NEWS AND COMMENT

In the Land of Galileo, Fifth World Skeptics Congress Solves Mysteries, Champions Scientific Outlook

KENDRICK FRAZIER Galileo himself was the subject of an emphasis to a "second principle" of the entire evening of special events the first movement: "to explicate and defend sci- The legacy of Galileo shone like a bril- night of the conference, while a slightly ence and and the scientific out- liant star throughout the Fifth World more recent hero of skepticism, the con- look. . . . We are interested in cultivating Skeptics Congress, Oct. 8-10, 2004, juror and investigator , was public appreciation of ." and appropriately so, for it was held in feted the second night (see side stories). "This is positive," he said "—carrying Abano Terme, , just outside of Randi also gave a talk earlier that day on to the general public our appreciation of (Padova), where Galileo taught "difficult, innocent, and impossible this powerful invention, the discovery of from 1592 until 1610, wrote The Starry applicants" for his $1 million challenge Messenger, and discovered the moons to claimants. of Jupiter. CICAP Chairman Steno Ferluga, Other revolutionary figures in the professor of astrophysics at the Uni- history of science likewise had Padua versity of Trieste, opened the conference connections. Among them were Nico- with a basic statement of the meeting. laus Copernicus, who studied there, and CICAP, CSICOP, and the skeptical Andreas Vesalius, who took his medical movement represent a "new thing," he degree there before publishing his revela- said. "Finally there exists a network of tions about human anatomy in 1543. people to find answers, offer corrections, That was the same year that Copernicus and provide accurate information on published, on his deathbed, On the popular mysteries." Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres, the This "light of reason" can help con- CICAP's moderates a World book that cast aside the notion of an fine beliefs to those who Skeptics Congress session. Earth-centered universe. Thus began the want to believe, instead of to all those conflict between religious belief and sci- previously innocently confused by mis- entific discovery diat led to Galileo's epic information about claims once ignored tribulations with the Catholic church by scientists. "We skeptics don't deny and that echoes down through the ages mysterious events," he said. "We come to this day. here to solve them." The conference theme was "Solving In his opening remarks, CSICOP Mysteries." Throughout, speakers Chairman , professor emeritus touted the unique abilities of the meth- of philosophy at SUNY-Buffalo, noted ods of scientific and skeptical inquiry in that he had come to Italy three times finding solutions to mysteries that oth- beginning twenty years ago to encourage erwise remain the domain of opinion Italian scientists and skeptics to organize Key World Skeptics Congress figures, from left. and speculation. Massimo Polidoro, co-chairman Paul Kurtz. a group. He said he was pleased with the Piero Angela, James Randi, and co-chairman The three-day conference, which had a subsequent work of that group, which Steno Ferluga. sold-out attendance of nearly 500 (the has high visibility in capacity of the comfortable modern con- Italy, and the grand ference center's theater, surrounded by conference it had hotels and restaurants), was cosponsored organized. The mod- by the Committee for the Scientific ern skeptical move- Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ment has provided (CSICOP) and its Italian counterpart "a critical scientific group, CICAP (pronounced "chee-cap"). examination" of pop- CICAP numbers among its members ular claims and "a some of Italy's leading scientists, scholars, whole new litera- and investigators, many of whom were in ture," Kurtz said. "Investigating Historical Mysteries" session panelists, from left. Joe Nickell, evidence as conference participants. But he gave equal Mariano Tomatis. Luigi Garlaschelli. and James Randi.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January/February 2005 5 NEWS AND COMMENT truth about nature through experimen- native medicine can be hazardous to said this is an example of how skeptics tal science." your health (Silvio Garattini, Mario can do research that involves the public. So in this mission, Kurtz said, "the Negri Institute, ). Three or four As for Carolyn Watts's call for more has moved on . .. leading figures in these fields spoke in interactions between skeptics and para- to other equally important things." each session, followed by a lively ques- psychologists, Wiseman agreed, to a Kurtz spoke admiringly of Galileo. tion period. point. "Should we collaborate if the "In one sense," he said, "Galileo is a Only a few highlights can be men- research is about genuine open inquiry? symbol of skeptical inquiry. He ques- tioned here, some brief examples. CICAP Yes," he said. Skeptical psychologists can tioned authority. He rejected author- plans to eventually publish a book based and have helped mightily with a number ity—Aristotle, the Church. on the conference proceedings. of experiments, he said, "Galileo is die great martyr to die The opening session, "Parapsy- tightening up controls and finding small skeptical cause," Kurtz said. He rejected chology and Skeptics: Is Dialogue errors, which can easily creep in. But too occult explanations, and he championed a Possible?" had a bittersweet quality many parapsychological researchers have new method involving experimentation, because the scheduled leadoff speaker, another aim altogether, he said. "There hypotheses, theories, and mathematics. Robert L. Morris, professor of parapsy- are people who are certain of the "Galileo was a heroic figure, a great chology at the University of answers," he said. "They are engaged in skeptic," said Kurtz. "He was not a and highly respected by both skeptics a process of persuasion, not inquiry, and dogmatic skeptic, but thought that and parapsychologists, had died unex- they have an agenda. CSICOP looks at there were reliable methods for achiev- pectedly in August. He was only sixty. these people very carefully. Should we ing knowledge." Carolyn Watt, a senior research fellow collaborate with them? No." And one more point from Kurtz: at Edinburgh's Koestler Parapsychology James Alcock (York University, "Science and skepticism go hand Unit, which Morris had established and Toronto) described why parapsychology, in hand. Skepticism is a great tool of headed, gave a talk in his stead, dedi- despite its long history of research, some science." cated to him. She spoke on "productive of it involving eminent scientists, still has Thus began three sparkling days of and unproductive interactions" between gained no status as a science and is in fact presentations, discussions, questions, parapsychologists and skeptics, urging ignored by most scientists. There is no entertainment (including a lunchtime more of the former and less of the latter. unambiguous definition of a psi phenom- first-ever performance of "skeptical" In the productive category are "direct, enon, no strongly replicated effect, no arias from famous operas), and special personal, involvement and collabora- theory offered, no consistency with other events and demonstrations. tions," much like Hyman has done in areas of science, and no progressive accu- It was a truly international conference, the past with Charles Honorton or that mulation of knowledge. "Despite a long with attendees from twenty countries. has carried out in the history, parapsychology does not have a Speakers heralded from Argentina, U.K. Unproductive interactions include single acknowledged 'fact,'" said Alcock. Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Ger- debates at a distance, which become Furthermore, he said that collabora- many, Italy, France, Russia, Spain, die increasingly polemical, and unsupported tion with parapsychologists is difficult. , and the . and sweeping statements, including "Parapsychologists can't propose what The conference language was English, unscientific rhetoric and misrepresenting would disconfirm psi," he lamented. "To with simultaneous translation into Italian, opponents' views. diem, finding nothing doesn't count.... although occasionally that was reversed. Richard Wiseman (University of We can help by being respectful and Formal conference sessions dealt Hertfordshire), who has high visibility constructive and by being hard-nosed with parapsychology (moderated by Ray in the U.K. as a psychologist who and critical. But the problem is that the Hyman, University of Oregon); hoaxes, involves parapsychologists, the media, failure to find supporting evidence will fakes, and myths (Lorenzo Montali, and the public in his investigations, not dampen parapsychological zeal." University of Milan); investigating his- spoke of some of his recent experiments, The session on investigating historical torical myths (Massimo Polidoro, including research with a medium mysteries featured several interesting case University of Milan—his column in this described recently in The Times (U.K.) studies. CSICOP's senior research fellow issue on fact and fiction about the and his "Mind Machine," a multimedia and SI "Investigative Files" columnist Joe Kennedy assassination is based on his interactive kiosk that invites the public Nickell reported on his investigations presentation); and the to participate in an extrasensory percep- into such cases as the Flatwood Monster, of deception (Sergio Delia Sala, tion experiment. In 139,000 trials with the Nazca lines, and the Shroud of . University of Edinburgh); die future of 28,856 people, he said, the hits Researcher Mariano Tomatis (Turin, skepticism and a world skeptics update amounted to 49.90 percent —"chance," Italy) described his investigations into the (Barry Karr, CSICOP); and how alter- he reported. "No evidence of ESP." He "Da Vinci code" story, and Luigi

6 January/February 2005 NEWS AND COMMENT

Garlaschelii (University of Pavia) About the Lost Continent." He told of would leave open the possibility that described his literally hands-on investiga- his experiences a few years ago with a Atlantis was real. (For critiques of both tions into the "real sword in the stone" producer of an ABC television docu- the ABC show and the Atlantis myth, (in Italy). Randi's previously mentioned mentary about Atlantis. The producer see SI, January/February 2002.) talk followed. We hope to have articles told Feder he was looking for an archae- One of the highlights for many based on several of these presentations in ologist who was pro-Atlantis. Feder told members of the audience was moving future issues. him there were none, because Atlantis talks by two speakers from Egypt, In the "Hoaxes, Fakes, and Myths" didn't exist. When Feder asked why diey Mourad Whaba (professor emeritus of session, archaeologist Kenneth Feder made rJiat request, the producer pointed philosophy at the University of Ain (Central Connecticut State University) out that the ABC network was owned Shams in Cairo and president of the gave a revealing report on media dynam- by the Disney company, which was Afro-Asian Philosophy Association) and ics intriguingly and accurately titled about to launch its animated film about Mona Abousenna, a professor at the "Atlantis in Fantasyland: Making a Atlantis and implied that they expected same university. Abousenna described Mickey Mouse Television Documentary ABC to make a documentary that the extraordinary challenges and perils

The World of Galileo Galilei and the pendulum as well as the works for is false and contrary to the Sacred and Divine which he was even better known, "He was scriptures, that the Sun is the center of the a Renaissance man par excellence" she worid and does not move from east to west said. He had enormous curiosity, she said, and that the Earth moves and is not the cen- "He was a great writer, and he could sing, ter of the worid." Galileo is shown the paint, and write poetry." Inquisition's instruments of torture and men She was soon joined on the stage by her seen reading his hand-written confession and husband. Andrea Frova, professor of recantation "abjuring" any such beliefs. "I physics at the University of Rome who curse and detest the said errors and heresies" holds the same chair once held by Enrico and will "never again say nor assert in speak- Fermi. He spoke in more detail about ing or writing such things," he was required Galileo's work, referring to the astonishing to state. variety of his inquiries. He even noted that It was an emotional end to the Galileo occasionally was wrong. "Galileo evening. CSICOP's Paul Kurtz was visibly studied so many things he couldn't always moved. He told me CICAP should be be right. He believed planetary orbits were praised for presenting the Galileo tribute circles, and he made a wrong guess about because the Galileo affair is still a sensitive As befitted a conference outside Padua, the the rides. He thought they were due to issue in Italy. And he again mentioned first evening featured a nearly three-hour Earth's rotation. This shows diat everyone Galileo's great courage. "The trial of special event, "The World of Galileo can make mistakes." Galileo was a terrible thing. It ruined Galilei." It was hosted by Piero Angela, a Angela next introduced Alessandro him." noted Rome-based television journalist in Bettini, professor of physics at the Italy, author of books on science and skep- University of Padua, who had brought a —K.F. ticism, and one of the key people responsi- large wooden inclined plane plus measur- ble for the rounding of CI C A P Paul Kurtz ing instruments like diosc Galileo had used calb him "the Walter Cronkite of Italy," in his experiments demonstrating that and Angela's knowledgeable on-stage inter- objects fell at the same velocity regardless of views and hosted demonstrations with theit weight. Bettini demonstrated dicir leading Galileo scholars and even an actor use and said. "The scientific method was playing Galileo showed why. the major contribution of Galileo." Angela first interviewed Maria Mariapiera These discussions were interspersed with Marenzana, a professor of literature in Rome dips from a linle-known Italian motion pic- and a biographer of Galileo, about Galileos ture about Galileo's life and his conflict with life and work. Oxford University Press will church authorities, a movie Angela said was publish her book in English in 2005. not well known even in Italy. It ended with Not only was Galileo a great man of the trial of Galileo. The Holy Office found science with notable discoveries on the him "vehemently suspected of heresy" for principle of inertia, the fall of free bodies. Piero Angela interviews Galileo biographer "having held and believed the doctrine which Maria Manapiera Mareruana.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January/February 2005 7 NEWS AND COMMENT of even speaking about skeptical convincing positive data for nine herbal ing college of herbalism in North inquiry and rationalism in an Islamic remedies (especially St. John's Wort, for America—exhibits every characteristic country like Egypt. Many seemed mild to moderate depression), but not of pseudoscience in [CSICOP Fellow moved by her courage and determina- thousands [as frequently claimed]." and McGill University philosophy pro- tion. In answer to a question, Professor On acupuncture: "There is limited fessor] Mario Bunge's list" (Bunge, Whaba said, "My students like me, but evidence that acupuncture is better than "What Is Pseudoscience?" SKEPTICAL they don't like my ideas." At the same no treatment at all. There is inconclusive INQUIRER, Fall 1984). session was Prof. Edward Kruglyakov of evidence that acupuncture is better than Riccardo Lucio (University of Flor- the Russian Academy of , who a placebo." ence): " is useful. ... It is reported on efforts by Russian scientists On spiritual healing: "The majority useful to the industry, to the sellers, and to criticize anti-science, and Li Sheng of rigorous trials show no effect beyond to the homeopaths. But it is highly Xian, a representative of a five-member placebo." questionable if it is of use to patients." Chinese delegation. Ernst's conclusion: "High quality re- Wallace Sampson (professor of med- The conference concluded with a search is scarce. Bias is rife. For some icine, Stanford, and editor of the lively session of critical examinations of CAM [Complementary and Alternative Scientific Review of ) evidence about alternative medicine. A Medicine] treatments the risk/benefit ratio gave a blunt assessment of what he calls few excerpts: is positive. But for most, we don't know." "the political takeover in the U.S." by Edzard Ernst (Professor of Comple- Barry Beyerstein (Simon Fraser alternative medicine. mentary and Alternative Medicine, University, Vancouver, British Colum- "Never in the history of medicine has Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, bia): "The curriculum of the Dominion there been anything like this before," he U.K.) On herbal remedies: "We have Herbal College in Vancouver—the lead- said. "It is an organized invasion of pseudoscience into the scientific edifice of medicine. It is pervasive, surreptitious, Randi: That's Amazing and purposeful. It is not a conspiracy; it is simply the way people act in groups." The special event the second night was How do they do it? By using the "Randi: That's Amazing," billed as "A "language of distortion" (alternative 'Magical' Evening wiuS James Randi." medicine instead of quackery or pseudo- For those who've seen Randi's lec- science) and by demeaning science (post- tures many times, this was different. modernism and relativism), he said. It was very interesting because its Proponents' invention of language is cal- essence was an extended conversation between Randi and CICAP's culated to produce a positive response. Massimo Polidoro (investigator, He said they have become astute in what author, and Si's "Notes on a Strange he called "info-ganda," the combination World" columnist who once studied of information and propaganda. They

with Randi). Both were seated com- Massimo Polidoro and James Randi ham it up have been effective in manipulating fortably on the stage; Polidoro would after the evening special tribute to Randi. opinion in nonprofit foundations, the ask questions about Randi's life and news media, books, and even the med- career, and Randi, now seventy-six but still going strong, answered. ical press, which "has a bias against pub- The questions were cued to some "amazing" old film clips shown of Randi in lishing negative articles." They have action, some going back to when he was only a teenager doing conjuring tricks in found abundant sources of funding Toronto, and others long before he became the white-bearded scourge of bodi from government (especially in the he is today. Many showed his career as an escape artist, including film of him U.S., through the support of key con- escaping from a straitjacket while being suspended upside down over Niagara Falls in winter and another of him encased in a huge block of ice with those outside gressional leaders) and from spiritual/ frantically trying to chip him out. religious organizations. He sees the , Richard Wiseman, and Joe Nickell came on stage and performed problem getting worse, not better. demonstrations and conjuring tricks. Silvio Garattini, professor of phar- This, of course, then led in to discussion of Randi's later, still-active career as a macology and director of the Mario of magicians who pretend to be psychic such as . Randi even Negri Institute in Milan, summed up revealed to the audience exactly how he did two Geller-type tricks when forced into the session. "I wonder if by using gen- doing so on live radio and television shows with little or no time to prepare. tler terms like alternative medicine and It truly was a "magical" evening.—K.F. complementary medicine, we are dis- serving science," he said. "'Quackery'

8 January/February 2005 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NEWS AND COMMENT and 'fakery'" is what we are talking Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), A what he is remembered for, and not for about. "We must use what has proved Prince of Our Disorder, won him a being the guy who believed in people's to be effective." Pulitzer Prize in 1977. stories of alien abductions." And he spoke of the frustrating illogic In 1994 Mack shocked colleagues —JoeNickell of homeopathy. Its remedies are "all the and others with his book Abductions: same and contain nothing. How can you Human Encounters with Aliens. He had Joe Nickell is CSlCOP's Senior Research test mat?" The burden of proof is on die come to believe that many of his Fellow. homeopathic community to provide patients had indeed had extraterrestrial proof diat its remedies are efficacious, he encounters which they "remembered" under hypnosis. said. "But they are not willing." Betty Hill, First 'Alien In his concluding remarks, Paul Kurtz Mack was invited to speak at a CSI- called the conference "inspiring." He COP conference in Seatde, Washington, Abductee/ Dies lamented the escape from reason in the in 1994. Psychologist Robert A. Baker Eunice "Betty" Hill—whose claimed 1961 health fields, among others. "Not believ- began the session on alien abductions by encounter widi extraterrestrials spawned ing in diings without evidence is still a observing that virtually all such claims the alien-abduction mania—died October radical thesis," he said. "We are still represented a psychological phenome- 19,2004, at the age of eighty-five. She suc- attempting to hold the torch of scientific non attributable to the discredited pro- cumbed to lung cancer at her Portsmouth, cedure of hypnotic regression. "Once reason and inquiry." He said there are still New Hampshire, home (just twenty days you turn on the imagination," he said, many "committed to the Enlightenment" after the accidental death of abduction "all diings are possible." but the "danger that we will move away guru Dr. John E. Mack). from the scientific outlook is very Baker also observed that "waking real.... We have a set of ideals. These dreams" (which occur in the twilight ideals are very important, and we need to between being fully awake and fully keep the torch of reason lit." sleep) can yield apparitions of extra- terrestrials as well as produce sensations is Editor of the of floating, falling, or being rendered SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. His book People of immobile—effects often associated widi Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture, on alleged alien abductions. the archaeology of Chaco Canyon, New Mack, however, dismissed such Mexico, will be published in an updated attempts to find conventional psycho- and expanded edition by WW Norton, logical explanations for abduction New York, in February 2005- experiences, insisting that the cases had "a quality of their own." In addi- tion to defending his position, he asserted that "There is a world of other Alien-Abduction Guru dimensions, of other realities that can Mack Killed in Accident cross over into our own world." He asked his skeptical audience, "Are we Betty Hill at a convention of the Mutual UFO Network in 2002 in Rochester, N.Y. (Photo by John E. Mack—whose position as a seeking to be rhe arbiters of reality?" In Joe Nickell) Harvard psychiatrist seemed to add response, CSICOP Chairman Paul legitimacy to his endorsement of alien Kurtz, who moderated the session, In 1961, UFO and space-travel buff abduction claims—was killed acciden- briefly noted that skeptics were merely Betty Hill and her husband Barney tally in London on September 27, 2004. applying the scientific method to para- (d. 1969) were driving in the White He had been attending the T.E. normal claims. Mountains when they encountered a Lawrence Society Symposium in Mack's book led the Harvard UFO piloted by alien beings. They Oxford. On returning to die London Medical School to consider censuring reported two hours of missing time as home where he was staying, he stepped him, but after a fourteen-month investi- well, and—after suffering stress— into a crosswalk and was hit by a car dri- gation the school declined on the underwent hypnosis some two and a ven by an allegedly intoxicated driver. grounds of "academic freedom." After half years later. During the sessions He was apparently killed instantly. Mack's death, the attorney who repre- they "remembered" being examined by Mack (b. Oct. 4, 1929) received his sented him during the investigation, small, grey, large-headed humanoids. medical degree, cum laude, from Roderick MacLeish, stated: "He was so Their purported abduction was the Harvard in 1955. His biography of T.E. caring to his patients, and I hope that is subject of a 1966 book and a 1975

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January/Ftb-uary 2005 9 NEWS AND COMMENT

made-for-TV movie (starring James hit and earned about $4.4 million in the O'Sullivan described the film as "Part Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons). The first six months of release. Some of the talking-head documentary, part live- case served as a model for thousands of "scientists" featured were reportedly action narrative featurette and part subsequent abduction reports over the unhappy with the way they were por- goofy animation [that] fails on all three following decades. trayed by the filmmakers and said that levels...stiffly written, badly acted, The Hills's psychiatrist, Benjamin they were not clear what they were par- choppily edited, and awkwardly redun- Simon, concluded they had experienced a ticipating in. Skeptics were, of course, dant. . .On the whole, it feels like a cross "shared dream" and, indeed specific less than impressed with the film (see between a PBS special hosted by a series inconsistencies in Bettys story are charac- review "What the #$*! Do They Know?" of low-rent Deepak Chopras and an teristic of dreaming. Since she recalled September/October 2004), but even infomercial for self-help audio tapes. numerous particular details, while her given the New Agey over- husband recalled very little. Dr. Simon tones, audiences and critics said that the "abduction" was not a shared have been slow to embrace it. experience, rather it indicated Barney had What the Bleep?s director obtained his knowledge of the incident and producers have focused after he repeatedly heard his wife tell her on grassroots publicity efforts nightmares to neighbors and friends. and cast themselves as film Betty Hill also recalled a "star map" mavericks who will show up a exhibited by one the aliens which she Hollywood that was not high- later drew from memory. Subsequently, minded enough to embrace after a six-year search, an Ohio school- their ideas. It's perhaps not teacher and amateur astronomer, surprising that a cult-like film Marjorie Fish, believed she had found would achieve a cult-like fol- matches for some of the dots and circles lowing, and it seems that on Betty's drawing, including our sun much of the revenue is gener- and a planet of Zeta 2 Reticuli that was ated not by new filmgoers but seemingly the aliens' home base. Noted by repeat ones trying to figure astronomer Carl Sagan and a Cornell out just what the film is try- University graduate student reported that a computer plot of fifteen star positions ing to say. Meyer Gottlieb, identified by Fish showed "little similar- president of independent film ity" to those marked on Betty's drawing. distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films, said that he attended a Betty Hill was not only an excellent Los Angeles screening and hypnotic subject but she also exhibited met hundreds of people who many other traits associated with a fan- "told me that the movie had tasy-prone personality. For years she an impact on their lives. Many had seen Bleep, indeed." Nick Schager of Slant believed UFOs followed and communi- it two or three times." One devotee, a magazine concluded that, "If people are cated with her, as she related in her pri- sixty-two-year-old Californian who has truly able to construct their own des- vately published 1995 book, A Common seen the film twelve times, said, "It's a tinies, then I can only hope that What Sense Approach to UFOs. relief to get out of the [constant] barrage the Bleep, with its hokey and derivative —Joe Nickell of negative news and explore the deep CGI, John Tesh-influenced score, and connections between mind, body and screeching electronic sound effects, will spirit. . . . The movie is such an aberra- beget a future devoid of these filmmak- Critics Ravage 'Hoax' tion for Hollywood, a world driven by ers' creepily cultish work." New Age Film fear and the bottom line." Because the reviews have been over- Mainstream filmgoers have more or whelmingly negative, ads for the film are An independent film directed and pro- less ignored the film, while the critics deceptive and take blurbs out of context duced by followers of the New Age chan- have almost universally panned it. to suggest critical praise. The Los Angeles neller/guru J.Z. Knight called What the Maitland McDonagh, of TV Guide, says Times, for example, is quoted as calling Bleep Do We Know? was released last the film "quickly tumbles down a rabbit the film "Mind-Bending!" though a look February (and is still in theaters). The hole of annoying psychobabble, dubious at the actual review (by Kevin Crust) is film, a bizarre blend of mysticism and science, and embarrassingly silly anima- decidedly less enthusiastic: "It's easy to quantum physics, has became a minor tion." Washington Post critic Michael question how much further you wish to

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January/February 2005 11 NEWS AND COMMENT go with the movie. . . . The journey pro- Fate stepped in, for the Expo was not claims of having successfully cloned duces more questions than answers [and to be. When Vaughn Rees of CFI- West human beings. is] a mixed bag .. . fraught with an warned that conference was not listed on Three Raelian women are featured in excessive amount of navel-gazing." the Convention Center Web site, and that the Playboy pictorial, including Marina Film critic Roger Ebert called the the Paraworld Web site had been taken Boisselier, the daughter of Clonaid film a "hoax" and published a readers down, Hughes called the convention cen- CEO Brigitte Boisselier, and Sophie, comment (apparently one of many) that ter in early September and was told that who has been the life companion of Rael said, "There's little to no accurate sci- the event was no longer listed on their for the past thirteen years. ence in the film, and, as a physicist computer calendar. She and Andrews can- At a September 19, 2004, press con- pointed out recently, the individuals ceiled the payments for their tickets, and ference in Montreal, Rael spoke "on the who are quoted are pretty far from qual- found that the phone numbers for topic of nudity and spirituality," and ified experts on the field of quantum Paraworld had been disconnected. praised Hugh Hefner, Playboy's pub- mechanics. Case in point: One of the Leslie Inzunza, who was hired to help lisher, for "his commendable actions persons expounding on causality and organize the event, said she and many aimed at breaking sexual taboos and for quantum physics ... is a chiropractor." others were trying to locate Paraworld actively taking part in the evolution of Ebert responded, "I knew there had to organizer Steven Doolittle. Though at lifestyles." Rael awarded Hefner (in be something fishy when the expert who least some of the tickets to the Expo have absentia) the title of "Honorary Priest." made the most sense was channeling a been refunded, as of this writing, several Inquiring minds want to know: will a 35,000-year-old seer from Atlantis." vendors—some of whom paid $2,500 for UFO landing pad be installed at the Playboy mansion anytime soon? —Benjamin Radford a booth—are trying to get their money back. Apparently, the participants' pow- Benjamin Radford has been a film critic ers of perception and prediction were on Raelian Pseudoscience since 1994; his reviews are available at hiatus when they paid Doolittle for the The Raelians have recently taken up a www. radfordreviews. com. 2004 Paraworld Expo. Maybe the remote new cause, Intelligent Design (ID), and viewers will locate him. . . . are now actively advocating equal time for ID theory in classrooms around the Paranormal Expo —fames Underdown world. On September 21, 2004, the Cancelled Under Cloud James Underdown is Executive Director of U.S. Raelian Movement announced the -West in Los that the Raelians support "academic When the promoters of the paranor- Angeles. debates" about Intelligent Design and mal-chemed Paraworld Expo an- evolution, and equal time for ID in the nounced its event at the Los Angeles classroom. A press release cited a recent Convention Center to be held October Raelian Update: paper on Intelligent Design by Stephen 21 through 24, 2004, Sherri Andrews C. Meyer, director and Senior Fellow of and Wendy Hughes of Sex, Pseudoscience, the Center for Science and Culture at Investigations Group at CFl-West had and Sacrilege the Discovery Institute in Seattle, in to see it for themselves. According to which he argues that "no current mate- the promotional literature, "For the Raelian Sex rialistic theory of evolution can first time in history, ParaWorldExpo In 1950s sci-fi movies, aliens brought account for the origin of the informa- LLC will bring together more than fifty mankind gifts like solutions to world tion necessary to build novel animal of the world's leading pioneers and peace and the cure for cancer. In the forms." The Raelians put a naturalis- experts in a vast spectrum of paranor- new millennium, they just want us to tic—and curious—twist on ID that mal topics. An estimated 250,000 indi- have a lot of sex. The October 2004 Meyer and his Discovery Institute viduals from around the globe will issue of Playboy featured the other- brethren might not have anticipated: embark on a four-day adventure." worldly Raelians, a UFO group known One of the major arguments against Where else could you find exhibits for its standards of free and open sexual- The Theory of Intelligent Design about and hauntings, UFOs and ity as well as its belief that life on Earth has been that it went against the extraterrestrials, past lives, mediumship was engineered by space aliens. The 'naturalism philosophy'. . . . The demonstrations, angel communication, Raelians are, however, best known for Raelian Movement would like to underscore that the Theory of and tarot all under one roof? This event the 2002 cloning scandal, when Intelligent Design does not lead to a would be the Shangri-la of psychics, Clonaid—a company founded by the designer but to an the Valhalla of remote viewers, the group's leader, Rael—gained worldwide extraterrestrial human civilization Elysium of exorcists. notoriety for making unsubstantiated designer, which is in line with

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editorial cartoonist the Food and Drug Administration" and Serge Chapleau began two of "corruptly endeavoring to influ- to have fun at His ence, obstruct, and impede proceedings Holiness's expense. concerning the regulation of dietary After making fun of supplements containing ephedra being Rael's otherworldly conducted by the FDA." Federal clothing and hairdo, District Court Judge Napoleon Jones saying "It's an old has since dismissed the latter two counts dream of men to sleep because they lacked specificity, and con- with a lot of loose solidated the other counts, saying that women at the same they did not constitute separate acts. time . . . but if I have to wear rhat suit and hairdo .. . forget it," Rael, the spiritual leader of the international Raelian Movement, poses Chapleau grabbed hold in front of a giant UFO. AFP PHOTO/CLONAID of the tight bun on Rael's head. Rael has 'naturalism philosophy.' One day, filed a complaint against Chapleau for maybe sooner than you might imag- "physical aggression" and written a letter ine possible, we will go to other planets and scientifically engineer to CBC demanding a public apology. life on them. Then, probably, these —Kevin Christopher worlds will create deistic religions from the interactions we will have Kevin Christopher is Public Relations with them. After this, they will develop an evolutionary theory to Director for CSICOP. escape from the supernaturalistic view of their ancestors, and finally, they will discover that life on their planet was indeed designed—but by Metabolife Founder us, human beings who came from another world, the Earth. . . . Michael Ellis Charged with Lying to FDA The Raelians plan to launch a series of ongoing debates throughout schools On top of having the product his com- Metabolife 356 was first formulated and universities on Intelligent Design, pany takes its name from banned (see by Ellis in 1989 and quickly became one and state that the "whole world" will News and Comment, SI, March/April of the top-selling diet aids in America. benefit from a "healthy" educational sys- 2004), Michael J. Ellis, founder of However, dangerously adverse reactions tem where both evolution and ID arc Metabolife International, is now facing began to be reported by its users and their taught, arguing that students have "the charges of lying to the Food and Drug families, ranging from elevated heart rate right to know." Administration (FDA) about the safety to death. In a letter to die FDA in Perhaps the next time Discovery record of that product, ephedra-based February 1999, Ellis wrote, "Metabolife Institute representatives go to school Metabolife 356. In a press release issued has never been made aware of any adverse board hearings arguing for the teaching by the office of the United States health events by consumers of its prod- of Intelligent Design, SKEPTICAL Attorney for the Southern District of ucts." However, the FDA contends that INQUIRER readers might make a point of California (Carol C. Lam), dated July Ellis had reports of some of these adverse attending and reminding Christian 22, 2004, a grand jury "returned an reactions ("at least 138" according to a board members and parents in the audi- eight-count indictment" against Ellis congressional report released in October ence that ID is the "theory" of choice for and his company. Ellis and an attorney 2002), but failed to report them to a con- the largest atheist, pro-cloning, free-love representing Metabolife entered pleas of gressional investigation. That document UFO group in the world. not guilty on all counts in federal court also notes that (at die rime of that report) on July 27. "Metabolife records include nearly 2,000 Raelian Sacrilege Under the original indictment, both reports of significant adverse reactions to Rael stormed off the set of the Quebec Ellis and his company each faced eight Metabolife products," thai "many of the television show Tout le Monde en Parle charges: six counts of "making false, fic- significant adverse events involve con- (The Whole World's Talking about It), after titious and fraudulent representations to sumers who were young, in good health.

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and taking recommended dosages" when particular article interesting was the year chics would all miss such an event of the events occurred. Furthermore, being predicted: 2001, in an issue dated global importance." "Metabolife's handling of the adverse January 11-17. Dozens of predictions All three gamely replied: event reports exhibits indifference to the were made; some were right, some were Alan Oken stated that, "Simply stated— health of consumers" (see www. wrong, most of them were obvious, I am not a psychic and did not make any democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents vague, or impossible to verify. But all the psychic predictions." (This is a curious /20040827102309-56026.pdf for fur- psychics somehow missed what in retro- statement, given that the article clearly ther details of these findings). spect was the most important event of refers to him as a psychic and lists "Alan Though the ban went into effect 2001, a watershed moment in American Oken's Predictions.") in April of this year, the company (and indeed geopolitical) history: the ter- Martha Woodworth wrote only, continues to market other diet- rorist attacks of September 11. "No. I don't [have an explanation]." ary supplements, including non- There were five psychics featured in Stan Alexander, voted "Best Psychic" ephedra-based appetite suppressants die Alibi piece; one of them is conve- in a 1999 poll of the newspaper's read- and Metabolife Starch Buster, a prod- niently anonymous (he goes by "N."), ers, suggested that he did in fact have an uct the company claims reduces the and another has since died and therefore inkling of the events but did not want absorption of carbohydrates. can't answer questions. The remaining to publicize the results of his prophetic In a related development, a new three are described in the article: gift: "While many, including myself, study using dogs has provided addi- "Alan Oken is a psychic and social may have had intuited something along tional evidence that ephedrine can kill. commentator 'whose real work is in the those lines taking place, it is not some- When the drug was administered to development of consciousness.' He has thing that one puts out as it can cause healthy dogs, no bad effects were been in the field for more than thirty too much potential alarm and panic. noted, but when dogs with reversible, years, has written twelve books, speaks Anybody demonstrating responsibility artificially induced arterial blockages seven languages, and lectures worldwide will know that predictions are not an were given the compound, fibrillation, six months out of the year.'" exact science and as such, caution in or elevated heart rates, were observed— "Martha Woodworth is a tarot reader what is to be put in print must be in some cases, potentially lethal rates. and astrologer specializing in career, cre- demonstrated." (He had information Arterial blockages can occur naturally ativity and relationship advice. She has that might have saved thousands of in humans without being detected, twenty years' experience in the field and people's lives and changed the course of and, judging by this evidence, anyone has taught the psychic crafts at Santa Fe with such a blockage who took history but didn't want to create alarm Community College for seven years. She an ephedrine-based compound for and panic?) weight loss could be in danger of suf- is also a psychic detective who has I did a Web search and found the fering fatal cardiac arrest. The report appeared on Unsolved Mysteries, was the article online at http://alibi.com/ was published in the Journal of the 'Psychic Adviser' columnist for New alibi/2001-01-1 l/feature_section.html. American College of Cardiology on Woman magazine." The predictions had been easily avail- October 26, 2004. "Stan Alexander is a local psychic able for the world to see since January specializing in private readings—tarot, 2001. Oddly, only a few weeks after I —David Park Musella palm, runes, and . He has asked the psychics about their failed been featured in several international predictions, the page had been removed David Park Musella is an editorial assis- publications and television programs from the Weekly Alibi Web site (those tant with SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. and has been a headlining entertainer from other years are still there). This at nightclubs and other venues across action may just be a coincidence, or the country." perhaps the Weekly Alibi received a Psychics (Don't) Explain As the third anniversary of the request from one of the embarrassed Missing September 11 attacks approached, I contacted the psychics who asked them to remove his remaining three by e-mail on August 18, or her glaringly wrong predictions. While going though files on psychics a 2004, to ask about their spectacular fail- Though much harder to find, the site is few months ago, I came across a newspa- ures: "I read through all of them, and archived elsewhere and still accessible at per article listing annual psychic predic- couldn't help but notice that you (and http://web.archive.org/web/ tions—in and of itself, an unremarkable all the other psychics) somehow missed 20010420235304/http://www.alibi. find. The article appeared in die Weekly the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. I was won- com/alibi/2001-01-11 /feature_section. Alibi (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and dering if you had any explanation or html#feat. featured predictions from local psychics comment on this, as it seems very for die following year. What made this strange that so many prominent psy- —Benjamin Radford

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