Michael Shermer is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com), the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American (www.sciam.com), and the author of Why People Believe Weird Things, How We Believe, and The Science of Good and Evil. His latest book is Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown (all published by Henry Holt/Times Books).

Blog Entries by Michael Shermer

9/11 "Truthers" a Pack of Liars

Posted January 30, 2008 | 06:33 PM (EST)


Ever since Skeptic magazine published an investigative article on the 9/11 "Truth Movement" and analyzed their claims, which were found wanting, I have been hounded by the so-called 9/11 "truthers" because I am the editor of the magazine and therefore am suppose to be a "skeptic" of the official explanation...

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Why We Should Trade with Cuba

Posted January 23, 2008 | 11:28 AM (EST)


The new science of neuroeconomics offers new insights into old political problems

The 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat expressed a principle applicable in the 21st century: "Where goods do not cross frontiers, armies will."

In my new book, The Mind of the Market, I describe in detail how in the...

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Why Candidates Really Get Ahead

Posted January 14, 2008 | 12:01 PM (EST)


The new science of evolutionary economics explains why some candidates, like some products, get ahead in the marketplace

By Michael Shermer

As the presidential candidates bounce from primary to primary, with some surging and others falling back, it is appropriate to ask if there is something going on here more...

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How Skeptic Magazine Was Duped by an Environmental Activist Group

Posted January 17, 2007 | 04:40 PM (EST)


Last week I edited and approved for publication in eSkeptic and www.skeptic.com (the electronic editions of Skeptic magazine) a story that included highlights from a press release issued by PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), a Washington D.C.-based environmental watchdog group (www.peer.org). That press release, dated December 28, 2006, was...

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The Power of Positive Skepticism: A Reply to Deepak Chopra

Posted October 10, 2005 | 03:10 PM (EST)


"Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue."
--Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structures, 1962

In Matthew 7, verses 1-2, Jesus admonishes his listeners: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged."...

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Skyhooks and Cranes: Deepak Chopra, George W. Bush, and Intelligent Design

Posted August 24, 2005 | 10:27 PM (EST)


I begin by addressing Deepak Chopra's commentary on Intelligent Design here and on Larry King.

First, Deepak, are you aware that you appeared on the cover of Skeptic magazine several years ago, in which we did an extensive analysis of the science behind your quantum theories of consciousness? Just...

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Dear Kansas

Posted June 29, 2005 | 04:54 PM (EST)


Genesis Revisited: A Scientific Creation Story

To the Citizens of Kansas (along with those from Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, and a dozen other states contemplating the teaching of “Intelligent Design” creationism as a “balance” to the theory of evolution in public school science classes), I present you with a small...

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ID Works in Mysterious Ways: Evolution Denial & Intelligent Design

Posted June 15, 2005 | 07:38 PM (EST)


The Evolution-Creationism controversy is back in the news, with Kansas yet again at the epicenter of the continuing aftershocks left over from the earthquake originally triggered in 1859 with the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species. At stake for science is that the single most powerful overarching theory...

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