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Month: August 2011

Believers vs. Non-believers: Everyone Gets it Wrong

Believers vs. Non-believers: Everyone Gets it Wrong

A friend of mine shared the following video on Facebook, as if it were by itself a damning attack on religious belief: I think that the research summarized in the video is fascinating, but the video’s creator commits a huge logical fallacy that really undermines its conclusion. The psychology experiments described in the video explain quite well about group dynamics and how we form opinions, but they tell us nothing about how we should react to the majority opinion of…

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Do It Yourself Genetics

Do It Yourself Genetics

A new industry of direct-to-consumer genetic tests is springing up which let you get information about your ancestry and genetic traits. For Christmas, I ordered a test from 23andme. I’ve discovered interesting information about my health (such as that I am unlikely to get Parkinson’s disease when I get old) and my ancestry. The ancestry part of it has been particularly fascinating, given my mixed ethnic background (my mom is Brazilian, and Brazil is a real melting pot of races)….

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