Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer is an American historian of science, writer, professional skeptic, and ex-professional cyclist. 
He is a noted "skeptical agnostic non-theist," the author of many writings on skepticism, and the founder of The Skeptics Society.
Shermer is a hereditarian who believes that J. Philippe Rushton's claims about race are correct (in other words, racist pseudoscience).
==A modern Paul==
During adolescence, Shermer became a born again, fundamentalist Christian and later even got a theology degree at a Christian university. Later still, Shermer studied psychology and became more skeptical about Christian belief, finally becoming an atheist/agnostic/skeptic.A sceptical take on Michael Shermer Shermer stated the final end of his Christian faith was when a girl was paralyzed in a motor accident. Shermer prayed to God to heal her. She remained paralyzed.Michael Shermer Interview
Like Paul, Shermer found his way on the long (bike) road to Damascus Mt. Elbert, in Colorado, when he realized that all the pseudoscience, (prayer, New Age pyramids, meditation, and homeopathy) would not take the pain of 10 years of cycling away, and that these remedies and the philosophies behind them were bunk. Like Paul, Shermer began to preach and teach, writing for Scientific American in the Skeptics column, writing books like Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our TimeWhy People Believe Weird Things (as well as the far more exciting Cycling: Endurance and SpeedCycling: Endurance and Speed (Sportsperformance)), and lecturing across the US on topics ranging from Holocaust denial to creationism (which he aptly calls Evolution Denial).MichaelShermer.com 
Shermer's recent spooky experience with a radio initially suggested he was wavering in his commitment to skepticism. This was later shown to not be the case.
==Controversies==
===Questionable viewpoints===
Shermer leans heavily towards libertarianism and is known to be less than introspective where economic issues are concerned; occasional hilarity results with the rest of the skeptical community (one incident featured a thoroughly inept attempt to map economic freedom onto the ).http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/22/opinion/oe-shermer22
While Shermer's other work has been well received, his book Mind of the Market has been widely criticized in skeptical circles for being mostly full of bullshit pop evolutionary psychology used in order to rationalize his libertarianism.Massimo Pigliucci's beef with Shermer, Skeptic's Dictionary review of Mind of the Market The book is also considered overly emotional and insufficiently logical.Review Of Michael Shermer’s The Mind Of The Market by Dan Schneider, 11/22/07 This has led some to say there are "two Michael Shermers," "skeptical Shermer" and "libertarian Shermer." Others contend he never really stopped drinking the Randroid Kool-Aid. Of course, he has denied these charges.How I Became a Libertarian
Initially an "environmental skeptic," Shermer returned to the warm embrace of reality, saying that "data trumps politics."The Flipping Point
Shermer argued that science denialism exists equally on the left as on the right. Chris Mooney took issue with this in two articles that Mother Jones published. Mooney has shown that, for example, trying to include unscientific ideas in mainstream education is a problem among Republicans rather than Democrats. Higher proportions of Republicans believe creationism and deny global warming than do Democrats. Vaccine denialism and suspicion of genetically modified food affect Republicans and Democrats equally (though vaccine denialism is forming a right-wing face). Mooney cites Michele Bachmann and Donald Trump as prominent conservative vaccine "skeptics". Decades of research show that conservatives tend more to resist new ideas and have a greater need for beliefs which they subjectively feel are unchanging and certain.Van Hiel, A., Kossowska, M., & Mervielde, I. (2000). The relationship between openness to experience and political ideology. Personality and Individual Differences, 28(4), 741-751. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00135-XGerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., Doherty, D., Dowling, C. M., & Ha, S. E. (2010). Personality and political attitudes: Relationships across issue domains and political contexts. American Political Science Review, 104(1), 111-133. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055410000031 Science, by contrast, frequently challenges traditions that were previously considered certain. Just 6% of American Association for the Advancement of Science members are Republicans.There's No Such Thing As the Liberal War on ScienceStop Pretending That Liberals Are Just As Anti-Science As Conservatives 
One of Shermer's longstanding opponents in the skeptic community has been PZ Myers, who wrote several blog posts personally critical of Shermer, arguing that he was egotistical,The delicate ego of Michael Shermer sexist,An experiment, why do you despise feminism and irrational.Shermer's false equivalencies
In March 2016, Shermer seemed to endorse Donald Trump for president of the U.S. Michael Shermer Supports Trump, Because Skepticism is a Joke Later, Shermer corrected himself and admitted he gave disproportionate credence to "snippets from an interview". He just "liked some aspects of Trump (...) [Shermer has] since grown concerned about some of Trump’s other positions, however (...) [Shermer is] not publicly endorsing anyone".Michael Shermer: I’m Not Endorsing Donald Trump http://www.patheos.com This serves to underscore the fact that Shermer, not unlike any intelligent human being, is at great risk of sometimes being swayed rather much by his emotions.His motions swayed him, especially on the dance floor.
In January 2024, Shermer signed a letter arguing the importance of Substack continuing to provide a platform for Nazis.Substack shouldn’t decide what we read
===Accusations of sexual misconduct===
On August 8, 2013, PZ Myers posted a message on his Pharyngula blog at Freethought Blogs from an unnamed woman later identified as Alison Smith claiming that Michael Shermer had raped her.PZ Myers, "What do you do when someone pulls the pin and hands you a grenade?", Pharyngula, August 8, 2013. Smith alleged, "at a conference, Mr. Shermer coerced me into a position where I could not consent, and then had sex with me." She also stated that "I reached out to one organization that was involved in the event at which I was raped, and they refused to take my concerns seriously," that "5 different people have directly told me they did the same to them," and that she was sharing this information in order to warn others. Myers later updated his blog entry with an account from another woman, who claimed that Shermer plied her with drink at an atheist event and "was very flirty." 
=====Double standards=====
Assuming the above accusations are correct, did Michael Shermer need help to understand the distress involved?The creep list Before the PZ Myers grenade exploded, Shermer understood the harm rape and adultery causes. He wrote the following in Feb 2013.
 
Double standard suspected anywhere? Or perhaps the power of wishful thinking enticed him into the conviction that only forcible incidents count as rape.
====Reactions====
Bloggers in the atheist/skeptic/feminist community reacted quickly and took sides. It soon became the blogosphere's drama of the week, rehashing many of the divisions endemic in the atheist community since the "Elevatorgate" affair.http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/4419http://www.atheistrev.com/2013/08/more-internet-vigilantism-as-shermer.htmlhttp://thetimchannel.wordpress.com/tag/michael-shermerhttp://thepigmancometh.com/2013/08/11/pz-myers-accuses-michael-shermer-of-rapehttp://www.skepticink.com/prussian/2013/08/12/about-the-shermer-allegations]
Shermer denied any wrongdoing and issued a cease and desist order against Myers, threatening defamation action unless Myers removed the offending blog entry and issued a full retraction and apology.A copy of the cease and desist letter
Shermer got legal funds without asking on a fundraiser page built by Emery Emery, the “Ardent Atheist”.http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2013/08/they-clearly-want-to-do-harm-to-the-institutions/ The fundraiser included a rape joke with generous contributors offered a bottomless glass of wine, with Emery “who will not be drinking but keeping your glass full.” This was a reminder that one woman complained Shermer repeatedly refilled her glass. Myers also got an offer of legal help from Popehat, who is experienced with online libel trouble.http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/08/12/last-word-for-now/
The fundraiser for Michael Shermer’s legal action raised a total of $8,289. Emery stated that Shermer “has no choice” but to sue PZ because the post was still up. By August 9th, 2014, the statute of limitations in California ran out without Shermer suing Myers.http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamonds/2014/08/09/within-one-year/ As of 2018, the rape allegation is still up.It does not need psychic power to predict that the grenade is likely to stay up for the foreseeable future. 
Things blew up after 11-Sept-2014, when NY Times contributor Mark Oppenheimer wrote a very long, detailed highlights-reel on the harassment campaigns being run within the atheist and skeptical movements, including naming three victims of Shermer’s alleged predations. This piece alone contains several bombshells which had not been public before Oppenheimer's article appeared, including:
*The person in the “Grenade” post by Myers was a known figure in the skeptical community.
*Shermer has actively changed his story from what he reported at the time in his rebuttal statement:
**Original statement: Two unknown people (one with “dreadlocks”) were upset that Shermer was talking with Smith and was preventing them from “getting into her pants”, so they started spreading rumors. 
**Later statement: Shermer and Smith had sober consensual sex that night, initiated by a cold proposition by Smith in a bathroom.Smith claims to witnesses that she was not sober. Alison Smith clarifies a few matters
*Ashley Miller apparently had a several-minute-long conversation with Shermer while he was actively massaging his thing through his jeans, and trying to arrange himself such that she had to see it and notice.
*James Randi was aware of complaints, and because Shermer wasn’t violent, ignored them:
Adam Lee accused Randi and others of working to silence Shermer's critics; further, Lee accused some of trying to pressure victims into silence. Lee compared this to Roman Catholic and other religious organizations that seek to cover up other wrongdoing, notably predatory sex by their members. Lee accuses some atheists who condemn religiously motivated coverups while acting similarly of double standards.The Wall of Silence Around Michael Shermer
Emery gave the money from the fundraiser to Shermer’s lawyers, which, since they didn’t sue Myers, leaves the fate of those funds in question. What did they pay for, and/or how much was returned to Shermer or Emery? Was any returned to the donors?
==Shermer as a scientist==
Shermer has been accused of overlooking important evidence in his attempt to analyze a large find of 'homo naledi' bones in a cave. He suggested murder or sacrifice. John Hawkes suspects Shermer failed to read the published work carefully, as there is no evidence of violence in the bones. Hawkes suspects Shermer's copious study of the dark side of human nature led him to overlook other possible explanations for the bones being in that caveMichael Shermer: Murdering the facts about Homo naledi? and PZ Myers wonders why the Scientific American keeps him as a columnist.Read the paper, Shermer
==Hereditarian==
 Shermer is a named member of the "Intellectual Dark Web", a group of political allies of former New York Times columnist who tend to be reactionary and hereditarian. Shermer is extremely proud of this association, retweeting a photo of himself taken for the New York Times article "Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web"Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web Bari Weiss (May 8, 2018) The New York Times in which he is standing in the bushes, in the dark. (Intellectual Dark Web — get it?) Shermer tweeted: "The Intellectual Dark Web is a movement whose time has come & I am proud to be part of it. Thanks to the elegant writing of @bariweiss & powerful photography of Damon Winter for bringing this to a larger audience. The conversation has begun. (link to the NYTimes article)The Intellectual Dark Web is a movement whose time has come... Michael Shermer (May 8, 2018) Twitter/X
Shermer has often published articles in the hereditarian Quillette,Quillette - Michael Shermer and is so devoted to hereditarianism that he claimed J. Phillip Rushton was correct about race and Black people. When two articles were published about E. O. Wilson's support and encouragement of Rushton's claims, Shermer defended Rushton on Twitter, stating: "Of course you think Rushton was a racist. I thought so too until I looked at the evidence."On the day of Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic confirmation, @michaelshermer has announced that he's going to vindicate a researcher who argued that Black people are less intelligent and more prone to violence than White people. Let that sink in for a moment. by David Sepkoski (April 7, 2022) Twitter (archived from April 7, 2022)
Shermer had been promoting Rushton as a scientist since at least 2001, in an interview with Steven Pinker called The Pinker Instinct in Skeptic: 
Shermer is an opponent of The 1619 Project and was accused by the Project's creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones, of misrepresenting it. He hosted right-wing think tank resident Mary Grabar on an episode of The Michael Shermer Show called "Debunking the 1619 Project with Mary Grabar."Debunking the 1619 Project with Mary Grabar (October 12 2021) YouTube Shermer's hostility to a project that provides in-depth discussions about Black American history, including less well-known aspects such as the systemic theft of Black wealth and property,A vast wealth gap, driven by segregation, redlining, evictions and exclusion, separates black and white America Trymaine Lee (August 14, 2019) The New York Times appears to be an example of the hereditarian tactic to "remove all the history" in order to promote the American hereditarian assumption.
Shermer has championed the use of the term "equalitarian" to mean anti-racist,"Equalitarians" & "Equitarians" are good as I think they capture the belief in equal outcomes vs. equal opportunity. Michael Shermer (November 14, 2021) Twitter/X likely with the full knowledge that this was a favorite term used by segregationists for anti-segregationists.
Shermer appeared on Stefan Molyneux's show and referred to Molyneux as "one of the most articulate podcasters."As long as Shermer is a respected skeptic, movement skepticism will be an embarrassment P. Z. Myers (May 31, 2019) Pharyngula
===Pinker's pal===
Michael Shermer and Steven Pinker are political allies and friends. Salon published an article by Emile P. Torres entitled "Steven Pinker's fake enlightenment: His book is full of misleading claims and false assertions"Steven Pinker's fake enlightenment: His book is full of misleading claims and false assertions Émile P. Torres (January 26, 2019) Slate and Pinker's response was posted by Jerry Coyne on his blog "Why Evolution is True."A response from Steve Pinker to Salon’s hit piece on “Enlightenment Now” Jerry Coyne (January 29, 2019) Why Evolution is True Shermer linked to that response with a tweet: "Where @RichardDawkins had his fleas (The Dawkins Delusion etc.), @sapinker has his cockroaches (the oleaginous Phil Torres desperate for attention), artfully squashed here. xxx Where @RichardDawkins had his fleas Michael Shermer (January 29, 2019) Twitter/X
Pinker and Shermer also socialize. Pinker posted a photo of himself and Shermer in bike-riding gear on his Instagram with the text "MAMILs (middle-aged men in Lycra) - me and Michael Shermer in Santa Barbara."MAMILs (middle-aged men in Lycra) - me and Michael Shermer in Santa Barbara Steven Pinker (October 8, 2021) Instagram
==Spooky radio== 
Shermer wrote how in 2014, he tried unsuccessfully to restore a transistor radio that had belonged to the deceased grandfather of his new wife and among other things, installed fresh batteries. He stashed it in their bedroom, located at the back of their home. Three months later, the radio "inexplicably" started playing just when his wife needed grandfatherly reassurance. This mysterious event 'shook [Shermer's] skepticism'; he appeared to hint that he was "keeping an open mind" about the possibility of supernatural influence.I just witnessed an event so mysterious that it shook my skepticism Later, Shermer seemed to backpedal by rejecting the supernatural and reaffirming his skepticism.Do Anomalies Prove the Existence of God?
Did Michael Shermer weigh up the evidence carefully and follow the scientific method over the radio? Below are some points that he could do well to consider.
===Explanations===
To vintage electronics geeks, old transistor radios with "intermittent" circuits are no mystery at all. Varying humidity, temperature, and mechanical movement on old copper contacts found in switches and battery compartments, as well as the effect of aging capacitors and resistors on circuits, are well-known causes of maddeningly intermittent functionality. Tiny temperature-induced contractions or expansions of small metal or plastic parts over time can cause otherwise dead circuits to come to life suddenly.UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Lots of reasons radios play or don't play by themselves. Notice how it's never caused by a ghost?Is Michael Shermer becoming a believer?? Yet, to the uninitiated, this well-understood but arcane electronic quirk resembles magic.
#But what about the spooky timing of this one? Again, there is a boringly conventional explanation. According to Shermer's account, he and his wife would not have discovered the radio playing had they not retreated to the bedroom located at the back of the house where the radio was stored. Equipped with fresh batteries and left "on"Do Anomalies Prove the Existence of God? with the volume slightly turned up, Shermer's radio had very likely already been playing by itself, probably during rising daytime temperatures, but not when anyone was nearby to hear it. That the Shermers happened to first discover the radio playing at a particularly emotional moment was a remarkable coincidence, but well within the realm of pure chance.For how people come to imagine there is agency behind something like an old radio turning itself on, see The pattern behind self-deception. That has a very good explanation which Shermer could do well to note. 
#But what about the spooky way the radio happened to be tuned to a station playing a "love song"? Since the subject of love and relationships literally dominates popular music, it isn't at all unusual for a radio station to be playing a song about love.Love still dominates pop song lyrics, but with raunchier language
#It is possible to speculate that the radio could have been altered, for example modern components could have been put into the casing of the 1970's radio so a remote signal could start it. However, the coordination of a small-scale conspiracy involving costly parts and services by an electronics technician seems unlikely (except to those who feel Shermer would spare no effort to accomplish evil to prevent his new wife feeling bad about him).
Jerry Coyne regrets that Shermer made no attempt to get more evidence, for example by looking into the radio. Coyne further reprints a post which includes, "It would be mildly interesting to have an electronics expert determine exactly what is wrong with the radio."Shermer has a woo experience, admits there may be something to it Since Shermer and his wife did not provide the radio for investigation, we will quite likely never know if there was more to it than a 1970's vintage radio. 
Readers are left to apply Occam's razor (remember, make the minimum necessary assumptions!). Which is more likely?
#That the story we have been told is not complete, i.e. Shermer deliberately held something back, or it is not fully accurate i.e. Shermer lied about some detail. Possibly he felt guilty about accusations of sexual misconduct or feared their effect on his new wife. So he secretly engineered a technologically complex illusion that would emotionally bond his new wife to him.
#That the radio was not entirely the way it seemed, i.e. it was covertly modified to be more technologically advanced by multiple conspirators at CFI who took part in a coordinated illusion in order to ensure Shermer would stick with his new wife and avoid sexual misconduct that might cause them further embarrassment.
#That the 1st Law of Thermodynamics is wrong and spooky things really happen like the dead communicating with the living through some unknown but very powerful force.
#That it all was just a remarkable coincidence.
Readers are invited to answer this for themselves.
==Books==
*The Believing Brain – This has similar but not identical material to RationalWiki articles: "List of cognitive biases", "Argument from authority", "Confirmation bias", "Groupthink" etc. Shermer values the scientific method and peer review for limiting bias and recognises that scientists are not immune.The Believing Brain: Why Science Is the Only Way Out of Belief-Dependent Realism ISBN 9781250008800
*The Mind of the Market – on evolutionary economics, whatever that is
*Why Darwin Matters: Evolution and the Case Against Intelligent Design – about evolution, evidence for evolution and ways of testing the theory
*Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown – how thinking works and goes wrong
*The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Share Care, and Follow the Golden Rule – How morality evolved and being moral without religious belief
*In Darwin’s Shadow – on Alfred Russel Wallace who also discovered natural selection. 
*The Borderlands of Science – what is not clearly science or pseudoscience
*Denying History – Holocaust denial and more pseudohistory 
*How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God – This is Shermer’s theory about the origin and reasons for religious belief.
*Why People Believe Weird Things – on pseudoscience, superstitions, and other contemporary confusion 
*The Soul of Science – co-edited (with Pat Linse and ) about belief on science the soul and afterlife 
*The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience – analyzing supposedly scientific controversies 
==Quotes==
*"On the deepest level, our brains are wired up to believe just about everything we encounter..."Taking life with a grain of salt
*"Science is the best tool we ever devised. It's the only hope we have," he said. But "it's counterintuitive. People are not naturally inclined to think skeptically and scientifically."*"
*"Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons."Why People Believe Weird Things
==See also==
*James Randi
==External links==
*Michael Shermer at Skepticblog: The collaborative blog of the cast of the (yet non-existent) show The Skeptologists.
*The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Authors
Category:Intellectual Dark Web
Category:Libertarians
Category:Living people
Category:Racialism pseudoscientists
Category:Transphobes