The Shermerlution Continues

 

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/01/shermer-woos-up.html.

Since Michael Shermer's last woo-opathic outburst, his Twitter feed is becoming more and more interesting. A few days ago he Tweeted the above photo and quote. The old lady he is with is Dame Jane Goodall DBE, a famous biologist and conservationist who has spent over sixty-five years studying chimpanzees in the wild and is considered the world's leading expert on that species. I remember seeing her documentaries on TV when I was a child. She is also open-minded about supernatural and spiritual phenomena. She is quoted thus: "My next great adventure, aged ninety, is going to be dying. There's either nothing or something. If there's nothing there's nothing, that's it. If there's something I can't think of a greater adventure than finding out what it is." (She has since enjoyed her ninety-first birthday, on the third of this month.) Michael added: "Right there with you Jane!" Source: https://x.com/michaelshermer/status/1916145966761259058. This is an unbelievable thing for a skepper to say. The correct skeptic commentary on Ms Goodall's words would be something like: "Jane is an elderly lady and is therefore faced by the prospect of her own mortality. Like many people, she is exhibiting a deeply engrained psychological defence mechanism that we have evolved over tens of thousands of years, since we became self-aware and able to imagine the future, to provide false comfort in the glare of that terrible reality... etc" Michael Shermer has just violated that creed. This is a major change in his perspective. To begin with he will have to be stripped of his MBA.

 
The responses have once again been scathing. As I have long predicted, the skeptic congregation are not taking kindly to Michael Shermer's heresy. Here is an example: "Since the only ones believing there is something also believe in made-up fictions like gods and heavens and hells and tooth fairies, it's safe to assume there’s nothing. Thank you for coming to my Ded Talk." However, I'm pleased to say there are far more supportive comments than there were before when I reported on him last time. Clearly Michael is attracting a new community of followers who are keen to monitor his changing outlook on life in a positive way. As I said, we woo-woos need to be there for him when the skeptic axe really falls. We must be forgiving and welcoming. Good luck, Michael!
See here for more background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.

And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2023/06/afterlife-portal.html.