About

Who are you?

My name is Gregory. I grew up in Georgia. I have eclectic interests and I am an ageing spooky kid. The music I tend to listen to is jazz and classical, but I also go through binge listening sessions of metal and goth rock. I am a vegan, but not the preachy kind (although I am happy to answer questions if you have them). My main hobby is reading and I spend most of my days with my daughter.

When I started to attend college, I was introduced to a lot of science and critical thinking that I missed out on in my adolescent education. By the age of 21, I became very interested in the skeptical movement. After completing an MA in history on the advent of Aristotle’s thought in Medieval Europe, I went back to school for a STEM degree. I eventually settled on mechanical engineering because the material that this track covered was a blast.

Why does this blog focus on science and skepticism?

This blog is about the history of science and skepticism because I love to talk about these topics.

I find the sciences to be fascinating and I have dedicated a sizable chunk of my life to studying their history and philosophy. The topics which I enjoy learning about the most are the history of the Scientific Revolution, magic and occultism's role in the development of science, Galileo's life and ideas, consilience, and naturalism. Aside from my historical and philosophical interests in science, I also love learning about classical mechanics. Hence, the mechanical engineering degree.

While I did not get into skepticism (science-based critical thinking) until I was an undergrad in college, I find it to be necessary. This is because it helps us navigate through the baloney that saturates nearly every aspect of our lives. A lot of this baloney simply wastes our time, but some can cause great harm to us and our loved ones. This means that you and I need to spend at least some of our time learning about the fine art of baloney detection. To help you, I have dedicated a large chunk of this blog to pontificating what I have learned over the years.    

What are you skeptical about?

I am skeptical about extraordinary claims that either have insufficient supporting evidence or go against our best understanding of the world. Therefore, I do not believe in homeopathy, perpetual motion machines, haunted houses, flat Earth conspiracies, auras, Feng Shui, creation "science," faith healing, and the Loch Ness monster. It should be said, however, that if the evidence changes, then I am entirely willing to revise my beliefs.

My dedication to evidence makes me different than denialists. These people, some of whom do not accept evolution, the holocaust, or the of safety vaccinations, will never accept the claims that they are skeptical of no matter what evidence you show them. As you may have guessed, denial typically stems from preexisting commitments to a worldview that would be undermined or substantially challenged by the acceptance of one of these ideas. As a skeptic, I believe that our worldviews need to be revisable and susceptible to the evidence. Not the other way around.