Let people discuss this before believing

Carl Sagan’s “The Demon-Haunted World” is a wonderful primer on the subject, and offers us a “baloney-detection kit” for identifying bad arguments:

• Seek independent confirmation of alleged facts.
• Encourage an open debate about the issue and the available evidence.
• "In science, there are no authorities. At most, there are experts."
• Come up with a variety of competing hypotheses explaining a given outcome. Considering many different explanations will lower the risk of confirmation bias.
• Don't get too attached to your own ideas, lest you get reluctant to reject them even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
• Quantify whenever possible, allowing for easier comparisons between hypotheses' relative explanatory powers.
• Every step in an argument must be logically sound, a single weak link can doom the entire chain.
• When the evidence is inconclusive, use Occam's Razor to discriminate between hypotheses.
• Pay attention to falsifiability. Science does not concern itself with unfalsifiable propositions

arranged by Innaiah Narisetti

with inspiration from Carl Sagan whom he met in 1994 in Washington DC