X-Message-Number: 20825 Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 12:13:46 -0800 (PST) From: Driven FromThePack <> Subject: professional skeptic Shermer's book mentions cryonics Shermer makes a living out of "debunking" pseudoscience, and apparently cryonics is on his list. His latest book on "borderlands science" rates the viability of various fields of scientific and pseudoscientic endeavor. Here is a ranking, giving the following .9 highest to.1 lowest in relation to their level of scientific validity: Normal science--on the science side of the boundary: Heliocentrism .9 evolution.9 quantum mechanics.9 big bang cosmology .9 plate tectonics .9 neurophysiology of brain functions.8 punc eq .7 sociobiology/ evolutionary pysch .5 chaos and complexity theory .4 intelligence and intelligence testing .3 Nonscience--on the non , pseudo, or nonsense side of boundary: creationism .1 holocaust revisionism .1 remote viewing .1 astrology .1 bible code .1 big foot .1 ufos .1 freudian psychoanalytic theory.1 recovered memories .1 Borderlands science--in the borderlands between normal science and nonscience: superstring theory .7 inflationary cosmology.6 theories of consciousness .5 grand theories of economics (objectivism, socialism, etc) .5 seti.5 hypnosis .5 chiropractic .4 acupuncture.3 cryonics .2 omega point theory .1 -------- Personally, I think Shermer is trying to become the head priest of the skeptic religion. SOunds like an interesting book, but Shermer, from what I saw of him when he tried to capitalize on all teh cryonics publicity this summer, is more interested in trying to sell books, than to truly evaluate cryonics. Cryonics just provides too juicy an emotional target for him to pass up.... __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20825