The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

by Steven Novella

Copyright © 2018 by SGU Productions, LLC.

ISBN 9781538760512 (ebook)

978-1-5387-6051-2 (ebook),

Introduction

Spock lied to me.

We are part of ever-expanding social rings with which we share our quest for knowledge and understanding. The biggest ring encompasses all of humanity. As a species, we are on a journey of discovery, trying to figure out what to believe and what knowledge is reliable.

Don’t panic. This whole notion of thinking for yourself and questioning everything is actually quite fun and empowering. We can do this together.

SECTION 1

Core Concepts Every Skeptic Should Know

1.

Skeptics’ Guide Entry: Scientific Skepticism

A scientific skeptic provisionally accepts a claim only in proportion to its support from valid logic and a fair and thorough assessment of available evidence.

A skeptic also studies the pitfalls of human reason and the mechanisms of deception so as to avoid being deceived by others or themselves. Skepticism values method over any particular conclusion.

Science works within a philosophy of methodological naturalism (all effects have natural causes) and uses a refined set of methods to check our theories against reality.

We are scientific skeptics because we start with doubt, but we then carefully try to separate what we can and do know from fantasy, wishful thinking, bias, and tradition.

Respect for Knowledge and Truth—Skeptics value reality and what is true. We therefore endeavor to be as reality-based as possible in our beliefs and opinions.

Promotion of Science—Science is the only set of legitimate methods for investigating and understanding the natural world.

Promotion of Reason and Critical Thinking—Science works hand in hand with logic and philosophy, and therefore skeptics also promote better understanding of these fields and critical thinking skills.

Science vs. Pseudoscience—Skeptics are the first, and often the last, line of defense against incursions by pseudoscience.

Ideological Freedom / Free Inquiry—Science and reason can only flourish in a free society in which no ideology (religious or otherwise) is imposed upon individuals or the process of science and free inquiry.

Humility—

Consumer Protection—

It’s not enough to just teach people science, you have to teach them how science works and how to think in a valid way.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL HUMILITY AND MECHANISMS OF DECEPTION

2.

Skeptics’ Guide Entry:

Memory Fallibility and False Mem...

Section: Neuropsychological Humility See also: Percepti...

Our memories aren’t accurate or passive recordings of the past. We don’t have squishy camcorders in our skulls. Memories are constructed from imperfect perceptions filtered through our beliefs and biases, and then over time they morph and merge. Our memories serve more to support our beliefs than to inform them. In a way, they are an evolving story we tell ourselves.

The actual relationship between short-term and long-term memory is likely more complex than this, and research is ongoing, but those are the basics.

There is declarative memory (also called explicit memory), which is factual knowledge stored in long-term memory and consciously recalled.

Procedural memory (also called implicit memory) is more automatic and involves learning how to do motor tasks such as throwing basketballs or writing in script.

Episodic memory is memory of events and our o...

There is also a specific type of autobiographical memory known as a “flashbulb” memory, which is an unusually vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.

Semantic memory is factual memory about the world, not specific to your own experiences.

We have memory for facts, a separate memory for the “truth status” of each fact (is it true or false?), and a still separate memory for the source of the fact.

Memories are Malleable

Each time we recall a memory we are actually reconstructing and updating it.

Fusion—We can fuse the details of different memories, mixing them up or even combining two separate memories into one.

Confabulation—Put simply, we make shit up. This is a completely automatic and subconscious process.

Details are invented in order to emphasize the emotional significance of an event. In fact, the overall thematic and emotional significance of a memory is stored separately from the supporting details.

In a 2010 study by Isabel Lindner et al., researchers found that simply observing another person performing an act can create false memories that we performed that act. They report: In three experiments, participants observed actions, some of which they had not performed earlier, and took a source-memory test. Action observation robustly produced false memories of self-performance relative to control conditions.

In essence our brains lie to us all the time.

Personalize—There is a tendency to shift memories from happening to other people to happening to ourselves.

Contamination—We are social creatures. Part of our social nature is that we place high value on the testimony of others. When people discuss an event together, sharing the details of their individual memories, they are likely to contaminate each other’s memory.

Distortion—Details of a memory can also simply change or be distorted. The details may drift over time, or they may change in a way specifically to support the emotional narrative of the memory.

A 2005 study by Skurnik et al. supports the notion that we remember the “truth status” of facts separately from the facts themselves.

Confidence and Accuracy

We tend to think that vividness and confidence predict accuracy, but they don’t.

False Memory Syndrome