The Fine Art of Baloney Detection—Sagan’s Essay Three Decades Later | Skeptical Inquirer

“Believe it or not (I certainly have a hard time believing it!), it has been three decades since the publication of Carl Sagan’s famous essay “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” incorporated as chapter 12 in his The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995). I therefore thought it would be a good idea for skeptics to reconsider Sagan’s essay and see how it has stood up to the passage of time and how it might be improved as we move toward the middle section of the twenty-first century. Let’s begin with a bird’s eye view of the original. It starts out, very symbolically I think, with a long quote from Francis Bacon’s Novum Organon, published in 1620; it marked the beginning of modern philosophy of science. While Bacon’s main concern was to reject the Aristotelian approach that had been dominant during the Middle Ages (the Organon was a collection of six books by Aristotle on the topic of logic and its use in scientific inquiry), he was also preoccupied with several common errors in judgment that human beings are prone to make. The quote chosen by Sagan reads, in part: “For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride.” You can see why Sagan thought it appropriate. His essay is roughly divided into four parts: an introduction that sets the stage, positive tools, negative tools, and a conclusion. I will focus mostly on the second and third parts, but allow me a few comments on the introduction. Sagan reminds us that belief in nonsense is widespread…” Massimo Pigliucci https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/06/the-fine-art-of-baloney-detection-sagans-essay-three-decades-later/

The Fine Art of Baloney Detection—Sagan’s Essay Three Decades Later | Skeptical Inquirer

“Believe it or not (I certainly have a hard time believing it!), it has been three decades since the publication of Carl Sagan’s famous essay “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” incorporated as chapter 12 in his The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995). I therefore thought it would be a good idea for skeptics to reconsider Sagan’s essay and see how it has stood up to the passage of time and how it might be improved as we move toward the middle section of the twenty-first century. Let’s begin with a bird’s eye view of the original. It starts out, very symbolically I think, with a long quote from Francis Bacon’s Novum Organon, published in 1620; it marked the beginning of modern philosophy of science. While Bacon’s main concern was to reject the Aristotelian approach that had been dominant during the Middle Ages (the Organon was a collection of six books by Aristotle on the topic of logic and its use in scientific inquiry), he was also preoccupied with several common errors in judgment that human beings are prone to make. The quote chosen by Sagan reads, in part: “For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride.” You can see why Sagan thought it appropriate. His essay is roughly divided into four parts: an introduction that sets the stage, positive tools, negative tools, and a conclusion. I will focus mostly on the second and third parts, but allow me a few comments on the introduction. Sagan reminds us that belief in nonsense is widespread…” Massimo Pigliucci https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/06/the-fine-art-of-baloney-detection-sagans-essay-three-decades-later/

TIMELAPSE OF THE UNIVERSE: 13 Billion Years in 10 Minutes • Updated and...

https://youtu.be/QTQVZuBV9oA?is=qovXshk6K8d8-Ra6

The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors

…A.I. labs, and the related nonprofits around them, have been recruiting workers as versed in Consequentialism and John Stuart Mill as in neural networks and reinforcement learning. While a plain-vanilla philosophy degree remains as hard to monetize as ever, David Chalmers, a prominent philosopher of consciousness at N.Y.U., observes: “I think the demand for philosophers with A.I. training is, if anything, outstripping the supply right now. It’s an area I encourage students to go into. I think these issues with A.I. will be front and center for a good while.”

…

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/business/philosophy-majors-ai-jobs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

A delightfully denigrating demotion of George W. and our seminal national "tax revolt"...

https://youtu.be/K1BaPETVOQA?si=2IKOZ_T9Wxw8gje5

But, my comment on aspersions the hosts cast towards American teeth, food, and nomenclature: 

@PhilOliver214

Bad dentition, inferior cuisine, funny names... 

I assume the irony is intentional, if not self-deprecatory. 

But yes, to be Canada wouldn't be so bad. No Kings, though.

Morning air

Curious visitor

“Living Tree” by Robert Morgan

It’s said they planted trees by graves
to soak up spirits of the dead
through roots into the growing wood.
The favorite in the burial yards
I knew was common juniper.
One could do worse than pass into
such a species. I like to think
that when I’m gone the chemicals
and yes the spirit that was me
might be searched out by subtle roots
and raised with sap through capillaries
into an upright, fragrant trunk,
and aromatic twigs and bark,
through needles bright as hoarfrost to
the sunlight for a century
or more, in wood repelling rot
and standing tall with monuments
and statues there on the far hill,
erect as truth, a testimony,
in ground that’s dignified by loss,
around a melancholy tree
that’s pointing toward infinity.

“Living Tree” by Robert Morgan from Dark Energy. © Penguin, 2014. Reprinted with permission.  

https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/the-writers-almanac-for-tuesday-june-23-2026/

Really vital

The really vital question

AI may not have (or be) the answer, but it is fun to play with.