According to the Lotharingian computists, on this date the world was going to end. They believed they had found evidence in the Bible that a conjunction of certain feast days prefigured the end times. Supposedly, it was on this day that Adam was created, Isaac was sacrificed, the Red Sea was parted, Jesus was conceived, and Jesus was crucified. Therefore, it naturally followed that the End must occur on this day!
The Lotharingian computists were just one of a wide scattering of millennial cults springing up in advance of that first Millennium. The abbot of Saint-Benoit of Fleury-sur-Loire sent a letter to his king complaining about the Lotharingians:
For a rumour had filled almost the entire world that when the Annunciation fell on Good Friday, without any question, it would be the End of the World.
The millennial panic endured for at least 30 years after the fateful date had come and gone, with some adjustment made to allow 1,000 years after the crucifixion, rather than the nativity.
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.
– Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English lawyer and philosopher
On this day, the American psychologist, author, inventor, social philosopher, and poet B(urrhus) F(rederic) Skinner was born. He developed the theory of operant conditioning — the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again. His principles are still incorporated within treatments of phobias, addictive behaviors, and in the enhancement of classroom performance (as well as in computer-based self-instruction).
B.F. Skinner and quote.
Skinner believed that the only scientific approach to psychology was one that studied behaviors, not internal (subjective) mental processes. He denied the existence of a mind as a thing separate from the body, but he did not deny the existence of thoughts, which he regarded simply as private behaviors to be analyzed according to the same principle as publicly observed behaviors. To further improve the objective scientific value of observed behaviors, he invented the “Skinner box”, or operant conditioning chamber. It was a small, soundproof enclosure in which an animal could be isolated from all distractions and outside influences, responding only to the controlled conditions within the box, and is still used today.
Skinner’s analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior (1957). He was a prolific author who published 21 books and 180 articles. In a June, 2002 survey, B.F. Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century (Review of General Psychology, June, 2002, pp. 139-152). He was named “Humanist of the Year” in 1972 by the American Humanist Association.
One of Skinner’s most interesting and famous experiments, a classic in psychology, examined the formation of “superstition” in one of his favorite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon “at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird’s behavior.” He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered (accidental reinforcement), and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions:
One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a ‘tossing’ response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return.
Skinner suggested that the pigeons behaved as if they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their “rituals” and that this experiment shed light on human behavior:
The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behavior. Rituals for changing one’s fortune at cards are good examples. A few accidental connections between a ritual and favorable consequences suffice to set up and maintain the behavior in spite of many unreinforced instances. The bowler who has released a ball down the alley but continues to behave as if she were controlling it by twisting and turning her arm and shoulder is another case in point. These behaviors have, of course, no real effect upon one’s luck or upon a ball half way down an alley, just as in the present case the food would appear as often if the pigeon did nothing — or, more strictly speaking, did something else.
It is easy to see other human parallels of this type of behavior. A person playing a slot machine may alter the way he puts money in the machine and the way he pulls the handle if he thinks that doing these things a certain way will bring him luck. Independent of these behaviors the machine will occasionally pay off (reinforcement). Such a situation allows the person to develop a superstitious behavior, such as not looking at the machine while he pulls the handle. Observation of a gambling casino will reveal a large number of people displaying their superstitious behaviors at the slot machines. Each person’s superstition may be unique to him, as each of Skinner’s pigeons had a unique superstition.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
Human superstitions are quite abundant. A college student in an elevator may keep pushing the button of his floor as if this would cause the elevator to move faster. A card player may pick up his cards one at a time as if to improve the hand he was dealt. A businessman may wear a “special” tie when going to an important meeting.
Many ancient beliefs involve superstition. For example, the rain dance: once when someone was doing the so-called rain dance, it started to rain. This person thought that perhaps their dance affected nature. After this rain dance was reinforced intermittently on a frequent enough schedule it became established as a superstitious behavior.
However, the pigeons’ behaviors were later reinterpreted as behaviors that improve foraging efficacy (analogous to salivation in Pavlov’s dogs), which suggests that the pigeons’ behavior does not correspond to Skinner’s intended meaning of superstition. Nevertheless, Skinner’s early account is notable in two respects. First, it recognized the possibility of superstition occurring outside the human realm. Second, and linked to this, Skinner emphasized the behavioral aspect of superstition: “The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking.” That is, he focused on there being an incorrect response to a stimulus (behavioral outcome), rather than the conscious abstract representation of cause and effect (psychological relationship), with which human superstitions are often associated.
There other differences between human superstitions based on psychological relationship and animal superstitions based on behavioral outcome:
First, humans, as opposed to animals, often spend considerable time justifying why they are not reinforced each time they do their superstitious behavior. (“I have some questions about that so- called virgin we sacrificed to the volcano god.” “I lost the golf match today because my lucky hat doesn’t seem to work two days in a row.”)
Second, humans spend more time than animals trying to convince others to adopt their superstitious behaviors. Children often carry on many of the superstitions of their parents.
Finally, as Herrnstein (1966) points out, “Human superstition, unlike that of animals, arises in a social context.” The acquired superstitions in humans are not as arbitrary as those of animals. Rather they are molded by the person’s culture. Thus, although it is possible to develop a superstition about Wednesday the 11th, it is more probable in our culture to be superstitious about Friday the 13th.
It has only been with the advent of the scientific method that people have been able to distinguish between that which is superstitious and that which has a scientific basis.
R.J. Herrnstein. “Superstition: A corollary of the principles of operant conditioning,” in W. K. Honig (ed.), Operant Behavior: Areas of Research and Application. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966) pp. 33-51.
On this date, two years after British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen had discovered the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun near Luxor, Egypt, they uncovered the greatest treasure of the tomb — a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. Inside the final coffin, made out of solid gold, was the mummy of the boy-king Tutankhamun, preserved for more than 3,000 years.
Previously, on 26 November 1922, Carter and fellow archaeologist Lord Carnarvon had entered the tomb, finding it miraculously intact. Lord Carnarvon, the English Earl who funded the Tutankhamun expedition, died less than six months after the opening of the tomb. And so began the legend of the Curse of King Tut.
As news of Lord Carnarvon’s death was reported around the world, stories of the curse began to surface almost immediately. It was reported that the tomb had contained an ancient Egyptian curse: “They who enter this sacred tomb shall swift be visited by the wings of death.” Despite the fact that no such hieroglyphic text existed, the public seemed fascinated by such misinformation — they preferred the dramatic story of the curse reported in the newspapers, rather than listening to experts and scholars.
At this point in time it was not easy for the media to receive direct information regarding what the excavators were doing in the tomb, as access was restricted to only a select few. Journalists therefore had limited resources for information and perhaps for this reason several stories were invented.
In the beginning only the one death was attributed to the curse, but soon the fatality of anyone even remotely connected with the tomb was ascribed to the same cause. In fact, only six individuals directly associated with opening of the tomb had died after 10 years. Perhaps most important is that the discoverer of the tomb, Howard Carter lived more than 17 years after discovering the tomb and then died at the age of 64.
While it is true that the ancient Egyptians did in fact engage in the use of various types of curses and threats — some even were directed specifically against trespassers who attempted to violate the tomb — the tomb of Tutankhamun did not possess such protection. Despite all this, the legend of the Curse of King Tut lives on.
On this date, Pope Innocent VIII’s notorious “Witches Bull” (Bull Summis desiderantes) was issued, officially commencing the witchhunts. Historians estimate that, as a result, from 600,000 to more than 9 million victims were put to death over the 250 years of the witchhunts.
The principles the Pope outlined in this bull were later embodied in the Malleus Maleficarum (“The Hammer of Witches”). Two Dominican inquisitors, Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer, compiled it and submitted the book to the University of Cologne’s Faculty of Theology for their approbation on 9 May 1487. This is usually taken as the date of publication, although earlier editions may have been produced in 1485 or 1486. The book itself was not specifically ordered by the Catholic Church but was written to lend credence to and enforce the bull. To help its credulity the writers then attached the letter of approbation from the University of Cologne, signed by four of its professors.
The Malleus was published in a number of editions, thirteen times from 1487 to 1520 and revived another sixteen times from 1574 to 1669. The book was popular throughout Europe with at least sixteen German editions, eleven French editions, two Italian editions, and several English editions; the English editions however, did not appear until much later, e.g.: 1584, 1595, 1604, 1615, 1620 and 1669. For its time, the Malleus was the lead authority available to the masses on the subject of witchcraft, and soon became accepted by both Catholics and Protestants.
The book itself is divided into three sections, the first proving that witchcraft or sorcery existed, the second describing the forms of witchcraft, and the third describing the detection, trial and destruction of witches. The first two sections are thought to have been the work of Sprenger, who as a distinguished theologian put together the theological and intellectual components of the book. Section three and the practical components of the book are most likely the work of Kramer, who had conducted a campaign in the Tirol during the early 1480s and had gain much experience as a trial judge. There is little original material in the book, being mainly a codification of existing beliefs and practices, with substantial parts taken from earlier works such as Johannes Nider’s Praeceptorium and Formicarius (1435).
Interestingly, Pope Innocent VIII died on 25 July 1492, leaving behind him numerous children (Octo Nocens pueros genuit, totidemque puellas; Hunc merito poterit dicere Roma patrem – “Eight wicked boys born, and just as many girls, so this man could be entitled to be called Father of Rome”), towards whom his nepotism had been as lavish as it was shameless.
On this date, a lunar eclipse caused panic among the sailors of the Athens fleet in Sicily and eventually affected the outcome of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.E.). Just as the Athenian forces were ready to sail home from Syracuse, the Moon was eclipsed. The soldiers and sailors were frightened by this celestial omen and were reluctant to leave. Their commander, Nicias, described by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides as a particularly superstitious man, asked the priests what he should do. They suggested the Athenians wait for another twenty-seven days, and Nicias agreed. The Syracusans took advantage of this, and seventy-six of their ships attacked eighty-six Athenian ships in the harbor, beginning what has become known as the Second Battle of Syracuse. The Syracusans ultimately defeated the entire Athenian fleet and army in September and executed Nicias.
Why do I mention this footnote to the history of ancient Athens? It illustrates that the failure (or refusal) to recognize the natural causes of natural events, such as a lunar eclipse, may seem harmless but can have disastrous consequences.
On this date, the Battle of Halys, also known as the Battle of the Eclipse, took place at the Halys River (present-day “Kızılırmak” river in Turkey) between the Medes and the Lydians. The final battle of a fifteen-year war between Alyattes II of Lydia and Cyaxares of the Medes, the battle ended abruptly due to a total solar eclipse. The eclipse was perceived as an omen, indicating that the gods wanted the fighting to stop. Since the exact dates of eclipses can be calculated, the Battle of the Halys is the earliest historical event of which the date is known with such precision. (This date is based on the proleptic Julian calendar.)
According to Herodotus (Histories, 1.74):
In the sixth year a battle took place in which it happened, when the fight had begun, that suddenly the day became night. And this change of the day Thales the Milesian had foretold to the Ionians laying down as a limit this very year in which the change took place. The Lydians however and the Medes, when they saw that it had become night instead of day, ceased from their fighting and were much more eager both of them that peace should be made between them.
References:
Herodotus, translated by Robin Waterfield, (1998). The Histories. New York: Oxford University Press.
On this date, thousands of people took to their roofs, huddling for comfort and praying for salvation. Many believed the end of the world was near. The source of their anxiety was the return of Halley’s Comet from its 75-year odyssey through space.
Comet Halley
Many scientists were excited by the opportunity to increase the knowledge of astronomy. By late 1909, several of the world’s major observatories had geared up for Halley’s appearance. The public, too, eagerly awaited the moment when the comet became visible to the naked eye. Scientists had calculated it would appear between May 18 and 19, predicting that Halley’s tail would possibly sweep across Earth.
The tabloids jumped in, and discussed the catastrophic effects of the gaseous comet on the Earth’s atmosphere, causing many to panic. Despite a number of previous documented appearances having caused no deaths, the 1910 return of Halley’s Comet was widely perceived as a threat to mankind, allegedly due to noxious vapors emanating from its tail. This may be the first apocalyptic panic founded on a scientific, rather than religious misapprehension. In actual fact, the tail of Halley’s Comet never came any closer than 400,000 km to the Earth’s surface, and would not have been harmful at any distance.
Louis the Pious, contemporary depiction from 826 as a miles Christi (soldier of Christ), with a poem of Rabanus Maurus overlaid.
On this date, a solar eclipse occurred that literally scared Louis the Pious, Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Franks, to death.
The third son of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious inherited a vast empire when his father died in 814. His reign was marked by dynastic crises and fierce rivalry between his sons. A deeply religious man who earned his nickname by performing penance for his sins, Louis reportedly became terrified of an impending punishment from God after witnessing a solar eclipse that lasted six minutes. According to legend, this caused him to waste away and eventually die on 20 June 840. His death plunged his fractured kingdom into a civil war that ended with the historic Treaty of Verdun, dividing Western Europe into the three major areas we now know as France, Germany, and Italy.
This blog includes posts on wide-ranging topics of interest to me and/or my students, especially human rights, biology, education, and their history. The content, views, and opinions in this blog are mine and in no way reflect those of my employer(s).
You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any work published on this blog under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.
Diogenes of Sinope Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς (c. 412- c. 323 BCE), Greek philosopher
My Favorite Quotations
[Diogenes of Sinope] lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a [virtuous] man." -- Teaching of Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412 – c. 323 BCE), Greek philosopher, from Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius
Christianity... is the most avowedly materialist of all the great religions… Its own most central saying is: "The Word was made flesh," where the last term was, no doubt, chosen because of its specially materialistic associations. By the very nature of its central doctrine Christianity is committed to a belief in the ultimate significance of the historical process, and in the reality of matter and its place in the divine process. -- William Temple (1881-1944), Archbishop of Canterbury, from Nature, Man and God (1934), p. 317
The beginnings of cosmic religious feeling already appear [at an early stage] of development, e.g., in many of the Psalms of David and in some of the Prophets. Buddhism, as we have learnt especially from the wonderful writings of Schopenhauer, contains a much stronger element of this. The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there can be no Church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with this highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as Atheists, sometimes also as saints. Looked at in this light, men like Democritus, Francis of Assisi, and Spinoza are closely akin to one another.
-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), from The World as I See It (1934), p. 21.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. -- Siddhārtha Gautama [The Buddha] (c. 563–483 BCE), from the Kalama Sutta
There is only one good, that is, knowledge, and only one evil, that is, ignorance. -- Socrates (469–399 BCE), from Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them. -- Frederick Douglass (1818 - 1895), in a speech delivered at Canandaigua, New York on 4 August 1857, quoted in Two Speeches by Frederick Douglass (1857), p. 22
Remember, success is a journey, not a destination. Have faith in your ability. You will do just fine. -- Bruce Lee (1940-1973), from Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living (2002) by Bruce Lee and John Little, p. 126.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. -- George Santayana (1863-1952), from The Life of Reason, Vol I (1905-1906), Charles Scribner & Sons, p. 284
There is nothing which can better deserve [our] patronage, than the promotion of Science and Literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of publick happiness. -- George Washington, in his address to Congress on 8 January 1790
Establish & improve the law for educating the common people...The tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests & nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance. -- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to George Wythe dated 13 August 1786
Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant. -- John Adams, from Thoughts on Government, April, 1776
It is ironic that the United States should have been founded by intellectuals; for throughout most of our political history, the intellectual has been for the most part either an outsider, a servant, or a scapegoat. -- Richard Hofstadter, from Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, pp. 145-146
Shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. -- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to his nephew, Peter Carr, dated 10 August 1787
If ever there can be a cause worthy to be upheld by all toil or sacrifice that the human heart can endure, it is the cause of Education. -- Horace Mann (1796 - 1859), from Thoughts Selected from the Writings of Horace Mann (1872), p. 7.
The all-important fact in the situation is this; any time the college professors of America get ready to take control of their own destinies, and of the intellectual life of their institutions, they can do it. There is not a college or university in the United States today which could resist the demands of its faculty a hundred percent organized and meaning business. -- Upton Sinclair (1878 - 1968), from The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education (1923), p. 458
I hope we shall... crush in it’s birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country. -- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to George Logan dated 12 November 1816
Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), from Pascal's Pensees (1669)
It is, no doubt, a very laudable effort, in modern teaching, to render as much as possible of what the young are required to learn, easy and interesting to them. But when this principle is pushed to the length of not requiring them to learn anything but what has been made easy and interesting, one of the chief objects of education is sacrificed. I rejoice in the decline of the old brutal and tyrannical system of teaching, which however did succeed in enforcing habits of application; but the new, as it seems to me, is training up a race of men who will be incapable of anything which is disagreeable to them....A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he can. -- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), from the Autobiography of John Stuart Mill (1924), p. 37
How comes it that a cripple does not offend us, but that a fool does? Because a cripple recognizes that we walk straight, whereas a fool declares that it is we who are silly; if it were not so, we should feel pity and not anger. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), from Pascal's Pensees (1669)
The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. -- Carl Sagan, from the Cosmos television series
The young specialist in English Lit ... lectured me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern "knowledge" is that it is wrong. ... My answer to him was, "... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." -- Isaac Asimov, The Relativity of Wrong, Kensington Books, New York, 1996, p 226.
Another curious aspect of the theory of evolution is that everybody thinks he understands it. I mean philosophers, social scientists, and so on. While in fact very few people understand it, actually as it stands, even as it stood when Darwin expressed it, and even less as we now may be able to understand it in biology. -- Jacques Monod (1910-1979), from "On the molecular theory of evolution". In Problems of Scientific Revolution (ed. R. Harre). Oxford: Clarendon Press (1975) p. 12.
Can we reconcile the idea that copying errors are an essential prerequisite for evolution to occur, with the statement that natural selection favours high copying-fidelity? -- Richard Dawkins, from The Selfish Gene (2006) Oxford Univ. Press, p. 17
Let me try to make crystal clear what is established beyond reasonable doubt, and what needs further study, about evolution. Evolution as a process that has always gone on in the history of the earth can be doubted only by those who are ignorant of the evidence or are resistant to evidence, owing to emotional blocks or to plain bigotry. By contrast, the mechanisms that bring evolution about certainly need study and clarification. There are no alternatives to evolution as history that can withstand critical examination. Yet we are constantly learning new and important facts about evolutionary mechanisms. -- Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975), from "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution", The American Biology Teacher Vol.35, No. 3 (March 1973), pp. 125-129
... there are many reasons why you might not understand [an explanation of a scientific theory] ... Finally, there is this possibility: after I tell you something, you just can't believe it. You can't accept it. You don't like it. A little screen comes down and you don't listen anymore. I'm going to describe to you how Nature is - and if you don't like it, that's going to get in the way of your understanding it. It's a problem that [scientists] have learned to deal with: They've learned to realize that whether they like a theory or they don't like a theory is not the essential question. Rather, it is whether or not the theory gives predictions that agree with experiment. It is not a question of whether a theory is philosophically delightful, or easy to understand, or perfectly reasonable from the point of view of common sense. [A scientific theory] describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is - absurd. --Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988), from QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Feynman 1985), pp. 9-10
Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior, the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex. -- Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell R. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Philadelphia, Pa: W.B. Saunders: 1948: 610-666.
Brainmuseum.org A website devoted to the comparative anatomy of mammalian brains, including humans.
Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary The narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836.
Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, The Only this site contains Darwin's complete publications, 20,000 private papers, the largest Darwin bibliography, manuscript catalog and hundreds of supplementary works: specimens, biographies, obituaries, reviews, reference works, and much more.
Darwin Correspondence Project, The On this site you can read the full texts of more than 5000 of Darwin's letters, and find information on 10,000 more.
Decline in American Education This website critiques the use of Student Evaluation of Teachers (SET) data in colleges and universities.
Educational Games Play educational games about discoveries in medicine or physiology, courtesy of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Oslo, Norway.
eSkeletons Project, The A website devoted to the comparative anatomy of human and primate skeletons.
EvoS The evolutionary studies program at Binghamton University (SUNY).
Foundation for Critical Thinking, The A website to promote essential change in education and society through the cultivation of fair-minded critical thinking - thinking predisposed toward intellectual empathy, humility, perseverance, integrity, and responsibility.
Gravity: A Theory in Crisis (?) A satirical look at how evangelists might refute gravity with a new "Intelligent Falling" Theory.
Human Evolution: Interpreting Evidence Explores how scientists understand our evolutionary history by considering the facts and interpretations of the human fossil record.
Huxley File, The The letters and publications by, and historic commentary on, Thomas Henry Huxley, also known as "Darwin's bulldog".
Skeptic's Dictionary, The: Evaluating Personal Experience From the website devoted to debunking claims of the supernatural, paranormal, and pseudoscientific comes an article pointing out the difference between data provided by anecdote and data from randomized, double-blind, controlled experiments.
Skeptoid Answers the question, "What is a Skeptic?"
Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies, A A collection of named fallacies, such as "ad hominem", and of fallacious arguments, that is, examples of reasoning that may commit one or more of the named fallacies, or are bad in some way yet to be classified.
Tree of Life Web Project Biologists from around the world provide information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their evolutionary history, and characteristics.
Virtual Fossil Museum, The An educational resource dedicated to fossils; high-quality pictures of fossils are presented that are organized by fossil sites and systematics.
“I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field.”
-- Albert Einstein, charter member AFT Local 552 Princeton University, comments in 1938 on why he joined the union. In addition, he had also joined the American Association of University Professors in 1935.
My Publications
Understanding Human Anatomy through Evolution, 2nd ed. (pbk) by Bruce D. Olsen
Understanding Biology through Evolution, 4th ed. (pbk) by Bruce D. Olsen
Understanding Biology through Evolution, 4th ed. (e-Book) by Bruce D. Olsen
