Science is Great
I have always been a Skeptic. Long before I ever even heard the term Skeptic, I was one. I don’t remember a time when I believed in Santa Claus. I faked my belief to receive more presents. Even as a young kid I understood the logistics in visiting every house in the world in one night, even with so called “Magic Flying Reindeer”. I was the kid that went swimming right after I ate just to see if you really could get cramps, and you know what, I never did.
I have always been a critical thinker. I wish they taught critical thinking is school. People believe so many things that they shouldn’t. Just because you hear something doesn’t make it true. Everybody needs to stop and just think if things make sense. It drives me crazy when someone says they caught a could because they went outside without a hat on. Everyone knows colds are caused by bacteria or viruses. They have nothing to do with being cold. You are not going to get sick for not wearing a hat when it’s cold out. You might feel uncomfortable, maybe get frostbite, or hyperthermia; but never a cold.
The first time that I ever heard about the Skeptical Community was back in 2004 when I started listening to podcasts. There are many skeptic podcasts that get your brain thinking critically. My favorites are Skepticality, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, Skeptoid, and QuakCast. I am obsessed with learning from people that are much smarter than me. My spare time is filled with listening and reading about science and skeptical topics. I have a hard time watching TV now. I just can’t find enough smart shows on TV. Watching TV makes me feel like I am getting Dumb.
People sometimes think skeptics are close minded because of the many things that don’t believe in. Real skeptics are ready to change their mind as soon as there is scientific proof. We don’t believe things “just because”. We need scientific evidence. Science is great. The way the scientific method works is amazing. Scientists are constantly learning and science evolves as they learn. Scientists aren’t good marketers though. That is why all the pseudo-science, and alternative medicine crap exists. The people pushing the crap are good marketers and have money to make. People tend to want to believe in “magic” solution to things instead of the boring truth.
When I have nothing else to blog about, I might start blogging about some of the skeptical topics that I am passionate about. I might not have many readers, but getting the truth out to people one person at a time can’t be bad. In the meantime, Rebecca Watson recently blogged about a bunch of skeptics that are on Twitter. It is a great list of smart people to follow. I follow most of them. These are my “celebrities” on Twitter. Much better than Britney Spears.