DOCSLIB.ORG

Nurturing Non-Science

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Nurturing Non-Science Nurturing Non-Science Startling Concepts in the Education of Physicians Early in its history, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine awarded grants to incorporate CAM information into traditional medical school curricula. Have these grants had a positive effect on public health? Eugenie V. Mielczarek and Brian D. Engler magine if departments of physics, chemistry, and biol- at many institutions that evolved into CAM training or curriculum awards. ogy of our most prestigious universities offered courses An examination of the first seven years, Iin astrology, crystal-ball gazing, alchemy, and creation- 1993–2000, a detailed review (Green ism. And imagine if these endeavors were funded by the 2001), listed twenty-eight grants of National Science Foundation (NSF) and if the head of which twelve were for specialty centers. NIH’s earliest awardees that tran- NSF appeared at an international conference celebrat- sitioned from specialty awards to cur- ing these endeavors. Would there be an outcry from riculum development were Bastyr Na- the science community? If you answered yes, then you turopathic College, Palmer College of Chiropractic, and Oregon College must be unaware that the paradigm for this is already of Oriental Medicine, an acupuncture in place and there has been no outcry. Since 1998, $76 college (http://xnet.kp.org/permanen- . million in grants for courses and training in non-science tejournal/fall02/editorial.html) These organizations train practitioners who based medical protocols such as acupuncture, magnets, believe they can heal medical problems Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Qigong, mind-body myths, with non-science based protocols. naturopathic treatments, and Vedic medicine have been This substantial fiduciary encourage- ment of non-science, non-evidence-based funded by the National Institutes velopment with its awards for several curriculum by NCCAM, NIH’s untested of Health (NIH), the federal agency alternative medicine protocols. center, was in direct conflict with its charged with research in medical sci- The absence of an effectively orga- mission “to exemplify and promote the ences. Fifty-three of these awards went nized disapproval from the scientific highest level of scientific integrity, public to academic medical schools and asso- and medical community constitutes an accountability, and social responsibility in ciated organizations. Figure 1 shows indifference to teaching “healing pro- the conduct of science” and with the “mis- funding from NIH’s National Center tocols” that have no place in modern sion of NCCAM . to define, through for Complementary and Alternative medicine and drain our scarce medical rigorous scientific investigation, the use- Medicine (NCCAM) for twenty-four resources. fulness and safety of complementary al- of these fifty-three. Figure 2 shows Even prior to its elevation to an ternative medicine interventions and their funding for organizations teaching NIH center, the Office of Alternative roles in improving health and health care” non-MD specialties. Table 1 compares Medicine (OAM) was committed to (http://www.nccam.nih.gov/about/plans). NCCAM’s funding for curriculum de- funding grants for specialty centers NCCAM’s website also provides 32 Volume 37 Issue 3 | SKEPTICAL INQUIRER education for anyone seeking educa tion in CAM. Units are earned toward a “continuing education certificate” through NIH’s NCCAM site (www. nccam.nih.gov/health/decisions/cre dentialing; www.nccam.nih.gov/train ing/videolectures). out any critique of CAM protocols (Samp These websites are presented with basedmedicine.org/index.php/yes- we-can-we-can-abolish-the-nccam). Worse, NCCAM also de obtain CAM certification from a pri vate organization, the National Certi son 2001; see also www.science fication Commission for Acu and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), which issues diplomas in acupuncture, Chinese herbology, Asian bodywork therapies, and oriental medicine. Cur rently forty-three states plus the Dis trict of Columbia license practitioners of acupuncture and oriental medicine. Almost all of these states require com pletion of NCCAOM’s national writ ten exam, and some states also require a practical exam. There is no mention on NCCAM’s website of the failure of - any of its research grants to discover any scientific validation of these protocols. scribes how to after its inception and before any of its - research grants Startingshowed positivein 2002, re only four years - NC for CAM, NCCAM decided to fund $7 CA $6,500,000 ,000,000 teaching CAM. It awarded - $6,000,000 M lion in R25 education grants to fifteen $5 $5 ,500,000 Cu organizations: twelve medical schools, $4 ,000,000 punc $4 two nursing schools, and one founda ,500,000 rri $3,500,000 ,000,000 tion. The program’s “immediate goal $3,000,000 cu $2,500,000 was to encourage and support the in $2,000,000 lum Gr corporation of CAM information into ture - $1 $1 ,500,000 medical, dental, nursing, and allied - ,000,000 $5 health professional school curricula, res 00,000 idency training programs, and continu an ing education courses. A longer-term ts ov goal was to accelerate the integration of CAM and conventional medicine” - $ er (www.nccam.nih.gov/grants). The - Figure 1. Total of all fifty-three mainstream organizations 2000-2012 (to date) = $67.1 million. (twenty-four 3.2 A.T. Still University of Health Sciences $1 R25 awards plus the inclusion of CAM organizations with awards of over $1 million displayed here) 4 milli curriculum under other programs to American Medical Student Association FDN million to 24 Mains medical schools, previously regarded - on as stellar proponents of science-based - NC Children’s Hospital Boston $2.9 education, became a springboard that CA 3 milli M Georgetown University $ $ Cu 3.9 28.5 mil Group Health Cooperative on rri 6 milli sults cu Harvard University (Medical School) on lum Gr tr Johns Hopkins University eam Or - an $8 Minneapolis Medical Research FDN, INC. 27 ts to gani $4 $ 6.8 Th Oregon Health and Science University - .4 ou 7 milli 5 milli za CA sa - Figure 2. Total of eight awards to CAM organizations (2000–2012) = $8.6 million. Rush University Medical Center tions nd M Or on on Bastyr University Tufts University Boston - gani (2 - University of California Los Angeles 000 $4 za 5 tions University of California San Francisco –201 Th ou $9 University of Illinois at Chicago PR Center for Mind-Body Medicine sa 2) 64 (2 nd Th 000 University of Kentucky $2.6 OGR ou CAM Curriculum Development and sa –201 7 milli nd University of Michigan at Ann Arbor $1 AM/ .3 on 8 M University of Minnesota Twin Cities Table 1. CAM Curriculum Development and Training funding compared to several CAM protocols also funded National College of Natural Medicine 2) Botanicals by NCCAM since the late 1990s. *Included in Distance Healing: Reiki, Qigong, Therapeutic Touch, and prayer. Mind-Body illi University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Acupuncture PROT on Distance Healing* University of North Texas HLTH SCI CTR Maharishi Vedic MedicineMushroom Extract Training $9 University of Pennsylvania $2. $ Magnetic Fields OC 75 3.0 National University of Health Sciences 49 Th 9 milli University of Texas Medical BR Galveston milli OL ou sa on nd University of Toronto on $8 University of Virgina Charlottesville Northwestern Health Sciences 04 $2.2 Th University of Washington ou 1 M sa nd illi on Oregon College of Oriental Medicine $1 .3 Palmer College of Chiropractic 8 M illi FU on $193 million $157 million NDIN $78 million University of Western States $76 million G $22 million $3 million $2 million $0.4 million Skeptical Inquirer | May/June 2013 33 mote-viewing (http://takingcharge. MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL csh.umn.edu/interviews/interview-rus- sell-targ-0). In 2009, this CAM pro- gram affiliated with a local clinic, University of Minnesota Hennepin Integrative Health Ser- $3.4 Million vices, offering acupuncture and chiro- practic care. Also associated with the Center for Spirituality and Healing are community college programs at School of Medicine School of Nursing Anoka-Ramsey Community College, whose certificate includes energy heal- ing courses. Some of the center’s courses were Reiki classes for all ages—which Center for Spiritual Healing advertised that even “children can learn to practice” (http://takingcharge.csh. umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/ reiki/what-can-i-expect-typical-reiki- Life Sciences Foundation session). In addition, from 2001–2006 the Minneapolis Research Foundation Anoka-Ramsey (Richard Hugo Grimm, P.I.) was Reiki Classes Hennepin Integrative Community College Northwestern Health awarded $4 million for training CAM Adults* Children** Care Clinic Certifcate in Sciences University clinical investigators. The proposals * Integrative Care Energy Healing Courses emphasized the growing social need ** “Even children can learn to practice” to serve Americans desiring CAM. It detailed the cooperation of six health Figure 3. The reach of non-proven CAM protocols into the Minneapolis-St. Paul community. institutions in the area and graduate degrees in CAM at the University of Minneapolis-St. Paul propelled CAM services into commu- Minnesota. Participating institutions nity hospitals. One of the largest efforts of NCCAM included not only the Hennepin Inte- But NIH does not limit studying curriculum development, $3.9 million, grative Health Services but also a chi- CAM to medical students. From 2000– has been directed to Minneapolis-St. ropractic college, Northwestern Health 2012, the total sum of awards falling Paul. From 2000–2004, the Univer- Sciences University. The total funding under the mantle of CAM pedagogy to sity of Minnesota (Mary Jo Kreitzer, from NCCAM into the Minneapolis P.I.) was awarded $1.5 million from community from 2000–2006 for CAM both mainstream medical schools and $ CAM schools was $76 million. NCCAM “. to integrate comple- was 5.5 million. Figure 3 illustrates Many of the earliest and most largely mentary and cross-cultural care and the reach of these non-proven protocols funded curriculum grants were awarded spirituality into the academic, research, into the Minneapolis community.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Beginner's Guide to 'Holistic' Wellness
    BOOK REVIEWS in the progression of the disease when The Beginner’s Guide to prayer was used” (p. 98). For such a bold statement, the evidence is pretty weak, ‘Holistic’ Wellness however. There are very few studies on DIMITRY ROTSTEIN personal prayer (none are double-blind, of course), and their results are mixed Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine. By The Mayo even for treating purely psychological Clinic. Time Inc. Home Entertainment Books, New York, symptoms. More disturbing is the fact 2007. ISBN: 1-933405-92-9. 192 pp. Hardcover, $24.95. that the book doesn’t make a distinc- tion between personal and intercessory prayer, even though the latter is known to have no effect according to well-de- he Mayo Clinic Book of mean that perhaps we skeptics have signed studies (including one by the Alterna tive Medicine is the been unfair to “alternative medicine” Mayo Clinic itself). None of these facts most significant publication of and that there is more to it than just T is ever mentioned. In summary, the evi- the Mayo Clinic Complementary and placebo, self-delusion, quackery, or, at dence of the effectiveness of these “ther- Integrative Medicine Program’s team, best, some outdated healing techniques? apies” against any real disease is either which has been studying various forms Perhaps not. dubious or non-existent. Of course, of complementary and alternative medi- True, of the twenty-five CAM ther- controlling such factors as stress and cine (CAM, for short) since 2001. Here apies, fourteen are recommended as depression is important for your health, you will find nothing but reliable and safe and effective for “treating” various but there is no indication that any of the easy-to-understand information from diseases.
    [Show full text]
  • Searching for Security in the Mystical the Function of Paranormal Beliefs
    Searching for Security in the Mystical The Function of Paranormal Beliefs MARTIN R. GRIMMER ver the past two decades, the paranor- mal has enjoyed something of a revival Owithin popular culture. There have been countless books, magazine and newspaper articles, movies, and television programs devoted to topics ranging from UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, lost continents, Yetis, and Belief in the the Loch Ness monster, to pyramid power, astrology, levitation, telepathy, precognition, paranormal and poltergeists. Sociologist Marcello Truzzi appears to satisfy (1972) suggested that this boom in paranormal interest began around the late sixties, noting some very basic, if that Ouija boards outsold such popular board inconsistent games as Monopoly. human needs. It Lately, the paranormal seems to have mani- fested in the form of the New Age movement— will probably a loose combination of ideas encompassing spir- remain with us itualism, mysticism, alternative healing, and a healthy dose of commercialism. Some may think forever. this is mainly an American phenomenon, but it is estimated that Australians alone now spend $100 million a year on personal-transformation courses that delve deeply into such fringe areas as rebirthing, shamanism, channeling, and crystal healing. To some observers, the New Age movement is seen as a sort of quasi-religious justification for "yuppiedom"—how to make money and feel "really great" about it at the same time. Winter 1992 Research studies worldwide have written on this topic, several themes revealed an extensive belief in and in the human motive to believe can acceptance of the paranormal. In a be identified. survey of the readers of Britain's New First, paranormal beliefs may oper- Scientist magazine, a high proportion ate to reassure the believer that there of whom are reported to hold post- is order and control in what may graduate degrees, Evans (1973) found otherwise appear to be a chaotic that 67 percent believed that ESP was universe (Frank 1977).
    [Show full text]
  • The Pseudoscience of Anti-Anti-Ufology
    SI Sept/Oct 2009 pgs 7/29/09 11:24 AM Page 28 PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS ROBERT SHEAFFER The Pseudoscience of Anti-Anti-UFOlogy Many readers are surely familiar with is more their style. Deception is the practiced prestidigitation can never be author and pro-UFO lecturer Stanton T. name of the game.” trusted in anything. He criticizes Friedman, who calls himself the “Flying Friedman goes on to name names: Nickell for raising “the baseless Project Saucer physicist” because he actually did He critiques Joe Nickell’s article “Return Mogul explanation” for Roswell, which work in physics about fifty years ago (al- cannot be correct, says Friedman, though not since). Well, Stanton is upset because it does not match the claims by the skeptical writings contained in made in later years by alleged Roswell SI’s special issue on UFOs (January- witnesses (although it does match quite /February 2009) and elsewhere. He has well the account of Mac Brazel, the orig- written two papers thus far denouncing inal witness, given in 1947). us, and it is the subject of his Keynote He moves on to my critique of the Address at the MUFON Conference in Betty and Barney Hill case, where I note August. the resemblance of their “hypnosis UFO In February, Friedman wrote an arti- testimony” to Betty Hill’s post-incident cle, “Debunkers at it Again,” reviewing dreams. I wrote, “Barney had heard her our UFO special issue (www.theufo repeat [them] many times,” which he chronicles.com/2009/02/debunkers-at- claims is “nonsense.” According to it-again.html).
    [Show full text]
  • SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol
    SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol. 18. No. 4 THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, an international organization. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock, Barry Beyerstein, Susan J. Blackmore, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Philip J. Klass, Paul Kurtz, Joe Nickell, Lee Nisbet, Bela Scheiber. Consulting Editors Robert A. Baker, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Contributing Editor Lys Ann Shore. Writer Intern Thomas C. Genoni, Jr. Cartoonist Rob Pudim. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Assistant Business Manager Sandra Lesniak. Chief Data Officer Richard Seymour. Fulfillment Manager Michael Cione. Production Paul E. Loynes. Art Linda Hays. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian Jonathan Jiras. Staff Alfreda Pidgeon, Etienne C. Rios, Ranjit Sandhu, Sharon Sikora, Elizabeth Begley (Albuquerque). The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo. Barry Karr, Executive Director and Public Relations Director. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock,* psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of Kentucky; Stephen Barrett, M.D., psychiatrist, author, consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist, Simon Fraser Univ., Vancouver, B.C., Canada; Irving Biederman, psychologist, Univ. of Southern California; Susan Blackmore,* psychologist, Univ. of the West of England, Bristol; Henri Broch, physicist, Univ. of Nice, France; Jan Harold Brunvand, folklorist, professor of English, Univ.
    [Show full text]
  • Violent Video Games: Dogma, Fear, and Pseudoscience
    SI Sept/Oct 2009 pgs 7/22/09 2:33 PM Page 38 Violent Video Games: Dogma, Fear, and Pseudoscience Video games are at the center of a modern media-based moral panic. Too often, social scientists have fueled the flames and eschewed good scientific practices. CHRISTOPHER J. FERGUSON chool shootings at high schools and universities are rare but shocking events. Across the last decade or so Swe have come to understand a little about the psychol- ogy of the young men who carry out such horrific crimes. Most typically they are emotionally disturbed, often de- pressed, feel socially isolated and alienated from society, and are filled with rage and hatred. It is natural for society to want easy answers about how such a phenomenon can be controlled. Social scientists want to give those answers. Unfortunately, the human inclination to believe we can pre- dict the unpredictable and control the uncontrollable often leads us to mask the language of fear and irrationality in the language of science. 38 Volume 33, Issue 5 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI Sept/Oct 2009 pgs 7/22/09 2:33 PM Page 39 In the case of school shootings and youth violence in gen- son and David Grossman might be forgiven for inflaming fears eral, some scientists have answered the public demand for a with exaggerated claims. Grossman, for instance, has promul- culprit. The alleged corrupting influence of violent video gated the false notion that the military uses video games to games has been identified by some as one root cause. Ignoring desensitize soldiers to killing (they do use simulators for visual the youth-violence data, ignoring inconsistent data from mul- scanning and reaction time and vehicle training, but they seem tiple studies, even ignoring contradictory data from their own more effective in reducing accidental shootings than anything studies, some social scientists have presented the research on else).
    [Show full text]
  • SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol
    SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol. 1818,, No . 2No. 2 ^^ Winter 1994 Winter / 1994/$6.2$6.255 Paul Kurtz William Grey THE NEW THE PROBLEM SKEPTICISM OF 'PSI' Cancer Scares i*5"***-"" —-^ 44 "74 47CT8 3575" 5 THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, an international organization. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock, Barry Beyerstein, Susan J. Blackmore, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Philip J. Klass, Paul Kurtz, Joe Nickell, Lee Nisbet, Bela Scheiber. Consulting Editors Robert A. Baker, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Contributing Editor Lys Ann Shore. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Assistant Business Manager Sandra Lesniak. Chief Data Officer Richard Seymour. Computer Assistant Michael Cione. Production Paul E. Loynes. Asst. Managing Editor Cynthia Matheis. Art Linda Hays. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian Jonathan Jiras. Staff Alfreda Pidgeon, Ranjit Sandhu, Sharon Sikora, Elizabeth Begley (Albuquerque). Cartoonist Rob Pudim. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo. Barry Karr, Executive Director and Public Relations Director. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock,* psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of Kentucky; Stephen Barrett, M.D., psychiatrist, "author, consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist, Simon Fraser Univ., Vancouver, B.C., Canada; Irving Biederman, psychologist, Univ.
    [Show full text]
  • Skep Ti Cal in Quir Er™ the MAG a ZINE for SCI ENCE and REA SON 44 Doctor-Bashing Arguments EDI TOR Kend Rick Fra Zi Er EDI to RI AL BOARD James E
    [ FROM THE EDITOR Skep ti cal In quir er™ THE MAG A ZINE FOR SCI ENCE AND REA SON 44 Doctor-Bashing Arguments ED I TOR Kend rick Fra zi er ED I TO RI AL BOARD James E. Al cock, Harriet Hall, Ray Hy man, Scott O. Lilienfeld, . and Harriet Hall’s Rebuttals Elizabeth Loftus, Joe Nickell, Steven Novella, Am ar deo Sar ma, Eugenie C. Scott, Karen Stollznow, David E. Thomas, ou’ve heard the arguments: “Doctors only treat symptoms, not the underlying Leonard Tramiel cause of disease.” “You are just supporting the party line of mainstream medi- CON SULT ING ED I TORS Sus an J. Black more, Ken neth L. Fed er, Barry Karr, E.C. Krupp, Ycine.” “Doctors don’t do prevention.” “Alternative medicine is better because it’s Jay M. Pasachoff, Rich ard Wis e man holistic.” “It’s natural, therefore it’s safe.” “We have plenty of testimonials.” CON TRIB UT ING ED I TORS D.J. Grothe, Harriet Hall, Kenneth W. Krause, David Morrison, James E. Enthusiasts for so-called alternative medicine are fond of hurling these Oberg, Massimo Pigliucci, Rob ert Sheaf fer, David and other doctor-bashing arguments back at physicians and others who have E. Thomas the temerity to question their untested alternative remedies and fads. All phy- DEPUTY ED I TOR Ben ja min Rad ford Julia Lavarnway sicians, especially those who publicly defend science-based medicine, have MAN A GING ED I TOR ART DI RECT OR Chri sto pher Fix found themselves on the receiving end of such insults to themselves and their PRO DUC TION Paul E.
    [Show full text]
  • Four Examples of Pseudoscience
    Four Examples of Pseudoscience Marcos Villavicencio Tenerife, Canarias, Spain E-mail address: [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6700-4872 January 2020 Abstract A relevant issue in the philosophy of science is the demarcation problem: how to distinguish science from nonscience, and, more specifically, science from pseudoscience. Sometimes, the demarcation problem is debated from a very general perspective, proposing demarcation criteria to separate science from pseudoscience, but without discussing any specific field in detail. This article aims to focus the demarcation problem on particular disciplines or theories. After considering a set of demarcation criteria, four pseudosciences are examined: psychoanalysis, speculative evolutionary psychology, universal grammar, and string theory. It is concluded that these theoretical frameworks do not meet the requirements to be considered genuinely scientific. Keywords Demarcation Problem · Pseudoscience · Psychoanalysis · Evolutionary psychology · Universal grammar · String theory 1 Introduction The demarcation problem is the issue of how to differentiate science from nonscience in general and pseudoscience in particular. Even though expressions such as “demarcation problem” or “pseudoscience” were still not used, some consider that an early interest for demarcation existed as far back as the time of ancient Greece, when Aristotle separated episteme (scientific knowledge) from mere doxa (opinion), holding that apodictic certainty is the basis of science (Laudan 1983, p. 112). Nowadays, the issue of demarcation continues being discussed. Certainly, demarcating science from pseudoscience is not a topic of exclusive philosophical interest. Scientists and members of skeptical organizations such as the Committee for Scientific Inquiry also deal with this crucial theme. The issue of how to recognize pseudoscience not only affects academia.
    [Show full text]
  • Skeptical Inquirer
    the Skeptical Inquirer THE NEUROPATHOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL POSSESSION ^ Alien Abductions: Psychology & Folklore The MJ-12 Documents: Part II Homeopathy Clinic / Test of Sheldrake Abigail's Apparition / Ghost Lights VOL XII NO. 3 / SPRING 1988 $6.00 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. (Class, Paul Kurtz, James Randi. Consulting Editors Isaac Asimov, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Public Relations Director Barry Karr. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Systems Programmer Richard Seymour. Art Kathy Kostek Typesetting Paul E. Loynes. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian, Ranjit Sandhu. Staff Michael Cione, Donald Crutchfield, Crystal Folts, Leland Harrington, Laura Muench, Erin O'Hare, Alfreda Pidgeon, Kathy Reeves. 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, Special Projects Director. Mark Plummer, Executive Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock, psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Eduardo Amaldi, physicist. University of Rome, Italy. Isaac Asimov, biochemist, author; Irving Biederman, psychologist, University of Minnesota; Susan Blackmore, psycholo­ gist, Brain Perception Laboratory, University of Bristol, England; Brand Blanshard, philosopher, Yale; Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill University; Bette Chambers, A.H.A.; John R.
    [Show full text]
  • War of the Weasels an Evolutionary Algorithm Beats Intelligent Design
    War of the Weasels An Evolutionary Algorithm Beats Intelligent Design How an intelligent design theorist was bested in a public math competition by a genetic algorithm—a computer simulation of evolution. DAVE THOMAS n the summer of 2006, a different kind of war was waged on the Internet—a war between computer programs writ - Iten by both evolutionary scientists and by intelligent design (ID) advocates. The war came to a climax in a public math competition in which dozens of humans stepped for - ward to compete against each other and against genetic (“evo - lutionary”) computer algorithms. The results were stunning: The official representative of the intelligent design commu - nity was outperformed by an evolutionary algorithm, thus learning Orgel’s Second Law—“Evolution is smarter than you are”—the hard way. In addition, the same IDer’s attempt to make a genetic algorithm that achieved a specific target without “specification” of that target was publicly exposed as 42 Volume 34, Issue 3 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER a rudimentary sham. And finally, two pillars of ID theory, get. However, this precise specification was used only for a “irreducible complexity” and “complex specified information” tutorial demonstration of the power of cumulative selection rather were shown not to be beyond the capabilities of evolution, than for generation of true novelty. In the Dawkins example, contrary to official ID dogma. the known target is the phrase from Hamlet, “Methinks it is like a weasel.” The organisms are initially random strings of Genetic Algorithms twenty-eight characters each. Every generation is tested, and “Genetic algorithms” (GAs) are computerized simulations of the string that is closest to the target Weasel phrase is selected evolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Alternative Medicine an the White House Commission
    Sept. 11 Conspiracy Book • Moscow Mysteries • The Return of Spring-Heeled Jack Alternative Medicine an the White House Commission . • 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, Senior 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 Irmgard Oepen, professor of medicine Toronto and Sciences, prof, of philosophy. University (retired), Marburg, Germany Jerry Andrus, magician and inventor, Albany, of Miami Loren Pankratz. psychologist, Oregon Health Oregon C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Wales Sciences Univ. Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor-in-chief, Al Hibbs, scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory John Paulos, mathematician, Temple Univ. New England Journal of Medicine Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist, MIT Robert A. Baker, psychologist. Univ. of understanding and cognitive science, Massimo Polidoro, science writer, author, Kentucky Indiana Univ. executive director CICAP, Italy Stephen Barrett M.D., psychiatrist, author, Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Professor of Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. of consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Physics and professor of history of science. Chicago Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist, Simon Harvard Univ. Wallace Sampson, M.D., clinical professor of Fraser Univ., Vancouver, B.C., Canada Ray Hyman,* psychologist, Univ. of Oregon medicine, Stanford Univ., editor. Scientific Irving Biederman, psychologist Univ. of Leon Jaroff, sciences editor emeritus, 77me Review of Alternative Medicine Southern California Sergei Kapitza, former editor, Russian edition, Amardeo Sarma, engineer, head of dept.
    [Show full text]
  • Dowsing: the Instabilities of Evidential Competition 1. Introduction
    April 3, September 27, 2020 February 20, 2021 DRAFT Dowsing: The Instabilities of Evidential Competition John D. Norton http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton Chapter for a book provisionally titled The Large Scale Structure of Inductive Inference 1. Introduction Chapter 4, “The Uniqueness of Domain-Specific Inductive Logics,” addressed the possibility that a single collection of empirical facts might evidentially support multiple sciences equally well. This circumstance would negate the power of evidence to determine a definite theory and compromise the uniqueness of our mature sciences. Worse, since these facts also determine the applicable inductive logic, we would then have multiple logics applicable in the same domain. Inductive anarchy would prevail. In that earlier chapter, I argued that this possibility has not arisen in the case of mature sciences, which are well-supported by an extensive body of empirical evidence. There is, for example, only one periodic table of the elements and only one chemistry derived from it. Further I argued that the material theory of induction provides a mechanism that precludes the persistence of equal support for such multiple sciences. It is based on an instability in the competition among rival theories. Any gain by one of them enhances its inductive reach, while at the same time weakening that of the competitor. The enhanced theory is then better placed to achieve more successes at the expense of its rival. A continuation of the process leads to the evidential dominance of one theory. Where might we look to see this process acting within real sciences? The natural place is among the many fields of endeavor labeled as pseudosciences: astrology, parapsychology, telepathy, telekinesis, crystal healing, psychic surgery and much more.
    [Show full text]