Science Friction_ Where the Known Meets the Unknown - Michael Shermer [0]
“You may disagree with Michael Shermer, but you’d better have a good reason—and you’ll have your work cut out finding it. He describes skepticism as a virtue, but I think that understates his own unique contribution to contemporary intellectual discourse. Worldly-wise sounds wearily cynical, so I’d call Shermer universe-wise. I’d call him shrewd, but it doesn’t do justice to the breadth and depth of his inspired scientific vision. I’d call him a spirited controversialist, but that doesn’t do justice to his urbane good humor. Just read this book. Once you start, you won’t stop.”
—Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and A Devil’s Chaplain
“It is both an art and a discipline to rise above our inevitable human biases and look in the eye truths about how the world works that conflict with the way we would like it to be. In Science Friction, Michael Shermer shines his beacon on a delicious range of subjects, often showing that the truth is more interesting and awe-inspiring than the common consensus. Bravo.”
—John McWhorter, author of The Power of Babel and Losing the Race
“Michael Shermer challenges us all to candidly confront what we believe and why. In each of the varied essays in Science Friction, he warns how the fundamentally human pursuit of meaning can lead us astray into a fog of empty illusions and vacuous idols. He implores us to stare honestly at our beliefs and he shows how, through adherence to bare reason, the profound pursuit of meaning can instead lead us to truth—and how, in turn, truth can lead us to meaning.”
—Janna Levin, author of How the Universe Got Its Spots
“Whether the subject is ultra-marathon cycling or evolutionary science, Michael Shermer—who has excelled at the former and become one of our leading defenders of the latter—never writes with anything less than full-throttled engagement. Incisive, penetrating, and mercifully witty, Shermer throws himself with brio into some of the most serious and disturbing topics of our times. Like the best passionate thinkers, Shermer has the power to enrage his opponents. But even those who don’t agree with him will be sharpened by the encounter with this feisty book.”
—Margaret Wertheim, author of Pythagoras’ Trousers
Also by Michael Shermer
The Science of Good and Evil
In Darwin’s Shadow:
The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace
The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience (general editor)
The Borderlands of Science
Denying History
How We Believe
Why People Believe Weird Things
Science Friction
SCIENCE FRICTION
Where the Known
Meets the Unknown
MICHAEL SHERMER
Owl Books
Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Publishers since 1866
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10010
www.henryholt.com
An Owl Book® and ® are registered trademarks of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
Copyright © 2005 by Michael Shermer
All rights reserved.
Distributed in Canada by H. B. Fenn and Company Ltd.
All artwork and illustrations, except as noted in the text, are by Pat Linse, are copyrighted by Pat Linse, and are reprinted with permission.
For further information on the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine, contact P.O. Box 338, Altadena, CA 91001, 626-794-3119; fax: 626-794-1301; e-mail: skepticmag@aol.com. www.skeptic.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shermer, Michael.
Science friction: where the known meets the unknown/
Michael Shermer.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-7914-2
ISBN-10: 0-8050-7914-9
1. Science—Philosophy. 2. Science—Miscellanea. I. Title.
Q175.S53437 2005
501—dc22
2004051708
Henry Holt books are available for special promotions and premiums. For details contact: Director, Special Markets.
Originally published in hardcover in 2005 by Times Books
First Owl Books Edition 2006
Designed by Victoria Hartman
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
To Pat Linse
For her steadfast loyalty, penetrating intelligence, and illustrative originality
Contents
Introduction: Why