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| Credit: Times Books |
Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine, has a new book called The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies.
Maureen Fiedler, host of NPR's Interfaith Voices, conducted a 20-minute interview with Michael Shermer. A podcast of the provocative interview is available here: Why We Believe | Interfaith Voices.
More information about the book is here: Believing Brain
The point is that humans are biologically hardwired to, for example, recognize faces. So it should come as no surprise when people see the Virgin Mary in a cheese sandwich or Mother Theresa on a bun. The issue comes down to whether we choose to believe these images are more than they appear to be. What purpose would that serve?
And for you true skeptics, here is Michael's Feb 2006 TED Talk on Strange Beliefs. The final two minutes of the video contain a fantastic astronomy reference in pop music.
Michael Shermer on strange beliefs | Video on TED.com
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