Michael Shermer Quotes & Sayings (Page 5)

“In order to displace a prevailing theory or paradigm in science, it is not enough to merely point out what it cannot explain; you have to offer a new theory that explains more data, and do so in a testable way.”

“As a social primate species, we modulate our morals with signals from family, friends and social groups with whom we identify because in our evolutionary past, those attributes helped individuals to survive and reproduce.”

“Having a Nobel Prize or being a famous scientist will get you a week to a week and a half, metaphorically speaking, of a hearing for your new idea, but after that, it's going to tank if you don't have the evidence and support for it.”

“Science operates in the natural, not the supernatural. In fact, I go so far as to state that there is no such thing as the supernatural or the paranormal.”

“The actual atoms and molecules that make up my brain and body today are not the same ones that I was born with on September 8, 1954, a half-century ago this month.”

“No single discovery from any of these fields denotes proof of evolution, but together they reveal that life evolved in a certain sequence by a particular process.”

“Plato wove historical fact into literary myth.”

“But the power of science lies in open publication, which, with the rise of the Internet, is no longer constrained by the price of paper.”

“Dualists hold that body and soul are separate entities and that the soul will continue beyond the existence of the physical body.”

“Providentially, learned habits can be unlearned, especially in the context of moral groups.”