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Extraordinary claims have an inescapable burden of proof. When those who make extraordinary claims don’t, for whatever reason, take their burden of proof seriously, they relieve us of the burden of taking their claim seriously. - “The Burden of Proof”, QualiaSoup
From: Evolution.
[It's] important to understand what a scientific theory is.
Outside science, people often use the word "theory" to refer to a hunch or unsupported personal opinion. This is not what the word means in science.
In science, a theory refers specifically to a well-substantiated explanation which accounts for a body of well-substantiated facts.
So, whenever we encounter a statement like "evolution is just a theory - not a fact", this tells us that whoever's made the statement is not using the terms correctly.
In science, theories don't get promoted to facts; facts are explained by theories. Because of their explanatory power, theories are the ultimate goal and the ultimate achievement in the sciences of nature.
If you don’t even understand this, then there’s no point talking to you.
Shoulder your burden.
(Shutting up is also an option.)
From: Morality 1: Good without gods
Findings in neuroscience are now pulling back the curtain on religious moral thought.
In a revealing study by Nicholas Epley and others, Christian volunteers were asked to report their own views, the views of their deity and the views of others on a range of controversial issues, such as legal euthanasia while having their brain activity scanned.
Results showed that thinking about divine views activated the same brain regions as thinking about their own views, indicating that when believing themselves to be consulting a divine moral compass, theists may instead be doing what the rest of us do: searching their own conscience. An idea further supported by the finding that manipulating subjects' beliefs consistently influenced their views about divine beliefs.
As Epley's team put it: "intuiting god's beliefs... may... serve as an echo chamber to validate and justify one's own beliefs"
Link: “Believers’ estimates of God’s beliefs are more egocentric than estimates of other people’s beliefs“ - Epley, et al (2009).
Evolution 101.
Faith is not a virtue.
A video of reflection on the usefulness and the exploitation of offence - by TheraminTrees and qualiasoup (with subtitles!).
This is especially close to heart, given how much time I spent in social media (and my particular habit of reading comments and discourse). I’m still digesting the video (it’s nearly 25 minutes long), but there were so many times where reading opinions different from mine had showed me the flaws in my opinions, and gave me a wider understanding of the subject itself.
