Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception

A very interesting new ~20min lecture here from Michael Shermer.



www.ted.com...

In it he talks about the idea of "patternicity", that is that we have a tendency to look for patterns everywhere. I've often heard this idea expressed, and it seems compelling. In this video he goes into more depth in a more accessible way than I have seen before.

One of the highlights for me was the explanation of type 1 and type 2 errors.

If you hear a rustle in the grass, and assume it's a tiger, you are extra vigilant, and there is nothing lost if it turns out to just be the wind.

If you hear a rustle in the grass, and assume it's just the wind, you have everything to lose if it turns out to be a tiger, and you were too complacent.

He discusses these ideas in relation to belief in general, and also conspiracy theories.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[edit on 14/6/2010 by harpsounds]

My life has proven that electronic mind control done remotely exists, so this guy is a fraud fact.

I usually view Michael Shermer as a paid debunker. I mean he does make a living off debunking things.

I mean his magazine is called Skeptic. He has a reputation to "live up to" and his Skeptics demand more skepticism.

See how this leads them into bias? They have no choice but to debunk, there is no room for saying "Well maybe this is true after all."

Then the magazine couldn't be called "skeptic" anymore. It would become "Unsure" and maybe even "Confused".

Point of the matter is, the guys credibility is lacking, because he has a horse in the race. He always has major forces pushing him to skepticism even when it is unnecessary or out of context. And even absurd claims are made through debunking, and this bias creates tons of pitfalls.

About this lecture he gave. I thought it was alright. I know his intentions for spreading this information (to further his bias lifestyle), but still most of the information is true to an extent.

I especially liked the part where he spoke about Type I and II mistakes, and I liked the dopamine discussions.

And I must say, those were some sexy Shoes he showed in that pic. Those shoes are almost certainly the most sexy shoes ever invented.

So, in conclusion. Michael Shermer you got lucky this time. But next time don't expect to get away this easily.

The joke about "Bush couldn't have done 911 because it worked" was actually pretty good although in Real Life that is a terrible way to debunk something LOL!

But in the comedy world it works fine and was actually Really Funny. So props on the bad joke lol.