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Post by Mr. Vitale on Jul 7, 2015 16:48:05 GMT
Write your responses to the essay "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection" by responding to this thread.
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Post by snwhitten on Jul 28, 2015 16:44:32 GMT
Initially, along with his intriguing title, Carl Sagan captured my attention in his essay as he spoke of his deceased parents, only to develop their story into many of the facts and fictions that are presented to us in our everyday lives. Much to my satisfaction, Sagan was never one to generalize a topic, providing at least two valid and comprehensible examples for each of his "Don'ts" of Baloney detection. Some examples of these "Don'ts" included Richard Nixon's arguments of baloney from an authoritative standpoint; not allowing him to be able to been seen as unbiased by the masses, and also post hoc, ergo propter hoc-Latin for "It happened after and was caused by". This term was illustrated as "Before women got the right to vote, there were no nuclear weapons" allowing for a broad and inaccurate generalization that one event was unable to have occurred without the other. Both situations allowed for a creation of Baloney of which is noticeably the central topic of this essay, and both were contributing factors to my interest.
As an avid reader, I like to think that I have read my fair share of literary tales. With that being said Sagan's use of language and his general ability to develop such various ideas without a single abrupt pause, contribute to the fact that this essay is one of the most interesting pieces of literature I have ever read. I believe every word of this was relatable to our everyday world, as seen in his connection of cigarettes, religion, and life after death all possessing at least one part of baloney. This deception, may it be unintentional or part of a grand scheme, has partially deceived me. I’m sure just about anyone is knowledgeable in the deadly consequences of tobacco, but many may not know that leaders of Western democracies often consult with astrologers and spiritual advisors prior to making decisions. Sagan is one of few people who can face the world knowing that deception is everywhere, while common people need that small dose of fraud to maintain sanity.
To continue, Sagan has no doubt left me with curiosity. I am very inquisitive to know what baloney besides the obviously displayed, is upon our society. Like medication, many skeptics say that the general extra strength pain reliever of one brand is the same contents of that same brands migraine relief. Are the labels simply the only difference between the two bottles? How can anything be done by trusted leader if he’s being advised by an unknown source to better society? These are the questions I would like answers to, a note to the powers that be. Nevertheless, Carl Sagan’s literary skills will never cease to intrigue my thirst for the truth, and leave me with pursed lips and a small sense of befuddlement at what stones I have left unearthed in my sixteen years.
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Post by bcastellucci on Aug 20, 2015 21:30:17 GMT
The essay, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection" by Carl Sagan really interested me the most out of all of the essays because I felt that I could relate to it very much in the way that I often find myself thinking about life and death. To this day it puzzles me and is almost scary and uncomfortable to get into deep thought and think about what happens next. I feel that's the way the author presented his ideas on the mysteries of life. He talked about many subjects that run through my mind and I'm sure many other minds as well.
It starts off with the writer talking about how he would just like five to ten minutes a year to talk to dead loved ones and catch them up on the latest news of their lives. I really related to this because I as well as probably everyone wishes this chance could be true. I also relate to the authors thoughts and bewilderment on life after death. There is not any evidence of it but it is one of those things that is a constant wonder with no answer. What happens? Does your soul leave your body to be free or does it die with you. Everyone has their own thoughts and ideas but who is right? We want to believe the good stuff. The many theory's of the world that aren't solved, including life after death, life on another planet, aliens, etc, are the things that keep us wondering the most. We want something precise enough to prove one of these mystification's true or false. As in someone dead that we could bring back and talk to. It seems impossibilities are our only route to answers.
The author talks about the infinitely old universe where all of your loved ones will be reunited. This makes you think about how amazing that would be and hope that something like that will indeed be existent. There are so many things about life that are so hard to understand and it seems that none of it could make sense to the human mind. It is much too complex of a thought for us to fathom. This essay makes you go into deep thought and realize that everyone has this kind of skeptical thinking. You wonder how the world works when it's full of all of these mind boggling perplexities. Carl Sagan made compelling points about the assumptions and ideas people have on these things. He also makes points about the "baloney" of the world. What other types of baloney is out there if there is baloney in the use of medicine which is so important. I liked this essay so much in the way that it was so thought-provoking and really did make you think about life as a whole. It was unlike anything I have read before.
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Post by sziemba on Aug 30, 2015 1:13:30 GMT
The title of “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” initially tipped me off as a long boring essay about “morals, truth, and justice.” However, upon a closer examination I discovered Carl Sagan was telling a much different tale in his essay. “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” gives the reader the tools to analyze any fact or statement and decipher it to find out if it holds any logical truth. Instead of coming straight out and telling the audience on how to use his “Tools of baloney detection,” Carl uses a large array of sources and lists of bullets to describe his tools.
Carl Sagans multitude of sources in “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” and his long lists of bullets show how his “Tools of baloney detection” show the truth in almost any claim or statement. He starts out “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” by telling his audience about how he misses his parents and how he wishes he could have five to ten minutes to talk to them. However, he states that “That channelers never give us verifiable information otherwise unavailable” and “If some good evidence for life after death were announced I’d be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote.” These quotes show how although he wants the afterlife to exist, there is no real scientific proof it exists thus introducing the concept that the answer to a question may not be the one you want. He then goes on to use a variety of smaller sources such as brief paragraphs from Clement of Alexandria, to the Easter Bunny, to transition to the “Tools of Baloney Detection.” He uses bullets to describe his “Tools of Baloney Detection,” but instead of just providing the tools as a one sentence bullet, his bullets contain a vast description of each tool and an example of how the tool works. “Arguments from authority carry little weight- authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.” These descriptions help the reader clearly understand how each tool is used.
“The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” uses a list of bullets and a vast amount of sources to show the reader how to detect false when someone tries to convince them to join their side on a topic. In my opinion, Carl Sagan’s tale on “Baloney Detection” is an excellent essay, due to its fantastic writing style.
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