Comments on: Skeptics with a K: Episode #091

By: VictorB

VictorB — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:50:15 +0000

I remembered your guest appearance on the Cognitive Dissonence podcast a couple of months ago through Stitcher Radio. Is it possible that your podcast would also be available on Stitcher Radio sometime in the future?

By: DannoG

DannoG — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:10:36 +0000

Just thought you should know that yes, you had at least one new listener (very first episode). I now have to go back and download your whole catalogue back to episode 7. Unfortunately I think it unlikely that I’ll listen to them all before the end of the month.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:34:14 +0000

Obviously, this is just my interpretation of the events that happened in the show, but I don’t think Camilla is asking Dexter to kill her because she thinks he is already going to hell anyway.

The way it is put over, to my mind, is “I’m catholic, so these rules apply to me. You are not, so they do not apply to you”. I think that is exactly the same situation as the bacon “I think this causes cancer, so I can’t eat it. But you don’t, so you can”. As I said on the show, I don’t think Camilla is asking Dexter to go to hell, or that my friend is giving me cancer bacon. What I think is happening is that these people are not applying their beliefs consistently. In the quest to “respect” what other people believe, they treat what the other person believes as if it were also true.

By: Sindre Søreide

Sindre Søreide — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:26:06 +0000

I have a problem with the dexter/bacon comparison which haven’t been taken up in the previous comments. I don’t think it’s a perfect analogy because since dexter isn’t a catholic and would go to hell anyway it wouldn’t be worse of for killing camilla. It would be analogous if you we’re terminally ill with cancer in which case it wouldn’t be a problem if you ate cancer giving bacon.

By: Murff

Murff — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:10:25 +0000

Colin’s little 1 line jabs this episode were spot on, had me laughing enough for co-workers to notice.

By: Henry

Henry — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:58:04 +0000

As an American, I was somewhat surprised that you blokes didn’t know that Mount McKinley is the tallest mountain in America. It is beaten into our heads during school, as is the fact that anything about America is critically important to the entire universe. Please don’t disappoint me further by admitting that you are unaware of the location of the world’s biggest ball of twine or the legend of Paul Bunyan.

By: America

America — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 03:46:14 +0000

As an American, I feel I’m qualified to say that Mount McKinley, is the tallest mountain in the USA, so somewhat comperable to Eversest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_McKinley

By: julie

julie — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:27:21 +0000

Mt. McKinley is in Alaska, and it’s the tallest mountain in North America. It was originally called Denali, but it was remained after President McKinley.
Though now that I think of it, the new name does just sound like a nearby hill.

By: emmjay1501

emmjay1501 — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:19:42 +0000

Hi Guys. Great show. I only came across you today after listening to an old episode of Cognitive Dissonance. I’ve now downloaded all your episoded on iTunes and look forward to listening to them. I also hope to come to one of your meetings soon as I live in Cheshire.

Anyway, I was listening to your Dexter story about the cancer, and your bacon story, and it immediately reminded me of an article I read earlier today in Skeptical Inquirer (Jan/Feb 2013). The article was written by a group of psychology researchers into why some people can hold two different beliefs around the same issue. In this case why some people believe in prophecies of apocalypse even when they do not believe in the apocalypse itself. They called it dissociation, or dissociative tendencies, which incline people to this cognitive incoherency. It struck me that maybe your stories fall into the same area. I’m no psychologist, but it seems similar.

Anyway thanks for the show.

By: Dave C

Dave C — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:28:35 +0000

As regards multiple choice exams I recommend the excellent XKCD:
http://what-if.xkcd.com/2/

Does this discussion about bacon decrease my (and every other SWAK listener) bacon number?

Dave