Join Mario Di Maggio, the Thinktank astronomer, to hear about the facts and the fantasies about Aliens on Earth. Determine the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence and learn how to track it down.
Minute 1 OFOs
Minute 23 Life
Minute 33 Life out side Earth
Minute 37 Milky Way photo size scale
Minute 39 Elements of Life
Minute 40 Drake Equation estimation
Interactive Periodic Table
How We Staged the Morristown UFO Hoax
Joe Rudy and Chris Russo
In this video, Chris and Joe show the supplies used to construct their UFOs and try to verify the dates and times to prove they, in fact, set up the balloons.
In this video, Chris and Joe let go of the flares in the woods. The first part shows their test launch on January 4, 2009.
In this video, you'll see the reactions of eyewitnesses to the "UFOs", plus various clips from news programs, footage from an "Alien Sale" at a car dealership, and the producers' final thoughts on the experiment
The Reactions - 29:06
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Our Real Blue Dot,
Pragmatism
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Douglas Adams - Conversations
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Our Real Blue Dot,
Pragmatism
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A poor understanding of probability leads many people to put forward supernatural explanation for events that are far more common than they think.
This video shows how probability theory is sufficient to explain even seemingly remarkable coincidences.
Flawed thinking by numbers
A look at some of the ways in which people go wrong when they try to use statements of probability in arguments for supernatural beings, divine plans and dismissing evolution.
Skewed views of science
A look at the pitfalls of arguing against science from incomprehension or emotion.
A look at some of the pitfalls of using anecdotes to support paranormal and scientific claims in the absence of more rigorous evidence.
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Pragmatism
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Jared Diamond is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and the current New York Times' best selling "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." This lecture examines the factors that caused great civilizations of the past to collapse and what we can learn from their fates.
YouTube - Jared Diamond
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History,
Pragmatism,
Societies and Cultures
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About this talk
Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.
About Dan Gilbert
Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong -- a premise he supports with intriguing research
About this talk
Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world's most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you.
About Benjamin Wallace
Benjamin Wallace is a journalist and author of The Billionaire's Vinegar, the true story of the world's most expensive bottle of (possibly phony?) wine. He's been a contributor to GQ,
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Forums - TED Talks,
Pragmatism
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Author Robert Frank discusses his book "The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas" as a part of the Authors@Google series. This event took place on July 23, 2007 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
YouTube - Authors@Google: Robert Frank: ""
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Forums - Google Talks,
Pragmatism
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"James Randi is an internationally known magician (as The Amazing Randi), psychic debunker, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius Grant.' He was a founding fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is perhaps best known for offering $1,000,000 (via the James Randi Educational Foundation) to anyone who can successfully demonstrate psychic powers under conditions mutually agreed on by the challenger and himself. Starting with a $10,000 prize over 25 years ago, no claimant to psychic powers has ever won the money.
Randi has pursued 'psychic' spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water 'with a memory,' and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural.
This event took place August 6, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA."
YouTube - Authors@Google: James Randi:
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Forums - Google Talks,
Pragmatism
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James Randi is an internationally known magician (as The Amazing Randi), psychic debunker, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." He was a founding fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He is perhaps best known for offering $1,000,000 (via the James Randi Educational Foundation) to anyone who can successfully demonstrate psychic powers under conditions mutually agreed on by the challenger and himself. Starting with a $10,000 prize over 25 years ago, no claimant to psychic powers has ever won the money.
Randi has pursued "psychic" spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water "with a memory," and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public's eyes in the name of the supernatural.
This event took place August 6, 2007 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
YouTube - Authors@Google: James Randi
Penn and Teller consider the popularity of the "green movement", a largely bogus and hypocritical philosophy that links sanctimonious politics to an "ethical" lifestyle while doing little or nothing to actually create a healthier ecosystem.
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Climate Change,
Pragmatism
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Penn & Teller discuss their hit series "Bullshit" at The Amaz!ng Meeting 3 in Las Vegas. is a celebration of critical thinking and skepticism sponsored by the James Randi Educational Foundation. Thinking people travel the world to share learning, laughs and life with fellow skeptics and distinguished guest speakers.
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Pragmatism
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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
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Michael Shermer,
Pragmatism
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Thinking Beyond Borders
Google engEDU
32 min 44 sec - Sep 27, 2007
Google Tech Talks September 27, 2007
ABSTRACT
Our global society faces great challenges such as Global Warming, HIV/AIDS in ... all » sub-Saharan Africa, wide-spread hunger, and poverty. To effectively address these issues in years to come, we must re-envision how we prepare our next great leaders to be conscious agents of change. Thinking Beyond Borders is a 35-week program to educate Gap Year students about the economic, political, and cultural realities of our world while empowering them with the tools to create proactive social change. Through varied service learning opportunities, the itinerary immerses students in cultures and communities around the world to provide experiences with various issues of International Development. The curriculum challenges students to synthesize academic research and their collected observations into powerful conclusions about the nature of globalization, world hunger, human rights, cultural change, and political systems. The most unique aspect of this program is that students return to the US to meet with international policy makers and share their conclusions with student and philanthropy groups to raise awareness and funds for the NGOs they worked with abroad. In these ways, Thinking Beyond Borders seeks to create a community of conscious agents of proactive change, equipped to tackle our world's greatest challenges.
Thinking Beyond Borders
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Forums - Google Talks,
Pragmatism
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