Science & Tech Quote by Michael Shermer

Shermer’s line skewers a very modern reflex: we don’t stop believing, we just demand our beliefs show their work. The jab lands because it flips the flattering story we tell about ourselves. An “age of science” is supposed to mean disenchantment, fewer superstitions, cleaner thinking. Instead, Shermer suggests, science has become a prestige instrument we borrow to launder old hungers for meaning into respectable-looking conclusions.

The key word is “corroborating.” He’s not accusing people of inventing myths out of thin air; he’s diagnosing a subtler move: starting with the myth and shopping for confirmation. The myth might be a national origin story, a self-help narrative about grit, a conspiracy theory, even a pet ideology dressed up as “data-driven.” In Shermer’s subtext, the scientific method isn’t the villain. The villain is our appetite for certainty plus a culture that treats “studies show” as a moral stamp. Science becomes less a process of disciplined doubt than a costume worn by conviction.

Context matters: Shermer’s career has been built around skepticism, debunking, and explaining why smart people believe weird things. He’s writing in a media ecosystem where credibility is a weapon and where technical language can be used to end arguments rather than test them. The quote is also a warning to science’s fans: the more cultural authority science gains, the more it will be conscripted into myth-making. The irony is sharp: even our rationality can be an act of devotion, just with citations.