Essay --

I am certainly in no means becoming a scientist but I do like keeping up with what is happening in the world science wise as well as other things. I’ve seen how the media and politics have blurred the lines between what information is backed up by evidence and what is not. In Sagan’s essay I found that some of his tools to detecting ‘baloney’ are tools that I see myself use on a day to day basis without thinking or in school when I’m writing papers that are using logos, pathos, or ethos. I think everyone should try and practice Carl Sagan’s tools in baloney detection, as it would benefit you as a person to have substantial information with solid evidence. I agree that it is important to have independent confirmation of the ‘facts’ as Sagan said. I use this method most of the time at work; I work in health care and deal a lot with sending documentation to doctors. I have come across multiple times that a doctor’s office will say they never received a document and when I’m questioned about it, I always show the confirmation sheet that shows that the fax went through to the doctor’s office. If I only had my word that I sent it, I don’t have the evidence to back up my calm and it becomes a he said she said situation. Another good example having independent confirmation is say you’re having an argument with someone and they are just denouncing the evidence you found from performing a test, look into getting another set of results done from the same test by another person to show that not only have you come up with the same results but another person has also found the same evidence of your claims in their results. Another tool Sagan mentions that I believe is very good to practice is encouraging substantive debates. I don’t kn... ...ts that show that Greece is one of the most seismically active countries in the world. Be it having an argument in politics, science, or simple reasoning; these tools for detecting baloney are very useful and important. You don’t want to be that moron at a party just spewing ignorant nonsense just because it was what you read in a tabloid magazine that states that the world is going to end in the next few days by a massive asteroid hitting the Earth; you also don’t want to be the person caught believing what that moron is saying to be true without having good facts. I don’t always know when I use these tools but I know that how I think most of the time falls along the guidelines of these tools. I rather be properly informed of what I am learning or I rather be persuaded in a different view of something as long as it has substantial evidence to back up its claim. Essay -- I am certainly in no means becoming a scientist but I do like keeping up with what is happening in the world science wise as well as other things. I’ve seen how the media and politics have blurred the lines between what information is backed up by evidence and what is not. In Sagan’s essay I found that some of his tools to detecting ‘baloney’ are tools that I see myself use on a day to day basis without thinking or in school when I’m writing papers that are using logos, pathos, or ethos. I think everyone should try and practice Carl Sagan’s tools in baloney detection, as it would benefit you as a person to have substantial information with solid evidence. I agree that it is important to have independent confirmation of the ‘facts’ as Sagan said. I use this method most of the time at work; I work in health care and deal a lot with sending documentation to doctors. I have come across multiple times that a doctor’s office will say they never received a document and when I’m questioned about it, I always show the confirmation sheet that shows that the fax went through to the doctor’s office. If I only had my word that I sent it, I don’t have the evidence to back up my calm and it becomes a he said she said situation. Another good example having independent confirmation is say you’re having an argument with someone and they are just denouncing the evidence you found from performing a test, look into getting another set of results done from the same test by another person to show that not only have you come up with the same results but another person has also found the same evidence of your claims in their results. Another tool Sagan mentions that I believe is very good to practice is encouraging substantive debates. I don’t kn... ...ts that show that Greece is one of the most seismically active countries in the world. Be it having an argument in politics, science, or simple reasoning; these tools for detecting baloney are very useful and important. You don’t want to be that moron at a party just spewing ignorant nonsense just because it was what you read in a tabloid magazine that states that the world is going to end in the next few days by a massive asteroid hitting the Earth; you also don’t want to be the person caught believing what that moron is saying to be true without having good facts. I don’t always know when I use these tools but I know that how I think most of the time falls along the guidelines of these tools. I rather be properly informed of what I am learning or I rather be persuaded in a different view of something as long as it has substantial evidence to back up its claim.