X-Message-Number: 19755
From: "mike99" <>
Subject: comments on #19737 Michael Shermer and cryonics
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 19:24:41 -0600

Jeff Davis <> has hit the nail on the head here. I say
this, of course, because he wrote exactly what I was thinking. Quoting
Shermer, Jeff wrote:

>[M. Shermer] "I gave up on religion in college, but I often slip
>back into my former evangelical fervor, now directed
>toward the wonders of science and nature. ... It
>[cryonics] is too much like religion: it promises
>everything, delivers nothing (but hope) and is based
>almost entirely on faith in the future. ..."
...

Then Jeff commented on that:

>[Jeff] He's a 'reformed' true believer. 'Cured' of his
>"former evangelical fervor", now sensitized, and
>ever-vigilant to detect and expose irrational, ie
>faith-based, belief.  Unfortunately, from where I sit,
>it appears that the cure didn't take.  As he says,
>"...I often slip back into my former evangelical
>fervor, now directed toward the wonders of science and
>nature."  With 'his' new 'true' religion of science,
>he roots out the heretical practitioners of his
>defective thinking of old, ie religious irrationalism,
>behind every bush.
[end quote of Jeff]

That's it -- Michael Shermer, former religious-true-believer has now gone
overboard as the anti-religious-true-believer. And I say this with sadness
but no disrespect for Shermer, whose work as a skeptic has been mostly very
worthwhile. However, when I compare the tone of his writings and those
contained in his magazine SKEPTIC with similar material published in
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER and its sister publication FREE INQUIRY, I notice that
Shermer often shows less respect to those he criticizes. The latter two
skeptical pubs, which are published by philosopher Paul Kurtz, are
unfailingly polite and restrained while generally reaching the same
skeptical conclusions as Shermer with one major exception: The article on
cryonics published in FREE INQUIRY some years ago was balanced, fair,
thorough and ultimately positive in the sense that cryonics was not judged
to be nonsense, merely a long shot. I can accept that.

Michael LaTorra




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