Carl says you must always be able to check assertions out. Inveterate skeptics must be given the chance to follow someone else's reasoning, to duplicate their experiment and see if they get the same results. The reliance of carefully designed and controlled experiments is key. Control experiments are essential. Variables must be separated. Often the experiment must be done double-blind so that those hoping for a certain finding are not in the potentially compromising position of evaluating the results. The knowledge might influence their decision. This is implied in the Baloney Detection Kit:
- How reliable is the source of the claim?
- Does the source make similar claims?
- Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
- Does this fit with the way the world works?
- Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
- Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
- Is the claimant playing by the rules of science?
- Is the claimant providing positive evidence?
- Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
- Are personal beliefs driving the claim?
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