Method
Occam’s Razor
What does a claim cost in additional assumptions? A practical tool against fake news and conspiracy theories.
Fundamental tools
I consider these texts especially important because they provide methods that can be applied to a wide range of claims and debates.
Science
Cargo Cult Science
Why scientific forms and rituals do not by themselves guarantee scientific integrity.
Perception
Müller-Lyer Illusion
A vivid example of how perception and interpretation can diverge.
Conspiracy theories, myths and pattern seeking
Kennedy–Lincoln Mystery
Selected coincidences, false claims and pattern recognition.
Fake Moon Landing?
How counter-evidence can be deflected by adding ever more auxiliary assumptions.
Blood in Chocolate
How an urban legend can grow from rumours, documents and repeated retelling.
No Nobel Prize in Mathematics?
A memorable story of jealousy and revenge — but where is the evidence?
Pi and the Great Pyramid
Numerology, selective measurements and retrospective pattern construction.
Pregnancy and the Pickle Myth
Why a plausible mechanism cannot rescue an unproven stereotype.
Pseudoscience, medicine and evidence
Homeopathy
Similarity, natural medicine, personal experience, placebo effects and scientific testing.
Alternative Medicine
What the label means — and why “alternative” can suggest an equivalence that has not been demonstrated.
Biorhythms
Why 23/28/33-day curves should not be confused with real biological rhythms.
Anti-Gravity and a Patent Case
A patent number is not experimental proof that a spectacular claim works.
Firewalking
An impressive experience explained through heat transfer rather than suspended physical laws.
Diluted Thinking
Water memory, authority effects and the rhetorical packaging of extraordinary claims.
Influence and interpretation
Subliminal Influence
What lies behind the idea that people can be controlled reliably and unnoticed by subliminal messages?