I enjoy listening to Alan Alda's podcast 'Clear and Vivid' . At the end of every episode he asks his guest seven quick questions. Here are my answers: 1. What do you wish you really understood? Why the universe was created in such a way that violent death or death, in general, was required for the sustenance of its living creatures. The food chain - I'm not a fan.... 2. How do you tell someone they got their facts wrong? Generally, if I am having an actual discussion with someone (that is usually not in a FB comment thread) I will ask questions about sources where the person got their information in case I missed something or to decide if the sources are quality. I will present what I understand to be true and why. 3. What is the strangest question anyone has ever asked you? It was more stupid/rude than strange, but someone once asked me why I was here if I didn't want to have children...As if the sole purpose of my existence is to breed. 4. How do you...
This is what I have learned over many years in the age of information overload. I never would have believed that we'd be here where the conspiracies of QAnon are being increasingly accepted by usually reasonable people... 1. Check sources of every article you see come through your feed, know their slant...(for instance, The Atlantic has a center-left bias but high factual reporting. Knowing this, I know to look for corroborating information from sources with little bias - such as newswires, or even a center-right commentary for a different perspective). 2. Avoid questionable sources and extremely biased sources (even if the lean is in your preferred direction) - those don't want you to think critically or think for yourself and usually don't provide sourcing - or if they do, it's other questionable sources and hearsay. These outlets count on human laziness and human tendency toward confirmation bias. 3. If you see a Twitter thread that sounds like the person is kn...
My reply to a blog post discussion with an atheist...I was not attempting to convert him. Just sharing my story. What a neat discussion...I love it when people can talk about these kinds of things respectfully. How much we can learn from each other when we know that the other person is not going to ridicule or go off or resort to insults. THANKS! For what it's worth, my two cents are below. :) I grew up in Evangelicalism, but my faith became the most alive when I ditched the rules and the play-book of 'making converts' through arguing the Bible and defending God (God doesn't really need me to do that anyway). I made it about 'me and God', not 'me, the rules and how I can convince everyone that my religion is right by explaining the Bible empirically'. You can't do that. The Bible isn't a science book. It is a book of experiences and intepretations of experiences by other people - humans as jacked up and confused by life as I am than I was ...
Comments