SKEPTICISM 101: How to Think Like a Scientist
Michael Shermer Gives a Remote Lecture on Cognitive Biases & How Thinking Goes Wrong that anyone can watch for free
During the Coronavirus outbreak, while schools are closed and everyone is practicing social distancing at home, Michael Shermer will be teaching remotely his Skepticism 101 course on How to Think Like a Scientist from his recording studio in California instead of from Chapman University. Please enjoy these lectures!
Skepticism 101: How to Think Like a Scientist covers a wide range of topics, from critical thinking, reasoning, rationality, cognitive biases and how thinking goes wrong, and the scientific methods, to actual claims and whether or not there is any truth to them, e.g., ESP, ETIs, UFOs, astrology, channelling, psychics, creationism, Holocaust denial, and especially conspiracy theories and how to think about them.
In this lecture, Dr. Shermer explains the difference between conspiracies and conspiracy theories, who is more likely to believe which conspiracy theories, the social, political, cultural, and psychological conditions in which conspiracy theories flourish, real conspiracies, and who really killed JFK.