The Great Religion Debate: Dinesh D’Souza v. Michael Shermer

The Great Debate: Dinesh D’Souza v. Michael Shermer 2008.9.1
The Skeptics Society (Michael Shermer) - www.michaelshermer.com

In this debate on what are arguably two of the most important questions in the culture wars today — Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? and Can you be Good without God? — the conservative Christian author and cultural scholar Dinesh D’Souza and the libertarian skeptic writer and social scientist Michael Shermer, square off to resolve these and related issues, such as the relationship between science and religion and the nature and existence of God. This event was one of the liveliest ever hosted by the Skeptics Society at Caltech, mixing science, religion, politics, and culture

Brain, Mind and Consciousness - Michael Shermer - Session 1

The 2005 Skeptics Society Annual Conference was held in Pasadena, California and was themed: "Brain, Mind, and Consciousness".




Brain, Mind and Consciousness - Session 1

Kent Hovind vs. Dr. Mike Shermer. Creation v. Evolution

Christian apologist Kent Hovind debates Dr. Mike Shermer(chief Editor of Skeptic magazine) and schools Dr. Shermer in the topic of evolution vs creation. "Be ready always to give answer to every man that asks you for the reason of the faith you have"-

Michael Shermer - The Mind of the Market - Authors@Google:

Michael Shermer discusses his book "Mind of the Market" as part of the Authors@Google series.

How did we evolve from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumer-traders? Why are people so irrational when it comes to money and business? Bestselling author Dr. Michael Shermer argues that evolution provides an answer to both of these questions through the new science of evolutionary economics. Drawing on research from neuroeconomics, Shermer explores what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and how trust is established in business. Utilizing experiments in behavioral economics, Shermer shows why people hang on to losing stocks and failing companies, why business negotiations often disintegrate into emotional tit-for-tat disputes, and why money does not make us happy. Employing research from complexity theory, Shermer shows how evolution and economics are both examples of a larger phenomenon of complex adaptive systems. Along the way, Shermer answers such provocative questions as: Do our tribal roots mean that we will always be a sucker for brands? How is the biochemical joy of sex similar to the rewards of business cooperation? How can nations increase trust within and between their borders? Finally, Shermer considers the consequences of globalization and what will happen if nations allow free trade across their borders.

This event took place January 29, 2008 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.





Authors@Google: Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer on The Mind of the Market

Cato Institute
Washington, D.C.
Jan 11th, 2008

The Mind of the Market: The Case for Capitalism from an Evolutionary Perspective with author Michael Shermer.

In his new book, The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics, Michael Shermer examines such questions as: How did we evolve from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumer-traders? Why are people so irrational when it comes to money and business?

He argues that the new science of evolutionary economics provides an answer to both of those questions. Shermer shows how evolution and economics are both examples of a larger phenomenon of complex adaptive systems - Cato Institute







FORA.tv - Michael Shermer on The Mind of the Market

Michael Shermer - The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics.

Tatterred Cover
Denver, CO
Jan 17th, 2008

Michael Shermer discusses his newest book The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics.
Psychologist Michael Shermer, the author of nine previous books, including the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things, is a columnist for Scientific American, the publisher of Skeptic magazine, and the founder and director of the international Skeptics Society - Tattered Cover







FORA.tv - | Business

Michael Shermer: The Mind of the Market | Business - FORA.tv

Denver, CO
Jan 17th, 2008
Michael Shermer discusses his newest book The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics.
Psychologist Michael Shermer, the author of nine previous books, including the bestselling Why People Believe Weird Things, is a columnist for Scientific American, the publisher of Skeptic magazine, and the founder and director of the international Skeptics Society - Tattered Cover







Michael Shermer: The Mind of the Market | Business - FORA.tv

Beyond Belief 2006 Session 1

Beyond Belief 2006
1 hr 48 min 5 sec - Nov 26, 2006
www.rationalresponders.com

This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an ... all » extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006. This session features: Steven Weinberg, Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, Michael Shermer



Beyond Belief 2006 #1

Beyond Belief 2006 Full 10 sessions

(Warning, religious content; if you have strong religious beleifs, this video might be offensive)
Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked "Is God Dead?" the answer appears to be a resounding "No!" According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, "God is Winning". Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements - some violent in the extreme - are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe? Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies? Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon? Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what?
This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006.

Session 1 Steven Weinberg, Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, Michael Shermer
Session 2 Neil deGrasse Tyson; Discussion: Tyson, Weinberg, Krauss, Harris, Shermer
Session 3 Joan Roughgarden, Richard Dawkins, Francisco Ayala, Carolyn Porco
Session 4 Stuart Hameroff, V.S. Ramachandran
Session 6 Susan Neiman, Loyal Rue, Elizabeth Loftus
Session 7 Mahzarin Banaji, Richard Dawkins, Scott Atran
Session 8 Scott Atran, Sir Harold Kroto, Charles Harper, Ann Druyan
Session 9 Sam Harris, Jim Woodward, Melvin Konner, Discussion: Harris, Woodward, Konner, Dawkins, Paul Churchland
Session 10 Richard Sloan, V.S. Ramachandran, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Terry Sejnowski

EARCH SESSION BETWEEN 1 & 2 Hours
Session 1


Session 2


Session 3


Session 4


Session 5


Session 6


Session 7


Session 8


Session 9


Session 10


http://beyondbelief2006.org/

Paranormal phenomena brain recreation experiment

YouTube - Michael Shermer Out of Body Experiment: ""

Michael Shermer, Beliefs

As founder and publisher of Skeptic Magazine, Michael Shermer has exposed fallacies behind intelligent design, 9/11 conspiracies, the low-carb craze, alien sightings and other popular beliefs and paranoias. But it's not about debunking for debunking's sake. Shermer defends the notion that we can understand our world better only by matching good theory with good science. Thus, in order to explore a conspiracy theory that pre-planted explosives caused the World Trade Center towers to fall on 9/11, the magazine called on demolition experts.

Shermer's work offers cognitive context for our often misguided beliefs: In the absence of sound science, incomplete information can powerfully combine with the power of suggestion (helping us hear Satanic lyrics when "Stairway to Heaven" plays backwards, for example). In fact, a common thread that runs through beliefs of all sorts, he says, is our tendency to convince ourselves: We overvalue the shreds of evidence that support our preferred outcome, and ignore the facts we aren't looking for.