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....


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