SI Sept Oct 2011 2_SI JF 10 V1 7/21/11 2:21 PM Page 1

Stem Cell Hype | Death of Sai Baba | Chastity Belts | Search for the Emerald Grail | Hume’s ‘On Miracles’

Vol. 35 No. 5 | September/October 2011 THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE & REASON

first of a three-part series

9/119/11 Truther Conference

The Haunted Brain: Ghosts on the Mind

Perpetual Motion Devices, Again and Again

Published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:56 PM Page 2

AT THE CEN TERFOR IN QUIRY –TRANSNATIONAL

Paul Kurtz, Founder Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Richard Schroeder, Chairman Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO Benjamin Radford, Research Fellow www.csicop.org Bar ry Karr, Ex ec u tive Di rect or Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow

James E. Al cock*, psy chol o gist, York Univ., Tor on to Thom as Gi lov ich, psy chol o gist, Cor nell Univ. Jay M. Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor of Mar cia An gell, MD, former ed itor-in-chief, Wendy M. Grossman, writer; founder and first editor, Astronomy and director of the Hopkins New Eng land Jour nal of Med i cine The Skeptic magazine (UK) Observatory, Williams College Kimball Atwood IV, MD, physician; author; Sus an Haack, Coop er Sen ior Schol ar in Arts and John Pau los, math e ma ti cian, Tem ple Univ. Newton, MA Sci en ces, professor of phi los o phy and professor Massimo Pigliucci, professor of philosophy, of Law, Univ. of Mi ami Steph en Bar rett, MD, psy chi a trist; au thor; con sum er City Univ. of New York–Lehman College ad vo cate, Al len town, PA , MD, family physician; investigator, Stev en Pink er, cog nitive sci en tist, Harvard Univ. Willem Betz,MD, professor of medicine, Univ. of Brussels Puyallup, WA Ir ving Bie der man, psychol o gist, Univ. of C.E.M. Han sel, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Wales Philip Plait, astronomer; lecturer; writer South ern CA David J. Helfand, professor of astronomy, Mas si mo Pol id oro, sci ence writer; au thor; ex ec u tive Sandra Blakeslee, science writer; author; New York Columbia Univ. di rect or of CI CAP, It a ly Times science correspondent Doug las R. Hofstad ter, pro fes sor of human Anthony R. Pratkanis, professor of psychology, Univ. of Sus an Black more, vis it ing lec tur er, Univ. of the West un der stand ing and cog ni tive sci ence, In di ana Univ. California, Santa Cruz of Eng land, Bris tol Ger ald Hol ton, Mal linc krodt Profes sor of Phys ics and Benjamin Radford, investigator; research fellow, Mark Boslough, physicist, Sandia National Laborato- pro fes sor of his to ry of sci ence, Har vard Univ. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry ries, Albuquerque, NM Ray Hy man*, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Or e gon James “The Amazing” Randi, magician; CSICOP Hen ri Broch, phys i cist, Univ. of Nice, Le on Jar off, sci en ces ed itor emer i tus, Time founding member; founder, Jan Har old Brun vand, folk lor ist; pro fes sor emer i tus Stuart D. Jordan, NASA astrophysicist emeritus; Educational Foundation of Eng lish, Univ. of Utah science advisor to Center for Inquiry Office of Mil ton Ro sen berg, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Chic a go Mar io Bunge, phi los o pher, McGill Univ., Montreal Public Policy, Washington, DC Wal la ce Sam pson, MD, clin i cal pro fes sor of med i cine, Robert T. Carroll, emeritus professor of philosophy, Ser gei Ka pit za, former ed i tor, Rus sian edi tion, Sacramento City College; writer Sci en tif ic Amer i can Stan ford Univ.; ed i tor, Sci en tif ic Re view of Sean B. Carroll, molecular geneticist; vice president Barry Karr, executive director, Committee for Al ter na tive Med i cine for science education, Howard Hughes Medical Skeptical Inquiry, Amherst, New York Am ar deo Sar ma*, chairman, GWUP, Ger ma ny Institute, Madison, WI Law rence M. Krauss, foundation professor, School Richard Saunders, vice president, Australian Thomas R. Casten, energy expert; founder and of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Dept.; Skeptics; educator; investigator; podcaster; chairman, Recycled Energy Development, director, Origins Initiative, Arizona State Univ. Sydney, Australia Westmont, IL Harry Kroto, professor of chemistry and Eu ge nie C. Scott*, phys i cal an thro pol o gist; ex ec u tive John R. Cole, an thro pol o gist; ed i tor, Na tion al biochemistry, Florida State Univ.; Nobel laureate di rect or, Nation al Cen ter for Sci ence Ed u cation Cen ter for Sci ence Ed u ca tion Ed win C. Krupp, as tron o mer; di rect or, K.C. Cole, science writer; author; professor, Grif fith Ob ser va to ry, Los Angeles, CA Rob ert Sheaf fer, sci ence writer Univ. of Southern California’s Annenberg Paul Kurtz, professor emeritus of philosophy, El ie A. Shneour, bi o chem ist; au thor; president and School of Journalism SUNY at Buffalo research director, Bi os ys tems Re search In sti tute, Fred er ick Crews, lit er ary and cul tur al crit ic; pro fes sor Law rence Kusche, sci ence writer La Jol la, CA emer i tus of Eng lish, Univ. of CA, Berke ley Le on Le der man, emer i tus di rect or, Fer mi lab; Seth Shostak, senior astronomer, SETI Institute, Rich ard Dawk ins, zo ol o gist, Ox ford Univ. No bel lau re ate in phys ics Mountain View, CA Geof frey Dean, tech ni cal ed i tor, Perth, Aus tral ia Scott O. Lil i en feld*, psy chol o gist, Emory Univ., Simon Singh, science writer; broadcaster; UK Cor nel is de Ja ger, pro fes sor of as tro phys ics, Atlanta, GA Dick Smith,film pro duc er; pub lish er; Ter rey Hills, Univ. of Utrecht, the Neth er lands Lin Zix in, former ed i tor, Sci ence and N.S.W., Aus tral ia Dan i el C. Den nett, Aus tin B. Fletch er Pro fes sor Tech nol o gy Dai ly (Chi na) Keith E. Stanovich, cognitive psychologist; of Phi los o phy and di rect or of Cen ter for Cog ni tive Je re Lipps, Mu se um of Pa le on tol o gy, Univ. of CA, Stud ies, Tufts Uni v. Berke ley professor of human development and applied psychology, Uni v. of Toronto Ann Druyan, writer and producer; CEO, Eliz a beth Loft us*, pro fes sor of psy chol o gy, Cosmos Studios, Ithaca, NY Univ. of CA, Ir vine Rob ert Stein er, ma gi cian; au thor; El Cer ri to, CA Sanal Edamaruku, president, Indian Rationalist Da vid Marks, psy chol o gist, City Univ., Lon don Vic tor J. Sten ger, emer i tus pro fes sor of phys ics Association and Rationalist International Mar io Men dez-Acos ta, jour nal ist and sci ence writer, and as tron o my, Univ. of Ha waii; ad junct pro fes sor Edzard Ernst, professor, Complementary Medicine, Mex i co City of phi los o phy, Univ. of CO Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Kenneth R. Miller, professor of biology, *, linguist; skeptical investigator; Plymouth, Exeter, UK Brown Univ. writer; podcaster Ken neth Fed er, pro fes sor of an thro pol o gy, Marv in Min sky, pro fes sor of me dia arts and sci en ces, Jill Cor nell Tar ter,as tron o mer, SE TI In sti tute, Cen tral Con nec ti cut State Univ. M.I.T. Barbara Forrest, professor of philosophy, Moun tain View, CA Da vid Mor ri son, space sci en tist, NA SA Ames Re search Car ol Tav ris,psy chol o gist and au thor, Los Ange les, CA SE Louisiana Univ. Cen ter An drew Fra knoi, as tron o mer, Foot hill Col lege, Rich ard A. Mul ler, pro fes sor of phys ics, Univ. of CA, Da vid E. Thom as*, phys i cist and math e ma ti cian, Los Al tos Hills, CA Berke ley Per al ta, NM Kend rick Fra zier*, sci ence writer; ed i tor, Joe Nick ell, sen ior re search fel low, CSI Neil de Grasse Ty son, as tro phys i cist and di rect or, SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER Jan Willem Nienhuys, mathematician, Waalre, Hay den Plan e tar i um, New York City Christopher C. French, professor, Department the Ma ri lyn vos Sa vant, Pa rade mag a zine of Psychology, and head of the Anomalistic Lee Nis bet, phi los o pher, Medaille Col lege con trib ut ing ed i tor Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths College, Univ. of , MD, assistant professor Stev en Wein berg, pro fes sor of phys ics and as tron o my, Yves Gal i fret, executive secretary, of neurology, Yale Univ. School of Medicine Univ. of Tex as at Austin; No bel lau re ate Bill Nye, sci ence ed u ca tor and tel e vi sion host, l’Union Rationaliste E.O. Wil son, Univ. pro fes sor emer i tus, organismic and Nye Labs Luigi Garlaschelli, chemist, Università di Pavia evolutionary biology, Har vard Univ. James E. Oberg, sci ence writer (Italy); research fellow of CICAP, Rich ard Wis e man, psy chol o gist, Univ. the Italian skeptics group Irm gard Oe pen, pro fes sor of med i cine (re tired), of Hert ford shire, Maryanne Garry, professor, School of Psychology, Mar burg, Ger ma ny Victoria Univ. of Wellington, New Zealand Lor en Pan kratz, psy chol o gist, Or e gon Health Benjamin Wolozin*, professor, Department of Mur ray Gell-Mann, pro fes sor of phys ics, San ta Fe Sci en ces Univ. Pharmacology, Boston Univ. School of Medicine In sti tute; No bel lau re ate Robert L. Park,professor of physics, Univ. of Maryland Marv in Zel en, stat is ti cian, Har vard Univ.

* Mem ber, CSI Ex ec u tive Coun cil (Af fil i a tions giv en for iden ti fi ca tion only.) SI Sept. Oct 11_SI new design masters 7/26/11 2:49 PM Page 3

Skep ti cal In quir er September/October 2011 | Vol. 35, No. 5

38 COLUMNS Civilizations Lost and Found: FROM THE EDITOR Fabricating History Who Really Wants Reliable Scientific Information? ...... 4 Part One: An Alternate Reality KENNETH FEDER, BRADLEY T. LEPPER, NEWS AND COMMENT Comet Elenin Will Not Destroy Earth This TERRY A. BARNHART, and Year/Power Balance, Down and Out in DEBORAH A. BOLNICK Australia/Loftus, Stollznow Join CSI Executive Council /Play It Again, Sylvia: 46 Failed Predictions on bin Laden, The Haunted Brain Aliens/Casten Elected a Fellow of CSI/Holly Bobo Still Missing; Psychics RICHARD WISEMAN Hurt Investigation ...... 5 51 IN VES TI GA TIVE FILES The Perpetual Quest In Search of the Emerald Grail JOE NICK ELL...... 24 DIMITRY ROTSTEIN NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD The Myth of Chastity Belts MAS SI MO POLIDORO ...... 27 COMMENTARIES THINKING ABOUT SCI ENCE 11 On Miracles—Again An Ambitious, Hopeful MAS SI MO PI GLI UC CI...... 29 Response to 9/11 PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS CHARLES M. WYNN SR. Commie Nazi Saucer Crashed at Roswell 13 ROBERT SHEAFFER...... 31 THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE When the Shrinks Ignore Selling Stem Cell Hype Science, Sue Them STEVEN NOVELLA ...... 34 JAMES D. HERBERT SKEPTICAL INQUIREE AND RICHARD REDDING : Dubious, Discredited, and Dangerous BENJAMIN RADFORD...... 36 SPECIAL REPORTS 16 NEW BOOKS ...... 58 Engineering Truth LETTERS TO THE EDI TOR...... 63 REVIEWS ROBERT BLASKIEWICZ THE LAST LAUGH...... 66 Why Belief Always A Flawed Attempt to 21 Comes First Reconcile Religion The Life and Death HARRIET HALL...... 57 and Science of ‘Living God’ Sathya e Believing Brain JIM CLARK...... 60 Sai Baba by Michael Shermer e Language of Science and Faith: RYAN SHAFFER Straight Answers to Genuine Eight Impediments Questions FORUM to Rationality by Karl W. Giberson PETER LAMAL...... 59 and Francis S. Collins 54 Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get The Flying Spaghetti Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole A Modern Fable Monster and the by Stephen Law about Science Pastafarian Quatrains and Religion JONATHAN C. SMITH JOE SZIMHART...... 61

The Follow-Up piece to Reynold Spector’s article “Seven Deadly Medical Hypotheses,” e Monkey Bible: originally planned for this issue, is available online at www.csicop.org. A Modern Allegory We hope to publish it in the next issue of the . by Mark Laxer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:56 PM Page 4

[ FROM THE EDITOR Skep ti cal In quir er™ THE MAG A ZINE FOR SCI ENCE AND REA SON

Who Really Wants Reliable ED I TOR Kend rick Fra zi er ED I TO RI AL BOARD James E. Al cock, Scientific Information? Thom as Cas ten, Ray Hy man, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Loftus, Joe Nick ell, Am ar deo Sar ma, Eugenie C. Scott, Karen Stollznow, David E. Thomas, was on a panel at the recent Northeast Conference on Science and Leonard Tramiel, Benjamin Wolozin in New York City. This was a combined conference of two fine local groups, CON SULT ING ED I TORS Sus an J. Black more, the New England Skeptical Society and the New York City Skeptics. My Ken neth L. Fed er, Barry Karr, E. C. Krupp, I Da vid F. Marks, Jay M. Pasachoff, Rich ard Wis e man panel, moderated by former Scientific American Editor in Chief John Rennie, CON TRIB UT ING ED I TORS Austin Dacey, D.J. Grothe, was charged to consider the question, “How can we effectively filter the deluge Harriet Hall, Kenneth W. Krause, Chris Moon ey, James E. Oberg, Rob ert Sheaf fer, Karen Stollznow of information to which we are now exposed via modern communications tech- DEPUTY ED I TOR Ben ja min Rad ford nology to find the most reputable and reliable sources?” MAN A GING ED I TOR Julia Lavarnway That is a timely and vital topic, and my fellow panelists dealt with it admirably. ART DI RECT OR Chri sto pher Fix I felt I should play a gadfly role by asking a more fundamental question: “Who PRO DUC TION Paul E. Loynes assumes most people want ‘reputable and reliable sources’?” Perhaps I was in an ASSISTANT EDITOR Julia Burke WEB DEVELOPER Jon Childress uncharacteristically pessimistic mood due to so many recent examples in public PUBLISH ER’S REP RE SENT A TIVE Bar ry Karr discourse of exactly what I’m talking about. I’m usually an optimist, a glass-half- COR PO RATE COUN SELS Derek C. Araujo, full kind of person. But lately we’ve all seen that in regard to acceptance of sci- Bren ton N. Ver Ploeg entific findings that are in any way unwelcome or uncomfortable, the glassware BUSI NESS MAN A GER Pa tri cia Beau champ FIS CAL OF FI CER Paul Pau lin is at least half empty—and it’s cracked and leaking. Many examples have been VICE PRESIDENT OF PLANNING AND DEVEL OPMENT reported in our pages in recent issues (on topics such as evolution, climate Sherry Rook change, the 9/11 attacks, and much else); others occur daily, especially in the DATA OF FI CER Jacalyn Mohr STAFF Melissa Braun, Cheryl Catania, public arena. Roe Giambrone, Leah Gordon, An tho ny San ta Lu cia, The question I posed is the more basic problem, isn’t it? Oh, when it comes John Sul li van, Vance Vi grass to strictly factual matters of no emotional import (What time does my plane get COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Michelle Blackley IN QUIRY ME DIA PRO DUC TIONS Thom as Flynn in? What is the world’s population? What is Lady Gaga’s real name?), we seek DI RECT OR OF LI BRAR IES Tim o thy S. Binga out the best, most reliable sources. They are readily available on the web, in print, The SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER is the of fi cial and elsewhere. jour nal of the Com mit tee for Skeptical Inquiry, But when it comes to matters that we have a personal stake in, things that affect an in ter na tion al or gan i za tion. our core values and beliefs, we really don’t necessarily want “reputable and reliable” The SKEP TI CALIN QUIR ER(ISSN 0194-6730) is pub lished bi month - ly by the Com mit tee for Skeptical Inquiry, 3965 Rensch Road, sources. What we really want is information that supports our beliefs. And that’s Am herst, NY 14228. Print ed in U.S.A. Pe ri od i cals post age paid what we seek. Few people will admit to that—we are very human after all—but at Buf fa lo, NY, and at ad di tion al mail ing of fi ces. Sub scrip tion pri ces: one year (six is sues), $35; two years, $60; three psychologists know these processes well. Our minds are laser beacons for narrowly years, $84; sin gle is sue, $4.95. Ca na di an and foreign or ders: seeking out and finding what information supports our already formed belief sys- Pay ment in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank must ac com pa - ny or ders; please add US$10 per year for ship ping. Ca na di an tems—and they resist, ignore, belittle, negate, denigrate, or deny altogether all con- and for eign cus tom ers are en cour aged to use Vi sa or Mas ter - trary information we find. It’s called “confirmation bias,” among other things. We Card. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 41153509. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: IMEX, P.O. Box are masters of this process. We seek out every little snippet of information, rumor, 4332, Station Rd., Toronto , ON M5W 3J4. or report that fits our preconceived notions, and we cast aside all else. This is the In quir ies from the me dia and the pub lic about the work of the Com mit tee should be made to Barry Karr, Executive Director, opposite of scientific thinking, of course. But scientific thinking is hard, very hard. CSI, P.O. Box 703, Am herst, NY 14226-0703. Tel.: 716-636- It’s a bit unnatural. 1425. Fax: 716-636-1733. So this, to me, is the more basic problem. Man u scripts, let ters, books for re view, and ed i to ri al in quir ies should be sent to Kend rick Fra zi er, Edi tor, SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER, As for information overload, it has always been there. Who could ever read 944 Deer Drive NE, Al bu querque, NM 87122. Fax: 505-828- 2080. E-mail: [email protected]. Be fore sub mit - all the books in a library (Alexandria’s more than two millennia ago or the Li- ting any man u script, please con sult our Guide for Au thors for brary of Congress today) or all the magazines printed or all the scholarly journal styles, ref er en ce requirements, and submittal re quire ments. articles published even in one’s own field? (Or all the sports stories or gossip tid- It is on our website at www.csi cop.org/pub lications/guide. Or you may send a re quest to the ed i tor. bits, for that matter.) The availability of so much more information now elec- Ar ti cles, re ports, re views, and let ters pub lished in the SKEP TI - tronically—theoretically everything that is “knowable”—just compounds the CALIN QUIR ERrep re sent the views and work of in di vid u al au thors. Their pub lica tion does not nec es sa ri ly con sti tute an en dorse - magnitude of the problem while compensating for it somewhat by increasing ment by CSI or its mem bers un less so stated. the speed at which we can search for and find the information we want, be it Cop y right ©2011 by the Com mit tee for Skeptical Inquiry. All rights re served. The SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER is avail a ble on 16 mm reputable and reliable or comforting and supportive. mi cro film, 35 mm mi cro film, and 105 mm mi cro fiche from Years ago in the pages of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Isaac Asimov wrote, “In- Uni ver si ty Mi cro films In ter na tion al and is in dexed in the Read- spect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb er’s Guide to Pe ri odi cal Lit er a ture. Sub scrip tions and chan ges of ad dress should be ad dressed to suck, a skirt to hold. What have we to offer in exchange? Uncer tainty! to: SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER, P.O. Box 703, Am herst, NY 14226-0703. Or call toll-free 1-800-634-1610 (out side the U.S. call 716- 636-1425). Old ad dress as well as new are nec essa ry for (Continued on page 9) change of sub scrib er’s ad dress, with six weeks ad vance no - tice. SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER sub scrib ers may not speak on be half of Committee for Skeptical Inquiry CSI or the SKEP TI CAL IN QUIR ER. Post mas ter: Send chan ges of ad dress to SKEP TI CALIN QUIR ER, P.O. “...promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use Box 703, Am herst, NY 14226-0703. of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.”

SI Sept. Oct 11_SI new design masters 7/26/11 1:09 PM Page 5

[ NEWS AND COMMENT Comet Elenin Will Not Destroy Earth This Year DAVID MORRISON

In the middle of the gathering Internet fear about the doomsday of December 12, 2012, there have been two new apoc- alyptic distractions. First there was a widely reported prediction by fundamen- talist preacher Harold Camp ing (the founder of “family radio” in Cali fornia) that the end of the world would begin on May 21, 2011. Camp ing claim ed that on this date the good people would be trans- ported to heaven in what is called “the Rapture.” It now seems clear that this did not happen or that the number of good people is vanishingly small. Weissman, Hicks, and Somers/JPL Table Mountain Observatory Mountain Observatory Table Hicks, and Somers/JPL Weissman, In addition, there is growing fear of Comet Elenin on May 5, 2011, when it was 170 million miles from Earth. It is nothing unusual and no dramatic newly discovered Comet Elenin, which is events are expected. variously predicted to collide with Earth exerted strong gravitational or electro- Elenin. Some websites have substituted in October 2011 or to in duce massive magnetic effects on our planet. When photos of the much brighter comet Wild earthquakes and pole shifts from its grav- scientists pointed out that this little 2 and called it Elenin. In an unusual step, itational or magnetic perturbation of our comet can have no measurable gravita- NASA/JPL released a comment by Don planet. Some even claim that Elenin is tional or tidal effect, and that comets do Yeomans, NASA’s top comet scientist, not a comet at all but a massive brown not have magnetic fields, the story who de scribed Elenin as “kind of wimpy.” dwarf star. shifted. For people who are convinced the He noted that we will “probably need a What are the facts? C2010 X1 Elenin comet did cause the earthquakes, this good pair of binoculars, clear skies, and a (to give its full name) is a long-period proves that Elenin is not a comet at all dark, secluded location to see it even on comet that takes about 10,000 years but a much more massive (and danger- its brightest night.” to complete one orbit around the Sun. ous) interloper. Other websites suggest that the comet Russian amateur astron omer Leonid The fact is that Elenin fits the defini- is accompanied by a giant UFO that con- Elenin discovered it with a robotic tele- tion of a comet: It is a solar system object trols its orbit. They assert that aliens are scope in New Mexico on December 10, with an elongated (eccentric) orbit that is steering the comet into collision with 2010. It reaches peri helion (when it will outgassing a tenuous atmosphere (coma) Earth. These claims sound like the ru- be closest to the Sun) on September 10, and tail as it ap proaches the Sun. Comets mors that surrounded Comet Hale-Bopp 2011, and will be closest to Earth on Oc- are de fined operationally by the presence in 1997. It, too, was said to be accompa- tober 16 at a distance of thirty-five mil- of the visible coma and tail. It is clear that nied by a UFO, and many people bought lion kilometers, approximately one hun- Elenin cannot possibly be a massive ob- telescopes so that they could watch it. As dred times farther than the distance ject like a brown dwarf. If it were, it would we all remember, the Heaven’s Gate cult between Earth and the Moon. The comet not have a coma or tail because the gas interpreted the arrival of Hale-Bopp as a is a tiny object, roughly five kilometers in cannot escape from an object with sub- signal for their mass suicide, thinking diameter, and (like all comets) it is visible stantial gravity. In addition, if it were they would be transported to the accom- only because it outgases an extensive, ten- massive we would be seeing its gravita- panying spaceship. While there is noth- uous atmosphere as it is warmed by the tional influence on the orbits of the plan- ing to fear from Comet Elenin, perhaps Sun. Its mass is less than one-billionth ets, especially Mars and Earth, but there we should be afraid of how some people the mass of Earth. Although several am- is no change in these orbits. Finally, if it are reacting to it. ateur astronomers are regularly photo - were a brown dwarf it would have been graphing the comet, it has remained faint easily detected in the various previous as- Related Articles through June 2011, and it may never be- tronomical surveys, including the recent David Morrison’s “The Myth of Nibiru and the WISE infrared mission, even when it was End of the World in 2012” (SI, September/ come visible to the naked eye. October 2008), “Update on the Nibiru 2012 One of the frequent claims on con- still in the outer solar system. ‘Doomsday’” (SI, November/December 2009), spiracy theory websites is that this comet Ironically, the inconspicuous nature of and “The 2012 Doomsday Hoax: Update II” (SI, shifted Earth’s axis by three degrees in this comet plays into some of the conspir- July/August 2011). See also Robert Sheaffer’s acy theories. There are many claims that “2012: Peter Gersten’s ‘Leap of Faith’” (SI, February 2010, precipitating the Chile July/August 2011) and the third part of his col- earthquake. Some believe that it also NASA and the news media are suppress- umn in this issue, p. 33. caused a larger pole shift that triggered ing information about Elenin. When NASA sent a video on disaster prepared- the Japan earthquakes of March 2011. David Morrison is a planetary scientist, a NASA Ignoring plate tectonics as the cause of ness to its employees in June, I began to senior scientist, and a Committee for Skeptical earthquakes, they suggest that the comet hear claims that this was to prepare us for Inquiry fellow.

Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 5 SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:56 PM Page 6

Power Balance, Down and Out in Australia

RICHARD SAUNDERS

“frequencies” that can improve the bal- ceived power of the subject.) The video ance, strength, and flexibility of the has had more than one hundred thou- wearer. Many sporting stars continue to sand views, and judging by the e-mails this day to promote the band. (See Har- I have received, it has stopped many riet Hall, “Power Balance Tech nology: people from falling for the scam. Pseudoscientific Silliness Suck ers Card- Then I visited the office of CHOICE Carrying Surfers,” SI, May/June 2010.) magazine, an independent consumer In late 2009 I was asked to appear on watchdog, and suggested they consider the Australian television news show doing a report on Power Balance. I ex - Today Tonight to examine the claims of plained the tricks used and advised on the Power Balance company by putting testing. They, true to their guidelines, none other than Tom O’Dowd, the tested the product without further in- Australian distributor of the product, through a series of tests. At first, when volvement by me or the Power Balance O’Dowd demonstrated the effect of the company. Their conclusion was that the hologram by pushing down on the out- product did not perform as claimed. stretched arms of six volunteers, the vol- They awarded the Power Balance band unteers found that they had consider- their Shonky Award, given for the worst ably more strength to resist once they scams and rip-offs, in 2010. This event had the hologram on them or near was covered by the media and sent out a them. O’Dowd reported that he was strong message to the Australian public very happy with the volunteers and all (see http://tinyurl.com/5rv987a). was working as he predicted. I had the With all the negative publicity and impression that O’Dowd sincerely be- complaints, the government had to act. lieved in the product. In December 2010 the Australian Com - Photo : Rachael Dunlop Rachael : Photo Then I produced one of the most petition and Consumer Commis sion Richard Saunders with Power Balance wrist bands, valuable and powerful tools in the skep- (ACCC) ordered Power Balance Aus- which he demonstrated don’t work. tical arsenal: the humble six-sided die. tralia to refund all customers who felt Out of sight of O’Dowd (and me) the they had been ripped off. ACCC chair- roll of the die decided which one of the man Graeme Samuel said in a state- We have all heard the expression “two volunteers would have the hologram ment: “Power Balance has admitted that steps forward, one step back.” This is all slipped into his or her back pocket. As there is no credible scientific basis for too often the story with skeptical ac- the national television audience saw, tivism, and it can even be a case of “two O’Dowd (and thus Power Balance) the claims and therefore no reasonable steps forward, one step to the side, three failed five out of five times to identify grounds for making representations steps back” and so on. In a strange sort the correct volunteer during his strength about the benefits of the product.” of skeptical two-step, dedicated cam- tests (see http://tinyurl.com/3yak3vo). Sales dried up, and in May 2011 Pow- paigners can find themselves right back Inspired by this adventure and with er Balance in Australia collapsed (see at the start after waltzing around for help from skeptical friends, in early http://tinyurl.com/3o7blh3). months if not years. But there are ex- 2010 I produced a ten-minute video for I am delighted to have played a small ceptions. YouTube titled “Applied Kinesi ology: part in ending this scam that raked in Over the past year, thanks in large How It’s Done” (http://tinyurl.com/ millions of dollars in Australia alone. I part to skeptical activism, the Power 2v35zs3). This video shows the three thank reporter Frank Pangallo from Balance franchise in Australia has col- primary tricks used by Power Balance Today Tonight for asking me to take part lapsed. For those who don’t know, (and its clones) to give the illusion of in the television report that started the Power Balance is a thin rubber wrist more power. (It is important to note ball rolling. band with two embedded holographic that even the person demonstrating the disks. In Australia the band cost $64 Power Balance can fall victim to the Richard Saunders is a CSI fellow, Life Member of AUD (~$68 USD). It was, and still is, ideomotor effect and thus not realize , and producer of the Skeptic claimed that the holograms contain that he or she in fact controls the per- Zone podcast.

6 Volume 35 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 2:56 PM Page 7

[ NEWS AND COMMENT

Loftus, Stollznow Join CSI Executive Council

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry faces on places other than heads), reli- (CSI) has elected two new executive gion, haunted houses, and more. council members, Elizabeth Loftus and Stollznow is a researcher at the Uni- Karen Stollznow. As members, they versity of California, Berkeley, and re- will also serve on the SKEPTICAL IN- ceived her PhD in linguistics from the QUIRER editorial board. University of New England. A prolific Elizabeth Loftus is a world-re - writer about skepticism, she is the nowned psychologist with an expertise “Naked Skeptic” columnist for CSI and in human memory. She has conducted the “Bad Language” columnist for extensive research on the misinformation Skeptic magazine. In addition, she is a effect and the nature of false memories. host of the Point of Inquiry podcast and In 20 02 she was ranked number 58 (the a cohost of the Monster Talk podcast.

“We are pleased to have both of these distinguished scholars fighting for science and reason in the trenches as part of their daily lives and professions on the executive council.” — Barry Karr, CSI executive director Elizabeth Loftus

highest-rank ed woman) on a list of the She is a SKEPTICAL INQUIRER con- 100 most influential researchers in psy- tributing editor and managing editor of chology in the twentieth century. the Center for Inquiry’s peer-reviewed At the University of California, journal the Scientific Review of Mental Irvine, Loftus is a distinguished profes- Health Practice. She is also a research sor in the Department of Psy chology fellow of the James Randi Educational and Social Behavior; the Department Founda tion and a former director of of Criminology, Law, and Society; and the San Francisco Bay Area Skeptics. the Department of Cognitive Sciences, “We are pleased to have both of and she is also a fellow of the Center these distinguished scholars fighting for the Neu ro biology of Learning and for science and reason in the trenches Memory and a professor of law. as part of their daily lives and profes- Karen Stollznow has spent more sions on the executive council,” says than a decade investigating pseudosci- Barry Karr, executive director of CSI entific and paranormal beliefs and prac- and a CSI fellow. “With Karen’s hu- tices, including ghosts, aura reading, psy- morous and stimulating contributions chics, medical intuitives, alternative to skepticism and Elizabeth’s achieve- therapies, mediums, faith healing, con- ments in academia, they are welcome spiracy theories, cults, pareidolia (seeing additions.”

Karen Stollznow

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Play It Again, Sylvia: Failed Predictions on bin Laden, Aliens

BRYAN FARHA

The failed predictions of Sylvia Browne cruelty of Browne telling the parents of bin Laden and alien visitation. have long been chronicled by several then-missing child Shawn Hornbeck On December 28, 2005, I was a skeptics, including this writer. Aside that their son was dead—only to have guest on CNN’s Larry King Live along from the benign daily failed predictions him found alive in 2007 (see “Sylvia with a few alleged psychics, including of relative unimportance, lately Browne Browne’s Biggest Blunder,” SI, May/June Sylvia Browne. Regarding the subject has missed the mark on “the big ones.” 2007). Now we can add the failure of of Osama bin Laden, Browne and I For example, we know about the 2004 her missed predictions about Osama had this brief exchange (from the CNN transcript): FARHA: Well, first of all, let’s put this in perspective here. Last year on Casten Elected a Fellow of CSI The Montel Williams Show, Sylvia predicted that Osama bin Laden is dead. I don’t know if Sylvia still mally wasted and turns it into electricity thinks that or not but I’d sure like and heat. He had earlier founded two to know. other energy cogeneration and recycling BROWNE: Yes, I do. companies. Casten is author of the FARHA: My whole take on this book Turning Off the Heat (Pro me theus is—Okay, very good, well, we’ll Books, 1998) and numerous journal and find out sometime, Sylvia. We’ll magazine articles. He was lead author of find out. the 2009 American Scien tist cover article “Getting the Most from Energy.” He Well, Sylvia, we found out. Bin has won many national awards and has Laden was clearly alive in 2005 and been profiled in science journals and na- lived until May 1, 2011. Another tional magazines. He also serves on the “big” prediction of Browne’s failed. boards of several energy organizations, Then, in 2006, again on The Mon- the Cli mate Insti tute, and the Oregon tel Williams Show, Sylvia made this Climate Trust. prediction: “Aliens will begin to show Casten has long been an outspoken themselves in the year 2010, they advocate of increasing energy efficien- will not harm us, they simply want to cies by reducing energy waste in the see what we are doing to this planet. production of electricity, both to save They will teach us how to use anti- energy and to reduce global greenhouse gravity devices again, such as they did gases that cause global warming. Re - for the pyramids” (from www.sylviabro duc ing emissions this way, he argues, wne.com). can be not only highly beneficial but Now that we are in 2011, we know also economical (see his SI cover article this was yet another “big” prediction “Critical Thinking About Energy,” that failed. In light of repeated failed January/February 2005). The newest fellow of the Committee predictions, do you think Browne’s He is a longtime supporter of the for Skeptical Inquiry is nationally followers will abandon her? We know , having served for the answer to that. Play it again, known energy expert and entrepreneur many years on the executive council and Thomas R. Casten. the board of directors of the Committee Sylvia. Casten has devoted more than three for Skeptical Inquiry and on the board Bryan Farha is professor of behavioral stud- decades to developing decentralized en- of the Center for Inquiry. His concerns ergy recycling projects. He is founder ies in education at Oklahoma City University. include the need for critical thinking He is a CSI scientific and technical consult- and chairman of Recycled Energy De - and greater scientific literacy on scien- ant and is editor of Paranormal Claims: A Crit- velopment, a Westmont, Illinois, com- tific and technological issues essential ical Analysis. pany that captures energy that is nor- to the world’s future.

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[ NEWS AND COMMENT [ FROM THE EDITOR (Continued from page 4) Holly Bobo Still Missing; Psychics Hurt Investigation Insecurity!” (“The Perennial Fringe,” Benjamin Radford Spring 1986; reprinted in the SI anthol- ogy The Hundredth Monkey [Prome - theus Books, 1991]). Holly Bobo, a young nursing student bly ex-military. He might own a black Fact-oriented, evidence-seeking, from Decatur, Tennessee, was ab- leather wallet, and his name might science-loving people like us—who ducted April 13, 2011; she was last contain one or more of the following are very comfortable in the uncer- seen being led into the woods near letters: B, A, J, R, W, or M; his last name tainty and insecurity of fact-based re- her home by an individual wearing might be Glenn. Bobo might be (or liable and reputable information even camouflage. Despite national media might have been at one point) in or if it doesn’t provide us a thumb to suck coverage, extensive police searches near a place that has the number seven or a skirt to hold—are in the minority. and investigation, and an $80,000 re- associated with it, indicating an ad- (And none of us is perfect in this re- ward, neither Bobo nor her abductor dress, a highway number, or possibly gard either.) Most people, and again have been found. Police are no longer the distance from some landmark. One few will admit it, really want that actively searching for her and have no psychic said she believed that the lyrics comforting stuff: Yes, there must be suspects, though the investigation re- of the Neil Diamond song “September life after death. Yes, we can get well mains open and ongoing. Morning” contained important clues to from simple off-the-shelf remedies, The Bobo case was plagued by mis - finding Bobo. untested or not, without resorting to information from the start; early re- It’s not clear how police are sup- complicated modern medicine. Sure, ports falsely suggested that Bobo’s posed to use this jumble of random as- we can continue pumping 30.6 billion brother Clint was a suspect in her dis- sociations, images, numbers, letters, and metric tons of carbon dioxide green- appearance. Police have complained feelings provided by psychics. This in- house gas into the atmosphere per that well-meaning individuals have formation is so vague, general, and con- year (the recently announced record been disseminating misinformation tradictory that it is completely useless. figure for 2010) without changing it. and false leads about the case, making The case even attracted the attention No, we’re not really part of the animal their job much more difficult and of TV psychic Carla Baron, who said kingdom descended from any of those doing far more harm than good. that a friend of the Bobo family had ugly, old, apelike creatures, and, no, we contacted her on their behalf. Baron don’t have any DNA in common with was part of the TruTV show Haunting slime mold. We’re more special than One psychic said she that. Yes, yes, we must really be in some believed that the lyrics of Evi dence, in which she and two other investigators tackled real-life unsolved way the center of the universe. There the Neil Diamond song murders. The show was cancelled after has to be some great, essential cosmic “September Morning” twenty-two episodes without any of meaning! It’s all about us, isn’t it? the cases having been solved; two were We crave information that reinforces contained important our beliefs. All other information takes clues to finding Bobo. later closed through police work (see Rad ford, “New Psy chic Detective (Un) - a back seat or even gets tossed in the trunk. Research about the brain has pro- Reality Series: Haunting Evidence,” SI, duced a litany of new studies showing Sep tember/October 2006). Baron has why that is so. Dozens of self-proclaimed psychics said that the Bobo family later chose So, unless we find a way to overcome have offered hundreds of incorrect, not to seek her information on Holly’s our very human tendencies to seek out vague, and often contradictory tips. death on the advice of the police, who and find information that supports our Here’s just a sample of information and Baron be lieves were “terrified to hear deep-seated beliefs wh ile disregarding leads offered by psychics on this case: what I might have to say” about the ab- Bobo’s abductor might have a scar on all information to the contrary, the duction. The fact that psychic detec- his forehead, a rash on his elbow, or a question of how to filter through the tives have a zero percent track record bite mark on his hand. He might work exa- and zettabytes of “information” out of success locating missing persons from home as a graphic designer and there to find reliable facts is more of might also have something to do with long for the 1950s. His hair might be a secondary information-processing it. (For more on Baron, see “Carla dark brown, blond, or salt-and-pepper. prob lem. The primary problem is that Baron, Psychic Detective? Not Quite,” He might be clean shaven, or he might one core, incontestably human fact SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Sep tem ber have a moustache. He might be a Scor- about ourselves. /October 2006.) pio. He is either scrawny, of medium KENDRICK FRAZIER build, or stocky and muscular—possi- —Benjamin Radford

Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 9 SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:56 PM Page 10

“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.” – Thomas Paine You are invited to join the Center for Inquiry to Act, Combat, and Promote…

Since 1976, three remarkable organizations have been in the forefront of efforts to promote and defend critical thinking and freedom of inquiry. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (founded in 1976), the Council for Secular Humanism (1980), CSI Fellow and SkEPTICAl INquIrEr Editorial Board Member and the Center for Inquiry James Alcock leads a class at a Skeptics’ Toolbox event. The Toolbox (1991) have advocated, has been held every year, except once, since1992. championed, and, when necessary, defended the freedom to inquire … while Your Help Is a Necessity! ACT, COMBAT, and PROMOTE demonstrating how the fruits Each year, magazine of objective inquiry can be We are currently focused on three subscriptions fund a smaller used to understand reality, goals central to our core objectives: percentage of this work, even refute false beliefs, and achieve as the need for activism in- Act to end the stigma results that benefit humanity. attached to being creases and the population nonreligious. we serve grows. In many ways, our organiza- tions have been ahead of their Combat religion’s More than ever, CFI and its time. Now, they are privileges and its influence affiliates depend on the on public policy. truly 3 For Tomorrow. generosity of our supporters Through education, advocacy, both to fund daily operations Promote science-based publishing, legal activism, skepticism and critical thinking. and to build capital and its network of regional for the future. branches, CFI and its affiliate Make your most generous gift

organizations continue to today . . . or request information Your support today can provide support for everyone on planned giving or a bequest. who seeks a better life—in protect tomorrow for us all. For more information, return the this life—for all. Your generous gift can perpetuate our work toward attached card or contact us at: Center for Inquiry the kind of world you—and Development Office your grandchildren—can feel P.O. Box 741 Amherst, NY 14226 proud to live in. 1-800-818-7071 [email protected] website: www.centerforinquiry.net SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:56 PM Page 11

COMMENTARY]

An Ambitious, Hopeful Response to 9/11

CHARLES M. WYNN SR.

n the morning of September 11, 2001, I was watch- Eventually I realized that what in- ing a videotape of an episode from the spired these people to use airplanes as Ascent of Man weapons of mass destruction was ab- Otelevision series created by Jacob Bronowski. It was solute certainty in a malignant version titled “Knowledge or Certainty.”Bronowski was discussing of a religious belief—an actively evil in- the rise of Hitler in Germany and other tyrants elsewhere. terventionist version of that belief, a ver- sion that contrasts markedly with the I listened to him discuss the confrontation between the as- benign noninterventionist religious be- cent of man and these despots’ belief that they had absolute liefs of the billions of people who seek certainty. to lead moral lives in which they do not try to impose their beliefs on others. In the final scene, Bronowski stands The perpetrators of this act believed at the edge of a pond at Auschwitz, a their actions were justified by their in- pond that contains the ashes of his fam- terpretation of the Qur’an (the Mus lim ily, and says: holy book or scripture), an interpreta- There are two parts of the human tion in which every word in that book dilemma. One is the belief that the is taken to be the literal truth. They be- end justifies the means. That push- lieved with certainty that their version button philosophy, that deliberate deafness to suffering, has become the of religion is the only acceptable one. monster in the war machine. The They believed, as Jacob Bronowski said, other is the betrayal of the human “that they [had] absolute knowledge, spirit: the assertion of dogma that with no test in reality.” It occurred to me closes the mind, and turns a nation, a that as long as people persist in believ- civilization, into a regiment of ghosts— obedient ghosts, or tortured ghosts. ... ing that every word in their holy scrip- When people believe that they have ture is the literal truth, they will con- absolute knowledge, with no test in re- tinue to deny the realities of this world. ality, this is how they behave. This is I decided that one of the most direct what men do when they aspire to the ways to challenge the assertion that knowledge of gods. CHARLES M. WYNN SR. is every statement in religious scripture is professor of chemistry at When I removed the tape from my the literal truth is to examine scriptural Eastern Connecticut State VCR, I became aware of the image of a statements about the genesis and devel- University. He is coauthor smoldering World Trade Center on my opment of life forms. According to the of a science trilogy: The Five Biggest Ideas in Sci- television screen. Listening to the com- Book of Genesis and the Qur’an, God ence, Quantum Leaps in mentary that accompanied this image, I created the universe and Earth in six the Wrong Direction: was shocked. I was stunned. I was con- days. By summing up the generations Where Real Science Ends and Pseudoscience fused. And I desperately needed some an- listed in the Hebrew Bible, the age of Begins, and The Five Biggest Unsolved Prob- swers. I asked myself, “What could in- the universe and Earth as well as lems in Science. He is also recipient of the In spire one group of human beings to the duration of humans would be no the Trenches Award from the Committee for engage in the mass destruction of other more than 10,000 years. In contrast, Skeptical Inquiry. groups of human beings?” according to science’s fourteen-billion-

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year scenario known as evolution, Homo tists, each of whom is convinced of the ligious perspectives. It is in our collective sapiens, or modern humans, appeared validity of evolution and is also an active best interest to focus on the similarities no less than 100,000 years ago. participant in a different Abra hamic re- rather than dwell upon the differences. If we could convince people that ligion, to carefully explain the evidence It would be naive to believe that a scriptural statements about how life for evolution and then explain how they book such as this will dramatically alter began are not literal truths, that they have reconciled that theory with the the mindsets of people who carry out stand in stark contrast to the findings of scriptures of their faiths. All Things horrific acts such as the September 11, modern science, one hopes those people That Matter Press has just published 2001, attacks. Nevertheless, as Rabbi would be empowered to examine other their responses in a book titled And God Tarfon admonished in Ethics of the Fa- biblical and Qur’anic statements and Said, “Let There Be Evolution!”: Reconcil- thers: “It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, yet neither are you question those religious teachers (be they ing the Book of Gene sis, the Qur’an, and the free to desist from it.” ­ imams, rabbis, ministers, or priests) who Theory of Evolution.1 claim that every word in scripture is in- I was not surprised that the re sponses Note errant. Most important, they would also revealed similarities in these three scien- 1. The three scientists who contributed to And God Said, ‘Let There Be Evolution!’: Reconcil- be empowered to refute religious zealots tists’ beliefs about science and religion. ing the Book of Genesis, the Qur’an, and the Theory who quote the Qur’an or Bible to justify Also, not surprisingly, the responses of a of Evolution (Charles M. Wynn Sr. and Arthur W. Wiggins, eds. All Things That Matter Press, acts of violence. Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim revealed 2011) are Rabbi David Kay, Howard Van Till, Toward that end, I asked three scien- dissimilarities resulting from different re- and T.O. Shanavas.

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COMMENTARY]

When the Shrinks Ignore Science, Sue Them

JAMES D. HERBERT and RICHARD REDDING

n 1793, there was an outbreak of yellow fever in available scientific evidence. But not Philadelphia. Benjamin Rush, a leading colonial physi- everyone is sanguine about dethroning practitioners’ judgment in favor of sci- Ician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, ac- ence, and spirited defenses of clinician cepted the conventional wisdom that the condition should autonomy have emerged in both the pro- be treated with bloodletting. This treatment contributed fessional literature (Hage moser 2009) and the popular press (Green field 2010). to the demise of many of his patients. Nevertheless, as the But consider recent cases involving epidemic waned, Rush was more convinced than ever of mental health care. A father lost custody the efficacy of his methods. When Rush’s patients recov- of his child because the mental health evaluation of the parent relied upon the ered, he attributed their recovery to his intervention. When scientifically unfounded Rorschach “ink - they died, he chalked it up to the inevitable course of the blot” test. A depressed patient experi- disease. enced severe side effects from antide- pressant medications but was never Medical practice has come a long way informed about the option of equally ef- since Rush. Antibiotics and vaccines, to fective treatments like cognitive-behav- name two obvious examples, have been ior therapy. And a number of therapists James D. Herbert, PhD, is transformative. Without exception, these professor of psychology promise that repeatedly tapping (yes, advances have been driven by the appli- and associate dean of the tapping!) on their patients will cure seri- College of Arts and Sci- cation of science to health care. Science ous disorders and addictions by adjusting ences at Drexel University substitutes controlled scientific data and the body’s invisible “energy field” (Gau- in Philadelphia. statistical predictions for the practitioner’s diano and Herbert 2000). intuition and clinical lore, which are One of our own patients suffered prone to biases in decision making, as from severe obsessive compulsive dis- Richard E. Redding, JD Rush illustrated. order. He would spend hours each day and PhD, is professor and By promulgating practice guidelines, showering and washing his hands until associate dean at Chap- institutions like the United Kingdom’s man University School of they bled. He sought treatment from a Law and professor of psy- National Institute for Clin ical Effec- psychoanalyst, who insisted that his chology at Chapman Uni- tiveness and the ’ Com- symptoms reflected unconscious drives versity. parative Effective Institute work to cod- that he must “work through.” After ify medical practice based on the best his symptoms gradually worsened over

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[COMMENTARY

several years of this analysis, he even- and practice. To close that gap, several claims viable. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow tually sought behavior therapy and steps must be taken. Of course we need Pharmaceuticals (1993), the Court ruled within weeks was completely cured of malpractice reform, but not as it is usu- that expert testimony must be based his condition. ally conceived. The pernicious effects of upon reliable “scientific knowledge” Although many psychological in - frivolous malpractice suits in encourag- rather than common practice. Thus, terventions may be ineffective but oth- ing unnecessary diagnostic and inter- when a mental health professional is erwise benign, research has demon- vention procedures are widely discussed. sued for treating a patient with harmful strated that others can be quite harmful But when mental health practitioners or unscientific techniques, expert wit- (Lilienfeld 2007). Crisis debriefing is use methods that are totally lacking in nesses called upon to describe the pre- promoted to decrease post-traumatic scientific support, particularly when the vailing standard of care must base their stress reactions following a trauma, but treatment has been demonstrated to be testimony on science. No longer can de- in fact it actually increases the risk of harmful and evidence-based alternatives fendants argue that they met the stan- such problems (McNally et al. 2003). are available, they should be liable for dard of care merely because they em- So-called “attachment therapies” have malpractice. ployed techniques often used by others led to the death of several children Yet unlike lawsuits against other in the profession. (Mercer et al. 2003). Facilitated com- medical professionals, lawsuits against We acknowledge that clinical practice munication, a technique promoted as psychiatrists and psychologists have is complex and often does not lend itself allowing otherwise severely impaired been exceptionally rare—and successful to a simple application of scientifically individuals with autism to communi- suits even rarer. Mental health practi- established treatment protocols. For ex- cate fluently via typing on a keyboard tioners have been able to escape liability ample, patients do not always fit neatly while a facilitator supports his or her by relying on prevailing community into diagnostic categories; this requires hand or arm, has led to parents being practices—no matter how misguided— clinicians to use interventions established falsely accused of sexual abuse (Herbert to define the permissible standard(s) of for closely related conditions. Patients do et al. 2002; Romanczyk et al. 2003). care. A defendant can always round up not always respond to first-line evidence- These are only a few potentially harm- some likeminded community practi- based interventions, therefore modifica- ful interventions. Despite data illustrat- tioners who will testify that the proce- tions of an established treatment or even ing their potentially harmful effects, dure in question is widely practiced, a different approach may be necessary. they remain surprisingly popular and even if it is scientifically unfounded. Evidence-based treatments may not yet continue to be used. Although suits against mental health be established for some disorders or Such practices represent the tip of the professionals remain uncommon, liti- symptoms, so modifications of estab- iceberg of a persistent problem in mental gants can and should make use of a lished treatment strategies or even a health care: the chasm between science Supreme Court case to make their novel or ex perimental approach may be re quired. Moreover, in the case of psy- chotherapy, even relatively straightfor- ward cases necessarily involve some de- gree of tailoring of the treatment to each When mental health practitioners use individual’s unique circumstances. Each of these scenarios requires judicious clin- methods that are totally lacking in ical judgment. But such judgment should always be informed by the best available scientific support, particularly when the scientific evidence. Clinical judgment does not represent a carte blanche to es- treatment has been demonstrated to cape scrutiny or legal liability. A related issue is informed consent. be harmful and evidence-based Despite being ethically mandated, men- tal health practitioners rarely ob tain alternatives are available, they should fully informed consent from their pa- tients for their interventions. An inter- be liable for malpractice. esting issue centers on the question of whether clinicians should be permitted to offer services that are completely de- void of scientific support as long as the

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patient is fully informed of this fact, is informed of any known risks associated with the treatment, is informed of alter- Organizations such as the American native options, and is paying out-of- pocket rather than through a private or Psychological Association pay lip governmental insurer. Without resolv- ing this particular issue, it is clear that service to scientific standards, but they clinicians should always obtain fully in- formed consent, and such consent be- leave gaping loopholes that allow comes even more important the further one deviates from scientifically estab- psychologists to practice all kinds of lished practices. It will take time for case law to sort pseudoscientific nonsense. through the nuances of these real- world complexities. In the meantime, clinicians can minimize their risk of save costs and improve outcomes, med- become the critical motivating force be- malpractice liability by using scientifi- ical practice should be driven by the hind change, so that the shrinks, too, are cally supported procedures whenever best scientific evidence (The Hastings guided by science rather than their mod- possible, ensuring that modifications to Center 2009). That principle should ern-day versions of bloodletting. established treatments are scientifically also be applied to mental health profes- informed, avoiding interventions that sionals, particularly because research References have been shown to be harmful while has found a number of psychological Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. providing little or no benefit, and ob- and psychiatric interventions to be ef- 1993. 509 U.S. 579. taining fully informed consent, espe- fective (sometimes more so than treat- Gaudiano, B., and J.D. Herbert. 2000. Can we re- ally tap our problems away? A critical analysis cially for experimental procedures. ments for physical disorders). of Thought Field Therapy. SKEPTICAL IN- In contrast, by seeking relief through Next, we need user-friendly practice QUIRER 24(4) (July/August): 29–36. the courts, not only can consumers who guidelines that are based on the best Greenfield, S. 2010. In defense of physician au- have been harmed by unscientific mental available scientific evidence and are free tonomy. Wall Street Journal (September 7): A23. health practices seek appropriate dam- of undue influence from interest groups. Hagemoser, S. 2009. Braking the bandwagon: ages, but they can also exert a positive in- Reflecting the influence of the pharma- Scrutinizing the science and politics of em- fluence on the field as a whole by en- ceutical industry, the American Psychi- pirically supported therapies. The Journal of couraging scientifically based practice. atric Association’s guidelines for the Psychology 143: 601–14. In addition to malpractice suits, treatment of depression are heavily The Hastings Center. 2009. Cost Control and Health Care Reform: Act 1. Garrison, New other changes are needed to place rou- skewed toward drug therapies despite York. tine clinical practice on stronger scien- many scientific studies showing that Herbert, J.D., I.R. Sharp, and B.A. Gaudiano. tific footing. We need an unequivocal certain forms of “talk therapy,” such as 2002. Separating fact from fiction in the eti- commitment to scientific practice by cognitive behavior therapy, yield longer- ology and treatment of autism: A scientific review of the evidence. Scientific Review of professional organizations, third-party lasting effects with fewer complications. Mental Health Practice 1(1): 23–43. payers, and state licensure boards. Or- (Of course, the best guidelines are not Lilienfeld, S.O. 2007. Psychological treatments ganizations such as the American Psy- overly rigid but allow the practitioner to that cause harm. Perspectives on Psychological chological Association pay lip service to tailor them to an individual patient’s Science 2(1): 53–70. McNally, R.J., R.A. Bryant, and A. Ehlers. 2003. scientific standards, but they leave gap- unique clinical picture.) Does early psychological intervention pro- ing loopholes that allow psychologists Finally, we must improve consumer mote recovery from posttraumatic stress? Psy- to practice all kinds of pseudoscientific education. Paradoxically, the growth of chological Science in the Public Interest 4(2): 45– nonsense. All too often psychiatrists, the Internet and advertising of pharma- 79. ceuticals makes information more avail- Mercer, J., L. Sarner, and L. Rosa. 2003. Attach - psychologists, and other mental health ment Therapy on Trial. Westport, Con necticut: clinicians use unproven and even able to consumers but also makes it more Praeger. demonstrably harmful assessment and difficult to filter good science from po- Romanczyk, R.G., L. Arnstein, L.V. Soorya, and treatment procedures, even when alter- tentially harmful pseudoscience. J. Gillis. 2003. The myriad of controversial native scientifically supported methods Each of these strategies has an impor- treatments for autism: A critical evaluation of efficacy. In S.O. Lilienfeld, S.J. Lynn, and J.M. are available. A key principle inherent tant role to play, but malpractice suits Lohr (Eds.), Science and Pseudoscience in Clin- in health-care re form is that in order to against mental health professionals may ical Psychology, 363–98. New York: Guilford.

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[SPECIAL REPORT

Engineering Truth

‘9/11 Truth’ activists and luminaries gathered for a conference in Atlanta, allowing a glimpse into their alternative political subculture.

ROBERT BLASKIEWICZ

t’s the supposed day of the Rapture, May 21, 2011, but phone to record it. (He later tells me that this is so I will not take anything I’m in a taxi heading to the First Iconium Baptist out of context in my article.) Church in Atlanta, Georgia, for other reasons. My Gage’s conversion to 9/11 Truther ism I is a sort of “Road to Damascus” story. driver tells me about how he passes his late nights on the About five years ago, he heard retired road by listening to George Noory on Coast to Coast AM. theologian and prolific 9/11 Truther “I don’t know about most of the theories out there about David Ray Griffin on his car radio. Grif- the World Trade Center,” he assures me, “but I do have to fin was giving a talk in near by Oakland the next night. Accord ing to Gage, Grif- wonder about that Building 7.” fin was discussing “the explosive testi- mony heard and experienced by . . . one In fact, I’m on my way to interview a hundred [first responders who] talked man who, perhaps as much as any other about sounds of explosions, hearing person, has drawn public attention to them being blasted around in the build- what he sees as inconsistencies in the ing before and at the onset of the de- “official” story of September 11 and has struction of the two Twin Towers.” It made a mission of keeping World Trade was the first time that he had heard any Center 7 (WTC 7), which collapsed alternative theory regarding the col- late in the day of the attacks, in the pub- lapses, and he seized on the idea with lic eye. He is architect Richard Gage, enthusiasm. He began his own research founder of the organization Archi tects and became convinced by what he found Robert Blaskiewicz is a and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. He is at- that the investigation into 9/11 had been Marion L. Brittain post- tending the event “Engineering Change: incomplete. doctoral fellow at the A Blueprint for 9/11 Truth” at the behest Gage says Architects and Engineers Georgia Institute of of the local chapter of his organization for 9/11 Truth grew out of his initial ef- Technology, where and We Are Change Atlanta. forts to persuade his fellow workers at he teaches courses When I meet Gage, he is enthusias- an architectural firm. in writing and twentieth- tic, genial, and eager to start the inter- They kind of thought I was nuts, so I century American put this presentation together, this literature. He specializes view as soon as he finishes setting up. We take a seat in one of the pews. Cam- PowerPoint, and I showed them what in World War II veterans’ writings, extraordi- I had learned a couple of months nary/paranormal claims, and conspiracy ron Wiltshire, the local organizer of the later. They all agreed with me. ... theory. He coedits the blog Skeptical Humani- event, has asked to film my interview Every one of the fifteen architects ties. E-mail: [email protected]. and has sent over someone with a smart that I worked for who came to the

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presentation agreed with me: “My god, you’re right! These buildings were destroyed with controlled dem- olition!” Fourteen out of fifteen signed the petition. Gage’s group hopes to serve as a con- duit for information about evidence that the media does not discuss. “Our goal, our mission,” he tells me, “is to awaken, enlighten, inform the Amer ican people, other architects and engineers about the destruction of these buildings. ... We’re simply trying to inform the American people about this evidence, which is pretty indisputable, and get a new inves- tigation.” I ask what an unimpeachable investi- gation would look like. “We would want it to examine all of the evidence,” he says, “which the 9/11 Commission and the NIST report did not do—the evidence we’ll be looking at today.” He says a new investigation “would offer immunity to bring witnesses forward. It would be taken with subpoena power so that wit- nesses could be forced to testify, and tes- timony [would be] taken under oath. And using the scientific method relative to the evidence that we highlight in our DVD [9/11: Blueprint for Truth].” I ask him about his best evidence for a controlled demolition. He cites the apparent implosion of WTC 7 in six and a half seconds and at free-fall acceleration. While the engi- neers who studied the collapse and de- rived recommendations for en hanced building safety from their conclusions would dispute the accuracy of this state- ment as Gage presents it, it’s a crucial element of the modern 9/11 Truth movement’s narrative. “Sud denly on the afternoon of September 11,” Gage tells me, “this building drops symmetrically, smoothly straight down into its own footprint, in the exact manner of a clas- sic controlled demolition. ... We are told that this is destruction by normal office fires, and if you look at the fires in that building they were . . . small and scattered.” He also cites molten metal, including tiny iron spheres: “These iron spheres were created during the event; they are in all of the World Trade Cen- ter dust.” In the same dust he claims

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exterior collapsed. “Any ... collapse, even underneath the east penthouse,” Gage insists, “would have caused massive deforma- tion on the perimeter structure at that time. We didn’t see any of that.” Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth has recently announced that 1,500 building professionals (architects and engineers in all fields of engineering) have signed its petition for a new inves- tigation. Even if these were all American engineers, I argue, they would represent collectively only 9/100ths of 1 percent of the 1.6 million engineers in the country. How does he intend to reach the other 99.91 percent of engineers? Gage explains his biggest barrier is engineers’ “psychological resistance”: “When we get them to sit in front of a presentation like this, or a half hour

Photo: RobertPhoto: Blaskiewicz presentation which we do in their of- Richard Gage speaking at the Engineering Change conference. fices, 90 percent of them end up agree- there is chemical evidence of thermite how a forty-seven-story skyscraper ing with us about the evidence.” and a derivative, thermate. “We also find [WTC 7] with 40,000 tons of struc- “We don’t have a conspiracy theory,” ... nanothermite composite explosives, tural steel designed with a safety factor Gage says as the interview concludes. or pyrotechnics, found in all of the of five can lose all of its columnar sup- “We only have evidence that we are pre- World Trade Center dust samples,” he port simultaneously across all eighty senting to the American people.” says, referring to a paper by Niels Har- columns and fall at free fall losing 400 After our talk, Gage prepares to host rit’s team.1 structural steel connections per second a press conference. The attending press I ask about the larger 9/11 Truth over the six and a half seconds it took is, as far as I can tell, entirely made up of movement and whether there are any to fall. Someone has to explain that. No members of the alternative media who theories by other self-identified 9/11 one has. Someone would have to ex- seem sympathetic to the speakers. I work Truthers that he rejects out of hand. plain the production of several tons of my way up to a group at the front of the “Oh, yeah,” he says earnestly. “There’s molten iron. No one has.” church and introduce myself to two of somebody out there who’s talking about I ask him if he would be open to the them, Bob Tuskin from BobTuskin.com directed energy weapons; there’s some- idea that the collapse of WTC 7 actu- and The Intel Hub (www.theintelhub body out there talking about mini nukes. ally took longer than the six and a half .com) and Ed San ders from Gators 9/11 We don’t have evidence that stands up to seconds on which he is basing his hy- Truth of Gaines ville, Florida.2 scrutiny for either of those theories.” pothesis. I ask them about what brought them “Now, the essence of science,” I “We are told in the fourteen seconds so far from home. “Well, we wouldn’t begin, “is that you put forward a thesis prior to the overall collapse there was an miss this for the world,” Tuskin says. that is falsifiable potentially. . .” internal collapse, and we don’t buy that, He explains: “I don’t know what that means,” because if there was an internal cave-in People drive to all sorts of things . .. Gage interjects. of this building we would have seen but something like this in our opinion I explain, “You could potentially massive deformation on the perimeter should warrant our attention . . . be- cause right now, ten years later, almost, prove something wrong, that this [the- structure prior to its overall collapse, from 9/11/2001 we still have not re- sis] is tentative until something else which occurs in six and a half seconds,” ceived the legitimate, mainstream in- comes along, then I’ll have to substitute Gage answers. vestigation to the largest crime in our my assertion with this new one that I point out that we did see a pent- lifetimes. ... We are here because we better fits the evidence. What would it house collapse long before the exterior know what the facts are. We know that Building 7 fell at free-fall speed. We take to dissuade you of controlled dem- collapse, which suggests that the build- know that there is a consensus of ar- olition?” ing was collapsing internally and had chitects and engineers as well as other “Someone would have to explain substantially weakened long before the likeminded individuals who are willing

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to hear out all of the evidence and not ment. She dedicates it to Richard Gage. on 9/11. She says that she does not just look at the skewed perspective It’s a folk song in the “disaster” genre, think that it is a theory but the truth. “I from the Zionist-controlled main- with the refrain: think it was [the] Israeli Mossad with stream media. You see cascading projections of steel a faction of our CIA and Dick Cheney Sanders shares a similar perspective. into dust. in the bunker telling the Air Force to “It’s clear the 9/11 Commission Report It looked like demolition, but it’s never stand down. That’s what I think it is.” was very incomplete and misleading discussed. I ask about her evidence for the Is- bordering ... on scientific fraud, so it’s So turn out the TV, and shut out the raeli Mossad connection. light time we bring the new investigation to ‘Cause it’s all just illusions, in front of She considers her response for a mo- the mainstream, and I hope people like my eyes. ment: “Well, there’s a lot of complica- you are able to help us in doing so.” Well, I’m not scared of dyin’ tions with that whole thing. I don’t even I ask what a new investigation We’re all bound for heaven, know where to start, there’s so much, and would look like. I’m just sharing the truth, you don’t want to sound like an anti- About nine-eleven.3 Sanders answers this question. “I Semite, but there is a faction of the Is- think the best place to start would be When I reach the other side of the raelis, the Zionists, that run our country.” with the family members. I think that church, I spot a pair of Alex Jones shirts “So you would say that our country they are the people who have been most and decide to interview their owners. I is run by Zionists?” affected by the tragedy. It’s obviously introduce myself to Linda Evans and “Yeah. Well, that and corporations.” affecting the world as it is still ten years her friend Melanie. I ask Evans, who is Gage’s talk then begins. He opens by later with this trauma-based mind con- sitting beside me, how she came to the asking the audience how many of them trol.” To clarify, Sanders doesn’t think 9/11 Truth movement: “Ever since I believe the official story. Of the 180-ish that the families themselves should do got into Ron Paul four years ago, I ... people there, I am the only one in the the investigations: it’s opened up a whole new world of in- entire place who raises my hand. Linda formation to me.” I have seen a lot of looks at me, clearly surprised. “And I Competent teams should be carrying Ron Paul buttons and shirts at the event, was talking to you?” she asks, almost jok- out the investigation, and I would hope in a country like the United so I ask her what the association is be- ingly. In a subsequent poll question, States that we’ll have people with the tween Ron Paul and the 9/11 issue. She twenty-three people say they are “unde- capacity and ability to do a proper replies instantly: “The truth.” When I cided” about the official story.4 criminal investigation, just like we follow up with a question about Ron Gage gives his talk and accompany- watch on CSI Miami and so many Paul’s stance on 9/11 and whether he ing presentation and then goes deeper other criminal programs on televi- into many of the points we covered in sion. It’s just beyond me that we supports a new investigation, she says, didn’t care to look at a shred of evi- “I’m not sure.” She pauses. “Yeah, I’m our interview. The presentation is quite dence with a critical eye. We just sure he would.” epic, on the order of some seven hun- called the whole event on a bogey- Evans is disappointed that Cynthia dred slides (the DVD version of the man, Osama bin Laden, [who] is McKinney is not here, but now she is talk, 9/11 Blueprint for Truth, which I now supposedly dead, and for the really interested in Manny Badillo, even picked up many months ago at a previ- most part didn’t care to actually look ous event, is just over six hundred slides into what happened on that day. though she had never heard of him be- fore the press conference. I ask her if and can also be viewed online at http:// Soon the press conference begins. she has a theory about what happened bit.ly/m55GSz). The accompanying talk The three main speakers (Richard Gage and fellow activists Manny Badillo and Luke Rudkowski) each in turn give synopses of their upcoming [Richard Gage] opens by asking the audience talks. It is at this point that we learn that Cynthia McKinney, a former how many of them believe the official story. member of Congress who was listed in Of the 180-ish people there, I am the only one the program, will not be joining us, as she is en route to North Africa to in- in the entire place who raises my hand. vestigate the conflict in Libya. Following the press conference, I Linda looks at me, clearly surprised. “And I was lurk around the periphery of the church talking to you?” she asks, almost jokingly. snapping photographs as Eva James sings her composition “Sharing the Truth” to her own guitar accompani-

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is quite polished and well delivered, and Hunter, a television clown ambushing that we still have to go through this?” the crowd reacts well. At the end of the unsuspecting public figures and thor- So much for condemning emotional lecture, Gage takes another poll; of the oughly annoying them. I am uncom- appeals, I think. twenty-three attendees who were unde- fortable watching the video and am The conference has run a little behind cided, only three remain. deeply embarrassed for Rudkowski. schedule, so we adjourn immediately After a local artist, Purple Crown, Perhaps the most dynamic speaker is after the question and answer period and performs his song “Born into War,”5 Manny Badillo. He is outreach director skip the “Tithe for Truth” listed in the which is replete with references to 9/11, of New York City Coalition for Ac- program. The organizers have rented out vaccines, and food additives, Rudkowski countability Now (NYCCAN), which a nightclub across the street, and I plan of WeAreChange.org takes the podium. he describes as the “only family member, to tag along and spend a night out with Rudkowski is described in the confer- first responder, and survivor organiza- the 9/11 Truth community.

Notes 1. The paper in question is Niels Harrit et al.’s Rudkowski strikes me as a sort of “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe” journalistic Crocodile Hunter, (The Open Chemical Physics Journal, Volume 2, 2009). According to the editor of the journal, the paper had not been submitted for peer review, and a television clown ambushing she resigned in protest, saying: “I cannot accept that the issue is put in my journal. The article is unsuspecting public figures not about physical chemistry or chemical physics, and I could well believe that there is a political and thoroughly annoying them. point of view behind the publication. If anyone had asked me, I would say that the article should never have been published in this journal. Period.” See Thomas Hoffman’s “Editor Resigns after ence program as a practitioner of “bold tion that wants the comprehensive and Con tro versial 9/11 Article,” available online in activist journalism,” and he occasionally factual investigation that we all deserve.” Danish at http://videnskab.dk/teknologi/chefred appears on the channel Russia Today Badillo’s uncle was killed in the attacks. aktor-skrider-efter-kontroversiel-artikel-om-911. 2. This interview was in fact filmed by Tuskin and The Alex Jones Show. If he’s a jour- He is frustrated that his group’s petition and later released on his YouTube channel. The nalist, he seems to not break stories or to have a question placed on the New entire interview may be viewed at http:// land interviews. Instead, he makes his York ballot that asked, according to bit.ly/iU0ggw. 3. Video of Eva James’s performance can be way into private events posing as a jour- Badillo’s speech, “Would you support a found at http://bit.ly/mUBXTJ. It is just one ex- nalist and confronts people he identifies comprehensive and factual investigation ample of an entire genre of 9/11 filk. as members of the New World Order. into the event of September 11th—yes 4. Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth keeps a tally of this poll for many of the events at Then he records them looking befud- or no?” was shot down by the New York which Gage presents. It may be found at www2. dled. For instance, in a video clip that he Supreme Court. He says that the court’s ae911truth.org/speakings.php#speakpast. is previewing for the first time at this decision was “based on technicalities.”6 5. The official YouTube video of Purple Crown’s “Born into War” can be viewed at conference, Rudkowski confronts “Over and over again,” Badillo says, http://bit.ly/cPi7py. Henry Kissinger at some social event. “I see these specials they have on [tele- 6. In October of 2009, New York Supreme Rud kowski badgers Kissin ger for words vision about] 9/11 and it’s harrowing Court Justice Edward Lehner affirmed the find- ings of the city’s referee, who had reviewed and of forgiveness for all his horrific crimes. and it’s awful, because they never touch rejected the NYCCAN petition. The referee Kissinger just turns his back on him. upon the facts of the case. It’s all so found that the petition to create an investigative When Kissinger leaves, Rud kowski emotionally driven.” In almost the next commission with subpoena power was inconsis- tent with the existing law with respect to financ- hops into a cab and follows Kissinger to breath, however, he denounces the city’s ing the commission, staffing it, and its jurisdic- what I take to be his residence in order plans to build a memorial: “From what I tion, as well as compliance with New York to badger him some more. It is hard to understand, the vast majority of this mu- transparency laws, the constitutional right to in- dictment by grand jury, and with respect to the see what substantive political point has seum-slash-memorial is going to be a petition’s proposal to confer prosecutorial immu- been made, and Rudkowski strikes me museum, and how dare they further dis- nities upon committee members. The petition as a sort of journalistic Crocodile respect the family members? How dare was so deeply flawed that its severability clause could not salvage any part of it; the city didn’t even pursue its original finding that NYCCAN An expanded report, “You Can’t Handle the Truthiness,” had failed to secure enough legitimate signatures. Burke v. McSweeny, No. 110779/09 (Supreme including more extensive interviews, may be found at www.csicop.org. Court of the State of New York, County of New York, October 8, 2009).

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The Life and Death of ‘Living God’ Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba, a living god for nearly forty million people, died in April. He had a nine-billion-dollar organization and religious centers throughout the world. Who was Baba? Why was he thought to be a god?

RYAN SHAFFER

athya Sai Baba died in April 2011 after illness due to when he started “materializing” items respiratory and kidney problems. He was a “living out of thin air. He then began traveling throughout South India building a fol- Sgod” for nearly forty million people worldwide, and lowing (Babb 1991). His celebrity was his believers have credited him with resurrecting the dead cemented when Amer icans traveled to and healing the sick. To his Hindu followers, Baba was an India on spiritual voyages in the 1960s. In the past several years, Baba estab- avatar, or an incarnation, of a god who performed miracles, lished many centers in the United including materializing jewelry and vibuthi (holy ash) out States. For example, the USA Sai Or- of thin air. With schools in more than thirty-three coun- ganization lists eight locations in New York and twenty locations in Southern tries and educational programs in 166 countries, Baba be- California. came a global figure despite having left India only once Besides being a spiritual guru, Baba was well-connected politically in India, (to visit Uganda in 1968). His support- with high-profile believers in the two ers, including high-profile Indian major parties: the right-leaning Bharatiya politicians and American businessmen, Janata Party (BJP) and the left-leaning proudly celebrated his mystical feats Indian National Con gress (INC). These and humanitarian efforts. But his critics included former Prime Ministers A.B. denounced him as a fraud for decades, Vajpayee and P.V. Nara simha Rao (Gold- claiming his feats were common magic berg 2005). Journalist Khushwant Singh tricks. Later, former followers accused explained Baba’s ties to politicians in the him of child molestation, after which 1995 documentary Guru Busters: “At the U.S. government issued travel warn- many times some decisions and particu- ings to its citizens about the allegations. larly the [political] appointments are Sathya Sai Baba was born in 1926 in made in consultation with him . . . peo- Ryan Shaffer is a writer Puttaparthi, India. At fourteen, he de- ple like Sai Baba have a national influ- and historian. He is cur- ence.” In the documentary, T.N. Seshan, rently a PhD candidate in clared he was the reincarnation of Sai history at the State Uni- Baba of Shirdi (1835–1918), an Indian then chief election commissioner of versity of New York, Stony guru who remains a popular Hindu fig- India, held up a ring Baba gave him and Brook, and his current re- ure and was rumored to levitate, read said, “He gave this ring out of nowhere, search is on political and minds, and even heal the sick. In the which is set with nine gems; there is a social movements. 1940s, Baba began attracting attention ruby in it, a pearl in it, sapphire in it,

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been sexually abused by him. The doc- umentary featured interviews with gov- ernment leaders who called the claims “baseless.” On the other hand, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warn- ing in 2001 about “inappropriate sexual behavior by a prominent local religious leader” and later confirmed it was refer- ring to Baba (Lewis 2006). Datta’s report also explored a strange and still unexplained event in 1993. On June 6, 1993, four boys supposedly en- tered Baba’s bedroom with knives and were shot to death by local police. The police claimed they had to fatally shoot the boys after the boys attacked them with knives. A report from the Central Bureau of Investiga tion (CBI), India’s organization to investigate corruption and special crimes, discovered flaws and contradictions in the police reports, and it was rumored that police killed the AFP PHOTO/Dibyangshu SARKAR/FILES AFP PHOTO/Dibyangshu Indian police officials spread the national flag on the transparent casket containing the body of Hindu guru four boys in cold blood. Datta said, Sathya Sai Baba. “Some police officers were arrested but there is an emerald in it, there is a dia- In 2000, Sorcar explained that Baba’s never charged. The case was eventually mond in it . . . he realized this for me miracles, such as making vibhuti (holy dropped.” She further reported, “Critics out of nowhere.” Seshan later explained, ash) appear, are “common tricks” using say police connections ensured that Sai “I am not a jumbly person. I’ve got a sleight of hand (“P.C. Sorcar: Baba’s a Baba wasn’t even interviewed, despite master’s degree in physics; I have a Bad Trickster” 2000). In that example, being one of the witnesses to the events master’s degree in administration eco- he says, the holy ash is from a capsule of that night.” Attempts by the former nomics from Harvard. I find nothing hidden in the palm of Baba’s hand, Home Secretary to reopen the case were contradictory between the physics and which is then crushed with his thumb unsuccessful, and the reasons behind the the fact that I believe this [ring] came to make the ash appear. Like wise, Ba - killings as well as the boys’ motives for out of the blue.” sava Prema nand (1930–2009), one of entering Baba’s bedroom remain un- By 2011 the state’s tax department es- the most respected Indian rationalists, known. Premanand later published a timated the worth of Baba’s Sathya Sai started investigating Baba in 1968. book titled Murders in Sai Baba’s Bed Central Trust at about nine billion dol- Prema nand, who was the head of Indian Room that discussed the CBI’s descrip- lars. One of the Trust’s most not able Skeptics and wrote thirty-five books tion of the police cover-up and destruc- projects was the building of the Sri (five in English), devoted years to exam- tion of evidence. Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical ining Baba (Polidoro 2003). He released On April 24, 2011, Baba died at the Scie nces in Puttaparthi with donations, his findings about the sleight-of-hand age of eighty-five. His death was like- including a twenty-million-dollar con- techniques used in Baba’s “miracles” to wise full of controversy. For one, Baba’s tribution from Hard Rock Café and the public as early as 1976. death contradicts his prediction posted House of Blues cofounder Isaac Tigrett. Perhaps more damaging was Tal on his website: “He is expected to leave In mid-June, nearly two months after Brooke’s 1970 book Lord of the Air His body [in] 2019” (International Sai Baba’s death, 216 lbs. (98 kg) of gold, (later called Avatar of Night), which re- Organization 2011a). After he was put 676.8 lbs. (307 kg) of silver, and about counted the author’s doubts about Baba on life support, medical specialists from $2.5 million in cash were dis covered in upon learning of his sexual activities the United States, Britain, and Aus- Baba’s personal chamber after it was with young boys. The allegations did tralia traveled to Puttaparthi to help opened for the Trust to inventory items not go away. In 2004, stories of sexual Baba. On April 5, as rumors of his ill- (“98 kg Gold Found . . .” 2011). abuse and child molestation surfaced ness spread, hundreds of devotees at- Baba’s critics and former followers in the BBC2 documentary The Secret tempted to break into the hospital and accused him of serious crimes. P.C. Sor- Swami, in which journalist Tanya Datta attacked officials “for not allowing car Jr., a well-known Indian magician, interviewed former Baba devotees in them to have a glimpse of the ailing has been a Baba critic for several years. the United States who said they had Baba” (Das 2011). The next day, doctors

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reported progress when Baba’s alertness event in Delhi as a young girl decades info/ssspeaks/volume32/sss32p2-01.pdf. ———. 2011a. A short history of Sathya Sai improved, but the state government ago. At the event, she was told by her Baba. Available online at www.sathyasai.org/ worried about the impact of the organ- friend to watch Baba carefully so as not intro/history.htm. ization becoming leaderless. Know ing to miss anything he did. She concen- ———. 2011b. Introduction to Sathya Sai Baba. Available online at www.sathyasai.org/intro/ the region was dependent on Baba, it trated on Baba, closely following his message.htm. sent a five-member team “to find out movements with her eyes. Her concen- Krishnamoorthy, Suresh. 2000. Sathya Sai Baba whether there is any system in place for tration was abruptly shattered when interred with State honours. The Hindu (April 28). Available online at www.thehindu.com/ running the scores of charitable schemes” Baba, through his handlers, told her to news/national/article1772631.ece. created by Baba under the trust (“Andhra leave. Rajaram surmised that Baba saw Kumar, G. Arun. 2011. ‘Miracle’ in Puttaparthi, Govt Team . . .” 2011). her in the audience and, being wary of Baba statue oozes scented oil. The Times of India (April 20). Available online at http:// While Baba remained in the hospi- skeptics, did not want her there. Why timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Miracle tal, a miracle was proclaimed with fol- would a god not want someone to lowers and reporters flocking to see a four-foot wax figure of Baba “oozing perfumed oils from its feet” (Kumar 2011). The Times of India noted, “Devo- tees refused to consider that the wax The U.S. State Department issued a idol could be melting in the sweltering travel warning in 2001 about heat and the oil was a resultant residue” (Kumar 2011). The same day, the Dec- “inappropriate sexual behavior by a can Herald noted that the “idol stopped releasing the liquid after it was shifted prominent local religious leader” and to the ground floor of the residential complex” (“Axe Effect of Baba Wax later confirmed it was referring to Baba. Statue” 2011). The next day, Baba’s liver stopped re- sponding to treatment and he was pro- nounced dead due to multiple organ -in-Puttaparthi-Baba-statue-oozes-scented- failure. The faithful flocked to Putta - watch him closely? More than likely oil/articleshow/8032118.cms. parthi, paying their respects in prayer, because he was not a god but rather a Lewis, Paul. 2006. The Indian living god, the pae- and a memorial service was held with human who lived within the laws of dophilia claims and the Duke of Edin burgh physics like the rest of us. awards. The Guardian (Novem ber 4). Avail- full state honors. In attendance were able online at www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006 governors from two Indian states, four /nov/04/voluntarysector.india. References former or current chief ministers, and P.C. Sorcar: Baba’s a bad trickster. 2000. India 98 kg gold found in Sai Baba’s room. 2011. The Today (December 4). Available online at two Andhra Pradesh ministers (Krish - Hindu (June 17). Available online at http:// www.india-today.com/itoday/20001204/ na moorthy 2011). www.thehindu.com/news/article2113195.ece. cover3.shtml. Baba’s death likely won’t bring an Andhra govt team to assess Saibaba trust Polidoro, Massimo. 2003. Don’t try this at home. takeover. 2011. Times of India (April 6). Avail- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 27(1) (January/Febru- end to any controversy about his activ- able online at http://timesofindia.india ary). ities or supposed “miracles.” Many peo- times.com/india/New-Article/articleshow/ Secret swami. 2004. BBC2 ( June 11). Available ple are dependent on Baba’s humanitar- 7880018.cms. online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/progra ian organization for free medical care Axe effect of Baba wax statue. 2011. Deccan Her- mmes/this_world/3791921.stm. ald (April 19). Available online at www. Sathya Sai Baba passes away, leaves behind Rs and drinking water. With his unex- deccanherald.com/content/155075/axe-effect- 40000-cr worth empire. 2011. The Economic pected death, it remains unclear what baba-wax-statue.html. Times (April 24). Available online at Babb, Lawrence. 1991. will happen to his organization and Redemptive Encounters: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition. politics/nation/sathya-sai-baba-passes-away- those who rely on it. One prediction is Berkeley: University of California Press. leaves-behind-rs-40000-cr-worth-empire/ that there will be at least one person Das, Ashok. 2011. Sai Baba remains critical, articleshow/8075953.cms. devotees asked to stay calm. Hindustan Times who will claim to be the third incarna- Sathya Sai Baba’s gargantuan empire. 2011. India (April 5). Available online at www.hindustan Today (April 5). Available online at http://in tion of Sai Baba. How that person will times.com/Sai-Baba-s-remains-critical- diatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/134423/latest- be received by Sathya Sai Baba’s follow- devotees-asked-to-stay-calm/Article1- headlines/sathya-sai-babas-gargantuan-emp 681433.aspx. ire.html. ers is anyone’s guess. But an important Goldberg, Michelle. 2005. Untouchable? Salon. Tension in Puttaparthi, Sai Baba’s devotees attack com ( July 25). Available online at http:// lesson about supernatural claims can be district collector. 2011. India Express (April 5). archive.salon.com/people/feature/2001/ learned from this case. During my 2010 Available online at www.indianexpress.com/ 07/25/baba/index.html. news/tension-in-puttaparthi-sai-babas-devo visit to India, I was told a story by International Sai Organization. 1999. Sathya Sai tees-attack-district-collector/771831/. Lalitha Rajaram, who attended a Baba Speaks 32(2). Available online at www.sssbpt.

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[ INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL Joe Nickell, CSI’s senior research fellow, is a former magician and detective. He is author of many books, including Entities and Adventures in Paranormal Investiga tion. His website is at www.joenickell.com.

In Search of the Emerald Grail

n the old-town portion of Genoa, tien de Troyes around 1190. It describes twelfth century, when Robert de Boron Italy, the city where Christopher how, when a girl “entered holding the penned his romance. Notably, the Gospel IColum bus was born, stands the great grail, so brilliant a light ap peared that the accounts of Jesus’s death do not suggest Romanesque-Gothic cathedral of San candles lost their brightness like the stars that Joseph or anyone obtained a dish Lorenzo (Saint Lawrence).1 Here in the or the moon when the sun rises. ... The or other vessel from the Last Supper subterranean Museum of the Treasury— grail . . . was made of fine, pure gold, and and used it or any other receptacle to which houses reputed pieces of the True in it were precious stones of many preserve Jesus’s blood. Records of the Cross, relics of John the Baptist, and kinds. ...” Two other grail stories, both Holy Blood—the reputed contents of other religious objects—is displayed Il written by Robert de Boron circa 1200, the cup Joseph possessed—are also of Sacro Catino, “The Holy Basin.” This is were Joseph d’Arimathie and Merlin. late vintage, perhaps the earliest coming one of the most famous embodiments of These gave the Grail quest a new Chris- from Mantra, Italy, in 804 (Nickell the legendary “Holy Grail,” and I was tian focus, representing it as a spiritual 2007, 53–56). able to study both it and its legend there rather than chivalrous search. This epic Nevertheless, several vessels lay claim in the fall of 2009 (figure 1), attempting constitutes the most important and best- to being the true Holy Grail—some to resolve some of the mysteries and con- known English version of the Arthurian twenty of which had surfaced by the six- troversies concerning it. and Grail adventures (Bar ber 2004, 19; teenth century. John Calvin ([1543] Cox 2004, 75–76). 2009, 62, 63) reported on several of the Grail Legends Other legends represent the Holy rival claimants for the title of “the cup in Romantic stories about the quest for Grail variously as a silver platter, a which Christ gave the sacrament of his the San Gréal, or “Holy Grail”—report- miraculous cauldron or dish of plenty, a blood to the apostles” (at the Last Sup- edly the cup used by Jesus at the Last salver bearing a man’s severed head (like per). Calvin mentioned one at Notre Supper—have proliferated for cen- that of John the Baptist in Matthew Dame de l’Isle, near Lyons; another was turies. Popularly, the Grail (originally 14:3–12), or a crystal vase filled with in a monastery in the Albigéois; still an- the word meant “dish”) is the talisman blood. Over time the Grail has also other could be found at Genoa. This was sought by the knights of King Arthur’s been represented as a reliquary (con- “a vessel or cup of emerald” so “costly,” Round Table. The quest is known to taining the Sacred Host or holy blood), says Calvin sarcastically, that “our Lord English audiences largely though French a secret book, an effigy of Jesus, the must have had a splendid service on that romances compiled and translated by Sir philosopher’s stone, and many other occasion.” (See also my introduction to Thomas Malory in his Morte d’Arthur in portrayals. Around 1205 in a Bavarian Calvin [1543] 2009, 32–33.) 1470. Therein the Grail is represented poem titled Parzival, it was described as the chalice from which Jesus and his as a magical luminous stone, more The Emerald Bowl disciples drank at the Last Supper and specifically as an emerald from Lu- Calvin is clearly referring to Il Sacro which was subsequently used to catch cifer’s crown that had fallen to earth Catino, “The Holy Basin.” Most sources and preserve his blood from the Cruci- during the struggle in heaven. The term allege that this vessel—actually an fixion. This act was usually attributed Holy Grail now popularly refers to any emerald-green, hexagonal bowl—was to Mary Magda lene or Joseph of Ari- object of a quest, usually an unattain- brought to Genoa by Guglielmo Em- mathea (the latter having claimed able one (Nickell 2007, 50–53). briaco, following the conquest of Cae- Jesus’s body for burial—see Mark sarea in 1101.2 A fresco on the main 15:43–46). The Historical Evidence façade of the Palazzo San Giorgio (fig- The earliest Grail romance is Le Unfortunately, there is no story about ure 2) depicts crusader Guglielmo Conte du Graal (“The Story of the Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy (“William” in English) holding as war Grail”), which was composed by Chré- Grail in any text until the close of the booty the distinctive Catino. Twelfth-

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century writers acknowledged the pur- ported intrinsic value of the bowl. For example, William of Tyre noted circa 1170 that it was “a vase of brilliant green shaped like a bowl” and that “the Ge- noese, believing that it was of emerald, took it in lieu of a large sum of money and thus acquired a splendid ornament for their church.” He adds, “They still show this vase as a marvel to people of distinction who pass through their city, and persuade them to believe it is truly an emerald as its color indicates” (quoted in Barber 2004, 168). Others have seemed even more skep- tical. States George Frederick Kunz in his The Curious Lore of Precious Stones ([1913] 1971, 259): A queer story has been told regarding the Genoese emerald. At one time when the government was hard pressed for money, the Sacro Catino was offered to a rich Jew of Metz as pledge for a loan of 100,000 crowns. He was loath to take it, as he probably recognized its spurious character, and when Christian clients forced him to accept it under threats of dire ven- geance in case of refusal, he protested that they were taking a base advantage of the unpopularity of his faith, since they could not find a Christian who would make the loan. However, when some years later the Genoese were ready to redeem this precious relic, they were much puzzled to learn that Figure 1. In Genoa, the author poses with Il Sacro Catino (“ The Holy Basin”), long believed to be the Holy Grail. a half-dozen different persons claim - ed to have it in their possession, the fact being that the Jew had fabricated a number of copies which he had suc- ceeded in pawning for large sums, as- suring the lender in each case that the redemption of the pledge was certain. The Catino is not made of Be this anti-Semitic folktale as it may, the Catino was pawned in 1319 and re- emerald—no matter how deemed in 1327 (Marica 2007, 7; “The Dish of the Last Supper” 2010). It is much its color and still owned by the municipality of Genoa (Marica 2007, 12). hexagonal shape give it the In any event, the Catino is not made of emerald—no matter how much its appearance of a color and hexagonal shape give it the appearance of a faceted gemstone. At faceted gemstone. about fifteen inches in diameter it would have been an im mense emerald indeed! Actually, ac cording to the museum’s guidebook (Marica 2007, 12), it is sim-

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tannica (s.v. “Genoa”), the Catino “was 1190 and 1240 (Nickell 2007, 60). This long regarded as an emerald of match- realization should put an end to fanciful less value, but was found when broken Grail quests, but it probably will not: wit- at Paris, whither it had been carried by ness the popularity of such books as The Napoleon I., to be only a remarkable Da Vinci Code (Brown 2003) and the piece of ancient glass.” (Another view is book on which its author drew heavily, that it was broken on its return to Holy Blood, Holy Grail (Baigent et al. Genoa [Marica 2007, 7], and a 1914 1996)—silliness all. New York Times story claimed—possi- bly because of erroneous translation— Acknowledgements that it had just been “accidentally bro- I appreciate the help I received from Mas- ken” and was “beyond the possibility of simo Polidoro, who in 2009 not only saw to repair” [“‘Holy Grail’ Shattered” 1914].) it that I was invited to Italy’s largest science In any case, the bowl was restored in festival, held in Genoa, but who, with other 1908 and again, finally, in 1951, when skeptics including Luigi Garlaschelli, accom- it received the metal armature that panied me to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. holds the pieces together (“The Dish of CFI Libraries Director Timothy Binga and the Last Supper” 2010; Marica 2007, CFI visiting scholar Christina Stevens pro- vided valuable re search assistance. 7). (A rumor claims that the missing piece—again see figure 3—was kept in Notes Paris in the Louvre [“The Dish of the 1. St. Lawrence was a deacon of the Roman Figure 2. A Genoese palace fresco depicts Guglielmo Embri- Last Supper” 2010].) Church, martyred during the persecution of Va- aco, merchant and military leader, with the Catino as war lerian in 258. booty. Unholy Grail 2. Another source reports that the bowl was When the belief that the Catino was booty from Almeria, Spain, taken in 1147. (See Marica 2007, 7.) made of emerald was broken to pieces, so was the claim that it was the Holy Grail. References Its alleged Christological link was as- Baigent, Michael, Richard Leigh, and Henry serted long after the bowl arrived in Lincoln. 1996. Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Lon - Genoa, and it was predicated on the basis don: Arrow. of its supposed emerald composition. This Barber, Richard. 2004. The Holy Grail: Imagina- tion and Belief. Cambridge: Harvard Uni - leap of faith was made by Jacopo da Vor- versity Press. agine, archbishop of Genoa and au thor Brown, Dan. 2003. The Da Vinci Code. New York: of Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend). Doubleday. In a chronicle of Genoa written at Calvin, John. (1543) 2009. Treatise on Relics, the close of the thirteenth century, Jaco- from a translation of 1854. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books (introduction by po, believing the vessel was indeed made Joe Nickell). of emerald, linked it to one of the Grail Cox, Simon. 2004. Cracking the Da Vinci Code. traditions. He cited certain English New York: Barnes and Noble. texts that claimed that Nico de mus had The dish of the Last Supper. 2010. Available on- line (in Italian) at http://www.cicap.org/new used an emerald vessel to collect Jesus’s /articolo.php?id=102013. Accessed January blood when his body was placed in his 26, 2010. tomb and that these texts called it “San- Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. 1910. New York: graal”—that is, “Holy Grail” (Marica The Encyclopedia Britannica Co. ‘Holy Grail’ shattered. 1914. The New York Times Figure 3. Supposedly made of emerald, the Catino was broken 2007, 7; Barber 2004, 168). in the early nineteenth century, disproving the claim. (Photos (April 18.) by Joe Nickell) Alas, there is nothing to credibly con- Kunz, George Frederick. (1913) 1971. The Curi- nect the Sacro Catino to a first-century ous Lore of Precious Stones. New York: Dover ply of “mould-blown green glass.” Its Grail, and the same may be said of other Publications. supposed Grail vessels. Indeed, observes Marica, Patrizia. 2007. Museo del Tesoro. Genoa, manufacture is said to be Egyptian Italy: Sagep Editori Sri. (Barber 2004, 168) or ninth-century Is- Barber (2004, 170), “there is little or no Museum of the Treasury of the Cathedral of St. lamic (Marica 2007, 12), or possibly evidence that anyone claimed in the thir- Lawrence of Genoa. N.d. Museum handout later. teenth century to possess the Grail.” Cer- in English. Copy obtained by author, October Its glass composition was revealed tainly, claims for all such vessels date 31, 2009. Nickell, Joe. 2007. Relics of the Christ. Lexington: when it became broken (figure 3). Ac- from after the period when most of the University Press of Kentucky. (Additional cording to the 1910 Encyclopedia Bri- Grail romances were penned: between sources given in this source.)

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NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD] MASSIMO POLIDORO Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the paranormal, lecturer, and cofounder and head of CICAP, the Italian skeptics group. His website is at www.massimopolidoro.com.

The Myth of Chastity Belts

ccording to tradition, the use of chastity belts—metallic straps A locked over female genitalia with padlocks—dates back to the time of the Crusades, when knights in departure for the Holy Land supposedly used them to ensure their wives’ fidelity in their absence. Recent studies, however, show that s uch instruments were never in use during the Middle Ages. There are in fact some logical prob- lems with the use of such belts, chief among them hygiene: even if the belts had small holes for bathroom functions, such devices would soon cause wounds followed by infections, serious sepsis, and finally death. Furthermore, it is quite plausible that before leaving the knights would sleep one last time with their wives, maybe hoping to find a baby on their return. It is quite obvious that a locked chastity belt would have prevented any birth. And finally, the most obvious problem: any medieval lock could be opened by a locksmith in a few seconds. In addition to such logical faults, the fact that medieval chastity belts are just a legend is suggested by the absolute absence of such belts that can be dated back to the Middle Ages.

Abstinence The idea of sexual abstinence is cer- tainly quite old. The Latin term for chastity belt, cingulum castitatis, ap - peared in some works by Gregory the Great, Alcuin of York, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and Nicolas Gorranus start- Figure 1. This sixteenth-century engraving of a woman in a chastity belt is attributed to Sebald Beham.

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are hard iron breeches of Florentine the United States where Puritan ism women which are closed at the front. was again in vogue, that chastity belts Padlocks unto the four-legged creatures, became widespread. However, these breeches unto the women of Florence, A were more refined and were meant to joke binds this lovely series together, I be worn for only a short time, used by recommend them to the noble and obe- working women with the purpose of dient youth.” This, then, would imply avoiding rape or imposed on adoles- that even if the device really existed in the cents in order to prevent masturbation, fifteenth century, it was certainly quite which was considered bad for the rare. Surely there are no traces of such health (or at least for the soul) by the apparatus in the Florence of the times. A sixteenth-century engraving at - bourgeois moral hypocrisy. tributed to Sebald Beham, a minor The Psychical Researcher Figure 2. Konrad Kyeser’s 1405 military encyclopedia the German master, shows a woman wear- Bellifortis contains the first visual depiction of an object that ing a “chastity belt” locked with a pad- The historian primarily responsible for vaguely resembles a chastity belt. lock, standing between two men giving the creation in the twentieth century of her money (see figure 1). An interpre- the myth of medieval chastity belts is ing in the fifteenth century. However, tation given for the engraving is that none other than Eric John Dingwall, in all such cases it is meant as a symbol she is a prostitute standing between her who in 1931 published his monograph of moral purity, not as a physical object. protector and a client. So, even if the The Girdle of Chastity (still in print The concept of a fidelity pact between belt was an actual physical object rather today). Dingwall is quite famous in psy- lovers appears in poems of the twelfth than a metaphorical concept, it is rep- chical research history. He worked with century, such as the “Lai of Guigemar” by resented in the Beham engraving both the British Society for Psychical the famous poetess Marie de France. In merely as a professional instrument and Research and its American counterpart. this tale, when Guigemar departs from not as a constriction by a jealous lover. the woman he loves, they exchange love He conducted celebrated investigations tokens: the woman ties a knot in his shirt Fakes on such mediums as Eva C., Eusapia Palla dino, Margery, and the Schneider that only she can untie, while the knight The earliest known “real” chastity belts brothers. He was friends with Houdini ties a tight girdle around her loins that date to around 1840 and are found and an accomplished magician himself only he knows how to untie. Thus they today in the museums of Europe. For can become lovers with others only if example, at the Musée de Cluny in who was not easily fooled by the decep- they cut off their clothes. But, as it can be Paris, devoted to medieval art, until re- tions that some pseudo-psychics em- seen, this is a symbolic pact and, signifi- cently one could find a belt that was ployed. He also contributed to the de- cantly, it is the woman who initiates it. said to have belonged to Catherine De bunking of the Borley Rectory “haun ting” In order to find the first visual depic- Medici. It was only in 1990 that the case. And yet he was convinced that tion of an object that vaguely resembles museum’s curators noted that the object chastity belts really existed in the Middle a chastity belt, we need to look to a 1405 was most likely a forgery from the Ages. “As a monument of human folly,” codex, Konrad Kyeser’s military encyclo- nineteenth century. Another piece from he wrote in his book, “the girdle of pedia the Bellifortis. Among descriptions the British Museum in London, origi- chastity is a good example: as an indica- of weapons, catapults, and torture de- nally thought to date to the sixteenth tion of the lengths to which jealousy vices, an instrument that resembles century, was recently established to be unchecked will lead it is unique.” Not so. armor more than a chastity belt (figure from the 1840s and removed from the However, he can be excused, for in his 2) is presented as being used “unto the exhibition. time some of the belts on display in mu- women of Florence.” How ever, Kyeser’s It is only in the nineteenth century, seums, and whose pictures are included tone is ironic; he in fact writes: “These especially in countries like England and in Ding wall’s book, were still thought to be authentic. At that time it was impos- sible to date them with accuracy. It is only in the nineteenth century, especially in Furthermore, in Dingwall’s defense, it can also be said that chastity belts countries like England and the United States were actually publicized in medical where Puritan ism was again in vogue, that journals of the early twentieth century as a means to ensure fidelity, which chastity belts became widespread. helps explain how one of the many myths attributed to the Middle Ages became reality in modern times.

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[THINKING ABOUT SCIENCE MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI Massimo Pigliucci is professor of philosophy at the City University of New York–Lehman College, a fellow of the American Association for the Advance ment of Science, and author of Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Sci- ence from Bunk. His essays can be found at www.rationallyspeaking.org.

On Miracles—Again

rguably, one of the most oft- repeated mantras in the skeptic A community is “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” the modern rendition of David Hume’s idea that “a wise man proportions his be- lief to the evidence.” Hume wrote about adjusting belief according to the avail- able evidence in his famous essay “Of Miracles,” published in 1748 as part of his Enquiry Concerning Human Under - standing. I discussed this topic in this col- umn back in 2005 (SI’s March/April issue, 14–15), but because Hume’s dic- tum is a crucial component of modern skepticism, and also because the three hundredth anniversary of the famous philosopher’s birthday has just been cel- ebrated throughout Europe, it is perhaps worth taking another look at what the principle entails and why we still think it is worth our attention today. Hume’s analysis was based on his def- inition of miracle, a definition that actu- ally applies to many areas of inquiry in skepticism and can easily be extended to occurrences that, while not strictly mirac- ulous, are nonetheless extraordinary enough to fall under Hume’s analysis. For the Scottish philosopher, “a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has es- tablished these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from expe- rience can possibly be imagined.” David Hume

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This passage has occasioned much experience. But obviously we cannot What about the probabilities to be misunderstanding. (Two good refer- leave things there; otherwise we would attached to the testimony of an unusual ences for those interested in the philo- never accept the discovery of any new or miraculous event? Hume tells us that sophical controversy and modern inter- phenomenon on the simple basis that we “a general maxim worthy of our atten- pretations of Hume’s reasoning are hadn’t encountered it before. tion [is] that no testimony is sufficient Jordan Howard Sobel’s “On the Evi- At this point Hume differentiates to establish a miracle, unless the testi- dence of Testimony for Miracles” and truly extraordinary events from simply mony be of such a kind, that its false- David Owen’s “Hume versus Price on rare occurrences: “It is no miracle that a hood would be more miraculous than Miracles and Prior Probabilities,” both man, seemingly in good health, should the fact which it endeavors to establish.” of which appeared in the April 1987 die on a sudden: because such a kind of Again, we see echoes of Bayesianism, Philosophical Quarterly.) In particular, death, though more unusual than any even though scholars are fairly certain disagreement often focuses on the word other, has yet been frequently observed that Hume did not know of Reverend proof, which if interpreted in contem- to happen. But it is a miracle that a dead Bayes’s work (despite the fact that Bayes died in 1761 and his seminal essay was published posthumously in 1763, when Hume was alive and well). We are now talking about likelihoods: It isn’t impossible to have sufficient the probability that the testimony is evidence to believe in miracles correct assuming that the event actually occurred. According to Bayes’s theorem, (or paranormal phenomena)—it just the priors multiplied by the likelihood are proportional to the posteriors (the takes an extraordinary amount of it for probability that the event occurred given the evidence) like this: P(M|T) ~ that belief to become reasonable. P(T|M) * P(M). This means that the probability of a miracle oc curring given the testimony is proportional to the probability of the testimony given the miracle occurred times the prior prob- porary terms seems to imply absolute man should come to life; because that ability of the miracle. If one standard- certainty. But it is easy to show that has never been observed in any age or izes these quantities, one may substitute Hume was not endorsing certainty in country.” For readers inclined to see the equal sign for the proportionality. any matters, as is clear from the context things in a Bayesian framework—one of To simplify: uB ~ nE * pB (updated Be- of all of his writings, and that the word the most powerful modern approaches lief is proportional to the product of proof was used by philosophers of the in both probability theory and episte- new Evidence and prior Belief ). time to indicate what we today would mology—this can be translated in the So Hume’s idea can be recast in these call the degree of probability or likeli- following fashion. The prior probability terms: if the priors are already high (as hood of a proposition. Indeed, Hume of, say, a sudden heart attack is non-neg- in the case of a man suddenly dying of a explicitly says that “in our reasoning ligible depending on the frequency with heart attack), the testimony need not be concerning matters of fact, there are all which such events take place in the gen- particularly overwhelming (moderate imaginable degrees of assurance, from eral population. In contrast, the prior likelihoods will do) for us to believe that the highest certainty to the lowest probability attached to a violation of the the event occurred (medium to high species of evidence.” laws of nature (or even to a paranormal posteriors). But if the priors are very low So, let’s consider the report of a mir- phenomenon) has to be very low simply (a miracle occurring), then it takes over- acle (or a UFO or a ghost). Hume be - because we have never reliably observed whelmingly strong evidence (very high gins by pitting two types of experience such an event, nor do we have any good likelihoods) to yield an even modest against each other: the fact that we al- reason to believe that it can occur (how- posterior. In other words, it isn’t impos- most never observe miracles (or UFOs ever, again, its probability cannot be ex- sible to have sufficient evidence to be- or ghosts) against a new report of just actly zero; otherwise we would be ab- lieve in miracles (or paranormal phe- one such experience. An initial analysis solutely certain of the impossibility of nomena)—it just takes an extraordinary gives us good reason to be skeptical of the event, and no amount of new infor- amount of it for that belief to become the extraordinary claim, because the un- mation could possibly change our be- reasonable. Exactly how extraordinary extraordinary explanation starts out with lief—the very definition of a closed- can now be calculated by means of a very large degree of support from our minded position). Bayes’s theorem.

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[ PSYCHIC VIBRATIONS ROBERT SHEAFFER “Psychic Vibrations” has appeared in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER for over thirty years. Sheaffer is also author of UFO Sightings: The Evi dence (Prometheus Books, 1998). He blogs at www.BadUFO.com.

Commie Nazi Saucer Crashed at Roswell

ccording to a new book by Annie was Bloomberg’s review of the book, (Interestingly, Arnold de scribed the ob- Jacobsen, Area 5 1: An Uncensored “Ros well Martians Might Have Been jects he saw as boomerang-shaped, but A History of America’s Top Secret Nazi Kids From Mengele’s Lab.” the press reported “flying saucers,” so Mili tary Base, the saucer that crashed in No reporter worth his salt should that’s what people said they saw. See Roswell, New Mexico, was not alien in ever have given credence to this prepos- Martin Kottmeyer’s “The Saucer Error,” origin but instead a collaboration be- terous claim, even for a minute. Anyone http://www.debunker.com/texts/Saucer tween Stalin and ex-Nazi Josef Men gele who did belongs in some other profes- Error.html.) to cause panic in the United States. sion. There are so many things wrong Second, how did this thing fly? Its This absurd claim was presented in all with this claim that one hardly knows propulsion system would be immediately seriousness by many of the major media, where to start. But I’ll give it a try: recognized by U.S. experts as conven- including the Huffington Post. On May First, the first publicized sighting of tional and terrestrial. Its electronics, years 22, the Albuquerque Journal headlined a disc-shaped craft was by Kenneth Ar- behind the best U.S. systems, would also “Stalin, Nazi Implicated in Roswell In- nold on June 24, 1947. The Roswell in- cident.” The story was also reported in cident occurred ten days later. Did Stalin the Boston Globe, AP News, and other and Mengele put this saucer hoax to- publications. Practically the only news gether in just ten days? That’s laughable. outlet to show any proper skepticism

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be immediately recognized as Soviet in placed rationalism, in which the “ratio- lower, they fall for this one: On April origin. The idea that Stalin could fool nal” explanation is even more implausi- 10, the major media outlets proclaimed U.S. experts into thinking that they were ble than what it is supposed to explain headlines like “Secret FBI memo examining an extraterrestrial craft is sim- (see my column, “The Fallacy of Mis- ‘proves’ govt. covered up Roswell alien ply absurd. Stalin was indeed devious and placed Rationalism,” SI, July/August landing of 1947.” The International evil, but he was not stupid. 2008; reprinted in Kendrick Frazier’s Business Times explained, “A secret Third, the children who had al - Science Under Siege [Prometheus Books, memo released online by the Federal legedly been deformed by the cruel 2009]). Bureau of Investigations [sic] (FBI) in Mengele to look like extraterrestrials Fifth, we know that Mengele was its ‘Vault’ has emerged as proof for the reportedly did not all die in the crash. hiding out in Bavaria under an assumed famed landing—or crash or capture— Surely their Soviet handlers knew that name from 1945 to 1949 and escaped to of a flying saucer with three dead aliens if any of them survived, they would im- Argentina soon afterward. As anyone in Roswell in New Mexico in June mediately be screaming for help in who has read Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Ar- 1947.” The London Daily Mail re- Russian or German, revealing the de - chipelago surely realizes, Stalin never gave ported on April 11, 2011: “Also among ception at once. anyone who might have information the files, released for the first time, is a memo from Guy Hottel, the special agent in charge of the Washington field office in 1950, which appears to prove The idea that Stalin could fool U.S. that aliens landed at Roswell, New experts into thinking that they were Mexico.” Except that the supposedly “just re- examining an extraterrestrial craft leased” 1950 memo has been kicking around in UFOlogy circles at least since is simply absurd. Stalin was indeed the early 1980s, and it has nothing to do with Roswell. Written by Washington, devious and evil, but he was not stupid. DC, FBI Agent Guy Hottel, the memo simply recounts a yarn he’d been told about a supposed saucer crash near Aztec, New Mexico. In my files I found Fourth, this is an attempt to explain embarrassing to the Soviet Union a a 1983 newspaper article showing something that does not need explain- chance to tell it. For example, millions of MUFON’s then-director, Walt Andrus, ing. Jacobsen’s wild claim attempts to returning Soviet prisoners of war were shamelessly trying to exploit the Hottel explain the origin of a disc-shaped craft sent to the Gulag for the “crime” of hav- Memo and numerous other references containing alien-looking beings that al- ing firsthand knowledge of the outside to it during the 1980s. legedly crashed at Roswell. But there is world. If Stalin had ever held Mengele, Dave Thomas of New Mexicans for no credible evidence whatsoever that a wanted war criminal, he never would Science and Reason has produced a fine this is what was actually found there, no have let him escape. Stalin would have analysis telling the complete story of matter what unsubstantiated tales placed Mengele in the Gulag, probably the Hottel memo’s origin and of others’ might be told. The man who actually in the “First Circle” (see Solzhenitsyn), attempts to exploit it (www.nmsr.org/ found the Roswell debris, Mac Brazel, where scientific and technical prisoners hottel.htm). Thomas traces the story’s described it as looking like a “large were held but compelled to work for the origin to number of pieces of paper covered with Soviet Union. Stalin lived until 1953, by a foil-like substance and pieced to- which time Mengele had been in Ar- the yarns spun by our two swindlers! gether with small sticks much like a gentina for several years. Thus the [UFOlogist] William Moore even kite”—in other words, like the debris of known facts of Mengele’s life contradict traced how the story got from Silas Newton to J. Edgar Hoover: Newton a balloon’s radar reflector, probably this preposterous tale—at no time was told George Koehler (employed at from Project Mogul (see my book UFO he ever living in the Soviet Union or radio station KMYR in Denver), Sightings, Chapter 4). There is no cred- even in the Soviet-occupied sector of who told Morley Davies, who told ible evidence that anything bigger than Germany. Ford dealers Murphy and van Horn, tinfoil and sticks was ever recovered at who told auto dealer Fick, who told * * * * * the editor of the Kansas City Wyan - Roswell. It is not wise to invoke ex- dotte Echo. By that time, Koehler traordinary explanations for ordinary And just when you think that the cred- had become “Coulter,” just like a phenomena. This is the fallacy of mis- ibility of the mass media can’t get any game of “gossip” (or a game of “pi”)!

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For more information about the Silas 21 allowed the un-raptured to remain ties this in with James McCanney’s Newton/Frank Scully “Aztec crash” hoax, on earth until October 21, the date of Plasma Theory of comets and similar see my webpage at www.debunker.com/ their final destruction, so Camping is “electric universe” theories about comets Scully.html. On it, you will find a three- claiming that his original prediction is being “electric.” part MP3 recording of J.P. Cahn, who still on track. “It won’t be spiritual on Just as you don’t find the term “cre- uncovered this “classic” hoax (Cahn ex- October 21st,” said Camp ing. “The ation science” any more, just “intelligent posed it in a notable book-length inves- world is going to be de stroyed all to- design,” you also don’t find “Veli kovskian” tigative article in the September 1952 gether, but it will be very quick.” It re- theory—it’s now the “electric universe.” True magazine), giving a talk to the Bay mains to be seen how many of his fol- According to these latter-day Velik - Area Skep tics in 1984. As far as I know, lowers will go into a frenzy over the ovskians, all comets are filled with elec- this is the only recording of Cahn dis- scheduled October 21 doomsday. But tricity; when Comet Elenin reaches the cuss ing his research into the Scully crash just because Camping’s May 21 Judg- inner solar system, it is supposedly going hoax. Cahn was a very entertaining ment Day was a bust, we’re not home to zap all of the planets with big light- speaker (his voice was heard on a number free yet. The world is still scheduled to ning bolts. Jadczyk thinks that the great- of radio commercials), so you might end twice before the end of 2011, fol- est danger to Earth will be on September enjoy hearing him tell the story in his lowed up by the Big Enchilada on De- 27 and November 23 of this year, even own words. cember 21, 2012. though the comet will never get closer The lesson of this whole fiasco: the First, the world is ending (or at least than about twenty-one million miles next time you hear the major news getting very messed up) later in 2011, from Earth. This is indeed closer than media reporting some major develop- probably in September, when Comet the Earth ever comes to Venus or Mars, ment supposedly proving the reality of Elenin (C/2010 X1) comes to perihe- but it is still about 100 times the distance extraterrestrial UFOs, remember how lion (its closest approach to the Sun). between Earth and the Moon. Ac cord - they sensationalized the sixty-year-old, This information (more accurately, ing to a posting on UFO-Blogger.com eighth-hand information in the Hottel misinformation) comes to us from one (http://tinyurl.com/45xzrn9), “every time FBI memo. Laura Knight Jadczyk, who channels Elenin lines up with Earth and another messages from the Cassiopeans. Super- planet or the sun we have an earthquake, * * * * * ficially, this prediction is very similar to the nearer Elenin gets the bigger the As just about everyone now knows, those by Nancy Lieder, who channels earthquakes.” Of course, given that radio evangelist Harold Camping of doomsday messages about Planet X earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater Family Radio whipped his followers up from the Zetas. Jadczyk, however, em- occur every three days on average, that into frenzy with his confident predic- phasizes that Comet Elenin is not one of the cited earthquakes was as small tion that Judgment Day, and the Rap- Planet X, and it is not going to collide as 4.7 (several such earthquakes occur ture, would begin on May 21, 2011. (I with Earth. However, there is much every day), and that an “alignment” seems reported that prediction in this column talk about a “pole shift.” The Cassio- to last as long as five days, it would be way back in the May/June 2010 SKEP- peans explain that they are not, strictly amazing if corresponding earthquakes TICAL INQUIRER). This created big ex- speaking, extraterrestrials but are in could not be found. citement and eventually be came a huge some way our “future selves.” In another kind of doomsday, our news story. The fact that Camping had Elenin is a faint comet. It originally friends in “exopolitics” are warning that issued an equally confident prediction was visible in amateur telescopes only “Universal Law” will cause “the collapse of Armageddon for September 1994 with difficulty, but it is expected to be- of the world economy starting in 2011” did not seem to count against him. come visible in binoculars during the fall (http://tinyurl.com/4ymnro9). There is A few days after the world didn’t of 2011. Why is it of so much interest? also a group claiming that on Decem ber end, Camping explained to his follow- Some conspiracy-oriented websites think 24, 2011, hostile aliens will try to begin ers that the Second Coming of Christ that the media have been strangely silent the extermination of the human race did in fact occur on May 21, but it was about the comet. (As if the major media (www.greatdreams.com/end-world. a “spiritual coming.” (This excuse has have ever trumpeted the arrival of faint htm) unless the good aliens are able to been used before when a predicted comets that people cannot see.) For Jad- stop them. In case you’re having trouble doomsday has failed to occur.) This czyk, it’s important because the Cassio- keeping all these doomsdays straight, began, he said, a five-month period peans told her that the outburst of 596 the website at www.rowdydow.co.uk/ leading up to the final judgment and Scheila, an object believed to be an aster- eotw/ lists them all for you and will even destruction on October 21. oid that began outgassing and revealed send you an e-mail warning each time Camping’s original prediction of itself to be a comet, was related to Comet that the world is scheduled to come to Judgment Day and the Rapture on May Elenin in some unspecified way. She also an end.

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[ THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE STEVEN NOVELLA Steven Novella, MD, is assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine, the host of the Skep- tics’ Guide to the Universe podcast, author of the NeuroLogica blog, executive editor of the Science-Based Medicine blog, and president of the New England Skeptical Society.

Selling Stem Cell Hype

he parents of a two-year-old girl the process of differentiation so that and injected stem cells are as likely to be- who has been blind since birth stem cells can be used therapeutically. come cancers as replacements for dis- Traised nearly $50,000 to take her Potential applications that are al - eased or injured cells. to a clinic in China, where she received ready being researched include injec- Getting stem cells to do what we stem cells from donated umbilical tion of stem cells into failing hearts— want them to, and getting them to sur- cords. After the treatment, the parents cells that will then turn into heart vive long enough to do it, is also no triv- were convinced that her sight had im- muscle cells and start beating along ial matter. Stem cells have tremendous proved, but objective examination by an with the rest, strengthening the heart. potential, and they will likely be playing ophthalmologist revealed that she still While still experimental, this is likely an increasing role in medical therapies had no vision. It’s a sad story that is one to be an early application of this kind over the next twenty years. But reality of many similar stories—the result of of use of stem cells. Similar experiments has yet to catch up with the hype. premature hype surrounding a relatively are underway using stem cells to repair The situation is ripe for exploitation. new technology. damaged brains or spinal cords. Stem cell clinics have been set up, mostly in poorly regulated countries such as China, India, and several coun- Stem cells share some characteristics tries in South America. They exist to lure in wealthy (by international stan- with cancer cells, and injected dards) Westerners desperate for a cure (such as the parents of young blind stem cells are as likely to become children). Fees range from the tens of thousands to even hundreds of thou- cancers as replacements for sands of dollars, including the costs of diseased or injured cells. travel. Most victims are not wealthy people who simply write a check but instead members of middle-class fami- lies who need to raise money for the Actually, stem cell therapies have Stem cells might also be used not as treatments. been around for years, but only for very replacement cells but as support cells. Once they have invested so much limited applications such as treating Genetically engineered stem cells can es- time, effort, and emotion and so many certain blood cancers. The debate sur- sentially become drug delivery systems or resources in the stem cell treatment— rounding the ethics of using embryonic support cells that allow diseased cells to which often includes taking money stem cells, however, has highlighted the survive longer and function better. from family, friends, and coworkers— great potential of therapies based on But many hurdles remain, the biggest these families have a huge investment stem cells. of which is keeping stem cells from be- in believing the treatment has worked, Stem cells are undifferentiated cells coming cancer cells. There is a reason even when all objective evidence says that have the potential to turn into spe- our bodies are not already in fused with otherwise. Often there is a temporary cific cell types. Embryonic stem cells are stem cells that have unlimited regenera- placebo effect from getting the treat- the most potent because they can theo- tive ability (our bodies do have natural ment—or perhaps a temporary effect retically turn into any cell type in the stem cells, but they are in specific num- from the anesthesia or other aspects of body. The hope of research into stem bers and locations). Stem cells share the treatment—but no real improve- cells is that we can learn how to control some characteristics with cancer cells, ment. But any fluctuation in symptoms

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is often interpreted as a sign the treat- perate patients through their doors. ment has worked, which sometimes Hope is a very positive emotion; it can motivates the patients and their families keep us going in hard times, and it moti- to raise more money for more stem cell vates all the hard work and investment it treatments. takes to develop high-tech treatments The clinics themselves are not pro- such as stem cell therapy. But there is a ducing useful scientific data but are in- dark side to hope: false hope, promoted stead simply publicizing anecdotes of by premature uncritical hype. Unjustified their success. There is often little trans- hype also undermines legitimate thera- parency in what they are doing and no pies and scientific research as the public way of knowing what they are even in- becomes disillusioned. While it is legiti- jecting into their patients. mate to discuss the great potential of

The media ... mostly promote these fraudulent stem cell clinics. They often report stories of “miracle cures” in gushing terms, without the slightest amount of skepticism.

What little objective investigation we stem cell therapies, such discussions must have into these stem cell clinic treatments in clude the proper context. Stem cell reveals that patients are either unchanged therapies remain largely experimental, or even harmed by the therapies. Oph- and there is no telling when or even if thalmologist Shakesh Kau shal, of the they will pan out. University of Massa chu setts, examined The media need to take greater re- eight children treated with stem cells for sponsibility in relating these stories to blindness. “There didn’t seem to be any the public. Medical professionals need ostensible benefit from the stem-cell in- to pay attention to what is happening, fusion,” he is quoted as saying in an NPR and they also need to get involved in report, “in all of them, as far as we could properly informing the public. Govern- tell” (Knox 2010). ments need to pay close attention to Dobkin et al. (2006) reviewed the how such clinics are regulated. And the cases of seven patients who received public needs to approach claims of stem stem cell injections for spinal cord in- cell “miracles” with extreme skepticism jury. They conclude, “No clinically use- and get advice from professionals before ful sensorimotor, disability, or auto- investing emotion and large amounts of nomic improvements were found.” In resources into what is likely to be all other words, there was no benefit. There hype and no hope. were, however, complications, in cluding meningitis in five of the seven patients. References The media, for their part, mostly pro- Dobkin B.H., A. Curt, J. Guest. 2006. Cellular mote these fraudulent stem cell clinics. transplants in China: Observational study from the largest human experiment in chronic They often report stories of “miracle spinal cord injury. Neurorehabilitation and cures” in gushing terms, without the Neural Repair 20(1) (March): 5–13. slightest amount of skepticism. These re- Knox, Richard. 2010. Offshore stem cell clinics sell hope, not science. NPR.org (July 26). ports are little more than free advertise- Available online at www.npr.org/templates/ ments for these clinics, driving more des- story/story.php?storyId=128696529

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SKEPTICAL INQUIREE] BENJAMIN RADFORD Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author or coauthor of five books, including Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore.

Dowsing: Dubious, Discredited, and Dangerous

telling. Dowsing is said to find any- What can you tell me about thing and everything, including missing : the “science” of dowsing? persons, buried pipes, oil deposits, and —J. Gilliland even archaeological ruins (see “Dows- ing and Archaeology: Is There Some- Q KEPTICAL N thing Under neath?,” S I - QUIRER, March/April 1999). People through the conceive of the paranormal as a tasty The dowsing with which most peo- centuries have revered (but ultimately nourishment-free) meal, ple are familiar is water dowsing (also and perpetuated prac- dowsing is a sort of all-purpose side known as water witching or rhabdo- : tices de spite the fact dish. It can stand alone as a New Age mancy), in which a person holds a Y- that they simply do endeavor when searching for water or shaped branch or two L-shaped wire A not work. Dows ing is a missing jewelry, or it goes equally well rods and walks around until he or she textbook example of this. Part of the with a variety of pseudoscientific main feels a pull on the branch or the wire reason for dowsing’s longevity is its ver- dishes, including ghost hunting, crop rods cross, which allegedly indicates that satility in the paranormal world. If we circles (Pringle 1999) and fortune- there is water below. Often a pendulum

A ghost hunter seeks spirits by dowsing at Canada’s “haunted” Fort George. (Photo by Benjamin Radford)

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is used, sometimes held over a map. According to many books and ex- perts, dowsing has a robust history, and its success has been known for centuries. For example, “In 1556, De Re Metallica, If you assume that dowsing works—and a book on metallurgy and mining writ- ten by George [sic] Agri cola, discussed that is of course a huge unproven dowsing as an acceptable method of lo- cating rich mineral sources” (Shaw assumption—how does it work? 1995, 64). This widely cited reference is a rather transparent example of a logical The proposed mechanisms are as fallacy called the appeal to tradition (“It varied as the dowsers themselves. must work because people have done it for centuries”). However, it seems that the dowsing advocates haven’t actually read the book, which says exactly the opposite of what they claim: far from dowsers often cannot agree on even the many tests over the years and have per- endorsing dowsing, Agricola states that basics of their profession: “Some in- formed no better than chance under those seeking minerals “should not structions tell learners never to try controlled conditions. There is no sci- make use of an enchanted twig, be cause dowsing with rubber footwear, while ence behind dowsing, and though the if he is prudent and skilled in the natural others insist that it helps immeasurably. main harm is wasted time and effort, it signs, he understands that a forked stick Some practitioners say that when rods can also cost lives: in 2010, modified is of no use to him ... ” (Hoover 2010). cross, that specifically indicates water; dowsing-rod devices claimed to detect If you assume that dowsing works— others say that water makes the rods di- bombs were sold to the Iraqi military and that is of course a huge unproven verge to 180 degrees.” (Radford 2010). assumption—how does it work? The While I have participated in small- proposed mechanisms are as varied as References the dowsers themselves. One source scale tests of water dowsing, I most often encounter dowsers during ghost investi- Evers, Ona. 1977. Everybody’s Dowser Book. San states, “Dowsing is possible ... through Rafael, California: Onaway Publications. the strong psychic energy radiated by gations. Many amateur ghost hunters use Hoover, Herbert Clark, and Lou Henry Hoover, the object and picked up by the dowsing rods to search for ghosts, believ- eds. 2010. De Re Metallica. Whitefish, Mon- ing that ghosts can be detected by (or tana: Kessinger Publishing. [dowser]” (Shaw 1995); another confi- Pringle, Lucy. 1999. Crop Circles: The Greatest Mys- dently states that “dowsing is not weird communicate through) dowsing rods. In tery of Modern Times. New York: Thorsons. or spooky ... it is as natural as memory. 2007, I demonstrated dowsing for the Radford, Benjamin. 2010. ‘Bomb detecting’ National Geographic Channel’s Is It dowsing rod demonstrates danger of pseudo- In fact, some scientists believe it may science. Discovery News ( January 27). Avail- well be one of memory’s forms ...a Real? television series on “Ghost Ships” able online at http://news.discovery.com/tech vestigial memory of a survival method in response to a woman who used dows- /bomb-detecting-dowsing-rod-demonstrates -danger-of-pseudoscience.html. of searching, using senses other than ing rods on ghost hunts. Dowsers were Randi, James. 1995. The Encyclopedia of Claims, the five obvious ones” (Evers 1977). also prevalent during a 2010 investiga- Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernat- James Randi (1995), in his Encyclopedia tion into Canada’s “most haunted” loca- ural. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Shaw, Eva. 1995. Divining the Future: Prog nosti - of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the tion, Fort George, Ontario (see photo). ca tion from Astrology to Zoomancy. New York: Occult and Supernatural, notes that Dowsers have been subjected to Gramercy Books.

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hile there are many vernacular meanings of the Civilizations Lost term civilization, archaeologists tend to use it in a To many at the fringes of the historical sciences, the term civilization takes on Wlimited and precise way to signify a particular kind an entirely different, often coded, mean- of society. For example, in his classic enumeration of the ing—especially when a seemingly in- features that characterized humanity’s earliest civilizations, nocuous modifier, such as “lost,” is ap - plied to its front end. A vast amount of prehistorian V. Gordon Childe (1951) included labor spe- pseudoscience has been inspired by the cialization, social stratification, production of a food sur- simple phrase “lost civilization,” partic- plus, construction of monumental edifices, urban settle- ularly by those who believe that they have found its archaeological spoor and ments, and a consistent system of record keeping (usually, can thus recast the history of a particular but not always, writing). More recently, Joseph Tainter people, an entire continent, or in the (1988) added the development of a formal govern ment ap- most extreme cases, all of humanity (Childress 1992; Hancock 1995, 2003; paratus to that list. Haughton 2007). The history of Amer-

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ican archaeology for the aboriginal cul- myth, the society in question possessed mists of time” but instead an otherwise tures of North America is especially rife technologies that even modern people well-known ancient society that is re- with problems relating to the indiscrim- have not mastered. Alas, as the result of markable primarily as a result of its ge- inate and often confusing use of the some terrible accident or war or natural ography, not for its precocious level of phrase “lost civilization” and its cohorts catastrophe, that civilization was de- technological sophistication. Even re- “lost race,” “lost city,” and “lost tribe.” stroyed virtually overnight and thus be- stricting ourselves to just North America, Many claims about the existence of a came “lost.” In such stories, conventional the list of such claims is long—though lost civilization in antiquity are, in effect, historians and archaeologists are de- evidence is short—and includes: Celtic warmed-over versions of Plato’s Atlantis scribed as being blind to the evidence for kingdoms in the northeastern United myth: Long ago (commonly placed at such a civilization or, in some cases, well States thousands of years ago (Fell 1976); more than ten thousand years before the aware of the evidence but part of a long- Coptic Christian settlements in ancient present) and far away (on an island in the standing conspiracy to keep it all quiet, Michigan (based on the so-called Michi- Atlantic or under the Antarctic ice cap or lest it upset the convenient apple cart of gan Relics) (Halsey 2009); Roman off the coast of Japan, etc.), an enor- history concocted in their ivory towers. Jews in Arizona (the Tucson Artifacts) mously advanced and technologically In one subset of the lost-civilization (Burgess 2009); the Lost Tribes of Israel sophisticated civilization existed whose genre of , the lost civiliza- in Ohio (the Newark Holy Stones) impact on human history was vast. In tion is not a previously unknown group (Lepper and Gill 2000); and strange extreme versions of the lost civilization of people residing in the clichéd “dim mixtures of various ancient Old World

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Civilizations:Lost and Found

peoples secreted in hideouts in the sense of the physical, perhaps intentional, An Alternate Reality Grand Canyon in Arizona (“Explo- destruction of the archaeological evi- Consensus among investigators in or- rations in Grand Can yon” 1909) and in dence of this civilization) and metaphor- ganized fields of knowledge is not a a cave in southeastern Illinois (Burrows ical (in the sense of the intellectual denial conspiracy to ignore, destroy, or se- Cave) (Joltes 2003). These claims are of its existence). It is the embarrassing quester deviant or anomalous evidence, predicated essentially on the same notion: admission of the authors of this article as is implied several times in the Lost ancient Europeans, Af ricans, or Asians that we naively agreed to participate in Civil izations video. Consensus is based came to the Americas long before the program. upon recognized rules of investigation Columbus and long—perhaps thousands We do not agree with the vast major- and principles of interpretation that of years—before the Norse; they settled ity of the interpretations of ancient have been developed in relation to here and had a huge impact on the native American history presented in the docu- specific research problems. The emer- people but then somehow became lost, mentary. While it is tempting to ignore gence of consensus among anthropolo- both to history and to historians. Today, the documentary as nonsense, the high gists re garding the origin and antiquity a group of “independent scholars” (a eu- production values coupled with the selec- of humankind in the New World is no phemism often used to mean writers tive inclusion of academically credible exception. without institutional affiliation, formal scholars have resulted in its gaining inter- The consensus view on this subject training, or archaeological experience) national attention. Glenn Beck featured among archaeologists (together with ge- trumpet the evidence for these ancient it prominently and favorably in the Au- ologists and biologists) is based on more settlers of the Americas, disseminating gust 18, 2010, broadcast of his television than a century of excavating literally their revisionist histories—not in refer- program, and the website promoting the thousands of archaeological sites. A con- eed, professional journals but in popular DVD claims it won the Best Multicul- vergence of interdisciplinary data indi- books, magazines, and, perhaps most tural Documentary Award at the 2010 cates that the New World was first pop- broadly, on websites and in cable TV International Chero kee Film Festival. ulated at least thirteen thousand and documentaries. In a series of three articles, we will perhaps as many as thirty thousand years provide a scientific commentary on the ago by migrants from Asia (Meltzer The Lost Civilizations of North America interpretations expressed in this video 2009). These people entered the Amer - A recent iteration of this “alternative ar- concerning the ancient history of icas via a wide expanse of land—called chaeology” (another euphemism, this one North America, using the documentary Beringia—connecting northeastern Asia used for claims about antiquity lacking itself as emblematic of a far broader at- with northwestern North America dur- in credible scientific evidence) can be tempt to write an alternative history of ing periods of glacial expansion and con- seen in the documentary The Lost Civi- the New World that is wholly unsup- comitant lower sea levels (see figure 1). lizations of North America (produced by ported by any archaeological or histor- The first human migrants were few in Steven Smoot, Rick Stout, and Barry ical evidence. In this and two subse- number and entered a continent teeming McLerran), described on its DVD pack- quent articles, we will address two with wildlife, including many now-ex- aging as “the compelling account of the questions that are particularly relevant: tinct forms such as mastodons, wooly wanton destruction of an ancient his- What is the evidence for the “lost” civ- mammoths, giant ground sloths, and tory.” According to the video, this claim - ilizations in North America? And how saber-toothed cats. Exploiting the rich- ed “destruction” is both actual (in the did this evidence come to be “lost”? ness of this “new world,” the human pop-

Figure 1. This map shows the configuration of the modern coastlines of north- Figure 2a. Miamisburg Mound, located in Miamisburg, Ohio, is one of the east Asia and northwest North America, along with the maximum Late Pleis- largest conical mounds in eastern North America. It is a burial mound built by tocene extent of the Bering Land Bridge. Its existence, between thirty-five the people that archaeologists have called the Adena culture, circa 800 BCE thousand and eleven thousand years ago, provided a broad avenue across to 100 CE. (Ohio Historical Society) (K. Feder) which human beings first entered the New World from the Old.

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ulation grew quickly and expanded across most certainly occurred between ancient Native Americans were fully capable of the North and South American conti- societies in North Amer ica and the civ- developing complex and sophisticated nents over a few thousand years. As set- ilizations to the south—there is evi- cultures on their own without help from tlers moved into new habitats and as the dence, for example, of turquoise trade other societies. The archaeological climate ameliorated at the end of the between the native people of the Amer- record of North Amer ica clearly shows Pleistocene era (or “Ice Age”) ten thou- ican Southwest and the cultures of the indigenous development of the tech- sand years ago, descendants of those first Mesoamerica (Powell 2005), and maize, nologies, art, architecture, social systems, settlers adapted to a great diversity of a Mexican domesticate, eventually made subsistence practices, and engineering new and changing environmental condi- its way northward into essentially all re- accomplishments seen in native Amer- tions, producing an abundance of differ- ing ways of life. Each group adjusted to the natural conditions with which it was faced. In some regions, extremely rich there is no credible scientific habitats and, ultimately, the development of agricultural subsistence systems al- evidence for the wholesale movement lowed for the production of a substantial food surplus and led to the growth of of people from the Old World stratified societies with many of the char- into sub-arctic North America after acteristics outlined by Childe and Tainter that define a civilization. Among these the initial incursion from northeast Asia were societies of the American Midwest at the end of the Ice Age. and Southeast—the so-called —whose ability to marshal the communal labors of large groups of people is clearly seen in an archaeolog- gions of the continent in which it could ica. There is no archaeological or biolog- ical landscape of monumentally scaled be grown. But there is no credible scien- ical evidence for the presence of inter- earth works that include conical burial tific evidence for the wholesale move- lopers, and there is no need for their mounds, truncated pyramids of earth ment of people from the Old World into presence in explaining the archaeology called “platform mounds,” effigy mounds sub-arctic North America after the ini- of native America. (in the shape of various animals and tial incursion from northeast Asia at the The producers of the Lost Civiliza - birds), and vast areas enclosed by geo- end of the Ice Age. Furthermore, there tions documentary clearly do not sub- metrically patterned earth embankments is no scientific evidence whatsoever that scribe to this “mainstream” interpreta- (Milner 2004) (figures 2a–2d). the cultural developments exhibited in tion of American archaeology. Instead, It is the archaeological consensus that the archaeological record here—like the what seems to emerge is the following the myriad cultures seen in native North monumentally scaled earthworks shown less-coherent “diffusionist” alternative America, including the mound builders, in figures 2a–2d—were in any way in- history: for the most part developed independent spired by visitors or migrants from Sometime toward the end of the last of any external inspiration. Contact al- Africa, Europe, or Asia (Fritze 2009). Ice Age, a few Asians stumbled into

Figure 2b. The Fort Ancient Earthworks are a series of earthen embankments Figure 2c. Serpent Mound is the largest serpent effigy in the world. Located that extend for more than three and a half miles around a high bluff along in Adams County, Ohio, it is thought to have been built by the Fort Ancient the Little Miami River in southwestern Ohio. The earthworks were built by the culture, circa 1000–1650 CE. (Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of His- Hopewell culture, circa 100 BCE–400 CE. (CERHAS, University of Cincinnati) torical and Archaeological Sites [CERHAS], University of Cincinnati)

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Civilizations:Lost and Found

the New World across the Beringian tive American savagery, when they ar- early 1990s. It is possible that Kennedy land bridge. They developed indige- rived, or which cultural achievements either did not understand the question nous societies, some of which may they are supposed to have introduced or or misunderstood its specific context. have been the beneficiaries of various unspecified contacts from the Old inspired. But it does not follow from such a can- World over the millennia. By two did and honest personal admission by a thousand years ago, descendants of A Hidden History? single historian that, as a group, archae- the original settlers living in eastern In support of the claim that there is a ologists and historians were similarly North America were building modest hidden history of ancient America, the uninformed and that these recognized earthworks and scratching out a living by growing a few varieties of local documentary narrator asks a number of leaders in the scientific community are plants. Then, a contingent of Israelites leading questions, such as: “Most Amer - therefore the victims (or perhaps the from the hills of Galilee arrived some- icans have no idea that ancient cities with perpetrators) of a conspiracy of silence. where on America’s east coast, spread- advanced architectures once dotted the It is problematic that the producers ing through the indigenous cultures, ancient North American landscape. ... based a conclusion on what was effec- acting like missionaries and igniting the cultural florescence of the mound- Why is it that top historians didn’t know tively a sample size of one before asking building cultures we know today as about such things and why is it that they the leading question: “Why is it that the Hope well (as well as the subse- are not generally known among the top historians didn’t know about such quent Mississippian). These new mi- modern public either?” things?” Was this really generally true grants brought with them their reli- Here the documentarians use an un- in the early 1990s? Is it true today? In gion (Judaism, apparently) and their written language (Hebrew), which supported assertion (top historians don’t fact, it was not then, and it is not now. ap pears in some regions as inscrip- know about the ancient mound-building To better answer such a question, one tions on stone tablets or other artifacts societies of North America) to imply a might simply have skimmed through of special significance. They also in- scenario suggested throughout the rest of the Guide to Depart ments of Anthropol- spired the construction of vast cities the documentary: that there has been ogy (published by the American An- across the Midwest and South east, raising up the locals to a high level of some kind of conspiracy to keep the true thropological Asso ciation, a profes- civilization, changing fundamentally history of North America quiet—so sional organization) for an answer. and forever the cultures and histories much so that even “top historians” don’t From that guide one would have deter- of the previously benighted indige- know about it. In setting up this asser- mined that there are literally hundreds nous people. tion, the producers interviewed Roger of archaeologists who have devoted In stark contrast to the elegant con- Kennedy, who served as the director of their careers to the study of the mound- sensus achieved by the interdisciplinary the Smithsonian’s National Museum builder cultures and dozens of univer- work of archaeologists, geologists, ge- of American History from 1979–1992 sity programs that focus on them. neticists, and linguists (Meltzer 2009; and director of the National Park Service That many (likely, most) Americans Goebel et al. 2008), recent issues of the between 1993 and 1997. Kennedy ad - don’t know much of anything about the diffusionist Ancient American magazine mits that even into the early 1990s mound builders is unfortunately true, amply demonstrate that there is, in fact, he was personally unaware of the fact but this ignorance is part of a larger no consensus among diffusionist re- that “massive city remains existed in issue. Most Americans don’t know searchers concerning which African, North America.” much of anything about Native Amer - Asian, or European cultures arrived in It is a curious statement given the ican cultures, which is of course a America to serve as the elevators of Na- state of archaeological knowledge in the shame. But it is an enormous jump to

Figure 2d. Monks Mound, at Cahokia in Illinois, is by volume the fifth largest py- Figure 3. Artist’s conception of Cahokia at its peak, focused on the elite ramidal monument in the world. Ultimately more than one hundred feet high, precinct of the community. Archaeological evidence indicates the presence Monks Mound was constructed and maintained between 900 and 1300 CE. It of an extensive palisade consisting of an estimated twenty thousand logs served as the elevated platform on which stood the home of Cahokia’s ruler. Ca- isolating an elite compound of a city of as many as ten thousand inhabitants. hokia was, effectively, the capital of a powerful, indigenous political and eco- (Courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. William R. Iseminger, artist. nomic entity. (K. Feder) Reproduced with permission.)

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imply from this sad reality that there is the American Midwest, there are addi- miles of geometric enclosures and any kind of a conspiracy of silence tional problems with the Kennedy in- mounds in a variety of shapes and sizes, about the sophistication of ancient terview. The first results from an impre- but there is no archaeological evidence American mound-building societies. cision in terminology, specifically for an urban population here (Lepper In fact, just the opposite is true. Pro- settlement and city. In fact, there is no 2004) or at any of the other monumen- fessional archaeologists in universities archaeological evidence of widespread tal earthworks of the Hopewell culture and museums have made a concerted “massive city remains” in North Amer- (figure 4). effort to get the word out about the ica by any formal definition of the term To be clear: stating that places like mound builders. Archaeologists have city. With the possible exception of Ca- the Newark Earthworks, Poverty Point written a series of popularly oriented hokia, there are no archaeological set- in Louisiana (Gibson 2000), Etowah in books about mound societies, for exam- tlements in North America that are Georgia, Moundville in Alabama ple: Milner (2004); Lepper (2005); comparable in size and population den- (Welch 1991), Town Creek Mound in Pauketat (2009); and Iseminger (2010). sity to, for example, the earliest city- North Carolina, or Crystal River Glossy magazines with a broad popular states in Mesopotamia, the first cities Mounds in Florida were not cities is readership have published extensively on the mound-building societies. The mag- azine of the National Museum of the American Indian (a publication of the It’s not for lack of trying on the Smithsonian Institu tion) featured an ar- ticle about Cahokia, the largest of the part of archaeologists and historians mound-builder sites, in its Winter 2010 that most Americans are ignorant of the issue (Adams 2010). As we were prepar- ing this article in January 2011, National mound builders. To imply a conspiracy Geographic magazine published a major to keep the public unaware of them piece about that same site (Hodges 2011). It certainly is not the first time the is to ignore the facts. mound builders have been highlighted in National Geographic. Also, over the past few decades there have been numerous articles about the mound-building cul- located along the Indus River in Pak- not to disparage them or minimize the tures in Archaeology, the magazine pub- istan, or any of the large urban settle- achievements of those who produced lished by the Archaeo logical Institute ments located in the Valley of Mexico. them. It merely points out the fact, as of America, aimed at a mixed profes- Even estimates for Cahokia rarely cal- shown clearly by archaeological inves- sional and popular audience (see, for culate its population at more than ten tigation, that this architecture was not example, Iseminger 1996 and Lepper thousand people, a number sometimes urban in character and was wholly un- 1995), as well as in American Archaeol- used as a statistical cutoff point for the like cities as ordinarily defined. Indeed, ogy, published by the Archaeological designation of a settlement as a city (see one of the fascinating challenges posed Conservancy. figure 3). by such structures is how a population There are dozens of websites, many Other than Cahokia, all of the other dispersed in small hamlets without produced by universities along with the large mound sites in North America hereditary kings or pharaohs could have federal and state governments, dedi- appear to have been a different kind of organized the labor to erect such mas- cated to the mound builders in general settlement entirely: not cities but rather sive earthworks. and specific sites in particular. Typing ceremonial centers with relatively small About such sites, the documentary “mound builders” into a Google search residential populations surrounded by asks: “The real question is, why were box returns nearly four hundred thou- numerous hamlets dispersed in vast these sites not preserved? And why are sand hits! It’s not for lack of trying on areas around them. The people living in these advanced civilizations not com- the part of archaeologists and historians these hamlets produced the surplus (in monly known of today?” To answer that most Americans are ignorant of the form of food, wealth, and labor) these questions about the perceived lack the mound builders. To imply a con- that supported the ritual elites living in of preservation of sites from an ancient spiracy to keep the public unaware of the mound centers. In a particularly “lost civilization” in North America, the them is to ignore the facts. egregious example of misuse of termi- documentary points to the doctrine of nology, the documentary describes the Manifest Destiny and the theory of Secret Cities of Ancient America? earth embankment that encloses the evolution. It is asserted in the docu- Beyond the factually incorrect conclu- Newark Earthworks in Ohio as “city mentary that it was crucial for many sion that even at the end of the twenti- walls.” This is nonsense. The Newark Americans in the eighteenth and nine- eth century historians were ignorant of Earthworks include a spectacular array teenth centuries to denigrate the cul- the mound-building native societies of of more than four and a half square tural evolutionary status of the native

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Civilizations:Lost and Found

residents. By either destroying or ignor- Native Americans and profoundly any notion that the documentary has ing archaeological evidence of a sophis- shaped federal Indian policy from the exposed a conspiracy here is nonsense. ticated North American civilization, 1840s through the end of the nine- And it should be further noted that the film’s producers maintain, settlers teenth century (Horsman 1981). That roughly half of the documentary is de- were clearing their consciences about the mounds were viewed as problematic voted to asserting that Native Ameri- dispossessing native peoples of their to those who perceived Native Ameri- cans were historically denied civilized lands. can culture as fundamentally primitive status by destruction of their mounds, and destined for extinction is an under- and the other half is devoted to assert- This in itself is hardly a revelation. lying theme of Robert Silver berg’s classic ing that the mounds were actually built Manifest Destiny, the belief that the work, Mound Builders of Ancient America by interlopers from the Middle East. American republic was destined to col- (1968). It is a point likewise made in That unsupported claim denies the cul- onize the trans-Mississippian West, the mound chapter of Kenneth Feder’s tural achievements and heritage of the was a largely unexamined assumption Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and mound-building peoples just as surely that affected scientific attitudes toward Pseudoscience in Archaeology (2011). So, as did those in the nineteenth century who argued that the ancestors of pre- historic North American Indians had not built the mounds. Implicit in the narrator’s statement that “whether intentional or not, whether motivated by religious or political agen- das or not, modern experts agree that wanton destruction did occur” is the sug- gestion that the mound sites may have been singled out for deliberate destruc- tion to eliminate evidence of an ancient native civilization in North America. This takes great liberty with history. There were those in the nineteenth cen- tury who believed they had a duty to both the past and the future to survey and minutely describe prehistoric sites while it was still possible to do so. They were regrettably a minority, but far from an insignificant one. Many of the survey maps used in the Lost Civilizations video, in fact, were the fruit of those historically conscious antiquaries of the nineteenth century (Barnhart 1998, 2005). While the documentary focuses on the “wanton destruction” of prehistoric mounds and geometric enclosures, it largely glosses over the fact that there has been a concerted effort to preserve some of the most impressive of these sites for archaeological research and public education. Many mound sites are open to the public, and many have on- site museums where the public can learn the story of the site’s inhabitants in some depth. One recent compilation lists no fewer than seventy mound and earthwork sites in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia that Figure 4. The Octagon Earthworks are one part of the much larger Newark Earthworks located in are preserved and accessible to the pub- Newark, Ohio. The elaborate monumental earthworks, built by the Hopewell culture circa 100 BCE– 400 CE, incorporate a sophisticated knowledge of geometry and astronomy in their form and lic (Woodward and McDonald 2002). alignments. The first of the Newark “holy stones” was found just east of the octagonal enclosure. Among the more prominent are Hope - (Tim Black and/or Greater Licking County Convention and Visitors Bureau) well Culture National Historic Park, Serpent Mound, the Newark Earth- 44 Volume 35 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 45

works, and Fort Ancient Earth works of an archaeological hoax. Journal of the South- necticut: New York Graphic Society, Ltd. (see figures 2b, 2c, and 4). These sites, west 51. Tainter, J. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Childe, V.G. 1951. Man Makes Himself. New New York: Cambridge University Press. along with Poverty Point National York: Mentor Books. Welch, P.D. 1991. Moundville’s Economy. Tusca - Monu ment, recently have been placed Childress, D.H. 1992. Lost Cities of North and loosa: University of Alabama Press. on a short list by the U.S. Department Central America. Stelle, Illinois: Adventures Woodward, Susan L., and Jerry N. McDonald. Unlimited Press. 2002. Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: of the Interior to be nominated for the Explorations in Grand Canyon. 1909. Phoenix A Guide to Mound and Earthworks of the United Nations Educational, Scientific Gazette (April 5). Available online at Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People. and Cultural Organization’s World http://grandcanyontreks.org/fiction.htm. Blacksburg, Virginia: McDonald and Wood- Feder, K.L. 2011. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: ward Publishing. Heritage List. Cahokia Mounds in Illi- Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. New nois is already one of the few prehistoric York: McGraw-Hill. sites in the United States on the World Fell, B. 1976. America B.C.: Ancient Settlers in the New World. New York: Demeter Press. Heritage List. Furthermore, recent fig- Fritze, Ronald H. 2009. Invented Knowledge: False Disclaimer: ures from Hopewell Culture National History, Fake Science and Pseudo-Religions. We are well aware that a claim underly- Historic Park in Ohio show that between London: Reaktion Books. Gibson, J.L. 2000. The Ancient Mounds of Poverty ing the Lost Civilizations documen- thirty and forty thousand people visit this Point. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. tary—that the mound-building people mound site each year. Also in Ohio, more Goebel, Ted, Michael R. Waters, and Dennis H. of the American Midwest were migrants than twenty thousand people visited Ser- O’Rourke. 2008. The late Pleistocene disper- from the Middle East 2,000 years ago— sal of modern humans in the Americas. Sci- pent Mound in 2010. Cahokia reports an may be informed by religious doctrine. It ence 319: 1497–1502. is our position in this paper, however, Halsey, J.R. 2009. The “Michigan Relics”: Amer- attendance of approximately 320,000 that whatever inspires this claim is not ica’s longest running archaeological fraud. people annually. If there is a conspiracy Presented at the Midwest Archae ological nearly as important as the fact that it is within the “mainstream” scientific com- Conference, Iowa City, Iowa. plainly wrong. As such, we will leave it munity to keep the mound cultures a se- Hancock, G. 1995. Fingerprints of the Gods. New to others to assess the role played, if any, cret, we haven’t been doing a very good York: Three Rivers Press. by religion in shaping Lost Civilizations Hancock, G. 2003.Underworld: The Mysterious and focus instead on scientific evidence job of it. The implication that such sites Origins of Civilization. New York: Three relevant to that claim. have been systematically and intention- Rivers Press. ally destroyed or kept hidden for the ne- Haughton, B. 2007. Hidden History: Lost Civil- izations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mys- farious goal of concealing the truth about teries. Franklin Lakes, New Jersey: New Page Native American societies is self-evi- Books. dently ludicrous. Hodges, G. 2011. Cahokia: America’s forgotten Kenneth Feder is profes- city. National Geographic 219: 126–45. Beyond attempting to prove a non- sor of anthropology at Horsman, Reginald. 1981. Race and Manifest Central Connecticut State existent conspiracy to hide the mound- Destiny: The Origin of American Racial Anglo- Saxonism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Har- University. He is a fellow builder cultures from the public, the vard University Press. of the Committee for Lost Civilizations documentary presents Iseminger, W.R. 1996. Mighty Cahokia. Archae - Skeptical Inquiry and a 49(3): 30–37. what is to be interpreted as evidence of ology SKEPTICAL INQUIRER consult- the movement of Old World people, ———. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. ing editor. specifically migrants from the ancient Joltes, R. 2003. Burrows Cave: A modern hoax. Bradley T. Lepper is the Middle East, to the New World. It then Available online at www.criticalenquiry.org/ burrowscave/burrows.shtml. curator of archaeology outlines the enormous impact these in- Lepper, B. 1995. Tracking Ohio’s Great Hopewell for the Ohio Historical terlopers had on the already in-place Road. Archaeology 48(6): 52–56. Society in Columbus, indigenous societies. The bulk of this ———. 2004. The Newark Earth works: Monu - Ohio. “evidence” consists of artifacts bearing mental geometry and astronomy at a Hope - wellian pilgrimage center. In Hero, Hawk, and written messages in Old World lan- Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient guages, especially Hebrew, and DNA Midwest and South, edited by Richard V. that, it is claimed, proves a connection Townsend and Robert V. Sharp. New Haven: Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Terry A. Barnhart is pro- between the Hopewell mound builders Press. fessor of history at East- of Ohio and ancient people from Israel. ———. 2005. Ohio Archaeology: An Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio’s Ancient American Indian. ern Illinois University in We will deal with these two sets of ev- Wilming ton, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press. Charleston, Illinois. idence in the second and third articles Lepper, B., and J. Gill. 2000. The Newark holy in this series, respectively. stones. Timeline 17(3): 16–25. Meltzer, D.J. 2009. First Peoples in a New World. References Cited: Berkeley: University of California Press. Milner, G.R. 2004. The Moundbuilders: Ancient Adams, J.R. 2010. Cahokia 101: A primer on a Peoples of Eastern North America. London: Deborah A. Bolnick is as- hidden past. National Museum of the American Thames and Hudson. sistant professor of an- Indian, 11: 12–21. Pauketat, T.R. 2009. Cahokia: Ancient America’s thropology at the Univer- Barnhart, Terry A. 1998. In search of the mound Great City on the Mississippi. New York: builders: The State Archaeological Associa - Viking. sity of Texas at Austin. tion of Ohio, 1875–1885. Ohio History 107 Powell, E. 2005. The turquoise trail. Archaeology (Summer/Autumn): 125–70. 58(1): 24–29. ———. 2005. Early accounts of the Ohio Silverberg, Robert. 1968. Mound Builders of An- mounds. In Lepper 2005, 236–50. cient America: The Archaeology of a Myth (orig- Burgess, D. 2009. Romans in Tucson? The story inal, unabridged edition). Green wich, Con- Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 45 SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 46

The Haunted Brain Reports of alleged ghostly activity tell us a great deal about the innermost workings of our brains.

RICHARD WISEMAN

here is an old joke about a university lecturer who asks The palace is famous for many things: his class, “Has anyone here ever seen a ghost?” Fifteen It houses invaluable works of art from the Royal Collection, contains the best- Tstudents put their hands in the air. Next, the lecturer preserved medieval hall in Britain, and says, “Well, who here has touched a ghost?” This time only boasts a giant Tudor kitchen. It is also five hands go up. Curious, the lecturer adds, “OK, has any- considered one of the most haunted buildings in Britain. Various spirits al- one actually kissed a ghost?” A young man sitting in the legedly haunt the palace. There is a “lady middle of the lecture theater slowly raises his hand, looks in gray” whose walks through the cob- around nervously, and then asks, “I’m sorry, did you say bled courtyards are as regular as clock- work, a “woman in blue” who continu- ‘ghost’ or ‘goat?’” ously searches for her lost child, and a Thankfully, the results from national of a bed as people are either waking up phantom dog that lives in Wolsey’s surveys have yielded more clear-cut or drifting off to sleep. Around a third closet. However, despite stiff competi- findings. Opinion polls have consis- of Houran’s reports involve rather fleet- tion, Hampton Court’s most famous tently shown that around 30 percent of ing visual phenomena, such as quick spirit is that of Catherine Howard. people believe in ghosts, and about 15 flashes of light, odd wisps of smoke, or Henry VIII ruled Britain during the percent claim to have actually had a dark shadows that move furtively first half of the sixteenth century, but he ghostly experience (Musella 2005). around the room. Another third involve did not have a great track record when James Houran has carried out a great strange sounds, such as footsteps from it came to relationships. He cheated on deal of research into the nature of these an empty room or ghostly whispering. his first wife, beheaded his second, lost ghostly experiences. Houran is an inter- The remaining third are a mixture of his third while she was giving birth to esting fellow. During the day this mild- miscellaneous sensations, including odd his only son, and divorced his fourth. In mannered statistician works for a well- odors of flowers or cigar smoke, sensing a move that would make even the most known Internet dating site creating a ghostly presence, or feeling a cold experienced marriage counselor raise an mathematical models that help promote shiver down one’s spine. eyebrow, the forty-nine-year-old Henry compatibility. By night Houran trans- For well over a century, scientists then became infatuated with a nine- forms into a real-life ghost buster, con- have attempted to explain these strange teen-year-old courtier named Cather- ducting surveys and studies that aim to experiences. Like much of the research ine Howard. After a brief period of solve the mystery of hauntings. Fifteen into alleged paranormal phenomena, wooing, Henry married Howard, pub- years ago, he analyzed almost a thou- their work tells us a great deal about our licly declaring that she was his “rose sand ghostly experiences to discover brains, beliefs, and behavior. without a thorn.” what people report when they believe A few months after getting married, that they have encountered a spirit The Rose without a Thorn Catherine found herself very much in (Lange et al. 1996). London’s Hampton Court Palace has love. Unfortunately, the apple of her eye Houran’s work revealed that reports been home to some of Britain’s most fa- was not her husband, Henry, but rather of full-fledged apparitions are very rare. mous kings and queens. Nowadays the a young courtier named Thomas Cul - In fact, they account for only 1 percent palace is a popular historical attraction, pepper. News of their affair eventually or so of sightings; when such figures do playing host to more than half a million reached Henry, who promptly decided turn up, they usually appear at the foot visitors each year. to fetch the garden shears and remove

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the head of his beloved rose. Upon hearing the bad news, Catherine was understandably upset. She ran to Henry to plead for her life but was stopped by Royal guards and dragged back through the corridors of the palace to her apart- ments. A few months later both Thomas Culpepper and Catherine Howard were beheaded at the Tower of London. The ghost of Catherine Howard is said to haunt the corridor down which she was dragged against her will. By the turn of the last century this area of the palace had become associated with a whole host of ghostly experiences, in- cluding sightings of a “woman in white” and reports of inexplicable screams. In January 2001, a palace official tele- phoned me, explained that there had been a recent surge in Catherine- Howard-related phenomena, and won- dered whether I might be interested in investigating. Eager to use the opportu- already slimed me. I replied, “Yes. This is Day one of the investigation went nity to discover more about hauntings, I going to be a tougher investigation than badly, with several participants wander- quickly put together an experiment, as- I first thought.” Although said in jest, my ing into the wrong corridor and then sembled a research team, photocopied comment was to prove prophetic. wondering why the floor plan was so hundreds of blank questionnaires, loaded Prior to the experiment, I had asked wildly inaccurate. On day two, we were up my car, and headed off to the palace the palace to supply me with a floor plan joined by a woman who claimed to be for a five-day investigation (Wiseman et of the corridor that would have held such the reincarnation of Catherine Howard al. 2002, 2003). unpleasant memories for Cath erine and said that she could provide a unique The palace had called a press confer- Howard. I then met with Ian Franklin, a first-person perspective on the proceed- ence to announce the start of my study, palace warder who had carefully cata- ings (“Actually, I was dragged up the attracting the attention of journalists logued a century of reports of unusual corridor, not down it”; “Not sure that from all around the world. We decided phenomena experienced by staff and vis- the new paint job in the kitchens works to make the press conference a two-part itors, whom I asked to secretly place for me,” etc.). Day four turned out to be affair, with a palace official talking about crosses on the floor plan to indicate especially interesting. The team (which the history of the haunting in the first where people had consistently reported now included the reincarnated Cath - half, a brief break, and then my good self their experiences. To avoid any possible erine Howard) assembled in the morn- describing the forthcoming investigation. bias during the investigation, neither I ing as usual and reviewed the heat sen- A palace historian kicked off the pro- nor any other member of the research sor data from the previous night. It was ceedings by telling a packed room of re- team knew which areas had been marked immediately obvious that something porters what happened when Henry met by Franklin. very strange had taken place, with the Cathy. During the day, groups of visitors graphs showing a massive spike in tem- During the brief break, I stepped out- were transformed into ghost hunters. perature around 6 AM. We eagerly re- side to get some fresh air. The strangest After hearing a brief talk about the wound the recording from the thermal thing happened: A car containing two project, each participant was handed a imager to discover whether we had tipsy teenagers drove slowly past me. blank floor plan and asked to wander caught Catherine on tape. At dead-on One of the teenagers rolled down the along the corridor and place an “X” on 6 AM the doors at one end of the corri- window and threw an egg at me. The egg the floor plan to indicate the location dor burst open, and in walked a figure. smashed on my shirt. Unable to change, of any unusual experiences that they The reincarnated Catherine Howard I tried to remove the worst of the stains might have (essentially playing a game in stantly recognized the figure as a and then returned to the press confer- of “spot the ghoul”). Each night we member of Henry VIII’s court. How - ence. A few minutes into my talk, one of would place a variety of sensors and a ever, a few seconds later the proceedings the journalists noticed the marks on my £60,000 ($100,300) heat imager in the took a decidedly more skeptical turn shirt and, assuming that it was ectoplasm, corridor in the hope of catching when we saw the figure walk over to a asked whether Catherine Howard had Catherine mid-“boo!” cupboard, re move a vacuum cleaner, and

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start to clean the carpets. Thankfully, moved, and the participant is asked to pected of them, and their experiences the data from the rest of the investiga- complete a questionnaire indicating could therefore have been due to sug- tion proved more revealing. whether he or she experienced any gestion rather than the subtle magnetic People who believed in ghosts expe- strange sensations, such as the sense of fields. To rule out this possibility in his rienced significantly more strange sen- a presence, vivid images, odd smells, own work, Granqvist had all of his par- sations than the skeptics. Interestingly, being sexually aroused, or coming face- ticipants wear Persinger’s borrowed hel- we have obtained the same pattern of to-face with God. met but ensured that the coils were findings in several investigations at other After years of experimentation, turned on for only half of the partici- supposedly haunted locations. Time and Persin ger claims that around 80 percent pants. Neither the participants nor the again those who believe in the paranor- of participants tick the “yes” box to at experimenters knew when the magnetic mal experience more ghosts than those least one of these experiences, with some fields were on and when they were off. who don’t. As I loaded my equipment even going for the “all of the above” op- The results were remarkable. Granq - back into my car and said goodbye to our tion. The study has been featured in vist discovered that the magnetic fields well-meaning but intensely annoying many science documentaries, resulting in had absolutely no effect. Three of his Catherine Howard wannabe, one ques- several presenters and journalists putting participants reported intense spiritual tion nagged away in my mind: Why? Persinger’s magic helmet on their heads experiences, but two of these were not in the hope of meeting their maker. For being exposed to the magnetic fields at The Machine in the Ghost the most part, they have not been disap- the time. Likewise, twenty-two people Neuropsychologist Michael Persinger, pointed. Psychologist Susan Blackmore, reported more subtle experiences, but of Laurentian University in Canada, for example, felt as if something had the coils were turned off for eleven of believes that ghostly experiences are gotten hold of her leg and dragged it up them. When Granqvist’s work was pub- caused by the brain malfunctioning the wall, followed by a sudden sense of lished in 2004, Persinger argued that the and, more controversially, that these intense anger (which is exactly how I poor showing may have been due, in sensations can be easily elicited by ap - would feel if someone took my leg and part, to the fact that the participants plying very weak magnetic fields to the dragged it up a wall). who had their helmet coils turned on were exposed to the magnetic fields for only fifteen minutes and to the fact that Granqvist ran the DOS-based software controlling the coils in Windows and The idea of electromagnetic spirits has thus possibly altered the nature of the magnetic fields. The Swedish team de- caught the imagination of the media fended their work and stood by their findings. and public alike. However, the scientific The idea of electromagnetic spirits has caught the imagination of the jury is unconvinced. So has anyone media and public alike. However, the scientific jury is unconvinced. So has solved the mystery of hauntings? anyone solved the mystery of haunt- ings? Before we delve deeper, it is time to discover more about the power of suggestion. outside of the skull (Cook and Per - All was going well with Persinger’s singer 1997, 2001). theory until a team of Swedish psychol- The Subtle Hint of Silage In a typical Persinger study, partici- ogists, led by Pehr Granqvist from Upp- In the late 1970s, sensory scientist pants are led into a laboratory and sala University, decided to carry out the Michael O’Mahony from the Univers - asked to sit in a comfortable chair. They same type of experiments (Granqvist et ity of California took the power of then have a helmet placed on their al. 2005; Larsson et al. 2005). (For addi- suggestion to new heights when he per- heads, are blindfolded, and are asked to tional information about this work, see suaded the BBC to undertake an in - relax for about forty minutes. During www.nature.com/news/2004/041206/fu genious version of his well known sen- this time several solenoids hidden in ll/news041206-10.html.) sory study during a live program the helmet generate extremely weak It all started well, with some of the (O’Mahony 1978). O’Mahony con- magnetic fields around the participant. Swedes visiting Persinger’s laboratory structed some mock scientific apparatus Sometimes these fields are focused over and even borrowing a portable version (think a large weird-looking cone, the right side of the head; at other of one of his helmets for their own masses of wires, and several oscillo- times they switch to the left, and once study. However, Granqvist became wor- scopes) and managed to keep a straight in a while they circle around the skull. ried that some of Persinger’s partici- face as he told viewers that this newly Finally the helmet and blindfold are re- pants may have known what was ex - devised “taste trap” used “Raman Spec -

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tro scopy” to transmit smells via sound. prone to more extreme sensations and ported an amazing twenty-two weird He then proudly announced that the hallucinations. events, including the inexplicable mal- stimulus would be a country smell. Un- Findings from many studies support functioning of their telephone, their fortunately, the studio audience inter- Houran’s ideas. In my own work, those name being muttered by a ghostly pres- preted his comments to mean the smell who believed in ghosts reported far more ence, and the strange movement of a of manure, resulting in a significant weird experiences than skeptics, and their souvenir voodoo mask along a shelf. amount of laughter. After clarifying sensations tended to focus on the type of Hauntings do not require genuine that they would not be broadcasting the scary-looking locations that are fre- ghosts, underground streams, low fre- smell of cow shit into people’s homes, quently featured in horror films. Al - quency sound waves, or weak magnetic the research team played a standard though these findings are encouraging, fields. Instead, all it takes is the power Dolby tuning tone for ten seconds. Just the ultimate testing of the theory in- of suggestion. as the bottles in the more pedestrian volves taking suggestible people to a versions of O’Mahony’s study con- place that does not have a reputation for Ghosts, Gods, and Goblins tained nothing but water, so the tone being haunted, making them believe that Although the psychology of suggestion did not actually have the ability to in- it does, and seeing if they experience the accounts for many ghostly phenomena, duce smells. same kind of ghostly activity reported in there still exists one final mystery—why Viewers were then asked to contact “genuine” hauntings. Houran has con- on earth should our sophisticated brains the television station and describe their ducted several of these experiments with have evolved to detect nonexistent experiences. A few hundred viewers re- intriguing results. ghostly entities? sponded, with the majority stating that In one experiment he took over a dis- Scientists have proposed various they had detected a strong smell of hay, used theater that had absolutely no rep- theories to account for what goes bump grass, or flowers. Although they were utation for being haunted and asked two in our minds. Psychologist Jesse Bering explicitly told that the smell would not groups of people to walk around it and (2006) from the University of Arkansas be manure-related, several people men- report how they felt (Lange and Houran has suggested that both ghosts and tioned that they had detected the subtle 1997). Houran told one group that the God help forge a more honest society hint of silage. Many respondents de- scribed how the tone had brought about more dramatic symptoms, in cluding hay fever attacks, sudden bouts of sneezing, and dizziness. The “Raman Spectroscopy” was sim- Hauntings do not require genuine ply scientific mumbo-jumbo. In reality the experimenters were exploring how ghosts, underground streams, the power of suggestion can cause peo- ple to experience various smells. James low frequency sound waves, or weak Houran (of Internet dating and ghost- magnetic fields. Instead, all it takes is busting fame) also believes that sugges- tion may play a vital role in unlocking the power of suggestion. the mystery of hauntings. Houran speculated that if sug- gestible people believe that they are in a haunted house, they may experience the strange sensations typically attrib- theater was associated with ghostly ac- by convincing people that they are con- uted to ghostly activity. In addition, he tivity and the other that the building was stantly being watched. Bering and his noted that those experiences are likely simply undergoing renovation. Those in team tested their idea by carrying out a to create a feeling of fear that will cause the “this building is haunted” group re- somewhat strange experiment. In their people to become hyper-vigilant and ported all sorts of weird sensations, while study, students were asked to complete pay attention to the subtlest of signals the other group experienced nothing un- an intelligence test. The test had been (Lange and Houran 1999). They will usual. In another study, Houran asked a carefully constructed to ensure that the suddenly notice that tiny creak in the married couple living in a house that had students could cheat if they wanted to, floorboards, the swaying of the curtains, no reputation for ghostly activity to and the experimenters could secretly or a brief whiff of burning. All of this spend a month making note of any “un- monitor each person’s level of decep- will cause them to become even more usual occurrences” that they noticed in tion. Just before taking the test, a ran- afraid and therefore exhibit even their home (Houran and Lange 1996). domly selected group of students was greater hyper-vigilance. The process Re port ing the results in the paper “Diary told that the test room was apparently feeds on itself until the person starts to of Events in a Thoroughly Unhaunted haunted. As predicted by the “ghosts become highly agitated, anxious, and House,” he noted that the couple re- make people more honest” theory, the

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students who thought that they were in stories to explain the cartoon, saying, for References a haunted room were far less likely to example, that perhaps the circle was in Barrett, J.L. 2004. Why Would Anyone Believe in cheat on the test. love with the little triangle, and the big God? United Kingdom: AltaMira Press. Bering, J.M. 2006. The cognitive psychology of However, perhaps the most popular triangle was attempting to steal away the belief in the supernatural. American Scientist theory to account for the evolution of circle but the little triangle fought back, 94: 142–49. ghostly experiences concerns the “Hy - and the small triangle and circle eventu- Cook, C.M., and M.A. Persinger. 1997. Exper- imental induction of the ‘sensed presence’ in per sensitive Agency Detection De vice” ally lived happily ever after. normal subjects and an exceptional subject. (Barrett 2004). Oxford Uni versity psy- In short, people saw agency where Perceptual and Motor Skills 85: 683–93. chologist Justin Barrett believes that the none existed. Barrett believes that the ———. 2001. Geophysical variables and behav- ior: XCII. Experimental elicitation of the ex- idea of “agency”—being able to figure same concept helps explain gods, ghosts, perience of a sentient being by right hemi- out why people act the way they do—is and goblins. According to the theory, spheric, weak magnetic fields: Interaction with temporal lobe sensitivity. Perceptual and essential to our everyday interactions many people are very reluctant to think Motor Skills 92: 447–48. with one another. In fact, it is so impor- that certain events are meaningless, and Granqvist, P., M. Fredrikson, P. Unge, et al. 2005. tant that Barrett thinks the part of the they are all too eager to assume that the Sensed presence and mystical experiences are predicted by suggestibility, not by the appli- brain responsible for detecting such events are the work of invisible entities. cation of weak complex transcranial magnetic agency often goes into overdrive, causing They might, for in stance, experience an fields. Neuroscience Letters 379: 1–6. people to see human-like behavior in amazing stroke of good luck and assume Houran, J., and R. Lange. 1996. Diary of events in a thoroughly unhaunted house. Perceptual even the most meaningless stimuli. it is angels at work, be struck down with and Motor Skills 83: 499–502. In the 1940s, psychologists Fritz Hei- an illness and see it as evidence of de - Lange, R., and J. Houran. 1997. Context-induced der and Mary-Ann Simmel conducted a paranormal experiences: Support for Houran mons, or hear a creaking door and at - and Lange’s model of haunting phenomena. now-classic experiment that provides a tribute it to a ghostly woman in white. If Perceptual and Motor Skills 84: 1455–58. beautiful illustration of Barrett’s point. Barrett is right, ghosts are not the result ———.1999. The role of fear in delusions of the paranormal. Journal of Nervous and Mental Heider and Simmel created a short car- of superstitious thinking. Neither are Disease 187: 159–66. toon animation in which a large triangle, they spirits returning from the dead. In- Lange, R., J. Houran, T.M. Harte, et al. 1996. a small triangle, and a circle moved in stead, they are simply the price we pay for Contextual mediation of perceptions in hauntings and poltergeist-like experiences. and out of a box. They then showed the having remarkable brains that can effort- Perceptual and Motor Skills 82: 755–62. meaningless cartoon to people and asked lessly figure out why other people behave Larsson, M., D. Larhammar, M. Fredrikson, et al. them to describe what was happening. the way they do. As such, ghosts are an 2005. Reply to M.A. Persinger and S.A. Koren’s response to Granqvist et al. ‘Sensed Most people instantly created elaborate essential part of our everyday lives. presence and mystical experiences are pre- dicted by suggestibility, not by the application of transcranial weak magnetic fields.’ Neuro- science Letters 380: 348–50. On Publishing Paranormality Musella, D.P. 2005. Gallup poll shows that Americans’ belief in the paranormal persists. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 29(5): 5. All of my previous books have been produced by large American publishing O’Mahony, M. 1978. Smell illusions and sugges- houses. However, when it came to my new book, tion: Reports of smells contingent on tones Paranormality (www.paranormalitybook.com), the sit- played on television and radio. Chemical Senses and Flavour 3: 183–89. uation was different. Many major publishers were Wiseman, R., C. Watt, E. Greening, et al. 2002. convinced that there simply isn’t a market for a skep- An investigation into the alleged haunting of tical book about the paranormal. When no serious of- Hampton Court Palace: Psychological vari- ables and magnetic fields. Journal of Para - fers came forward, I decided to take a bold step. I will psychology 66(4): 387–408. publish the unashamedly skeptical Paranormality as Wiseman, R., C. Watt, P. Stevens, et al. 2003. An an e-book in America and have my U.K. publisher investigation into alleged “hauntings.” The British Journal of Psychology 94: 195–211 ship physical copies of the British book to the United States. It is a daring experiment, and I have no idea Richard Wiseman is the how it will work out. I don’t have the large-market professor of the public budget and connections of a large publishing house. understanding of psy- However, I hope that I will have the support of the chology at the University skeptical movement and anyone else who cares about science. Psychic hot- of Hertfordshire, United lines and television shows are a multi-million dollar business. Many people Kingdom. He is a fellow of the Committee for do not want the American public to read books like Paranormality. For that Skeptical Inquiry and a reason alone, I believe that they deserve the largest audience possible. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER consult- ing editor. His latest book, Paranormality, was published in the United States in July.

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The Perpetual Quest

How to make a perpetual motion device and live to tell about it.

DIMITRY ROTSTEIN

nce upon a time, at the tender age of ten, I was source would certainly become rich and famous beyond imagination. On the playing with a magnet and an empty tin can. Sud- other hand, centuries of utter failure Odenly I noticed that if I moved the magnet away and PMs’ scientifically proven impossi- from the can, with the distance between them remaining bility should serve as an overwhelming demotivator. So, how can all these peo- the same, the can rolled faster and faster in its pursuit of ple still believe in PMs—and not just the magnet. But what if the can was rigged to the magnet, believe but waste a lot of time and ef- I thought? Obviously, the device would continue acceler- fort in trying to build such machines? ating, without the aid of any outside force, at least until it There are several possible explana- tions. As the famous case of John Keely hit the nearest wall. Three pencils and some duct tape were suggests (“Keely’s Secret” 1899), some enough to constrain the magnet in front of the can at the of the “inventors” of PMs might well be desired distance. But to my great dismay, the resulting sys- frauds who are looking for an overly naive investor or just seeking publicity. tem remained completely motionless. Others are simply ignorant about the abovementioned impediments, espe- Undoubtedly, many people of the hasn’t happened. In fact, even at the be- cially at first. But, judging from various inventive type can relate to this experi- ginning of the twenty-first century, the forum discussions, the majority appear ence—thinking up a seemingly in- PM “industry” isn’t just alive and well to be honest and knowledgeable in this genious idea for making a system that but, arguably, more popular than ever be- particular field. These people sustain generates persistent motion with no en- fore. And it’s not just the “modern” kinds their beliefs in the manner typical of 2 ergy source. Recorded propositions for of PMs, like “zero-point modules” or most pseudoscientists—by denying the 3 building similar contraptions, usually “torsion field generators,” but the most validity of scientific laws (Choronzon 1 called perpetual motion devices or per- classical ones too—the “overunity de- 1991) and by postulating a grand con- 4 petuum mobile (PM for short), date back vices,” which violate the first law of spiracy theory, which might explain all to at least the seventh century CE (Peter thermodynamics. In fact, at http://tiny the seeming failures. According to this 2004). A plethora of mechanisms based url.com/magnetPM you can see a grown theory, working PMs are not only pos- on such ideas have been designed and man playing with magnets in almost the sible, but they have already been built built, ranging from the stunningly trivial same way I did as a child. This is just one and the truth has been suppressed for to the ridiculously complex. Different example, but many more exist. The various reasons and by various means, though they may be, all share one com- forum at www.overunity.com alone lists ranging from hostile discouragement to mon quality: much like my “magnetic more than 25,000 members (as of De- physical elimination of the invention can,” they do not work. cember 2010), most of whom describe along with its inventor (Bearden 2009). Only in the nineteenth century were themselves as overunity inventors, and Of course, thorough arguments have the culprits behind this perpetual failure YouTube contains hundreds, if not thou- been mounted against conspiracy theo- (pun intended) discovered. These are the sands, of videos showing supposedly ries in general and this one in particular relentless laws of physics, or more specif- working PMs of all kinds. And the (Volkay 2007). But overall, a good skep- ically, the first and second laws of ther- numbers keep growing. tic should rely on testable facts rather modynamics. One would expect that Of course, such a high interest in than abstract arguments as much as pos- ever since these laws were established PMs is easily understandable. In light sible, no matter how well reasoned these (with solid theoretical and overwhelm- of the global energy crisis, pollution, arguments are. Fortunately, testing con- ing experimental basis), PMs would and human-induced climate change, an spiracy theories—at least this particular have become history. Surprisingly, that inventor of a free and clean energy one—isn’t difficult (albeit potentially

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doubts that such a device could work, but they all liked the idea. My experience is far from unique. Just a few months after the BizTec competition, designer Clay Moulton made headlines after winning a similar competition with his “gravity lamp” concept: a 600- to 800-lumen light source powered for a period of four hours by a slowly descending 50- to 100-pound weight (Moulton 2008). Simple high-school-level calculations show that these requirements corre- spond to the device having an efficiency of far beyond one hundred percent. My second opportunity to test the conspiracy theory hypothesis came along a year after the BizTec competition. As part of my graduate training, I had to de- sign and implement a laboratory experi- Figure 1. The “flying saucer”—or rather a plate (holes up). ment. Even though I came up with a few lethal if the conspiracy theorists are cor- pressure on this surface might be dif- other interesting ideas, I decided to pres- rect), and I have done exactly that on ferent from normal. Even if the pres- ent my “flying saucer” first, again just to two separate occasions. sure changed only by one percent, the test the reaction of the professor in The first opportunity came along in resulting difference would be enough to charge of the lab (hopefully not the November 2007, during an annual lift the saucer itself, as well as a two- “morph into an alien and devour me” technological competition called Biz- pound weight attached to it, off the kind of reaction). I was in for another Tec. Competitors had to submit a de- table. Of course, this principle isn’t surprise. Professor Yakov Krasik, the pro- scription of some novel invention of new—it’s just an unusual variation of fessor in charge, became excited about their own to be judged by a panel com- an old PM concept known as Maxwell’s the idea and decided to go forward with posed of industrialists, venture capital- demon, except that my PM doesn’t it. Being a seasoned physicist, he of ists, and academic staff. The best have any moving parts. Richard Feyn- course recognized a PM at once, but that proposals in terms of practicability, in- man showed that Maxwell’s demon didn’t seem to bother him. So we started novation, and commercialization would cannot work (Feynman et al. 1963), but building our “flying saucer.” get a cash prize, but I was only inter- his proof applies only to the moving Due to financial constraints, we ested in the judges’ reaction to my pro- trapdoors of the PM. So my design, couldn’t reshape the surface on a micro- posal. According to the contest rules, having no moving parts, does appear to scopic level, so instead we made a macro- every submitted idea—no matter how have a fighting chance of working; pro- scopic array of conic holes to concentrate silly—would receive thorough feed- vided, of course, that we throw away the the reflecting air molecules. Com puter back. For my submission I selected one second law of thermodynamics, which simulations showed that this should of my own designs, which I had come explicitly forbids energy extraction work,5 provided that the air molecules up with awhile back. At the time of its from a static pressure. didn’t collide with each other while inside conception, I even believed it was a According to the conspiracy folks, the holes (which would randomize their valid idea for a short while before I re- the judges at the competition, after see- trajectories, destroying the alleged con- alized it was just another PM. (It’s so ing my proposal, had to make sure that centrating effect). To meet this condition, hard to criticize your own ideas.) I wouldn’t build such a device. At best, we put the whole contraption into a vac- The idea is pretty straightforward. they’d just laugh at my idea until I gave uum chamber and reduced the air pres- Imagine a simple saucer lying on a up and threw it away in frustration. At sure until the mean free path6 of the air table. Both sides of the saucer are sub- worst, they’d call the Men in Black to molecules became larger than the size of jected to a constant and equal air pres- erase my memory or even my very ex- the holes (at about 10,000 times less than sure, so it doesn’t move. But the air istence. Needless to say, I’d prefer the the normal air pressure). According to pressure is caused by the air molecules first option. But their actual response simulations, even under such low pres- randomly bouncing off the saucer’s sur- was something I wasn’t expecting at all: sure the lifting force would be strong faces. Now, suppose that the saucer’s of some 150 submissions, ten received enough to be detected by high-precision lower surface was shaped (on a micro- a $1,000 prize, my “flying saucer” being scales. The experimental setting is shown scopic level) in such a way as to reflect among those ten! The promised feed- in figures 1 and 2. the air molecules in some specific direc- back was also quite encouraging. In all It should be noted that I only ran tion rather than randomly. Then, the air fairness, some judges did express their the experiment after I personally tested

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the equipment to make sure that nei- ther High Cabal nor Illuminati agents had messed with it. Naturally, there was no measurable difference in the plate’s weight—with the holes facing up or down—at any pressure. Of course, if the results had been positive, then the sec- ond law of thermodynamics would fly out of the window faster than any fly- ing saucer. Science prevailed once again when the saucer failed to work. However, to my great surprise, Pro- fessor Krasik was genuinely disap- pointed by the negative result. I asked him whether he really believed this ex- periment could possibly have worked. After all, I told him right from the start that it couldn’t, and I thought we were Figure 2. Vacuum chamber with the test “saucer” on the scales. on the same page. This was his re- sponse: “I was almost sure that nothing vation probably doesn’t apply to most which explains the false-positive result. Of course it was obvious from the start (at least to me) that [would] be positive, but … life is [a] scientists and engineers, but the level of a simulation that produces nonphysical results complicated thing—and the more I’m acceptance for PMs that I’ve witnessed must be flawed. working, the more I understand that is still surprising—if not troubling. As 6. The mean free path is the average distance that an air molecule traverses before hitting an- not all what I know, or what I studied, for the more extreme conspiratorial other molecule. At normal air pressure, it’s less is correct” (ellipsis in the original). Now, ideas, there is the undeniable fact that than one-tenth of a micron. Reduced air pressure dear reader, I ask you this: does that re- as I write these lines, I’m still very much means fewer molecules flying around, hence the increase in the mean free path. ally sound to you like someone who is alive. trying to suppress anything? To me it Notes References surely doesn’t. Bearden, Tom. 2009. Suppression of the MEG. 1. The term perpetual motion device is actually Public correspondence, February 11. Avail- No, I can definitely say that I have a misnomer because the existence of perpetual able online at www.cheniere.org/correspon- found no attempt at conspiracy. So, if motion is assured by Newton’s first law. A more dence/021109.htm. proper name would be perpetual motor (still ab- no one has been able to build a working Choronzon, Frater. 1991. Perpetuum mobile: An breviated PM), because the idea is to generate assessment of the ‘laws of thermodynamics’ from PM over the centuries, then perhaps useful work from the perpetual motion, whereas a Gödelian viewpoint. Available online at the devices are indeed useless. Well, the real perpetually moving object is useless in http://freespace.virgin.net/ecliptica.ww/book this respect. If you try to produce work from its maybe useless isn’t the proper word here. /perpetuum.htm. motion, it will cease to move as soon as its initial Feynman, Richard, , and Mat - After all, a PM has already earned me kinetic energy is depleted. thew Sands. 1963. Ratchet and prawl. In The 2. The zero-point module (ZPM) is a hypo- (despite myself) a thousand dollars, Feynman Lectures on Physics. Reading, MA: thetical device that can utilize vacuum energy. some lab experience, and this journal Addison-Wesley. According to quantum field theory, each point in Keely’s secret disclosed. 1899. The New York publication. But do PMs really work or space contains an enormous, perhaps even infi- Times (January 20). Available online at nite, amount of energy. However, there is no sci- could they even possibly work? There’s http://tinyurl.com/nyt-keely. entifically plausible way to harness this energy, at not much chance of that, I’m afraid. Moulton, Clay. 2008. Gravia. Greener Gadgets least not without violating the existing laws of Design Competition 2008. Available online Some may point out that a few iso- physics. Although some PM inventors claim to at www.core77.com/competitions/greener- have constructed devices that use vacuum energy, lated examples don’t constitute a thor- gadgets/projects/4306/. the whole ZPM concept is regarded as pseudo- ough study, and they’d be right. How- Peter, Hans. 2004. Perpetuum mobile: Concepts I. science or, at best, science fiction. Available online at www.hp-gramatke.net/ ever, it takes only one whistleblower to 3. Torsion field theory, originally put forward perpetuum/english/page0020.htm. by a few Soviet scientists, postulates an existence expose a conspiracy (if it exists) and Volkay, Chris. 2007. Is this article on conspiracies of fields unknown to science with amazing prop- part of a conspiracy? SKEPTICAL INQUIRER only one small hole in the wall of erties, among which is the ability to produce un- 31(5) (September/October): 44–46. pigheadedness to push a radical idea limited energy, antigravity, and faster-than-light through (if it’s valid). I have discovered travel. The theory (and resulting devices) is gen- erally considered to be pure nonsense. two such holes in the first two places 4. An overunity device is any system that pro- Dimitry Rotstein, a grad- that happened to come along. Not even duces more useful energy than it consumes. In uate physics student at once have I encountered any hostility technical terms, this means that its energy effi- the Israel Institute of ciency is greater than one or unity (i.e., more than Technology, has had a or ridicule of the kind that PM propo- 100 percent), hence the name “overunity.” Such nents claim to suffer. If anything, my devices would obviously violate the law of energy lifelong interest in inven- experience shows that the academy and conservation (the first law of thermodynamics) tions and entrepreneur- and thus are scientifically impossible. the industry are more lenient toward ship. This is his second 5. It was discovered later that one of the for- contribution to the SKEPTI- PMs than they should be. This obser- mulas for the simulation was missing a sine factor, CAL INQUIRER.

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[FORUM

The Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Pastafarian Quatrains

JONATHAN C. SMITH

found God on Christmas in 2005. The New York Times piece of software that mercilessly finds all legal anagrams for whatever phrase had just reported a new web sensation, the Flying you desire. Just for fun, I plugged in ISpaghetti Monster (FSM). And like a twist of wet dan- words that seemed to fit my mood and gling spaghetti, my spiritual journey took a dramatic turn. the spirit of the season: The Meaning of Life. It had begun six months earlier. In Eight anagrams (arranged into quat- the sleepy town of Corvallis, Oregon, rains, to ensure credibility), caught my unemployed twenty-five-year-old slot- attention: machine technician Bobby Henderson The fine game of nil. had had enough. Frustrated with the Fame? I feel nothing. Kansas Board of Education’s push to Feeling fit? Ahem, no! teach the Biblical creation myth next to One fine lame fight. Darwin in biology classes, he demanded Feel fate homing in. that his deity, the Flying Spaghetti O, female! Fine thing! Monster, receive equal classroom time. Fine gin, hot female. The engine of a film! His now-famous letter (revered by Pastafarians as a Holy Document) pro- Astonishingly, each line is a perfect claimed: “Let us re member that there anagram of “The Meaning of Life.” And are multiple theories of Intelligent De- the message was obvious. Life is a game: sign. I and many others around the a lame fight with no meaning. Fame and world are of the strong belief that the even health are empty. Fate rules. What universe was created by a Flying Spa - is one to do? Drown oneself in gin and ghetti Monster.” Flying Spaghetti females. And note the sardonic conclu- When not analyzing Monsterism, or Pastafarianism, caught sion: all of this is a sleazy grade-B plot, spaghettigrams, on (Henderson 2006). Henderson’s “the engine of a film!” Jonathan C. Smith (aka Church of the Flying Spaghetti Mon- This is not how I wanted to start the Jon Smith) is a licensed ster website (www.venganza.org) re- great season of hope and joy. A persistent clinical psychologist, ceived millions of hits. Serious articles inner voice prompted my next step: “Feed professor of psychology appeared in the New York Times and the phrase ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster’ to at Chicago’s Roosevelt Scientific American. A new world reli- Anagram Genius.” University, and head of gion was born. My trusty anagram generator needed the Pseudoscience and Yes, I was moved, perhaps touched, four hours to spew out its assignment. Paranormal Lab. His recent book, Pseudo- science and Extraordinary Claims of the Para- by His Noodly Appendage. My winter However, the results were astonishing— normal: A Critical Thinker’s Toolkit (Wiley- vacation had started. Basking in the like tablets, manna, or possibly pasta from Blackwell, 2010), is emerging as a popular warm artificial glow of the fireplace in heaven. The first anagrams (spa ghet - text in critical thinking. E-mail: jsmith@roo- my local coffeehouse, I opened my new tigrams) of “Flying Spaghetti Mon ster” sevelt.edu. Webpage: www.lulu.com/stress. copy of Anagram Genius, a dangerous formed something of a proclamation:

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Finest might, sporty Angel, teries (Curl 1996; Michaelsen 1998). It The Passion Quatrains Mostly fighting a Serpent. is possible that Hebrew Kabbalists be- Perhaps as a sign of its truthfulness, the Sting of almighty Serpent, lieved anagrams contained secret myster- Petty mangler of insights, Pastafarian Quatrains rival the Holy ies. Some Nostra damus quatrains con- Bible’s stories of passion and lust. The Floating pestering myths. tain anagrams that continue to move and beautiful and poetic Passion Quatrains Temptingly fights reason. inspire people. Anagrams occur in the Fight gentlest parsimony. vividly portray the risks of courting delu- Myth-generating flip-toss. Bible. In sum, anagrams are true (“as a sional intellectual attachments, here sym- rare argument”).1 bolized as passion. Again, each is a perfect anagram of I decided to treat the remaining “Flying Spaghetti Monster.” At the This frosty pig gentleman, spaghettigrams with archaeological re- Tormenting shapely gifts. time I was writing a textbook on critical spect—a twenty-first-century version of Phony flirt gets steaming, thinking, pseudoscience, and the para- the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. Like many Then flings petty orgasm. normal (Smith 2010). The quatrains archaeological artifacts, the spaghetti- Filthy G-String Poets. Amen! seemed to comment on my writing. grams emerged as fragments, which re- Manly poet, G-String fetish. Who is the Angel? Obviously it is truth vealed a startling messaging as I pieced Fetish groans temptingly. and reason, the main themes of my para- them together. I was driven by the truth Penalty of thirsting gems. normal book. Who is the Serpent? The that each came directly from the deity, Tempting ’n’ flashiest orgy? enemy of truth and reason: pseudoscien- the FSM. (Indeed, no other religion can Tempting ’n’ faithless orgy. tific thinking that mangles in sights, floats Self-pitying tenth orgasm. make such a provable claim about its Hot self-pity G-string. Amen! pestering myths, and temptingly fights scriptures.) Together they form what I Finest G-string, empty halo. both reason and one of the most power- now call Pastafarian Quatrains. (Smith ful tools of critical thinking: parsimo- The nails of empty G-string. 2006, 2008). The epic battle between rea- Fat, slimy pestering thong. nious analysis, or Occam’s razor. And son and delusion began to unfold. The self-pity G-string moan. how does the serpent do this? By creat- The Preparatory Stanzas Finest porn gets almighty. ing truthful-sounding myths out of the If mighty angel tests porn . . . “flip-toss” of coincidence.Incidentally, I The first quatrains warn that pseudosci- Porn feigns stately might. swear to god(s) this came from a dream. entific thinking often poses as a wise Gnarliest of empty nights. A voice instructed me to program Ana- angel. However, we should be skeptical Yes, each line is a perfect anagram of gram Genius to generate only spa - of gospels that superficially appear plau- “Flying Spaghetti Monster.” But I was ghettigrams containing the word flip. sibly angelic but are nevertheless false. a bit troubled by the obsession with G- “Myth-generating flip-toss” is what I got. These gospels may seem to be “fine strings. Perhaps they are a metaphor for Faced with such provocative in sights, songs,” but they are actually “mighty, pseudoscientific delusion that binds and I feverishly devoted the three weeks of tempting, nagging, flimsy prattle.” my vacation to unearthing spaghetti- entraps . . . like an empty G-string? And Fine songs, mighty prattle, grams. It became an obsession, consum- is porn a derisive metaphor for pseudo- Lengthy figmentary posts, scientific delusion? I’ll leave such deeper ing four hours of coffee shop time every Angry song, emptiest filth. day, seven days a week. A remarkable epic Temptingly soft singer? Ha! interpretations to Pasta farian scholars. I began to unfold—a battle between rea- wish to say no more about the Passion Salty might of presenting? Quatrains. son and pseudoscientific delusion: the This flimsy, potent nagger. story of the Angel and the Serpent. “Angel’s” gift or inept myths? Incidentally, the Pastafarian Qua - Before we get to the story, let us take Petty insights from “Angel.” trains even contain a study guide: a step back. Why should anyone take The stifling, empty groans. Fragment this tiny gospel. such anagrams seriously? The world’s Trash tiny figment “gospel.” But the quatrains then warn against premiere anagram expert, William Tun- Spot thrifty gems in Angel, getting too upset about pseudoscientific Itsy gem of plain strength. stall-Pedoe (2007), has noted the un- attempts masquerading as reason. Anger canny and enigmatic meaningfulness of On fighting messy prattle: can get in the way of productive discus- Test gingerly, if phantoms. anagrams. It is in deed remarkable that: sion concerning matters paranormal: Parse intently, fight smog. 2 Debit card = Bad credit Forget anything misspelt. This petty gem of snarling. Slot machines = Cash lost in ‘em Self-tormenting, pithy gas. Dormitory = Dirty room The Pastafarian Epic This flimsy, potent nagger. Christian = Rich at sin (or Rich saint), Might of petty gnarliness. After having prepared us extensively, Atheist = Eat shit, and the Quatrains return to the epic story. Skeptic = Sick pet (or It pecks). Snarl! Shifty, tempting ego. Empty sage snorting filth. We meet our hero, the Pig. The Pig has Indeed, throughout history ana- Snotty, if angriest, phlegm. been a literary figure of archetypal sig- grams have been linked to deep mys- Angry flight to emptiness. nificance, ranging from the whimsical

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Very Large Num bers—augmented by confirmation bias—suggests that one can readily select a few dozen that appear to tell whatever story we may desire or ex- pect. Selective perception makes the process almost automatic as we notice supportive details. Through patternicity we see ghosts in shadows, the man in the Moon, and even messages in batches of anagrams. The Pastafarian Quatrains are an ob ject lesson in faulty thinking. In deed, in honor of His Holiness, Bobby Hen- derson’s Flying Spaghetti Mon ster, we might label such attempts at pseudosci- entific analysis as “noodly thinking” or Porky Pig and Miss Piggy to the tragic the world’s faux deities, only the FSM perhaps just “intellectual spaghetti.” Wilbur of Charlotte’s Web and the and Pigasus are linked.3 But are the However justified skepticism may be, I equally tragic Three Little Pigs. Then Pastafarian Quatrains an anthem cele- still believe the FSM and His Pastafar- there is skeptical scholars’ soaring and brating the victory of truth over delu- mythic Pigasus ( James Randi’s Pigasus sion, or has the struggle just begun? ian Quatrains are truly an unparalleled Awards). Remember Pigasus. He is the spiritual achievement. The FSM merits Key to the Quatrains. elevation to the pantheon of faux para- Pig is first tormented by, and then normal entities, which includes Rus- confronts, the tempting cheap (“toy”) sell’s Teapot, the Invisible Pink Uni- claims of pseudoscience: Through patternicity corn, the Great Pumpkin, the monster under the bed, and the Ceiling Cat. Fine Piggy halts torments! we see ghosts in Halts firey, tempting song. Notes Pig snarls, “The figment toy!” shadows, the man “I’m tipsy of Angel Strength!” 1. If you think this is not a serious essay or that I am just being silly, note these ominous Our Pig fable has an astonishing in the Moon, and spaghettigrams: deeper message. It is my scholarly opin- even messages Penalty of tight grimness. ion that our hero Pig is the classic icon Needing nice comicalness of paranormal discourse, Pigasus, and in batches of 2.Good advice, given that the Quatrains tend that Pigasus is indeed a partner and to ignore the niceties of grammar. (Note that friend of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. anagrams. translators of ancient texts, such as Egyptian hi- This is its stirring “thrifty (parsimo- eroglyphs or the Dead Sea Scrolls, have faced nious) gem song.” Consider the star- similar problems.) tling final quatrains. 3. The FSM is gay-affirming. Indeed, it is di- The Deeper Message of the Flying vinely written that the Flying Spaghetti Mon ster Amen! Thrifty Piglet’s song! Spaghetti Monster is Fine, slim, top, gay strength. Plainest thrifty gem song. It is beyond dispute that the Pasta farian A poem fights stringently. References Quatrains are words that come directly Spin to Angel’s thrifty gem!: Curl, M. 1996. The Anagram Dictionary. London: from the deity, uncontaminated by “Am hot, sternest Flying Pig!” Robert Hale and Company. “Hot, tense, smart Flying Pig!” human hands and fingers. I have offered Henderson, B. 2006. The Gospel of the Flying “Flying Pigs threaten Most!” them as a profound source of meaning Spaghetti Monster. New York: Villard. Michaelson, O.V. 1998. Words at Play: Quips, “Flying Pigs!—The Neat Storm!” that surely rivals any holy book. How ever, Quirks, and Oddities. New York: Sterling. Song fights prettily. Amen! critical thinkers may protest. First, most Smith, J.C. 2006. God Speaks! The Flying Spaghetti The Flying Pig’s smart note. people probably would not guess the Monster in His Own Words. Lulu.com/stress. Flying Pig met Honest Star . . . number of legal anagrams Flying ———. 2008. God Speaks: The Pastafarian Quat- Flying Spaghetti Monster! rains. Lulu.com/stress. Spaghetti Monster yields—3,200,000. ———. 2010. Pseudoscience and Extraordinary We all underestimate probabilities and Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker’s Flying Pig’s Anthem . . . or test? the likelihood of coincidence. With an Toolkit. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. Tunstall-Pedoe, W. 1997. Anagram Genius It is remarkable that among all of enormous pool of anagrams, the Law of (www.anagramgenius.com).

56 Volume 35 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 3:20 PM Page 57

REVIEWS] Why Belief Always Comes First HARRIET HALL

common question from skeptics The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods A and science-based thinkers is “How to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs could anyone believe that?” People do and Reinforce Them as Truths believe some really weird things and By Michael Shermer. Times Books, even some obviously false things. The New York, 2011. ISBN: 0805091254. more basic question is how we form all 400 pp. Hardcover, $28. our beliefs, whether false or true. Michael Shermer’s book Why People Believe Weird Things has become a clas- sic. Now he has a new book out: The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods hear contradictory evidence.” This is a selection favors strategies that make to Politics and Conspiracies—How We problem, and Shermer does not offer a many false causal assumptions in order Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as solution. to not miss the true ones that are essen- Truths. It synthesizes thirty years of re- The brain is a belief engine. It relies tial to survival. Superstition and magi- search into the questions of how and on two processes: patternicity and agen- cal thinking are natural processes of a why we believe what we do in all as- ticity. It finds meaningful patterns in learning brain. People believe weird pects of our lives. both meaningful and meaningless data. things because of our evolved need to Some of the content is repetitious It infuses patterns with meaning and believe non-weird things. As Shermer for those of us who have read Shermer’s imagines intention and agency in inan- writes, “Belief comes quickly and natu- previous books and heard him speak, imate objects and chance occurrences. rally, skepticism is slow and unnatural, but the value of the new book is that it incorporates new research and puts everything together in a handy package with a new focus. Natural selection favors strategies that Shermer writes, “I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but make many false causal assumptions because I want to know. How can we tell the difference between what we in order to not miss the true ones that would like to be true and what is actu- ally true? The answer is science.” He in- are essential to survival. cludes a pithy quotation from Richard Feynman that I had not seen before: “If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. In that simple statement is the We believe before we reason. Once be - and most people have a low tolerance key to science. It doesn’t make any dif- liefs are formed, we seek out confirma- for ambiguity.” ference how beautiful your guess is, tory arguments and evidence to justify We rely on a feeling of conviction, how smart you are, who made the them. We ignore contrary evidence or but that feeling can be uncoupled from guess, or what his name is. If it dis- make up rationalizations to explain it good reasons and good evidence. Sci- agrees with experiment, it’s wrong. away. We do not like to admit we are ence hopes to counteract false beliefs by That’s all there is to it.” wrong. We seldom change our minds. recoupling through counterarguments Our schools tend to teach what sci- Our thinking is what Morgan Levy with even better reasons and evidence. ence knows rather than how science has called “intelligently illogical.” If our As science advances, the things we works. The scientific method is a teach- ancestors assumed that the wind once thought of as supernatural acquire able concept. But, Shermer writes, “our rustling the bushes was a lion and they natural explanations. Thunderstorms most deeply held beliefs are immune to ran away, that wasn’t a big problem. If are caused by natural processes of elec- attack by direct educational tools, espe- there really was a lion and they didn’t tricity in clouds, not by a god throwing cially for those who are not ready to run away, they were in trouble. Natural thunderbolts.

Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 57 SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 1:19 PM Page 58

[NEW BOOKS

Listing does not preclude future review. Belief in God is hardwired into our basketball, and we don’t see him because DENYING SCIENCE: Conspiracy Theories, brains through patternicity and agentic- our attention is fixed on counting the Media Distortions, and the War Against Re- ity. We see patterns even when they are number of times the players in white shirts ality. John Grant. Prometheus Books, not there (the Virgin Mary on a toasted passed the ball.) Shermer quotes Upton Amherst, New York, 2011. 350 pp. Hardcover, $25. Author John Grant, cheese sandwich, for example), and we Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to un- who has previously written interpret events as having been deliber- derstand something when his job depends books on bogus, corrupted, ately caused by a conscious agent (some on not understanding it.” and discarded science, people believe the AIDS virus was created I particularly got a kick out of one of here takes on the denialism in a government lab for genocidal pur- Shermer’s examples. Galileo used an early of science and its preva- poses). God is the ultimate pattern and telescope to observe four moons around lence in today’s society. agent that explains everything. And reli- Whether regarding AIDS, Jupiter. One colleague of Galileo’s refused vac cines, evolution, climate change, or half a gious belief had survival value for human to even look through the telescope, call- dozen other topics, he reports on and consid- groups in the past, encouraging conform- ing it a parlor trick, saying he didn’t be- ers why denialism in the supposedly ad- ity, group cooperation, and altruism. lieve anyone else would see what Galileo vanced country of the United States is ram- Shermer covers a variety of subjects— saw, and saying that looking through pant. The opening chapter is “God Told Me to from alien abductions to cosmology, from glasses would only make him dizzy. Deny,” and the two final chapters deal with economics to politics, from belief in the the marketing of climate change denialism Other colleagues who did look were sim- afterlife to evolution, from ESP to and its main proponents. ilarly dismissive; one tested the telescope morality—with a lot of entertaining ex- in a series of experiments and said it THE FALLACY OF FINE-TUNING: Why the amples. He doesn’t give much space to worked fine for terrestrial viewing but Uni verse Is Not Designed for Us. Victor J. medical topics, but he does mention when pointed at the sky it somehow de- Stenger. Prometheus Books, Amherst, AIDS denialism, the vaccine/autism ceived the viewer. One professor of math- New York, 2011. 285 pp. brouhaha, and , ematics accused Galileo of putting the Hardcover, $28. Physicist which he calls “a form of pseudoscience.” Stenger, author of previ- moons of Jupiter inside the tube. Conspiracy theories abound, from ous valuable books exam- We are beginning to develop a new un- ining and debunking such Holocaust denial and the 9/11 Truth derstanding of how the brain generates be- things as quantum con- movement to suspicions about the origin liefs and reinforces them. Star Trek’s Mr. sciousness and even God and spread of AIDS. This is a result of Spock is science fiction; humans are often (“the failed hypothesis”), wide-open pattern detection filters and illogical and emotional. We need emotion here takes a sharp razor to the idea, widely the assumption that there must be a con- to motivate us and help us function. An prevalent even among many highly edu- scious agent behind everything. Shermer cated people, that the universe has been emotional leap of faith beyond reason is provides a handy list of ten characteristics fine-tuned just for us. He says much of the often required for us to make decisions or of a conspiracy theory that indicate that confusion is based on misunderstandings even just to get through the day. it is likely to be false; for instance, the of the science, and he provides plausible This thought-provoking book is a reasons for why the various scientific con- more people who would have to have good read and a good reference. Take - stants have the values they have by follow- been involved in a cover-up, and the away lessons: ing existing standard models of physics longer the alleged cover-up has lasted, the • Beliefs come first, reasons follow. and cosmology. A thorough and sophisti- less likely it is that no one would have cated exploration of a highly relevant and • False beliefs arise from the same thought spilled the beans by now. important topic. processes that our brains evolved to en- The book provides a useful discussion able them to learn about the world. AND GOD SAID, ‘LET THERE BE EVOLUTION!’: of the various biases we are prone to, from • Our faulty thinking mechanisms can’t Reconciling the Book of Genesis, the confirmation bias to the status quo bias, Qur’an, and the Theory of Evolution. and points out that science is the ultimate be eliminated, but our errors can be cor- Charles M. Wynn, Sr. and Arthur W. Wiggins, bias-detection machine. Shermer revisits rected by science. editors. All Things That the “Gorillas in Our Midst” video (avail- Matter Press, 2011. 191 Harriet Hall, MD, also known as “The SkepDoc,” is able online at http://viscog.beckman.illi- pp. Softcover, $16.99. a retired family physician who writes about pseu- Accepting evolution, a fun- nois.edu/flashmovie/15.php) to remind us doscience and questionable medical practices. damental tenet of biologi- that we often don’t see things that we’re not She is a SKEPTICAL INQUIRER contributing editor and a cal science, does not re- looking for. (In case you don’t know, the weekly contributor to the Science-Based Medicine quire abandoning one’s video was part of an experiment demon- blog, on which this review originally appeared faith, the editors of this strating inattentional blind ness: a gorilla (www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the- volume, both scientists, strongly believe. walks through a group of people playing believing-brain/). They invited a Jewish scientist, David Kay;

58 Volume 35 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 59

REVIEWS]

Eight Impediments to Rationality a Christian scientist, astronomer Howard Van Till; and a Muslim scientist, pediatrician T.O. PETER LAMAL Shanavas, to present scientific evidence for evolution and then explain how they reconcile their support for evolution with the scriptural n his new book, Stephen Law de - Believing Bullshit: How Not sources and beliefs of their religions. It is a scribes eight strategies or mecha- to Get Sucked into an Intel- fresh contribution to the discussion about sci- I ence and religion. nisms that draw the unwary and unin- lectual Black Hole By Stephen Law. formed into intellectual black holes HOW TO BECOME A REALLY GOOD PAIN IN THE from which escape can be very difficult Prometheus Books, ASS: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Asking the (and for some, impossible). He de- Amherst, New York, 2011. Right Questions. Christopher W. DiCarlo. scribes each strategy and explains what ISBN: 978-1-61614-411-1. Prome theus Books, Amherst, New York, 2011. is wrong with it and how it is used. No 271 pp. Paperback, $19. 340 pp. Softcover, $19. The title tells the story here, and doubt Law, a University of London means of the bullshit strategies Law philosopher DiCarlo contends philosopher, is right when he asserts de scribes. that becoming that pain in the that almost all of us engage in at least ass is and should be a mark of Law labels the first strategy “Play- some of these strategies to some extent, distinction, because it means ing the Mystery Card.” This strategy particularly when our strongly held you have learned to think crit- is often used in defense of beliefs in beliefs are threatened by rational analy- ically. He wittily discusses bi- the supernatural. It often involves a ases, argumentation, fallacies, evidence, and sis and countervailing evidence. And veil analogy: beyond the observable the Socratic method of questioning and ex- there may be no cause for concern if we world is a mysterious reality hidden plores questions such as: What can I know? sometimes use them in moderation. from us as if it were behind a veil. And Why am I here? How should I behave? What is At the outset Law draws a distinc- to become of me? It is a fine guide to analyzing science cannot reveal what lies beyond your own thoughts and beliefs and question- tion between the content of intellectual the veil. In this chapter Law describes black holes, which he does not label ing beliefs and assumptions of those who how some supernatural claims may be claim to know what they’re talking about. bullshit, and the manner in which the refutable, even empirically refutable, content is defended and promoted. The whether or not they are, strictly speak- PARANORMALITY: Why We See What Isn’t latter is bullshit. The ability of intellec- ing, scientifically refutable. There. Richard Wiseman. Macmillan, London, tual black holes to capture us does not The “But It Fits” strategy is illus- 2011. 341 pp. Softcover, UK £12.99. U.S. Kin- dle edition, $8.99. The irre- depend upon the beliefs at their core. trated by the idea of young-earth cre- pressible U.K. psychologist One of the main focuses of the book ationism, according to which God cre- concerns intellectual challenges to belief (and SI consulting editor) ated the universe—including the earth Richard Wiseman here ex- in God and the strategies used in re- and every living species—over six days plores “the hidden world of su- sponse to the challenges, particularly less than ten thousand years ago, as de- pernatural science.” Paranor- the evidential problem of evil and the scribed in Genesis. Some polls show mal phenomena don’t exist, problem of nontemporal agency. The that about 45 percent of U.S. citizens Wiseman believes, but that doesn’t mean the topic isn’t worth researching problem of evil concerns the traditional believe in young-earth creationism. God who is all powerful, all knowing, and exploring. He takes the reader to meet a This illustrates that any belief, no mat- colorful cast of characters, including expert il- and all good. The challenge is this: ter how ludicrous, can be made consis- lusionists, charismatic cult leaders, and medi- Why does evil exist if there is such a tent with the available evidence, given ums holding séances. It’s a world where, as he God? The evidential problem of evil, some patience and ingenuity. says, anything appears possible and yet noth- Law’s particular concern, questions the The “I Just Know!” chapter focuses ing is ever quite what it seems. Topics include existence of God because there is not on religious and psychic claims. Many fortune-telling, out-of-body experiences, mind over matter, ghost-hunting, mind control, and simply some but rather an enormous theists, for example, say they do not prophecy. He brings the reader into the topics amount of evil in the world. believe on the basis of evidence; they by including experiments you can do yourself The problem of nontemporal agen- “just know” God exists. Law, in con- to measure your powers of intuition, assess cy results from the belief that God is trast, cites evidence that most psychic your suggestibility, and find out if you are a not a temporal being—God does not and religious experiences are delu- natural-born liar. See Wiseman’s related article exist in time. But God can create space sional. With respect to the latter, he in this issue on page 46. and time only if there already exists cites the fact that religious beliefs tend —Kendrick Frazier time in which he (she? it?) performs the to be specific to cultures—Muslim creation. versus Christian being an obvious ex- These two challenges to belief in ample. Also, religious beliefs often God cannot be successfully met by contradict each other. Some Buddhists Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 59 SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 60

do not believe in a personal god whereas Christians, Jews, and Muslims do. A Flawed Attempt to Reconcile Do you want to impress others with your profundity? Check out the “Pseudo - Religion and Science profundity” chapter. Learn to state the JIM CLARK obvious and to contradict yourself so as to come across as profound. Use jargon. Make up words that appear to have n The Language of Science and Faith: The Language of Sci- meanings similar to those of well- IStraight Answers to Genuine Ques tions, ence and Faith: Straight known terms but differ from them in two Christian scientists, Karl W. Giber- Answers to Genuine some way that is never fully explained. son and Francis S. Collins, attempt to Questions For example: “Don’t talk about people bridge the oft-trumpeted chasm be- By Karl W. Giberson being sad or happy; talk about them tween religion and science. Neither their and Francis S. Collins. having ‘negative or positive attitudinal religiousness (albeit broadly defined) nor Intervarsity Press, orientations’” (164). Use scientific terms their scientific credentials can be chal- Downers Grove, Illinois, or references. References to quantum lenged, and the latter in particular is 2011. ISBN: 978-0-8308-3829-5. mechanics are particularly popular with often a problem in other such works. 224 pp. Hardcover, $20. those peddling pseudoscience. The Collins, for example, headed the group postmodernists’ writings are prime ex- that first mapped the human genome as being incompatible with the second amples of pseudoprofundity. and is currently director of the National law of thermodynamics. But this criti- The other intellectual black holes Institutes of Health. cism makes the incorrect assumption Law describes are: “Going Nuclear,” that the second law, which applies only “Moving the Semantic Goalposts,” “Pil- to closed systems without external in- ing Up the Anecdotes,” and “Press ing fluences, is relevant to open systems Your Buttons.” One Christian website like nature. Law’s final chapter includes a table The authors are therefore on firm listing the eight strategies and nine ... refers to the book as ground with the scientific community kinds of belief (for example, homeopa- when they endorse widely accepted sci- thy and psychic powers) and indicating “throwing the Bible entific theories, although some believers which beliefs tend to result from which under the bus.” may be reluctant to acknowledge the strategies. primacy of science as a source of knowl- The book concludes with “The Tape - edge about the world. And many scien- screw Letters: Letters from a Senior to tists may part ways with the authors as a Junior Guru,” a parody of C.S. Lewis’s well when they insinuate a Christian The Screwtape Letters. The scientific community will cer- God into these natural processes. I suspect that Law would agree with tainly respect the sections of this book The book identifies two mecha- my hypothesis that belief in God and a that quite rightly refute many religious nisms for God’s intervention via puta- blissful afterlife is based on emotion, fundamentalist criticisms of evolution tively scientific means. First, God set which provides comfort in an often bru- and related science. The authors point events in motion at the time scientists tal and unfair world. And emotion is out that these criticisms are generally label “the big bang” in such a way that often immune to reason. based on outdated science or profound the universe and world would unfold Conventional wisdom among many misunderstandings of science. As an in the way that it did, including the ul- book reviewers seems to be that review- example of the former, some early crit- timate emergence of humans through ers should have at least some, even if icisms of evolution were based on in- evolutionary processes. Second, God minor, negative comments about books correct estimates of the age of Earth. It can tweak evolutionary processes at the that they otherwise positively review. If was argued, in essence, that Earth was level of genetic mutations to steer evo- this is a bullshit belief I have avoided it not old enough to permit the gradual lution in directions that God deems with this review. n emergence of new species that is called desirable. for by evolutionary theory. Sub se quent Not only will these notions be ques- Peter Lamal is an emeritus professor in the Psy- and more accurate estimates overcame tioned by many scientists as unnecessary, chology Department of the University of North this difficulty as accepted figures for but they are also unlikely to resonate Carolina–Charlotte. He is a fellow of the Division Earth’s true age increased markedly. with traditionally religious people’s of Behavior Analysis of the American Psycholog- With respect to misunderstandings views about how God acts. Many people ical Association and a member of the Associa- about science, Giberson and Collins of faith will be reluctant to give up the tion for Behavior Analysis International. point out that some criticize evolution idea of an active God who works

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REVIEWS]

through miracles, responds to their Physicist Victor Stenger recently pub- ple, it could be taken as evidence for prayers, and otherwise exerts influence lished a book titled The Fallacy of any deity with intelligence—not nec- on the world in mystical ways rather Fine-Tuning: Why the Uni verse is Not essarily the Christian God. than by the quasi-naturalistic processes Designed for Us. To illu strate one In conclusion, the attempted rec- emphasized by Giberson and Collins. counterargument, some constants are onciliation of religion and science in - Indeed, traditionally religious people finely tuned for the emergence of life volves a highly idiosyncratic view of will have to forsake much that they hold only at this particular point in time; a both science and Christian religion, sacred if they are to adopt the reconcilia- considerable range of values could ac- especially the latter. I therefore doubt tion proposed in this book. Other sec- tually produce life billions of years in that this book will persuade or satisfy tions of the book, for example, address the past or in the future. And the sup- many people, except perhaps a small supposed incompatibilities between reli- posed fine-tuning of other constants minority whose idiosyncratic Chris - gion and science, arguing that these can is shown to follow naturally from a tianity and theistic views of science al- arise from misinterpretations of the scientific account of our expanding ready correspond closely to those of Bible, which the authors view as a com- universe. the authors. plex text requiring a hermeneutical ap- Finally, the book expounds a sup- proach to its understanding—that is, the port for Christianity in particular that Jim Clark is professor of psychology at the Uni- Bible must be read analytically with care- obviously is derived from the authors’ versity of Winnipeg. As a cognitive psycholo- ful consideration to the context in which personal religious beliefs rather than gist and teacher of research methods, he has had a long-standing interest in understanding it was written and its intended audience. from any evidence. Many arguments the human processes entailed in science and To illustrate, the fact that Genesis con- in this book are not specific to Chris- tains two differing accounts of creation is in addressing putative challenges to the effi- tianity, despite repeated and often gra- cacy of these processes for furthering under- taken by Giberson and Collins to indi- tuitous allusions in the book to the standing of our physical, societal, and psycho- cate that the writer intended a figurative Bible and Christian beliefs. Even if logical worlds. Religion constitutes the basis or theological interpretation rather than the universe was fine-tuned, for exam- for a number of such challenges. a literal description of creation. The de- gree to which traditional Christians will find such liberties intolerable is suggested by one Christian website that refers to the A Modern Fable book as “throwing the Bible under the bus.” about Science and Religion In addition to these efforts to demon- strate the compatibility of science and re- JOE SZIMHART ligion, the authors argue further that con- temporary science actually supports a he Monkey Bible is a modern fable The Monkey Bible: A belief in God. Their case rests primarily Tfor those who find themselves on a Modern Allegory on the fine-tuning argument, which is path of conflict between religion and By Mark Laxer. Outer Rim distinct from the better-known notions science, which covers much of the Press, Burlington, Ver- of intelligent design and irreducible com- human race throughout its history. In mont, 2010. ISBN-13: 978- plexity, which the authors dismiss—in other words, there is a lot to chew on 0-9638108-0-9. 243 pp. the process likely alienating yet another here for the reader, especially one with Hardcover, $25. religious community. limited familiarity with evolutionary The fine-tuning argument holds that biology and its opposition in funda- some numerical quantities de scribing the ongoing arguments about missing mentalist religion. The fable is a cry certain aspects of the physical world are links, creationism, evolution, the Chris- extraordinarily well-suited to the emer- for resolution before it is too late, be- tian Bible, the biological tree of life, gence of life, that even the slightest devi- fore the naked ape’s closest animal rel- genes, heredity, God, and the god-of- ation would prevent the development of atives, the great apes, disappear in the the-gaps for what science has not yet life, and that this fit is so improbable as wild. The Monkey Bible also launches proved about biological evolution. Fear to suggest some intelligence (i.e., God) is a manifesto, a project, and a mission not; the ride is not too complex or behind the universe. that is accompanied by music on a dizzying. It remains prudently parsed In addition to the lack of correspon- compact disc included with the book and energetically entertaining through- dence between this notion of God’s and an interactive website complete out as we follow the mostly young- influence and traditional religious views, with videos. Mark Laxer takes the adult characters in their quest. the argument falters on scientific grounds. reader for an educational ride through Through its main characters, Em -

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manuel, Lucy, and Evelyn, The Monkey things evolutionary, learns of Em - ished effort is all but destroyed in a fire, Bible shows the importance of preserv- manuel’s dilemma and determines to so all we are left with are Lucy’s recol- ing the quality of our lives and our fu- help him come to grips with reality. She lections at the end and fragments revis- tures on this planet. The characters’ plea devises a plan to take him to Africa to ited on actual glossy pages of The Mon- is for science and religion to come to- meet his chimp relatives who are dying key Bible. The fragments nevertheless gether to preserve and enhance habi- out as a wild species. On the way they are enough to boost the essence of tats—not only for the great apes but stop at universities and organizations to Lucy’s mostly science-based revelations. also for all viable speciation. Chim - consult with significant researchers and Laxer’s relatively short novel de - panzees are especially featured in the scientists who address the plight of the serves a second read, as it is dense with story when the college-age male pro- apes and the theory of evolution, among tagonist, Emmanuel, discovers secret them Jane Goodall and Richard Daw - reflections on solid evolutionary science and the religious question. Funda - mentalists and racists of any stripe may find this book disturbing to the point of tossing it aside before finishing it. The book should appeal to folks in both secular and religious camps, peo- The characters’ plea is for science ple reasonable enough to appreciate its and religion to come together to preserve message—God probably helps those and enhance habitats—not only for the great who help themselves and use science ethically. Also, apes deserve a protected apes but also for all viable speciation. life on Earth or we might just disappear along with our close cousins. I enjoyed the read and especially noted Laxer’s not-so-subtle names of his characters. Emmanuel means “God with us.” Evelyn reflects Eve, the bibli- evidence in a paper authored by his fa- kins. Another friend, Evelyn, who is cal mother of us all. And Lucy is “light” ther that he is part chimp. His simian quite Christian, also wants to help by ex- or “wisdom” as well as the name given looks (excessive hair, long and powerful ploring how religion can better accom- the bones of the hominid Australopithe- arms, and short legs) are, he comes to modate preservation of species and the cus afarensis, a scientific candidate for believe, the result of a genetic experi- theory of evolution. Although she does our most original mother. Mark Laxer ment. Indonesian scientists under Pres- not travel with Lucy and Emmanuel, her runs a software corporation, a story- ident Suharto’s direction inserted chim- role of examining how religion can ac- telling gathering, and a wildlife conser- panzee genetic material into the cept evolution and support life on Earth vation organization. In his first book, embryo that became Emmanuel. Em- is a key feature in the story. Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a manuel’s parents raised him as a strict Early in the story we meet Ana Destructive Cult (1994), Laxer narrates Christian—indeed, the Bible was his Mayd, a kind of wise crone suffering his youthful entanglement with guru favorite book—but the shocking reve- from cancer whose advice echoes the Frederick “Rama” Lenz (see my review lation of his chimp nature throws him “follow your bliss” slogan coined by of Lenz’s novel Surfing the Himalayas into a dilemma: If he is truly an animal mythologist Joseph Campbell. Ana sug- (or less than 100 percent human), does gests to the young protagonists that they in the January/February 1998 SI, avail- the salvation promised in the New Tes- should take their stories for a “journey” able online at www.csicop.org/si/show/ tament apply to him? Animals, after all, to allow their bliss to reveal itself. On snow_job_in_the_himalayas). are not allowed into his church and do the way, Lucy decides to save Em- Joe Szimhart is a cult information consultant and not have souls that can be saved. manuel by in venting a new bible that mental health professional living in Birdsboro, Emmanuel’s witty companion Lucy, she claims to channel from UG (or the Pennsylvania. His website is at http://jszim who has a working knowledge of all Unlikely God). Unfortunately, her fin- hart.com.

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INBOX]

Magnetic others, many believers have their Misrepresentations: own doubts and know that they Falling Prey to Drivel would fail a properly conducted test of their claims. As a family physician, I am dis- I wonder if, engaged in de- heartened by the invasion of pre- bate, a TT practitioner might scientific practices into medicine brush off a description of the and even into our medical “energy field” as magnetic in na- schools, which I have no doubt ture. He or she might say some- has Abra ham Flexner rolling in thing to the effect of “we don’t his grave. I therefore found Miel- know the nature of the energy or czarek and Araujo’s piece on how to measure it scientifically. therapeutic touch (TT) and All we can say is that we can feel mag netic fields (“Power Lines it and TT works. Science doesn’t and Cancer, Distant Healing and have all the answers.” Several log- Health Care,” SI, May/June ical fallacies are contained within 2011) uplifting. that short statement, and that is Well done and thank you. the problem. Logic appears to The concern over electromag- have no effect on believers in al- netic radiation is analogous to ternative medicine. It is more a the ongoing controversy regard- matter of belief akin to religion or ing cell phones and brain cancer, magic. I also suspect there is an and Mielczarek and Araujo’s ar- element of rebellion against the ticle adds another compelling scientific and medical establish- reason to reject the claims of ments. Of the three steps forward those who advocate treatment via and two steps back that is scien- “energy fields.” I would have tific progress, the two steps back thought Emily Rosa’s blinded are what make the papers and test of experienced TT practi- make many throw up their hands tioners, who were asked to state in frustration, concluding that whether the investigator’s unseen science is a useless hodgepodge of hand hovered above their right conflicting studies. Carl Melling, MD Unscientific Medical hand or their left hand, settled Rather than hazing pre-med Plymouth, Minnesota Products the issue (“A Close Look at students with advanced calculus [email protected] Therapeutic Touch,” Journal of and other superfluous courses, Congratulations for taking on the American Medical Association, there needs to be a shift in med- Wal-Mart for their marketing April 1, 1998). The practitioners ical education to emphasize crit- There was one omission and and promotion of the homeo- all agreed prior to testing that ical thinking, logic, ethics, and one typographical error in our pathic flu remedy Boiron this would be a fair measure of other topics that are fundamental article “Power Lines and Can- Oscillo coccinum! I have for- their skills. They scored worse to preventing otherwise highly cer, Distant Healing and Health warded a copy of the CFI/CSI than chance, guessing correctly intelligent individuals from Care”: statement (SI, May/June 2011) only 44 percent of the time. De- falling prey to such drivel. This 1. The omission: In the section to two organizations concerned spite this, practitioners simply education needs to begin early “Harmful Magnetic Fields” with Wal-Mart’s labor prac- trashed the study and TT has on—certainly before medical on page 41 at the end of sec- tices, WalmartWatch and the flourished. school and even as early as the ond paragraph, a reference to National Labor Committee. To my knowledge, not one first few years of grade school. Table 1 should appear after I have gone on the Boiron quality study has been done since Without giving people the tools the phrase “greater than the website and found that they sell then to test this controversial to make reasoned judgments energy associated with the quite a few homeopathic reme- treatment. Why not? In 1996 the about such matters, the battle external background electric dies. The stores they listed that James Randi Educational Foun- will be lost. field.” sell their products in my local dation offered a prize of over Courageous individuals in 2. In the next paragraph after area include quite a few health $700,000 to anyone who could medicine and its allied profes- the phrase “fields used in food stores. Wal-Mart and Wal - prove he or she could detect a sions, especially those in a posi- MRI imaging,” the reference green’s pharmacies were not on human energy field. The founda- tion of power, need to step up should read “Table 2 com- the list. It is my impression that tion sent invitations to over sixty and challenge these bogus ideas pares ...” (not Table 1). an attack on mainline retailers individuals and organizations and press for reforms in educa- would have little impact on Bo- across the country. Only one in- tion. But it is so hard to debate iron sales, which appear to be Eugenie Mielczarek dividual responded, claiming a hardcore believer in alt Emeritus Professor of largely through an array of inde- only limited “powers,” and med without coming off as a Physics pendent retailers who are un- flunked the test. It seems, regard- pompous reactionary protecting George Mason University doubtedly believers in homeo - less of how outspoken they are to his or her own turf. pathy. A more effective, although

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[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

difficult, approach would be to ways that are more “interesting.” There is an error in Mark Be- thy really does work, but then press for expanding the FDA’s necke’s numerology article. Be- that person would actually be ar- Marvin Zelkowitz authority to include requiring necke states, “more women than guing that it doesn’t work. Con- Professor Emeritus of proof of effectiveness of supple- men do not fall ill with St. Vitus fused? Don’t worry about it. Go Computer Science mentary remedies. Perhaps CSI dance (Huntington’s disease).” have a beer. It’s mostly made of University of Maryland, could set up an online letter or St. Vitus’s dance is an occa- water. You’ll feel better. petition to Congress one could College Park sional sequel of a group beta- A Ray Sutera sign. This approach has been (President, National Capi- hemolytic strep infection, the Ocean Grove, New Jersey used by a number of activist tal Area Skeptics, causative agent of rheumatic groups. www.ncas.org) fever, and does occur more fre- This approach might be ef- quently in females. Huntington’s Recently the subject of home- fective on another issue, which I just read Benecke’s article on disease is an autosomal dominant opathy came up in conversion was raised by Miel czarek and the numerology of 23. Perhaps neurodegenerative dis order and with a couple friends independ- Araujo in their article “Power Fleiss could have saved himself is gender independent. The ently of Novella’s article. We’re Lines and Cancer, Distant Heal- from his fool’s errand had he page number of the error can be all on the same, strongly skepti- ing and Health Care.” They note known some simple number found with the simple numero- cal page on this topic. In the that NIH’s National Center for theory. The numbers 23 and 28 logical calculation 28 + 23. Un - course of the conversation one Complementary and Alterna- are relatively prime, meaning can ny, isn’t it? of my friends, Jim Fleming, tive Medicine (NCCAM) pro- their greatest common divisor is pointed out that if water has vides support and respectability the integer 1. One can readily Paul G. Story, MD memory then you should never to unscientific, fringe medical prove from that fact that there [email protected] be able to purify it. Why would practices. Perhaps now, when exists an X and Y such that water only remember the “good” Congress is in a frenzy to re- 28X + 28Y =1. In this case, Mark Benecke replies: things that were getting diluted duce the spiraling cost of health (14 × 28 )+(-17 × 23 )= 1. There- I am happy that the article did out? Shouldn’t it also re member care, would be a good time for fore, for any number n, we have spark a discussion, and I am glad the bad things too? Instead of a CSI to start a petition or letter- that n×1=n([14×28 ]+[-17×23]) for all comments that came in. I homeopathy treatment making writing campaign urging Con- =(14n ×28)+(-17n ×23), and we will make sure to incorporate all you better, couldn’t it also make gress to save $149 million by can express any number as a comments and corrections in fu- you sick? eliminating the budget for NC - sum of multiples of the two ture speeches and articles. Anyway it’s an amusing CAM. numbers. Furthermore, we can thought given the silliness of the David W. Briggs, PhD do this for any number and one whole subject of homeopathy. Marion, Massachusetts of the infinitely many that are Water ‘Memory’ Rob Janes relatively prime to it. This sort After reading Steven Novella’s Columbus, Indiana of takes the magic out of it, and column on homeopathy, I got to Numerology of 23 it makes you realize Fleiss was thinking about a paradox that probably finding such relation- Mark Benecke’s article (“The belief in homeopathy necessarily ships the hard way. Sidestepping Evolution Numerology of 23,” SI, May - creates: If water could retain /June 2011) was interesting, but Adam J. Slagell memory, as the proponents of a Shameful Disservice much of the mystery explored [email protected] homeopathy claim, then all of The irritating influence of cre- in the paper could have been the Earth’s water, having been ationists is once again a factor in eliminated by referring to A most entertaining essay by around and in contact with so whether or not human evolution mathematical properties first Mark Benecke contains a factual many compounds for billions of is taught in the public classroom. proven by Euclid. Two numbers error. St. Vitus’s dance is indeed a years, must have already picked Kendrick Frazier’s report on cre- are relatively prime if they have reference to chorea, but Syden- up memories of those com- ationism’s tenacious struggle to a largest common divisor of 1, ham’s, not Huntington’s. While pounds and spread them all over steer the debate in favor of be- and if A and B are relatively the Huntington disease is an au- the world. That means water lievers (“Evolution May Win in prime numbers then there are tosomal dominant hereditary must already retain memories Court But Not in the Class - integers m and n such that condition, Sydenham’s chorea is a from all of the compounds that room,” SI, May/June 2011) im- Am + Bn = 1 (see proposition part of rheumatic fever (to gether cause disease. So when I turn on pels me to point out two of the 1.2.2 at www.math.niu.edu with carditis and glomer ulone ph - the faucet and fill up a glass, I’m main gripes I have over the so- /~beachy/aaol/integers.html). ritis) and therefore infectious, sec- receiving all of the cures for all of called controversy over teaching In the case of this article, ondary to group A Strep tococcus. In the diseases that have ever ex- evolution. since 23 and 28 are relatively the pre-penicillin era of central isted! But not so fast. Were this 1) The only controversy is the prime, 23m + 28n =1 for some Europe, there was a considerably truly the case, then we would one manufactured by the re- m and n. For m = 11 and n = -9, higher incidence of Syden ham’s have already been inoculated by ligious as a way of airing we have (11 × 23 )+ (-9 × 28)=1. then Huntington’s. As neither of having consumed water in the their grievance over the fact past. Yet we still get those dis- For any desired number K, we them has a gender prevalence, its that evolutionary science is eases! As I see it, this can mean have 23(Km) + 28(Kn) = K. Thus statistical analysis in the article re- controversial neither to the it is not surprising that we can only one of two things: either scientists who study it nor to mains correct. use 23 and 28 to generate any homeopathy doesn’t work, or it those of us who properly un- desired number. Once we have Ivan Stanko, MD doesn’t work. Of course, one derstand it. one way, we can look for other Rothschild, Wisconsin could still argue that homeopa- 2) Those teachers whose job it

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is to educate their students abeth Loftus has been honored called therapists to recover said TAMOz about how the world works, by the American Asso ciation for memories. Quite the contrary, including the production of Advancement of Science for her they not only remembered what While overall Kylie Sturgess’s rich diversity, do their stu- role in debunking the “repressed happened to them but were (and “The Wizards of TAMOz” (SI, dents a shameful disservice memory” scourge (SI, May/June are) quite open in sharing their May/June 2011) was a good ar- by sidestepping evolution 2011). As someone who grew up stories with others to ensure that ticle, I think a very important because of creationism in- in a Jewish section of Brook lyn, this terrible chapter in history thing was missed: the organizers timidation. The “cautious 60 I came into contact with a good will not be forgotten or repeated. of this fantastic event. As a par- percent” must shed their anx- number of Holocaust survivors That is why there are Holocaust ticipant and panelist at TAMOz museums, films, and memorials. I can’t say enough wonderful ieties and heed their respon- who had en dured horrors that It is clear that repressed mem- things about organizers Richard sibility to their pupils. were surely much worse than the sexual abuse allegedly experi- ories make no sense from an evolu- Saun ders, Rachael Dunlop, Jo - Adam S. Thomas enced by the false memory tionary perspective, since suppress- anne Benhamu, Eran Segev, and Salem, Oregon crowd in the comfort of their ing memories of abuse, rather Tim Mendham. The amount of suburban homes. I know of than recalling them, would in- time and effort put in by these no concentration camp survivors crease the likelihood of future vic- individuals was tremendous, and timization. I applaud their efforts. Memories Not who had “repressed” their mem- Repressed ories of that dark time and re- Dennis Middlebrooks Travis Roy I was pleased to learn that Eliz- quired the intermediation of so- Brooklyn, New York [email protected]

There’s much more Skep ti cal In quir er Cause Page: Committee for Skeptical Inquiry/SKEPTICAL INQUIRER magazine content available on our website! Fan Page: SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Here’s just a sample of what you’ll find: [FEEDBACK Does the ‘Arab Spring’ Herald a Renaissance in Science and Open Inquiry? SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Editor Kendrick Frazier reports from Doha, Qatar, examining the impact that recent Arab revolutions across the Middle East may have for science and skepticism.

Psychic Sch ool “Naked Skeptic” columnist and CSI Fellow Karen Stollznow examines an unusual school in which self-proclaimed psychics are teaching the public to become psychic detectives.

The letters column is a forum on mat ters raised in previous issues. Letters should be no longer than 225 words. Due to the volume of letters we receive, not all can be published. Send letters as e-mail text (not attach- ments) to letters@csicop. org. In the subject line, provide your surname and informative identi - fication, e.g.: “Smith Letter on Jones evolution art icle.” In clude your name and ad dress at the end of the letter. You may also mail your letter to Letter to the Editor, 944 Deer Dr. NE, Albu- For more online columns, features, and special content, querque, NM 87122, or fax it to visit www.csicop.org. 505-828-2080.

Skeptical Inquirer | September / October 2011 65 SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 66

[ THE LAST LAUGH BENJAMIN RADFORD July/August 2011 Hidden Messages Puzzle Contest Winner: Eleanor Fraser, MD

‘Living Each Day As If It Were His Last’ Leaves Man Clinically Depressed J. GOODBODY

his own mortality and come to the Naperville. “We did all sorts of sponta- bleak understanding that life is actually neous and carefree things like skydiving quite fleeting and that tomorrow may and bungee jumping. We snuck into actually never come. Wrigley Field and fooled around in cen- “Why even bother?” Rittman asked, ter field. We even jumped on a float dur- becoming so despondent that he ing the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and sang would spend days at a time in bed. “I ‘Twist and Shout.’ It was awesome.” could die in my sleep tonight for all I But then, according to Saw yer, things know.” got weird. Things got worse for the thirty-six- “Yesterday, he breaks down crying year-old Rittman after he went on a and tells me he wanted to be able to see five-day atonement spree to clear the his children grow up,” Sawyer said, “. .. air with the people in his life. He but he doesn’t even have any kids.” opened up to his friends and associates “Next thing you know, Tom wants to about his past wrongdoings in hopes of do all this crazy stuff in bed, things he freeing himself of guilt before it was said he wanted to try before it was too too late. Instead, he found that his con- late,” Sawyer said. “Too late for what? I fessions only made life more difficult. don’t know what the hell he is talking Rittman damaged relationships with about . . . and what’s up with the sailor ince vowing to experience life as friends and family after confessing suit and half-gallon bottle of ketchup? I though each day were his last, his past sins and misdeeds. He admitted had to get out of that relationship before SThomas Rittman has unexpect- to sabotaging a coworker’s career by re- that sicko hurt me or something. Oh, and edly fallen into a deep depression placing the product pictures on the by the way, it’s hard to get in the mood brought on by the stark realization that coworker’s sales presentation with pho- when he’s sobbing the entire time.” each day might very well be his last. tographs of the coworker drunk at their Emotionally crushed by the recent As part of his New Year’s resolution, last Christ mas party. He told friends turn of events, Rittman continues to Rittman vowed to throw caution to the what he really thought of their wives en dure the hopelessness brought on by wind because, according to him, “Why and came clean about some of the dis- his carefree philosophy’s morbid reper- put off until tomorrow what can be gusting things he did with the food in cussions. done today? I mean, you never know. I the break room refrigerator at the office. “Carpe diem my ass,” Rittman said. “I might not even be around—oh, crap.” “Well that didn’t pan out like I alienated my friends, I lost Natalie, and Driven by his new feel-good philos- thought it would,” Rittman said of his I bailed on a great career. I’m going to ophy on life, Rittman quit his job as attempt at making amends. “This was have to live with those decisions for the sales manager at Pacific Islands Coffee supposed to be liberating, but it only rest of my life . . . at least for the next day Company, a Chicago-based beverage made things worse. I didn’t expect to be or so. I mean, you never know.” distributor. He also sold most of his be- around to have to deal with all the longings and began planning for a trip backlash.” J. Goodbody frequently has thoughts in his head that make him smile. Were they expressed at the mo- around the world. To make matters worse, Ritt man’s ment they poof into existence without some form of Of course, it didn’t take long for him girlfriend of five years has left him. structured outlet such as satire, these same to realize the real-life implications of “At first I was really happy for Tom thoughts would cause significant distress among his friends, family, and coworkers. This is why he writes this otherwise empty personal affirma- and his newfound love of life,” said for The Chicago Dope, a satirical online newspaper, tion. Rittman was forced to consider thirty-three-year-old Natalie Sawyer of from which this article is reprinted with permission.

66 Volume 35 Issue 5 | Skeptical Inquirer SI_SI new design masters 7/21/11 12:57 PM Page 67

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