A Hubble Space Telescope photograph of the universe evokes far more awe for creation than light streaming through a stained glass window in a cathedral. Michael Shermer More Quotes by Michael Shermer More Quotes From Michael Shermer For solving a surprisingly large and varied number of problems, crowds are smarter than individuals. Michael Shermer crowds problem numbers It is sad that while science moves ahead in exciting new areas of research, fine-tuning our knowledge of how life originated and evolved, creationists remain mired in medieval debates about angels on the head of a pin and animals in the belly of an Ark. Michael Shermer angel animal moving Intelligent Design is a remarkably uncreative theory that abandons the search for understanding at the very point where it is most needed. If Intelligent Design is really a science, then the burden is on its scientists to discover the mechanisms used by the Intelligent Designer. (80) Michael Shermer design intelligent understanding Machine intelligence of a human nature could be a century away, and immortality is at least a millennium away, if not unattainable altogether. Michael Shermer unattainable machines human-nature Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known. Michael Shermer joints moral powerful Through no divine design or cosmic plan, we have inherited the mantle of life's caretaker on the earth, the only home we have ever known. Michael Shermer design earth home My thesis is that morality exists outside the human mind in the sense of being not just a trait of individual humans, but a human trait; that is, a human universal. Michael Shermer individual morality mind Because of the complexity of the problem, environmental skepticism was once tenable. No longer. It is time to flip from skepticism to activism. Michael Shermer global-warming environmental flip The price of liberty is, in addition to eternal vigilance, eternal patience with the vacuous blather occasionally expressed from behind the shield of free speech. Michael Shermer libertarian speech liberty As Enlightenment philosophers and scholars consciously adopted the methods of science to establish such abstract concepts as rights, liberty, and justice, successive generations have become schooled in thinking of these abstractions as applied to others in matrices-like mental rotations. Michael Shermer rights justice thinking Creationists have also changed their name ... to intelligent design theorists who study 'irreducible complexity' and the 'abrupt appearance' of life-yet more jargon for 'God did it.' ... Notice that they have no interest in replacing evolution with native American creation myths or including the Code of Hammarabi alongside the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. Michael Shermer native-american science school No single discovery from any of these fields denotes proof of evolution, but together they reveal that life evolved in a certain sequence by a particular process. Michael Shermer single-life together discovery Believers can have both religion and science as long as there is no attempt to make A non-A, to make reality unreal, to turn naturalism into supernaturalism. (125) Michael Shermer science-and-religion long reality We want to be open-minded enough to accept radial new ideas when they occasionally come along, but we don't want to be so open-minded that our brains fall out. Michael Shermer brain ideas fall We're all talking about the same thing, whether it's religious people or New Age spiritual people or Buddhists or scientists. We're all talking about having a sense of awe and wonder at something grander than ourselves. Michael Shermer buddhist religious spiritual The reason is that in a group, individual errors on either side of the true figure cancel each other out. Michael Shermer groups errors sides The evening was very professionally organized, and most of the people were exceptionally polite, although it did make me a little nervous when one church official told me after the debate when a big crowd of people surrounded me that he had assigned me a body guard "just in case." Just in case what? I thought Christians were suppose to be exceptionally tolerant. Well, in any case, I guess I was grateful for the gesture, "just in case." Michael Shermer grateful christian people Ultimately all hominids came from Africa, and therefore everyone in America should simply check the box next to 'African-American.' My maternal grandmother was German and my maternal grandfather was Greek. The next time I fill out one of those forms I am going to check 'Other' and write in the truth about my racial and cultural heritage: 'African-Greek-German-American.' And proud of it. Michael Shermer grandmother writing thinking No such individual would find the Golden Rule surprising in any way because at its base lies the foundation of most human interactions and exchanges and it can be found in countless texts throughout recorded history and from around the world - a testimony to its universality. Michael Shermer foundation lying world Since humans are by nature tribal, the overall goal is to expand the concept of the tribe to include ALL members of the species, in a global free society. Michael Shermer members tribes goal
