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I'm not sure what "side" any of us are supposed to be on. Some of us believe, some of us don't, and all for our own reasons. The topic of how matter gives rise to consciousness is worth pursuing, but the fact that we cannot currently explain it would seem to have no bearing on the existential...

While there have been quite a few studies conducted over several decades suggesting that higher intelligence correlates with lower tendency toward religiosity, I don't think it's fair to suggest there is some stark demarcation line between 129 and 130. Studies have also shown that factors like...

"Joseph Mercola is an osteopath and a frighteningly popular alternative medicine guru and (more or less) cult leader. He advocates and takes seriously more or less any idiotic crackpot or anti-science idea he comes across, including but not limited to flu-denialism and anti-vaxx. He has claimed...

This is what we call agnostic. A gnostic person says that they know. An agnostic says that they don't know. Many people would describe themselves as agnostic. The confusing thing is that knowing someone is agnostic still doesn't tell you if they are a theist or an atheist. That's because...

I think it's creepy no matter the explanation. The woman seems genuine in her reporting and she was reluctant to believe a paranormal explanation, so I don't think it's a hoax. I also don't think the voice is just background noise like so many crappy EVPs on youtube. I think someone was in...

So, a woman is having trouble with being tired at work. She starts using a phone app to monitor her sleep, suspecting she may snore or have sleep apnea. One of the features is that it records any sounds it detects during the night. She quickly learns that she talks in her sleep just about...

As I said, the mechanisms are well understood. That doesn't mean we know everything, but the knowledge we do have is comprehensive and narrowed down to the nitty-gritty. It's not just a stab in the dark. There is still room among the data argue about the specifics of the processes, but to...

Right. I can understand your line of thinking. You assumed that because experience is what squelched your skepticism, it should be that way for anyone. That is understandable, and I don't find it insulting. But the flip-side is the implication that skepticism is nothing more than lack of...

Yep, it happens all over the world, and can even be reproduced in a clinical setting. It's known as sleep paralysis. The biological and psychological mechanisms for this phenomenon are actually well understood. Of course, knowing the explanation doesn't make it any more pleasant for the...

Skepticism, for some, arises from knowing all of the ways in which human cognition is susceptible to such beliefs. Most of the experiences described by believers would not be enough to convince many skeptics. Frankly, the idea that skepticism is nothing more than ignorance, or lack of...

Yes! You done everything but name the fallacy. Good job seeing that it applies to card games. The Gambler's fallacy occurs when we decide that something happening more frequently than normal will later be balanced out by a period of that something happening less frequently than normal, or...

Name this fallacy: My uncle tells me I shouldn't be afraid to ride the wooden roller coaster at Six Flags. He says that in 30 years no one has ever been injured and the ride has never had a major malfunction. To me, that just means the coaster is overdue for a tragedy. Something bad is...

I'm not sure there is a short list, but here's the one that got me started. They've actually added a lengthy introduction to it since I stumbled on it. I think the fallacies are mostly listed in order of prevalence, but that depends a lot on the types of subjects you argue and the people you...

There is no problem with the form of the logic, however it is an analogical argument. You are saying that because two things are alike in some way, they must also be alike in other ways. This may or may not be true. So while we cannot fault your argument for being formally fallacious, we...

If there is one thing that has been debunked more than ghosts, it's regressive hypnotic therapy. Hypnosis doesn't seem to be a unique brain state, at least not one that can be distinguished from deep relaxation coupled with heightened but narrow focus. Of course, such a relaxed state can be...

It is odd that if poltergeists are real, they seem to only manifest themselves in ways that can easily be mimicked by petty stage tricks or video software. Chi masters seem to have the same problem. Whenever they demonstrate their powers over Chi, they find that some pesky stage magician has...

Sounds freaky indeed! I'm afraid I don't have any easy explanations. I have had light bulbs do exactly what you are describing. In fact, there is one I can't reach in the back room that does it every time I go in there. It crackles and crunches and pulses, and when I turn off the light, it...

That line could be considered a strawman if in a slightly different context. In my example it's being used to explain a lack of evidence. But people say something very similar when they accuse skeptics of being closed-minded cynics. They say skeptics don't want to get to the truth, that they...

Philosophical razors are tools meant to help us "shave off" unlikely explanations for a phenomenon. That doesn't mean we decide those explanations are wrong, but that other explanations are more worthy of our attention. If we investigate the most likely explanations and they do not pan out, we...

Very good! Special pleading is what people use to get out of being proved wrong, or to explain away inconvenient evidence (or the lack of). The classic example is when a psychic agrees to controlled scientific testing and then, upon failing the test, they find a reason why the test didn't...