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Arbitrary Link Day: August Edition!
I’ve decided to periodically link across to fellow sceptic websites – and probably a few that don’t qualify as such but are nevertheless very much worth a look. I was originally thinking about making it once a week, but knowing the reliability of my updating, I settled for a more realistic target – once a month (ish).
So are you ready for today’s link?
As it’s his birthday, I thought I’d give you a link to Tim Farley’s superb website, What’s the Harm?If you’ve ever been talking to someone about a particular brand of irrationality, and their defence boiled down to “well, each to their own” or “what’s the harm, really?” – this is the website that answers them. It is a constantly-expanding account of the cost (in financial terms as well as physical) of irrational beliefs – everything from prayer healing to homeopathy, from UFOs to ouija boards. As a reference tool for sceptics, and indeed any who are even remotely curious about such things, it is indispensible.
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Vincent said...
1Thank God, in whom I do not believe, that irrationality is here to stay, despite the anti-irrationalist militancy!
08/12/09 10:28 AM | Comment Link
Vincent said...
2Sorry about my previous irrational outburst. Tim Farley’s website isn’t against irrationality but exploitation, and our need to protect ourselves against it. He says that critical thinking is the tool that will protect us. The penny dropped for me when he mentioned Nigerian scam emails, which don’t have much to do with irrationality. There are millions of people in the world incapable of critical thinking, perhaps through inherited conditions, disease, accidental brain damage or mental illness. They (mostly) keep safe in the same way as animals do—through instinct and intuition, neither of which is rational.
The harms featured in Tim’s site are I think universally resultant from exploitation, often pursued quite rationally by those who for the sake of gain somehow bypass the irrational but universal sense of brotherhood and compassion that fortunately controls most human behaviour, however imperfectly.
08/12/09 10:50 AM | Comment Link
Антон Павлович said...
3I was originally thinking about making it once a week, but knowing the reliability of my updating, I settled for a more realistic target – once […….
Бомба смотреть всем!…
03/17/10 9:22 PM | Comment Link
Kylie Batt said...
4Извините за то, что вмешиваюсь: Мне знакома эта ситуация. Можно обсудить. Пишите здесь или в PM….
I was originally thinking about making it once a week, but knowing the reliability of my updating, I settled for a more realistic target – once […….
04/20/10 3:20 PM | Comment Link
Kylie Batt said...
5Браво, какие слова…, блестящая мысль…
I was originally thinking about making it once a week, but knowing the reliability of my updating, I settled for a more realistic target – once […….
05/3/10 11:16 PM | Comment Link