Michael Shermer The Believing Brain: Ghosts, God and Politics

Michael Shermer, Ph.D., publisher of Skeptic magazine, speaker at the Reason Rally, Washington, D.C., lectures about skepticism and conspiracy theory. This lecture comes from Shermer's class, "How to Think Like a Scientist Without Being a Geek." Shermer is a professor at Chapman University and at Claremont Graduate University. Video produced by Panther Productions.
You can download this and another program featuring Michael Shermer with Deepak Chopra on iTunesU:
bit.ly/CUiTunes

[@bht96]

When I was a kid I was obsessed with ghosts. I read so many books about them. I became a true believer even though I did not experience anything weird at that point. But, then I saw and heard things. It was so real, like real life. Fast forward to high school, I just didn’t care anymore. Then, everything strange stopped and I haven’t experienced anything for the last few decades.

[@StopWhining491]

Content related to title finally begins about 14:15.

[@Mr._Fit_Atheist]

ADHD afflicted? I love listening to Shermer. Every topic has an intro.

[@sandbar3000]

7:48 Wow thank you for listening all those wonderful names. Now I can look them up. Was any of these lectures recorded in the last 8 years

[@markc4768]

As a retired engineer, I find myself skeptical of virtually anything without basis in pure fact. Now, I actually "get" how a good deal of both the ideas and the math of quantum physics work, and how they were developed one atop the other. And I have read extensively on the lives, philosophies and academic pipelines that drove the likes of Einstein, Milikan, Hawking and Lemaitre, with the good doctor and devout Jesuit priest Robert Lemaitre likely having the greatest impact on my personal philosophy. I find it easy to simply say that 13.8 Billion years ago give or take a week, a supposedly inert point in the corner of an infinity+1 of nothingness simply decided it had lain round enough, and escaped its invisible boundaries with virtually incomprehensible, albeit calculatable, energy, inventing every known rule of natural motion, causing rents and tears in space-time, black holes, and any number of heavily guarded dark-matter secrets at the subatomic level, all the while creating the raison d'etre for mind-numbing calculus and Reimann integrals... Wait, wait, there's more.... eventually placing orbit jockeying planets 'round old Sol, favoring Tellus- Terra- Earth, creating water and lightning and proteins and aligning ECGTS in varying order begetting bacteria which begat the dinosaurs that devolved to fish that morphed into lizards that eventually grew up to be the very chicken that they fry up at the local minor league field, where you say that essentially every batter acts out an elaborate superstition in an attempt to take a poke at a 90mph hand-spun sphere hurled from sixty feet six inches less the pitcher's extension, praying not to whiff three in a row... I would submit that as a former college pitcher, my observation is that yes, indeed virtually every batter does some crazy-ass mental and physical gymnastics before stepping into the batters box. But other than a handful of crazies who never wash their socks or jocks, or kiss their bat three - not four times, the vast majority - more than 90% of pre bat routines - are nothing more than a rigid set of mnemonics in a complex drill that, hopefully, leads to feet planted in the right spot, hands thus and so, butt stuck out at the right angle, tongue in alignment with third base, dominant eye focused on pitcher's delivery hand, other eye scanning the field for shifts, and hoping for that high and outsider that looks to be atop a Tee... Sadly for most, eight or nine times in ten, it will end with an umpire giving the batter the ugly thumb to take a hike.. And, in a quantum leap, only seven in ten for those who who might have a chance to get called up to the show where - without the right combination of luck and practice, back at the bottom of the eight in tens, warming the bench.

[@johnlynch575]

OKAY BELIEVER...live forever, my brother

[@AM-bw7hv]

and if you are a Trump supporter, everything you just wrote lost its truthfulness and validity.

[@Leftatalbuquerque]

Well, you're no Yogi Berra...

[@Aloneagainofcourse]

You're rambling

[@lllllllllll11111lllllllll]

This was beautifully explained. Nothing wakes up one day and decides to be ‘something’. And with all the staggering possibilities of the outcome continuing to be nothing-it got all the things it needed and more right!

[@hansson2000]

micheal shermer is great!

[@notreally2406]

no he isn't

[@wheelsofafrica]

micheal shermer correctly throws out a lot of bath-water. Unfortunately he throws the baby out with it!

[@rosehaig7934]

-what is that audience doing??-i hear so much conversation and non-responsive noise in the background(like they're not paying attention)-anybody else?

[@hannahmiller5515]

I want to learn more how this all relates to ideas about abuse, identifying what abuse is and what to do about it

[@jamesstouder5906]

All this is explained in the electronic book come Amazon. "Why Schools Fail: The Limits of Education" . This applies what was known of neuro-science ten years ago that has changed our thinking about thinking, but not about the absurd.

[@edwardchilikawei7962]

3:38 Some resources mentioned 5:42- 7:49 Other resources

[@heidigone]

I would first like to start by saying that I am not religious. I do not believe in God as portrayed in The Holy Bible, The Quran, The Book of Mormon, The Torah, etc. But, something happened in my life that I have no explanation for. I was once admitted to the hospital with delirium. Everyone, including myself, thought I was losing my mind. I was seeing things, hearing voices and becoming paranoid like someone with schizophrenia would do. I saw my daughter crying as she said, "I've waited so long to say this." I saw someone convulsing while a coloured man, who seemed full of hate, watched. I heard him say, "Uh-Oh, you had another accident." I heard my Arab friend say that he didn't behead her. I kept seeing the inside of a garage. These are just a few of the many things that I hallucinated over a 3 day period. But, I am not schizophrenic! And, I am not racist! So why was this happening? My delirium was actually a warning sign of a stroke that I would soon have, and that stroke would be caused by a shingles outbreak on my face and in my eye. OK, so now I know why I was hallucinating. Well not quite, because all of my hallucinations came true a year later. A black man murdered my daughter. He strangled her. He said that he knew she was dead when she started convulsing. Then he dismembered her body, including cutting off her head, and stored her in garbage bags in his garage. My Arab friend, who drove a taxi and sometimes took her places, was questioned by the police for 3 hours, even though he had nothing to do with it. There are many more details I could give, but I'll stop now. When I tell people about this, they usually think I'm just crazy, because I lost a child. Then I show them my hospital report and they don't know what to say. I also have the messages saved that I text my daughter to warn her that she would be murdered. So, what does all this mean? Was it just an extremely bizarre and horrific coincidence? I don't know, but it's 100% true.

[@pamelatragas7638]

Sorry that your daughter was murdered. Now... please tell me what this bizarre tale has to do with any or all gods.

[@heidigone]

@@pamelatragas7638 It has nothing to do with God, because God does not exist. I don't know why I was able to see these things in great detail. I have no explanation for it, and I doubt I ever will. All I know is that my visions came true.

[@Cheerstolife94]

Omg! My younger brother went through the exact same thing. Out of nowhere he had a psychotic episode, and after that his whole behavior changed, he spent 8 month not speaking, not saying a word. After that phase passed, he told us that the reason he couldn’t speak was because he was seeing things (I would say hallucinations) and spirits that were threatening him, and put a muzzle in his mouth that prevented him from talking. He told us very detailed stories that happened in our family in the past, before he was even born, that my mom confirmed had really happened. He also spoke about the future, which some of his predictions have become true. My family members are Christian, so while he was going through this, we prayed often. He told us afterwards that every time we prayed, the spirits will go away. I have my doubts about religions and all, and I wouldn’t call myself a believer at this moment, but I’ve been really trying to understand what happened. There has to be an explanation for it.

[@Cheerstolife94]

@@SimSim-zf9if for sure. However, it still doesn’t explain how he was able to predict the future and speak about past events that happened even before he was born.

[@heidigone]

@@Cheerstolife94 It sounds like your brother is schizophrenic. But, being able to see, with great accuracy, into the past and future, is something else. Just like me; I know that my hallucinations were caused by a stroke, but I have absolutely no idea how I was able to see the future so clearly. It was terrifying! I wish my daughter would have believed me when I warned her that she would be murdered, but she just thought I was crazy. Now she's gone. If I do figure out how this happens, I will let you know. I hope your brother is alright. Take care. ❤

[@husseincivil8771]

I really like scientists talk about the brain and its functionality. They still miss a big part in the system of human thinking, i.e., the interaction between brain and mind. “Mind” is a non-physical part of human and control how brain works. Above all, how the three non-physical entities, i.e., consciousness, soul, and mind, interacts with the physical brain? Are consciousness and mind two different things? Who controls the dynamic of ideas stored in the brain and manipulated by the mind?

[@rageagainstspeciesism3093]

*At **12:59** I really here him say; "sexperts".* Is there something wrong with me or my hearing?

[@sjhdfbasndf986]

"amongst experts"

[@goodgood9955]

If science cannot explain consciousness, how can it attempt to explain these strange but real phenomenal, or at least say they are just our imagination,?

[@Rico-Suave_]

Watched 10 of it

[@EddoRats]

How to recognise a scientistic Narcissist?

[@tastyfrzz1]

So much for violence decreasing!

[@sandbar3000]

26:00 showing all the slides but the camera person is not moving the camera so we could see the slides it really isn't fair to us watching on KZbin. We can't see what the audience can see. There's a lot of slides that he was sharing

[@wheelsofafrica]

Yeah, very poor - even for a skeptic!

[@AM-bw7hv]

He uses the phrase "what's more likely" to be true but says the Copernicus principle that we are not special probably is the case. How many other planets with people, or water, or living creatures do we know of? We are not special?

[@kevinkerr9310]

Water is not uncommon. It's on the Moon, Mars, Europa, Pluto. Life is highly probable and we are looking. When we find it, I'll try to come back here to celebrate.

[@Yomi4D]

We are not special. Look around at your surroundings, travel the planet, see the depths of suffering, see the wars, desolation, diseases. and tell me what the hell is special about being born into hell.

[@photopicker]

sounds like you have lots of experience with that

[@AM-bw7hv]

2032

[@dhss333]

Professor Shermer I am SCEPTICAL about your SCEPTICISM about the conspiracy beliefs of the scientist played by Russell Crowe.

[@johnlynch575]

3:19 WHAT IS A SCEPTIC? SOMEONE WHO, LACKING THE COURAGE OF THEIR CONVICTIONS, SETS OUT TO DISPROVE THEM.

[@Jeshua1737]

God is the center of attention

[@BerishaFatian]

Summary 1: I believe that beliefs originate in the brain. 2: Beliefs that originate in the brain are delusional. 3: My belief originates in the brain. 4: My belief is delusional. Conclusion: My whole lecture is self defeating.

[@lllllllllll11111lllllllll]

I hope this is not what 36 min of this video is !b

[@photopicker]

just remember to wipe your face before you go out in public

[@AM-bw7hv]

Evolution is a belief because you cannot prove it. Else, I would like to know how the first living cell came to life from an explosion?

[@Karthikkn2k]

Evolution doesn't explain how the first life was formed it explains how the first cell evolved and became us(humans) or other species.

[@holeshothunter5544]

Bush Hall. A contradiction and an oxymoron.

[@shepberryhill4912]

Eighteen out of thirty six minutes and you haven't gotten to the topic yet....

[@johnlynch575]

Science and G-d have nothing to do with each other, but that's only because Science is a snob, and G-d is so weird. Give G-d a chance, He gave you the ability to use scientific reasoning, and besides, He loves you.

[@Yomi4D]

He loves you! 😂🤣😂. Or else he will throw you into eternal punishment in his basement. Some kind of diabolical and wicked love that is. What exactly is God? What are you giving a chance to? It matters not if you gave God a chance or not, he's capable of showing reciprocity at the rate of chance or coin flips. I'd rather flip coins.