us to the place where real science (such as the big bang theory), borderland science (superstring theory), and just plain nonsense (Big Foot) collide with one another. Shermer argues that science is the best lens through which to view the world, but he recognizes that it's often difficult for most of us to tell where valid science leaves off and borderland science begins. To help us, Shermer looks at a range of topics that put the boundary line in high relief. For instance, he discusses the many "theories of everything" that try to reduce the complexity of the world to a single principle, and shows how most fall into the category of pseudoscience. He examines the work of Darwin and Freud, explaining why one is among the great scientists in history, while the other has become nothing more than a historical curiosity. He also shows how Carl Sagan's life exemplified the struggle we all face to find a balance between being open-minded enough to recognize radical new ideas but not so open-minded that our brains fall out. And finally, he reveals how scientists themselves can be led astray, as seen in the infamous Piltdown Hoax. Michael Shermer's enlightening volume will be a valuable aid to anyone bewildered by the many scientific theories swirling about. It will help us stay grounded in common sense as we try to evaluate everything from SETI and acupuncture to hypnosis and cloning. |
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الصفحة 1
... target" contact with all of one's senses. A target can be in the past, present or future. This is not some kind of "psychic network"; rather it is a serious scientific technique for exploration." Since I am a social scientist and ...
... target" contact with all of one's senses. A target can be in the past, present or future. This is not some kind of "psychic network"; rather it is a serious scientific technique for exploration." Since I am a social scientist and ...
الصفحة 2
... Target Contracting, Guaranteed Quality” —and joined a dozen other hopefuls who were going to be taught how to discover, according to the brochure, "the location and condition of a missing person, child or object, future potential ...
... Target Contracting, Guaranteed Quality” —and joined a dozen other hopefuls who were going to be taught how to discover, according to the brochure, "the location and condition of a missing person, child or object, future potential ...
الصفحة 3
... target sites.” And as we shall see, these claims for the power of remote viewing are conservative in comparison to what has been claimed for it in recent years, even compared to the following observation by one of the government's top ...
... target sites.” And as we shall see, these claims for the power of remote viewing are conservative in comparison to what has been claimed for it in recent years, even compared to the following observation by one of the government's top ...
الصفحة 4
... target coordinates, SRV protocols, and the classification of categories of remote-viewing data. That claim places this phenomenon squarely in the seat of testable knowledge. And as we shall see, there are some serious flaws in the ...
... target coordinates, SRV protocols, and the classification of categories of remote-viewing data. That claim places this phenomenon squarely in the seat of testable knowledge. And as we shall see, there are some serious flaws in the ...
الصفحة 5
... target, Carr continued. In fact, it most likely was not the target, but with a series of these descriptive lists and ideogrammatic drawings, we would approximate the target and perhaps, eventually, even nail it down precisely. We're ...
... target, Carr continued. In fact, it most likely was not the target, but with a series of these descriptive lists and ideogrammatic drawings, we would approximate the target and perhaps, eventually, even nail it down precisely. We're ...
المحتوى
1 | |
Borderlands Theories | 35 |
Borderlands People | 127 |
Borderlands History | 239 |
Notes | 321 |
Bibliography | 339 |
About the Author | 353 |
Index | 355 |
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عبارات ومصطلحات مألوفة
accepted answer appear asked become believe body borderlands brain called cause century chapter claims cloning complete concludes considered course culture Darwin discovered earth environment equilibrium evidence evolution evolutionary example experience explain fact field Figure forces fossil genius Gould hand happened hero human Ibid ideas important individual interest knowledge later less letter living look matter mean mind moved myth natural selection nature never notes observer original paradigm personality physical Piltdown present problem produced published punctuated question Quoted radical reason remote result Sagan scientific scientists selection Skeptic social Society species spiritualism Sulloway theory things thought turned understand universe viewing Wallace Wallace's writing written
مقاطع مشهورة
الصفحة 125 - There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
الصفحة v - The proper study of mankind is man. Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great : With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer...
الصفحة 155 - Sans check, to good and bad: but when the planets In evil mixture to disorder wander, What plagues, and what portents, what mutiny, What raging of the sea. shaking of earth, Commotion in the winds, frights, changes, horrors, Divert and crack, rend and deracinate The unity and married calm of states Quite from their fixture!
الصفحة 277 - IN Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree : Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round : And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
الصفحة 96 - Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate : I am the captain of my soul.
الصفحة v - Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd; The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!
الصفحة 276 - The author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least of the external senses, during which time he has the most vivid confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two to three hundred lines...
الصفحة 72 - Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.
الصفحة 47 - I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.
الصفحة 273 - I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gambolling before my eyes. This time the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered more acute by repeated visions of this kind, could now distinguish larger structures, of manifold conformation: long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all turning and twisting in snakelike motion. But look ! what was that?