The Fresh Perspective

We are, each of us, bombarded every day by the nonsensical claims of advertisers, alternative-medicine gurus, the news media, conspiracy theorists, cult leaders, politicians, and so on. What can we do to sense nonsense before it gets past our defenses? Can we improve our individual powers of nonsense detection? In this episode, we will go over a few things you can do to tune, sharpen, and develop your personal nonsense detection kit, a set of critical thinking skills that allow you to better recognize fraud, woo-woo, BS, baloney, and pseudoscience for what they all really are.

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

This episode is the third part of the series I like to call: “50 Habits For Maximizing Personal Health and Wellbeing.” In this series, we get to the bottom of what the experts actually recommend for the average person to be well, free from the noise of trendy health gurus, alternative medicine peddlers, and your eccentric uncle. Today, we are shifting focus from the body to the mind. Stay tuned as we consider 5 habits for a healthy mind – simple choices you can make to improve your cognition, brain function, memory, and overall mental health.

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

When this episode was first recorded, we were just a couple of days away from the September Autumnal Equinox at my latitude. For members of a Free Thought Forum and others, this means that the time has come for the Wisdom Festival! Today, I’d like to take this special occasion to talk about this new tradition as well as the virtue of wisdom itself, one of the four cardinal virtues of classical philosophy, and, according to Plato, the most important characteristic of a philosopher-king.

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

Today, we turn our attention to the fifth-largest organized religion in the world: Sikhism. What can Non-Sikhs learn from this young religion from India and Pakistan? Are there practical teachings of the Gurus that can be applied to the lives of atheists and theists alike? Join me in this episode, as we take a look!

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

Welcome to Part 3 of our series on logical fallacies and how to avoid them! We have looked at many of these common fallacies thus far, but there are still plenty more besides. If you have missed either of our last two episodes, I’m sure you would enjoy giving them a listen as well.

Who doesn’t love a good card trick? No matter how closely we try to pay attention, all it takes is a clever sleight-of-hand or subtle misdirection on the magician’s part to bypass our powers of perception. In no time it all, we may find ourselves convinced that what we saw was magic.

Logical fallacies are used in similar ways. They sure-up our ideas and make our arguments sound stronger than they really are. On the surface, we can amuse and dazzle our audience. Our logic may sound stable and well-thought-out, but upon further inspection, it is all just a trick. Behind the curtain, these flimsy fallacies can be seen crumbling under their own weight. Join me as we unveil four more common logical fallacies.

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

I had a great time creating Part 1 of this series and it looks like you really enjoyed it too! We’re back with Part 2 in our three-part discussion about logical fallacies and how to avoid them. I’m sure you’ve heard that a fool and his money are soon parted. This is an idea that scammers, con artists, modern-day snake oil salesmen, and cult leaders all understand well enough. Think of the billions of dollars collected from all of the good people who fall for just one of these subtle lies, cons, or tricks! Entire industries and economies are built atop the premise that it is easy to fool the average consumer, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, we are taking a look at four more tricks used by the dishonest, the mentally clumsy, and, yes, even us when we are not being careful.

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

Defined by the amazing website, Yourfallacyis.com: “A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by politicians and the media to fool people. Don't be fooled!” In this episode, the first in a three-part series, we will look at the first eight of 24 common fallacies that can hinder an intellectually honest and productive conversation among truth-seekers and free-thinkers. After each fallacy, a more preferable option is suggested that we can all use in our next forums, conversations, and debates!

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

You’ve reached part four of our guided audio tour of the night sky! Tonight, you will be given the steps needed to locate the constellation Boötes, (properly pronounced “Boh-OH-tease”) otherwise known as “the herdsman.” Do these stars depict an ancient rancher, an inventor, a hunter, a king, a winemaker, or the grandson of a werewolf? We will see if we can find out by exploring several of the myths tied to these stars. We will then wrap this episode up by dipping our toes into one of the deepest cosmological mysteries of all time known as the “Boötes Void!”

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

When you’ve been physically injured, quickly administered first-aid can make a dramatic difference in how quickly and fully your body may recover. As a society, we tend to take physical health seriously. As individuals, it is also easy to admit that we need help when we are afflicted with something like broken bones or severe cuts. But today, we will be talking about emotional health.

When you’ve suffered a devastating emotional injury, find yourself overwhelmed, lost, without a path forward, or when you feel completely closed off from the love and friendship of others, that should be taken seriously too. We all have had extremely bad days. We all have times in which we are overcome by feelings of depression, isolation, anxiety, and loneliness. If you find yourself in such a situation, don’t you also need first aid? In such a moment, wouldn’t it be nice to have within reach a list of ideas on how you can pull yourself out of a rut?

In this episode, we will look into several suggestions on what can be done. These suggestions have come from psychologists and from the participants of our past open discussions, like you. As you listen to this episode, I hope you have the chance to write down a few notes of things that you can do to give yourself some emotional first aid on your next bad day. Of course, if you get an idea of something other than what is mentioned here, be sure to add that to your personal list as well!

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)

The members of this organization enjoy discussing big ideas that cover hard science, important political issues, and healthy habits. But we are also building a community, one in which you can belong; one in which you can be proud of your membership. Few things strengthen a community more than shared meaningful symbolism. Today, I’d like to take a quick break from our regularly scheduled program to start a creative conversation with consideration to 10 rules of flag design shared by vexillology enthusiasts, experts in design, and historians.

These are the rules we will hope to follow as we design our own flag, an official banner for the Free Thought Initiative that can unite, inspire, and rally freethinkers and truth seekers to our cause. If you would like to volunteer a suggestion or two about how our flag should look, we would love to consider your ideas! In this episode, I would also like to give a shout-out to a group in Utah redesigning the Utah State Flag into one that better matches these guidelines.

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Created by: The Free Thought Initiative (2019)