💭 Scepticism

I feel lucky to have grown up as the internet was starting out. I honed my debating skills in forums (talk.origins, James Randi's forum, and so on) and feel I have a pretty good bullshit detector thanks to that training.

Sometimes I get into arguments with people about some fairly interesting topics. Other times it's on stupid things they read on social media and swallow without a second thought. Here are some well written articles on interesting topics.

Behavioural Economics

• What has happened down here is the winds have changed
• The death of behavioural economics
• Reconstruction of a Train Wreck: How Priming Research Went off the Rails

GMOs

People fear new technology. GMOs interest me because they stand on the thin line between fascinating technology and scary dystopia. I think they are a powerful tool for humanity and research in them should be encouraged.

• 21 year study
• Slate article

Cell phone 'Radiation'

There's more of this going around these days, with some geniuses linking 5G towers to COVID-19.

• Cell phones link to cancer
• Radio towers linked to cancer

Homeopathy

• My favourite post on Homeopathy, by the one-and-only Ben Goldacre.
• Why you can't trust Homeopathy

Vaccines

There are fortunately no stupid people in my immediate community who are vaccine-averse.

• Lots of info on RationalWiki
• Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism
• Nice gif that explains herd immunity

Miscellaneous

• Assassinations foretold in Moby Dick - Show this to those people who keep finding hidden meanings in the Bible etc.

• How to avoid swallowing War Propaganda

Internet cranks

• Mark McCarron is his own internet rabbit hole. Here's an article of his on a Spam/Email alternative: We've found the perfect solution to spam • The Register. He's also written a cipher called crystalline. Read his comments to see how defensive and out of touch with reality he is.