I like this...very cool and funny skeptic

[Edwardo Piet]

Sorry Bri, I agree with Jor. Not impressed by his intellect. He says some 'cool' stuff but it's kind of dumbed down to the layperson level. He seems more of a popularizer of science than anything... and I'd take someone like Brian Cox or Richard Dawkins over him any day.

Here's a video where he's especially unimpressive for me:





I'm no fan of Daniel Dennett but this is a great quote: "There's nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view I hold dear." - Daniel Dennett

And this is exactly what Michael Shermer is doing for me here. Giving bad arguments for a view I hold here. The defense of objective morality, is a view I hold dearly. And others who are more philosophically inclined than Shermer have defended it well. In this video I posted here Shermer is an embarrassment and it shows especially well when he's up against someone like Massimo Pigliucci in this video. Even Julia, the moderator, is someone who is philosophically inclined enough to absolutely flatten Shermer in a debate on philosophical issues. He looks very very bad in this video. I'm certainly no fan. He's a popularizer of skepticism and that's about it really. Not impressed!

Someone commenting on this video I posted summed up the debate quite nicely:

Shermer: "We can do more, therefore science can solve ethics."
Pigliucci: "Of course we can do more (didn't say we can't do more), but obviously that doesn't mean science can solve ethics, and you still need to show how it can."
Shermer: "Well, I just think science is cool and we can do more, like solve ethics or something, ya know? Because like, science is really, like, neat and stuff."
Pigliucci: "You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, do you?"
Shermer: "Not a clue, but Sam Harris told me I don't need to know anything about science and philosophy to sell my book. It worked for him, so I thought I'd give it a go."
Pigliucci: "So, what you're saying is, you're just full of shit?"
Shermer: "Yup, pretty much."