Personal columns of skeptics

If Carl Sagan were alive today, this is what he would say to US President Donald Trump, the temple of ignorance

"Carl Sagan's Prophecy: When Science Collapses Before Populism"

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In his book "A World Haunted by Demons" he writes: "Immense technological power will be concentrated in so few hands that none of those who are supposed to represent the public interest will even be able to understand what things are meant to be." Isn't that
Carl Sagan extends his palms to the universe, an attempt at creating an image using artificial intelligence.

Carl Sagan's scientific legacy goes far beyond the Cosmos series

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From the revolutionary astronomical achievements to the social activism and inspiration for generations of scientists - how Carl Sagan shaped science and our understanding of the universe.
Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Before the US elections: how can we identify "fake news"?

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Trust in science in the age of artificial intelligence. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Declining public trust in scientists and the contribution of science to humanity in the US

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This is according to a comprehensive survey published by the PEW Research Institute. The worst situation is among the voters of the Republican Party, but also among the Democrats, the majority who still show confidence in science is shrinking
Photograph of the Earth and the Moon by the Galileo spacecraft. Photo: NASA

Carl Sagan discovered life on Earth 30 years ago - how his experiment helps us look for alien species today

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It's been 30 years since a group of scientists led by Carl Sagan found evidence of life on Earth using data from instruments aboard NASA's Galileo space probe and only a combination of instruments ignoring
Soldiers patrolling the Western Wall, May 21, 2018. Illustration: depositphotos.com Illustration: depositphotos.com

Rationality is dead! Long live populism

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This week's decision to cancel the status of the women's lobby brought to attention the difference between those who take a rational position and populists who are based mainly on shouting and subjugation
The late Prof. Yosef Agassi. From Wikipedia

The Israeli philosopher Professor Yosef Agassi passed away close to his 95th birthday

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Agassi was born and grew up ultra-Orthodox and left the religion in adolescence. Considered the senior philosopher in Israel and was a student of Karl Popper. He asked to change the nationality on the identity card from Jewish to Israeli and was refused
Human rights. Illustration: depositphotos.com

A summary of the history of the West - the values ​​of the modern era, part XNUMX

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In the 18th century, the process of turning monarchies into democracies began, but it still took many years for blacks and women to get basic rights
Knesset. There must be an authority that audits the Knesset and the government, so that they pass laws that do not contradict the fundamental laws. Illustration: depositphotos.com

A summary of the history of the West - the values ​​of the modern era, part one

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All over the world, including in Israel, there seems to be a wave of populist governments that oppose what are known as Western values ​​- freedom, equal opportunities and globalization (of which science is one of the successful examples). Nir Lahav reviews the
Trust no one, the basis with which conspiracies are spread. Image: depositphotos.com

On the link between conspirators

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What is the connection between the conspiracy theory about COVID-XNUMX and vaccines, chemtrails and the conspiracy theory about evolution and science in general? What does this connection say about the generic, stereotypical and one-dimensional way of thinking of the conspirators?
The three monkeys - an illustration of the fooling process. Image: depositphotos.com

Stupidity defeated democracy

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Stupidify Stupidify according to the Oxford dictionary. There are too many people who want the citizens to be stupid. Democracy fell when ancient Rome became an empire, the end is known. You have to do everything to stop
A huge demonstration against corona restrictions and against vaccines at the same time in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, February 2022. Photo: depositphotos.com

Can countries trust the cooperation of the public?

Prof. Feldman will receive funding of 2.5 million euros over the next five years for his proposal "Understanding the Feasibility of Voluntary Compliance in Different Doctrines and Cultures: Examining Behavioral and Regulatory Aspects in the Ability of Democratic Governments to Trust
The climate crisis - we are on the brink of the abyss. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Many conservatives have a difficult relationship with science - new research explains why

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The periodic table of tomorrow's professions - from the Egyptian hieroglyphs through the emoji language towards a new language

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"In God we trust." A special silver coin issued in the USA. Photo: shutterstock

The decline in the power of religions was the key to economic development in the twentieth century

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A 14th century illustration depicting the torture and burning of women accused of witchcraft. Source: Wikimedia.

About witches and terrorists or why torture is ineffective

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Illustration: pixabay.

Are we all racist deep down?

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Eliezer Yudkovski described how an AI apocalypse could happen. In a 2008 article he wrote: "How likely is it that artificial intelligence will cross the entire wide gap from amoeba to village fool, and then stop at the level of human genius?" And his answer: "From a physical point of view, it will be possible to build a brain that can calculate a million times faster than a human brain... If we accelerate a human brain in this way, a subjective year of thought will shrink to 31 physical seconds in the external world, and a thousand years will pass in eight and a half hours." Illustration: pixabay.

Does artificial intelligence endanger humanity?

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US President Donald Trump downplays the importance of scientific findings regarding global warming in the event of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Screenshot from YOUTUBE

How industry fights science

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Evidence supports non-social causes of sexual orientation. Source: pixabay.

Sexual orientation: this is how we were born

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The debate is over. None of the religions. Photo: shutterstock

Meaning in a rational world

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Scientific literacy does not necessarily mean knowing how heat, pressure and volume are expressed in gas, but rather being aware of the scientific law that determines the relationship between them. FROM PIXABAY.COM

The two questions that assess your scientific literacy

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Acupuncture treatment. Source: US Navy.

The myth of Chinese acupuncture

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Medicine shelf in a homeopathic medicine shop in India. Photo: from Wikipedia

Homeopathic medicines and treatments will be required to carry warning labels warning of their ineffectiveness

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Shinjuku Ward, which is one of 23 wards in Tokyo. Greater Tokyo contains 35 million people and functions as a megacity. The number of megacities in the world will increase by 2030, and sixty percent of the human population will live in cities. From Wikipedia

Doomsday catch

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Cryogenics. Illustration: shutterstock

The afterlife of the atheists or whether the brain can be preserved after death

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Consent and unanimity

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A landscape of olive trees in Italy. Photo: Kite_rin/Shutterstock

The state against science

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The "food pyramid" according to the "Paleolithic diet" theory. Image: Maria Ticce/Shutterstock

The voice of the skeptic - Paleolithic diet, genetically modified food and food prohibitions / Michael Shermer

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Climate change denial. Illustration: shutterstock

The voice of the skeptic - to forge the doubt / Michael Shermer

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US President Barack Obama, photo from December 2014. Photo: Mykhaylo Palinchak / Shutterstock.com

The voice of the skeptic - a conspiracy for the masses / Michael Shermer

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American Spirit / Shutterstock.com

The voice of the skeptic - eternal peace / Michael Shermer

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probability. Illustration: shutterstock

The voice of the skeptic - surviving the statistics / Michael Shermer

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study science. Illustration: shutterstock

Forum - The Talent Gap / Rene P. Subotnik, Paula Olszewski-Kovilius and Frank S. Worrell

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mysterious rays. Illustration: shutterstock

N rays or no rays

This is how you see the Milky Way galaxy from the Borot Lotz parking lot in the Negev and in the background some of the tents that will be set up by the Israeli Desert company for a secular spiritual event. Source: Israeli desert

Opinion - secular spirituality: what is left of God for the secular man?

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A lesson in modesty. Professor Mario Livio Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and J. Coyle Jr. (for STScI)

Man as derivative: a scientific conversation with Professor Mario Livio, senior astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute

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baby playing From WIKIMEDIA COMMONS CC license

The voice of the skeptic - the beginning of justice

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Virtual cities. Illustration: shutterstock

The voice of the skeptic - heaven on earth / Michael Shermer

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Religions in crisis - not in Israel. Illustration: shutterstock

The voice of the skeptic - is God dying? / Michael Shermer

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From the promo for the Cosmos series, broadcast on the Fox and National Geographic networks. From YOUTUBE

Neil deGrasse Tyson, presenter of the series Cosmos: "If Sagan were alive, he would be most surprised by the fact that we still have to argue that science is important to society."

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Centaur, the birdic creature of man and horse in Greek mythology. Illustration: shutterstock

Why is the claim of a former geneticist from Georgia that man is a cross between a chimpanzee and a pig impossible?

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The cover of the book "A city and a mosque at its heart"

Renewal of prayer at the mosque in Be'er Sheva is good for the Jews?/Yitzhak Reiter and Lior Lehers

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terrorism. Illustration: shutterstock

The voice of the skeptic - five myths about terrorism

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Mysticism fills our heads with nonsense. Illustration: shutterstock

Stop scrambling online - from Gilad Diamant's book "Sharp Thinking - Between Reality and Illusion"

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A girl in Peshawar, Pakistan, receives an attenuated polio vaccine in drops in 2002. Photo: shutterstock

Science communication in a complex world * ahead of the "Science in Communication" conference that will be held at Tel Aviv University at the beginning of the week

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Witches in "Halloween". Illustration: shutterstock

Witch hunt - definitely not Halloween

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Secular spirituality. Illustration: shutterstock

Opinion - why do we need secular spirituality?

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2 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - self-photograph, image processing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - self-photograph, image processing Share 0 In the article "A Beautiful Object" from last week, Yaki Manschenfreund justified the criticism of the photo of the Boston-based danger Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of "Rolling" Stone", and concluded that presenting it as a "beautiful object" insults the victims and their families, and basically any person with moral sensitivity. I liked Munchenfreund's analysis, but I do not agree with his conclusion. I tried to understand why the editors of "Rolling Stone" chose this particular photo, and in my humble opinion the explanation is quite simple and obvious: Tsarnaev looks like the cute neighbor's boy in the photo, a sensitive poet or a gigolo after a night of pleasure - but the editors of the magazine tell us: he is not what he is seen. He is a murderer. monster. The inscription on the cover leaves no room for doubt: "The terrorist. How a popular and promising student was failed by his family, degenerated into radical Islam and became a monster." The caption confronts the reader with the meaning of the image, balances it and attaches the proper interpretation to it. This is a message whose effect is much stronger precisely because of the controversial use of the photo, but the very claim that this photo of Tsarnaev humiliates the victims of the murder and belittles their relatives is demagogic and manipulative. And since when can the physical characteristics of a murderer "despise" or "respect" his victims? In addition, it is an approach that expresses a flat, binary view, according to which beautiful = good, ugly = bad, from the outside and from the inside. When "Rolling Stone" publishes a beautiful representation of a bad man, it breaks down the equation and builds a complex and even deceptive picture of reality. Perhaps he wants to convey a message to his readers: you will be able to understand this complex reality without us having to illustrate it for you with simplistic representations. By the way, the same photo of Tsarnaev was published in May prominently on the front page of the "New York Times", and even then received barrages of criticism. The presentation of Tsarnaev as a "beautiful object" raises another issue: this is not a press photo, but a self-portrait. At a certain point in time, Tsarnaev chose to present himself this way (as do all his peers). This self-photograph is seen as serving Tsarnaev's personal-subjective agenda, rather than as legitimate objective journalistic documentation. From this point of view, the criticism is about the privilege that was allegedly granted to Tsarnaev - to make use of this biased image representation of him, and to burn himself in the collective consciousness in a way that contradicts, or at least does not coincide, with his identification as a murderer. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of "Rolling Stone", August 2013 The Boston Marathon victim Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of "Rolling Stone", August 2013

The voice of the skeptic - the crime scene, science

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natural grass Credit: Ethan Crane

Reflections - healing from nature / Bracha Reger

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