Tag Archives: evaluating evidence

Basic Statistics Part 3: The Dangers of Large Data Sets: A Tale of P values, Error Rates, and Bonferroni Corrections

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Fallacy Man

In previous posts, I have explained the importance of having lots of data, but what I failed to mention was the dangers of analyzing these large data sets. You see, all real data has variation in it, and when you … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

What does it mean to be a skeptic?

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Fallacy Man

It is good to be skeptical about everything that you hear and read. In fact, skepticism is one of the defining characteristics of a scientist. Nevertheless, terms like “skeptic” and “open-minded” are often misappropriated by people in the anti-science movement, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on What does it mean to be a skeptic?

7 easy ways to lose a debate

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Fallacy Man

One of the saddest statistics about my life is the amount of time that I spend pointlessly debating anti-scientists. Having devoted so much time to this endeavor has, however, allowed me to observe certain patterns and trends in their debate … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, Rules of Logic, Science of Evolution, Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 7 easy ways to lose a debate

The Rules of Logic Part 6: Appealing to Authority vs. Deferring to Experts

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Fallacy Man

The appeal to authority fallacy (a.k.a. argument from authority) is easily one of the most common logical fallacies. This is the fallacy that occurs when you base your claim on the people who agree with you rather than on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Rules of Logic | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

What would it take to convince you that you were wrong?

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Fallacy Man

In debates, I often ask people what it would take to convince them that they were wrong, and, much to my amazement, they frequently tell me that nothing will ever make them change their minds. What’s even more astounding is … Continue reading →

Posted in Rules of Logic | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments