Note: I accidentally put in the wrong hyperlink to my column. That has been corrected.
The topic of skepticism came up in a recent discussion with a friend who was under the impression that skepticism is nothing more than total doubt. There's the skeptic, running around and pissing on everybody's truth claims, laughing maniacally as balloons pop and dreams come crashing down. But there's a flip side to this caricature, namely, that of the incredulous fellow whose mind is so open his or her brains leak out like pudding from a microwave.
In fact, skepticism is a middle ground. Rightly associated with the scientific method, the best and most reliable method of obtaining knowledge of the natural world, skepticism is all about evidence-driven reasoning. The Skeptics Society lays it out very well in their mission statement. And with that preface, this week's topic is precisely about the need for skepticism in situations when marketing takes the place of medicine found in science.
Evaluate This: When Marketing is Medicine
The topic of skepticism came up in a recent discussion with a friend who was under the impression that skepticism is nothing more than total doubt. There's the skeptic, running around and pissing on everybody's truth claims, laughing maniacally as balloons pop and dreams come crashing down. But there's a flip side to this caricature, namely, that of the incredulous fellow whose mind is so open his or her brains leak out like pudding from a microwave.
In fact, skepticism is a middle ground. Rightly associated with the scientific method, the best and most reliable method of obtaining knowledge of the natural world, skepticism is all about evidence-driven reasoning. The Skeptics Society lays it out very well in their mission statement. And with that preface, this week's topic is precisely about the need for skepticism in situations when marketing takes the place of medicine found in science.
Evaluate This: When Marketing is Medicine
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