Here Are Many Heroes of the Skeptical Movement, Past and Present
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Michael Brant Shermer
Curriculum Vitae Michael Brant Shermer 2761 N. Marengo Ave., Altadena, CA 91001 626/794-3119 (P), 626/794-1301 (F), [email protected] Education Ph.D. Claremont Graduate School: 1991 History of Science (Dissertation: Alfred Russel Wallace: Heretic Scientist. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Information Service) M.A. California State University, Fullerton: 1978 Experimental Psychology B.A. Pepperdine University: 1976 Psychology/Biology Professional Positions 2010 – Present: Presidential Fellow, Chapman University 2007 - 2011: Adjunct Professor, Claremont Graduate University 1992 - Present: Founding Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Skeptic magazine 1992 - Present: Executive Director, Skeptics Society 2015 - Present: Host, Science Salon Podcast 2001 - 2019: Contributing Editor and Monthly Columnist, Scientific American 1992 - 2015: Host, Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) 1998 - 2010: Science Correspondent, KPCC, 89.3 FM, NPR affiliate for L.A. 1999 - 2000 Consulting Producer/Host, Exploring the Unknown 13-hour TV series, Fox Family 1989 - 1998 Adjunct Professor, Cultural Studies Program, Occidental College 1991 - 1993 Adjunct Professor, History of Science, California State University, Los Angeles 1986 - 1991 Assistant Professor of Psychology, Glendale College 1980 - 1986 Instructor of Psychology, Glendale College Courses Taught Chapman University (2010-Present): Skepticism 101: How to Think Like a Scientist Honors Seminar: The Moral Arc of Science Honors Seminar: Evolution, Ethics, and Morality Claremont Graduate University (2007-2011): Evolution, Economics, and the Brain Science and Morality Occidental College (1989-1998): 1. Science: Its History and Impact from Copernicus to Einstein 2. Evolution: The History and Science of the Theory 3. European Intellectual and Cultural History 4. Science, Technology, and Culture (Core program team-taught course) 5. -
PAUL KURTZ in MEMORIAM Paul Kurtz, Philosopher, Humanist Leader, and Founder of the Modern Skeptical Movement, Dies at Eighty-Six TOM FLYNN
Jan Feb 13 2_SI new design masters 11/29/12 11:26 AM Page 5 [ PAUL KURTZ IN MEMORIAM Paul Kurtz, Philosopher, Humanist Leader, and Founder of the Modern Skeptical Movement, Dies at Eighty-Six TOM FLYNN Paul Kurtz, founder and longtime chair At NYU Kurtz studied philosophy of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, under Sidney Hook, who had himself the Council for Secular Humanism, and been a protégé of the pragmatist philoso- the Center for Inquiry, died at the age pher John Dewey. The philosophy of of eighty-six on October 20, 2012. He Dewey and Hook, arguably the greatest was one of the most influential figures American thinkers in the humanist tra- in the humanist and skeptical move- dition, would deeply in fluence Kurtz’s ments from the late 1960s through the thought and activism. Kurtz graduated first decade of the twenty-first century. from NYU in 1948 and earned his PhD Among his best-known creations are in philosophy at Columbia University in the skeptics’ magazine SKEPTICAL IN- 1952. QUIRER, the secular humanist magazine Free Inquiry, and the independent pub- Academic Career lisher Prometheus Books. Kurtz taught philosophy at Trinity Col- Jonathan Kurtz, Paul’s son, told SI that lege from 1952 to 1959. He joined the his father had a “‘joyous’ last day, joking, faculty at Union College from 1961 to laughing, etc. He then died suddenly to- 1965; during this period he was also a ward bedtime. There was no suffering.” A visiting lecturer at the New School for joint CFI/CSI/CSH statement marked Social Research. -
A Psychohistory of Ufos
the Skeptical Inquirer Quantum Theory and Psi: The Misuse of Science Philosophy and Parascience: Two Views Edges of Science / UFOlogy's Nonstandards Identical Twins / Pseudoscientific Beliefs VOL. !X NO. 1 / FALL 1984 $5.00 Published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Skeptical Inquirer THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock. Martin Gardner. Ray Hyman. Philip J. Klass. Paul Kurt?.. James Randi. Consulting Editors Isaac Asimov. William Sims Bainbridge. John Boardman. John R. Cole. C. E. M Hansel. E. C. Krupp. Andrew Neher. James E. Oberg. Robert Sheaffer. Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Public Relations Andrea Szalanski (director). Barry Karr. Production Editor Betsy Offermann. Office Administrator Mary Rose Hays. Computer Operations Richard Seymour (manager). Laurel Geise Smith. Typesetting Paul E. Loynes. Staff Joseph Bellomo. Stephanie Doyle. Ruthann Page. Alfreda Pidgeon. Cartoonist Rob Pudim. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz. Chairman; philosopher. State University of New York at Buffalo. Lee Nisbet. Executive Director: philosopher. Medaille College. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock, psychologist. York Univ.. Toronto; Isaac Asimov, biochemist, author: Irving Biederman, psy chologist. SUNY at Buffalo; Brand Blanshard, philosopher. Yale: Mario Bunge, philosopher. McGill University: Bette Chambers, A.H.A.; Milbourne Christopher, magician, author; F. H. C. Crick, biophysicist. Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif.; L. Sprague de Camp, author, engineer; Bernard Dixon, European Editor. Omni; Paul Edwards, philosopher. Editor. Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Antony Flew, philosopher. -
Rebuttal to Joe Nickell
Notes Lorenzi, Rossella- 2005. Turin shroud older than INQUIRER 28:4 (July/August), 69; with thought. News in Science (hnp://www.abc. 1. Ian Wilson (1998, 187) reported that the response by Joe Nickell. net.au/science/news/storics/s 1289491 .htm). 2005. Studies on die radiocarbon sample trimmings "are no longer extant." )anuary 26. from the Shroud of Turin. Thermochimica 2. Red lake colors like madder were specifically McCrone, Walter. 1996. Judgment Day for the -4CM 425: 189-194. used by medieval artists to overpaim vermilion in Turin Shroud. Chicago: Microscope Publi- Sox, H. David. 1981. Quoted in David F. Brown, depicting "blood" (Nickell 1998, 130). cations. Interview with H. David Sox, New Realities 3. Rogers (2004) does acknowledge that Nickell, Joe. 1998. Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: 4:1 (1981), 31. claims the blood is type AB "are nonsense." Latest Scientific Findings. Amherst, N.Y.: Turin shroud "older than thought." 2005. BBC Prometheus Books. News, January 27 (accessed at hnp://news. References . 2004. The Mystery Chronicles. Lexington, bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/—/2/hi/scicnce/naturc/421 Damon, P.E., et al. 1989. Radiocarbon dating of Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky. 0369.stm). the Shroud of Turin. Nature 337 (February): Rogers, Raymond N. 2004. Shroud not hoax, not Wilson, Ian. 1998. The Blood and the Shroud New 611-615. miracle. Letter to the editor, SKEPTICAL York: The Free Press. Rebuttal to Joe Nickell RAYMOND N. ROGERS oe Nickell has attacked my scien- results from Mark Anderson, his own an expert on chemical kinetics. I have a tific competence and honesty in his MOLE expert? medal for Exceptional Civilian Service "Claims of Invalid 'Shroud' Radio- Incidentally, I knew Walter since the from the U.S. -
June 12-13, 2015 • at Auction Haversat & Ewing Galleries, LLC
June 12-13, 2015 • At Auction haversat & ewing galleries, LLC. Magicfrom the ED HILL COLLECTION Rare Books Houdini Ephemera haversat Photographs Apparatus • Postcards &Ewing Unique Correspondence haversat Galleries, LLC. &Ewing PO Box 1078 - Yardley, PA 19067-3434 Galleries, LLC. www.haversatewing.com Auction Catalog: www.haversatewing.com haversat Haversat & Ewing Galleries, LLC. &Ewing Galleries,Magic Collectibles Auction LLC. AUCTION Saturday, November 15, 2014 -11:00 AM AuctionSign-up to bid June at: www.haversatewing.com 12-13, 2015 Active bidding on all lots begin at 11:00 AM EST- Friday, June 12, 2015 First lot closes Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 PM EST. Sign-up to bid at: www.haversatewing.com HAVERSAT & EWING GALLERIES, LLC PO POBox BOX 1078 1078 - Yardley,- YARDLEY, PA PA 19067-3434 19067-3434 www.haversatewing.comWWW.HAVERSATEWING.COM A True Story: Back when Ed started collecting he befriended H. Adrian Smith, then current Dean of the Society of American Magicians. At the time, Harold as he was known to his friends, had the largest magic library in the world. Often Harold was a dinner guest at our house and as usual after our meal “the boys” would discuss magic and collecting. Harold’s plan for his books and ephemera was to donate it all to his alma mater, Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. As we all know that’s what happened to his collection. Ed on the other hand disagreed with Harold’s plan and said that when the time came for him to dissolve his library he wanted everything to be sold; so that other collectors could enjoy what he had amassed. -
Wrongful Conviction and the Moral Panic About Organized Child Abuse: National and International Perspectives
Grometstein Moral panic about organized child abuse Page 1 of 34 Wrongful Conviction and the Moral Panic About Organized Child Abuse: National and International Perspectives Randall Grometstein, J.D., Ph.D. Fitchburg State College Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420 January 15, 2005 Revised December 19, 2005 Accepted 8/1/06 for publication in Wrongful Conviction: International Perspectives on Miscarriages of Justice, ed. C. Ronald Huff and Martin Kilias, forthcoming from Temple University Press. Final version submitted September 15, 2006. Grometstein Moral panic about organized child abuse Page 2 of 34 Abstract In North America, a moral panic about daycare workers and other caregivers engaging in ritual abuse and sexual abuse of children began in the early 1980s and quickly spread to the rest of the United States and Canada. By 1986 the organized abuse moral panic had crossed the Atlantic to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and affected Australia and New Zealand as well. Western Europe has been troubled by stories of sexual and satanic danger to children since the 1990s, and in 2004, seventeen people were tried on charges of organized abuse in Outreau, France, a trial that led to an official apology to the accused and a governmental inquiry into the prosecution. This chapter argues that the moral panic about organized child abuse resulted in the wrongful conviction of many defendants. I also examine factors found by C. Ronald Huff and his colleagues (Huff, Rattner et al. 1996; Huff 2004) to contribute to wrongful conviction. Four of those factors – overzealousness by police and prosecutors; false and coerced confessions and improper interrogations; forensic errors, incompetence and fraud; and the adversary system itself – played a role in the organized abuse cases. -
CFI-Annual-Report-2018.Pdf
Message from the President and CEO Last year was another banner year for the Center the interests of people who embrace reason, for Inquiry. We worked our secular magic in a science, and humanism—the principles of the vast variety of ways: from saving lives of secular Enlightenment. activists around the world who are threatened It is no secret that these powerful ideas like with violence and persecution to taking the no others have advanced humankind by nation’s largest drugstore chain, CVS, to court unlocking human potential, promoting goodness, for marketing homeopathic snake oil as if it’s real and exposing the true nature of reality. If you medicine. are looking for humanity’s true salvation, CFI stands up for reason and science in a way no look no further. other organization in the country does, because This past year we sought to export those ideas to we promote secular and humanist values as well places where they have yet to penetrate. as scientific skepticism and critical thinking. The Translations Project has taken the influential But you likely already know that if you are reading evolutionary biology and atheism books of this report, as it is designed with our supporters in Richard Dawkins and translated them into four mind. We want you not only to be informed about languages dominant in the Muslim world: Arabic, where your investment is going; we want you to Urdu, Indonesian, and Farsi. They are available for take pride in what we have achieved together. free download on a special website. It is just one When I meet people who are not familiar with CFI, of many such projects aimed at educating people they often ask what it is we do. -
Science Without Integrity: Lessons from Investing Claims of The
ANNUAL MEETING REPORTS The Ethical Science Without Integrity: Lessons from Investigating Claims of the Para- Speaker: flash. There are no haunted houses, Nickell The Flying-Saucer Mystery Joe Nickell concluded, only haunted people. The media reported that a flying saucer Skeptical Inquirer had crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Committee for the Scientific Investigation The Case of the Two Will Wests Mexico. Nickell investigated and found that of Claims of the Paranormal The widespread use of fingerprinting today the rancher on whose property the crash Amherst, New York is the result of this mysterious case of a took place never referred to the debris as a person who was thought to be in 2 places at flying saucer; only the media described it that Reporter: the same time. Will West was taken to Leav- way. The rancher described the material he Ann Morcos enworth Penitentiary to serve a term for found as light and consisting of foil, sticks, MorcosMedia manslaughter. Someone at the jail recognized rubber, string, and tape. The debris matched Metairie, Louisiana him, and indeed a look-alike criminal named a balloon with a radar target attached to it. Indeed, a spy balloon sent up by the US gov- Illusion—can a rope cut in half really be There are no haunted ernment, in what was termed Project Mogul, made whole again? is a ghost actually present was lost near Roswell. in a photograph?—was the focus of plenary houses, only haunted peo- speaker Joe Nickell, a former private inves- ple. The Nasca Lines tigator, stage magician, technical writer, and Another hoax that Nickell debunked was author of books investigating claims of the that of the Nasca drawings. -
PBS 'Secrets of the Dead' Buries the Truth About Turin Shroud
REPORT PBS 'Secrets of the Dead' Buries the Truth about Turin Shroud JOE NICKELL lthough science and scholarship forger's confession—were treated in ulous Easter-season audience. The fol- have demonstrated that the straw-man fashion: presented as virtu- lowing facts are an antidote to diat sci- Shroud of Turin is a medieval ally the sole impediment to authenticity. entific and historical revisionism: A Knowledgeable skeptics were avoided. fake, die-hard shroud endiusiasts con- • The shroud contradicts the Gospel tinue to claim otherwise. Just in time of John, which describes multiple for Easter 2004 viewing, a PBS tele- cloths (including a separate "napkin" vision documentary that aired over the face), as well as "an hundred Wednesday, April 7, gave diem a pound weight" of burial spices—not forum to state their conviction that a trace of which appears on the die image on the doth is a first- cloth. century picture—miraculous or oth- • No examples of the shroud erwise—of Jesus' crucified body. linen's complex herringbone twill As part of the Secrets of the Dead weave date from the first century, series, the "Shroud of Christ?" when burial cloths tended to be of presentation was a study in pseudo- plain weave in any case. science, faulty logic, and the sup- • The shroud has no known his- pression of historical facts. Omitted tory prior to the mid-fourteenth were mention of die contrary gospel century, when it turned up in the evidence, the reported forger's con- possession of a man who never fession, and the microanalytical explained how he had obtained the analyses that showed the "blood" most holy relic in Christendom. -
Gardner on Exorcisms • Creationism and 'Rare Earth' • When Scientific Evidence Is the Enemy
GARDNER ON EXORCISMS • CREATIONISM AND 'RARE EARTH' • WHEN SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE IS THE ENEMY THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE AND REASON Volume 25, No. 6 • November/December 2001 THE COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL AT THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY-INTERNATIONAL (ADJACENT TO THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO) • AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy. State University of New York at Buffalo Barry Karr, Executive Director Joe Nickell, Research Fellow Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director FELLOWS James E. Alcock,* psychologist. York Univ., Susan Haack, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts Loren Pankratz, psychologist. Oregon Health Toronto and Sciences, prof, of philosophy. University Sciences Univ. Jerry Andrus, magician and inventor, Albany, of Miami John Paulos, mathematician. Temple Univ. Oregon C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist. Univ. of Wales Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist. MIT Marcia Angell, M.D.. former editor-in-chief, Al Hibbs, scientist. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Massimo Polidoro, science writer, author, New England Journal of Medicine Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human under executive director CICAP, Italy Robert A. Baker, psychologist. Univ. of standing and cognitive science, Indiana Univ. Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. of Kentucky Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Professor of Chicago Stephen Barrett M.D., psychiatrist, author, Physics and professor of history of science. Wallace Sampson, M.D., clinical professor of consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Harvard Univ. Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist. Simon Ray Hyman,* psychologist. Univ. of Oregon medicine, Stanford Univ., editor. Scientific Fraser Univ.. Vancouver, B.C., Canada Leon Jaroff, sciences editor emeritus, Time Review of Alternative Medicine Irving Biederman, psychologist Univ. -
Progressive Thinker V7 N174 Mar 25 1893
\ P rogress, tbe Upi\>ersal LaW of JMatûre: Tboügbt, tbe Sol\>er)t of Jier Problem s. V O L ,. 7. C H I C A G O , MARCH 25* 1393. # N O . 174 knots. The doctor had soon Anna Eva [South American. He I» the same God to Moses 2,000 yoars before, There arc BEAUTIFUL MUSIC. exposed at Loulsvlllo, Ky.. a year ago. A LEARNED PRIEST. a ll over the world, only each nation now In the world■ 200,000,000 followers of "LYING SPIRITS," and cart-iod to tho stago n decided fool spells n is name differently. Wo call Mohammed." It Comes from Ilio Angels. ing that the mystic, uncanny sitooks In Him Jews, tho Hindoos call Him Pramo- “Have the teaching» of the prophets But They Are Not Disem her neighborhood would not boar the He Is In a “Heathen" la, tho Grvcks call Him Theos: tbe Ital Moses, liuddha and Mohammed been cold light of investigation. A t each ian, Deus; the American Indian, Great similar?" The story I am about to tell belong* bodied this Time. succeeding movement In tho seance tho Tem ple. Spirit; tho Frenchman, Dieu: the Ger "They hare all taught about the same ore properly among tbe annals of tl i e doctor's countonnnco woro more Interro man, Gott; tho Ainorican, God; and so code or morals. For Instance, Confu Society for Psychical Research; but an WltAT HE RELIEVES AIIOUT PROPHETS on. Every nation has tho same God, affidavit from every person spoken ot The Chicago Tribuno*» Bn*® Slim gation points und moro of the dumb cius, who came ,Y>7 year* before Christ, would be wanted, and I And that people <lor of Anna Eva 1'itj. -
Paul Kurtz, Atheology, and Secular Humanism
Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism The American Humanist Association vol. 21, no. 2 (2013), 111–116 © 2013 Paul Kurtz, Atheology, and Secular Humanism John R. Shook Dr. John Shook is research associate in philosophy and instructor of science education at the University of Buffalo. He has worked for several humanist organizations, including the American Humanist Association and the Center for Inquiry, over the past eight years. Paul Kurtz will be long remembered as the late twentieth century’s pre- eminent philosophical defender of freethinking rationalism and skepticism, the scientific worldview to replace superstition and religion, the healthy ethics of humanism, and democracy’s foundation in secularism. Reason, science, ethics, and civics – Kurtz repeatedly cycled through these affirmative agendas, not only to relegate religion to humanity’s ignorant past, but mainly to indicate the direction of humanity’s better future. The shadow of nihilism or cynicism never dimmed Paul Kurtz’s bright enthusiasm for positive ways to enhance the lives of people everywhere. His many manifestos and editorials along with his full-length books, in concert with his organizations’ agendas and projects, continually sought a forward-looking and comprehensive vision for grappling with the planet’s urgent problems. He was an atheist knocking down superstitions and faiths with his philosophical “atheology” in order to clear the way for humanist plans about more intelligent ways of secular living. Kurtz never left religion in peace, and he surely never rested easy in atheism. He was even more interested in activating and guiding the energies of liberated peoples than he was determined to liberate them in the first place.