I am the outsider, a religious cult survivor (Transcendental Meditation), career misfit and devout atheist. I love science and rationality, the greatest achievements of our civilisation. A question more people should ask themselves is "how can I be sure what I believe and what I'm told are reliably true?" Science is the ultimate reality check. I deplore superstition, pseudoscience, alternative medicine, conspiracy theories and religious fundamentalism. As an ex-believer, I have developed an allergic reaction to bullshit. I believe the human race faces extinction unless we colonise space, which we could achieve using near-Earth asteroid resources, turning potential hazards into habitats.

I'm a skeptic. In fact, I'm so skeptical I don't believe I just said that. My ongoing project is deprogramming myself of the conditioning of society.