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<\/a><\/p>\nThis week, I\u2019ve been posting all the entries in my Ideological Turing Test Contest<\/a> \u2013 a challenge for individual Christians and Atheists to see how well they understand each other. \u00a0This week, Christians are trying to imitate Atheists well enough to be indistinguishable from them. \u00a0Next week, the atheists will return the favor. \u00a0(All inspired by Bryan Caplan\u2019s Ideological Turing Test<\/a>.<\/p>\n For this contest to work, I need you all to vote on which of the answers you think were written by real atheists and which are the work of Christians trying to mimic them. \u00a0The voting page IS NOW LIVE<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Please forward the link to any friends who are interested in religion and come back next week to vote on the next round!<\/p>\n \u20133\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n A large part of the reason I\u2019m running this contest is because I think it\u2019s essential, when we disagree, that we try and double check to make sure we\u2019re disagreeing\u00a0constructively<\/em>. \u00a0The Turing Test is meant to catch people who have set themselves up in opposition to a straw man and are blind to the nuances and arguments of the other side.<\/p>\n As I wrote in my final Yale Daily News<\/em>\u00a0column<\/a>, learning what my opponents thought well enough to be able to imitate them is the best lesson I learned in college (and it\u2019s led me to change some long-held beliefs and get better at pitching people on the ones I\u2019ve held on to.<\/p>\n Logistics for this contest having taken up a fair amount of my time, I\u2019ll make the rest of these Quick Takes a quick\u00a0potpourri\u00a0of interesting links I\u2019ve found on Reader<\/a>\u00a0or elsewhere lately. \u00a0First up, it\u2019s not a self-indulgent Quick Takes post without some interesting science explanation, so here\u2019s Engineer Guy explaining how fiber optics cables work by using a bucket, some antifreeze, and a laser.<\/p>\n