LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

able. However, it is important to bear in text of the book itself, though not in this par- mind that many important aspects of this ticular excerpt. issue, as manifested in the various relevant disciplines, remain subject to debate (as I am sure Pinker would cheerfully admit). For A gnawing weakness in Pinker's SKEPTICAL instance, by no means all linguists accept INQUIRER article and in his book The Blank that the language faculty is as "hard-wired" Slate is the absence of a working definition of as has widely been proposed. Geoffrey "human nature." Pinker argues for scientific Sampson's is perhaps the best-known of a set objectivity, yet nowhere does he provide a of very different alternative interpretations of clear description of the concept of human the linguistic evidence. nature per sc except for anecdotes sprinkled throughout his article and book. Without an Mark Newbrook operational definition of this key concept, Linguistics, Monash University/ meaningful analysis of the blank slate University of Sheffield assumption is difficult at best. United Kingdom I am reminded of the early "sensory deprivation" studies which showed the crip- I agree with Pinker's message, yet am sur- pling (though temporary) effects on intelli- prised that he made no reference to E.O. gence of even short periods (24 hours) in Wilson. I have not read Pinker's book, so do which human volunteers lived in experimen- not know if he mentions Wilson there, but tal chambers void of normal visual, auditory, reference to a pioneer of the ideas expressed and tactile stimulation. Where was their The Blank Slate by Pinker would seem appropriate. "human nature" when significant portions of As I recall, my first exposure to Wilson's the normal environment were removed? And then there is the work of Rosenzweig et al. I read die excerpt from Steven Pinker's The ideas was from a piece in BioScience (1972). (1972) published in Scientific American Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human At first 1 thought that everyone should agree Nature (March/April 2003) not merely with with what he said, but soon, to my surprise, which showed that in rats' brain chemistry pleasure, but with some surprise. I had not there was a firestorm of protest. As anyone and structure were altered as a function of realized that advocacy of human nature was interested in this subject should know, Wilson early experience. Yet if I asserted that "rat still so politically incorrect. I had the great spent much of the next thirty years success- nature" should be acknowledged before good fortune to attend a class given by fully defending and developing his ideas. emphasizing variations in behavior due to Randy Thornhill at the University of New Pinker says that some people think that environmental experience alone, then I Mexico a few years ago, so the concepts that the issues of nurture/nature make little differ- would and should be criticized for not defin- Pinker sets forth seem neither revolutionary ence, but he correctly maintains otherwise. I ing "rat nature" explicitly. nor uncomfortable. It is saddening to be believe that Wilson, in Consilience, made that An appendix at the end of Pinker's book reminded yet again how far outside the point very strongly by using the example of includes "Donald E. Brown's List of Human mainstream this kind of thinking is. the two most totalitarian systems of the last Universals" (pp. 435-439). This list consists century. They were based on the two extremes When the intelligentsia were forced to of over 350 traits such as "baby talk," "con- of this issue. One, Soviet Communism, oper- accept evolution, they were forced to accept flict," "semantics," "shame," etc., which, ac- ated on the assumption that people's nature our essential animality. Do you suppose diat cording to Brown, ethnographers cite as could be totally controlled by the environ- they needed some ideological lever with human surface traits. At best Pinker may be ment. The other, German Nazism, operated which to elevate themselves above the birds telling us that Brown's listing represents a on the assumption that there are such extreme and beasts? The notion of the blank slate conceptual net around which the concept of genetic differences among various groups that filled die void admirably. It's ironic that this human nature may be located, yet such a killing all the members of those "genetically new dogma, a notion that is supposed to ele- transformation misses the essence of an oper- defective" groups was justified. It seems that vate us, is by its nature a denial of our essen- ational definition. this is the strongest argument of all that what tial humanity. Thornhill often spoke of the you believe on this subject is extremely molding of human nature during the era of William F. Vitulli important, yet Pinker makes no mention of evolutionary adaptation, when reproductive Emeritus Professor of Psychology Wilson. success was everything. Honest understand- Department of Psychology ing of what we are, and why, is far more University of South Alabama rewarding and hopeful than pious subscrip- John E. Hendrix Mobile, Alabama tion to some pie-eyed belief in what we think Emeritus Professor we ought to be. Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate pommels a Robin Johnson straw man in asserting there is a "modern Albuquerque, New Mexico Steven Pinker replies: denial of human nature." While some renowned scholars, past and present, empha- The writer is correct that E. O. Wilson deserves size environmental influences on behavior, Most of what Steven Pinker says about credit for bringing these points to the attention not even John Locke or B.F. Skinner denied nature and nurture seems altogether reason- of the larger public. I do bring him up in the influences of genes.

6 2 July/August 2003 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER LETTE RS TO THE EDITOR

Meanwhile, relative influences of hered- Acupuncture Science ... Having read die article, I have gained the ity and environment on many behaviors vague notion that some investigators have remain obscure. Unfortunately, that fact Or Not reported it is efficacious and have offered docs not deter certain influential "hcreditar- more modern-sounding conceptual models ians" from assailing "dumb" people. For After reading Dr. George Ulett's article of how it works—but no more convincing example. The Bell Curve authors Richard ("Acupuncture, Magic, and Make-Believe," than the reports from free-energy machine Herrnstein and Charles Murray, "favorably" March/April 2003), I am left with gnawing inventors or dowsing-rod salesmen. mentioned by Pinker, repeatedly use the feelings of puzzlement. On the one hand I terms "dumb" and "smart" in referring, appreciate the authors attempts to provide Mark T. Duigon respectively, to those who score low and high historic perspective on acupuncture, the Stewartstown. Pennsylvania on tests of "cognitive ability." They pour out background on its introduction into the a torrent of statistics indicating crime, illegit- U.S., and its dose relationship with the pow- imacy, child abuse, and a host of other social erful placebo effect. But on the other hand I In his article George Ulett debunks traditional problems arc causally related to cognitive am perplexed how easily the same individual Chinese beliefs about acupuncture, but he ability as measured by standardized tests. is able to switch from debunking in his fails to apply the same degree of skepticism to words "an archaic procedure in which nee- One of their claims (p. 163) is that cognitive his own beliefs. He advocates a new, evi- dles arc inserted through the skin over imag- ability is a "... significant determinant dence-based form of "acupuncture" involving inary channels in accord with rules devel- [emphasis mine] of dropout from the labor no "acu" and no "puncture;" he stimulates oped from prc-scientific superstition and force." Thai may be true. However, die only the skin with electricity over putative motor statement supported by their research is that numerological beliefs" to supporting a so- called "scientific acupuncture," a method, points using EKG-type pads rather dun nee- certain measures of cognitive ability may dles. His article gives die impression that die help predict dropout. . . . again in his words, that "stimulates motor points and nerve junctures" and in which efficacy and scientific basis of this dierapy "specific electrical currents induce the gene have been adequately established. Richard Harger expression of neurochemicals and activates Although the experiments he describes are Spokane, Washington brain areas important for healing," without intriguing, they do not prove his case. His producing a shred of evidence in the process. method is essentially a variation of the old Three references are provided at me end, TENS (transcutaneous electric nerve stimu- I would like to point out to Steven Pinker diat none of which would qualify as peer- lation) method—itself, an extension of histor- it is quite possible to agree with die broad out- reviewed scientific literature. Obviously, the ical attempts to interfere widi pain sensation lines of his Blank Slate theory—namely, drat now-scientific acupuncture must be based on using electricity—which looked promising at human behavior is shaped by both genetics a wealth of articles that demonstrate die first but has proven not very effective and is and environment—and still disagree, vche- actual existence of die motor points and diercfore not widely accepted. mendy and nontrivially, over any or all spe- nerve junctures, their relationship to the Perhaps Dr. Ulett's technique causes a cific conclusions drawn by die dieory's propo- release of neurochemicals and a plethora of combination of placebo and nonspecific nents about which behaviors are influenced well controlled, double-blind clinical studies counterirritant effects. Yes, electrical stimu- by which factors, and to what degree. that prove die value of diis approach beyond lation may raise the levels of endorphins and For instance. Pinker states in his article any suspicion. If so, 1 seem to have trouble finding them, and I very much doubt they dynorphins in spinal fluid, but what is the that The Bell Curve has been vilified for its clinical relevance? Such neurochemicals have general thesis that some human traits (i.e., exist. Dr. Ulett would no doubt have promi- very short half-lives and can surely not be intelligence) arc genetically influenced. I nendy displayed them in the article since diey responsible for the long-term responses believe this assessment is far off the mark— would have provided instant credibility. Until claimed for therapies that rely on such The Bell Curve has been vilified for its I am able to actually inspect the "unicorn" of mechanisms of action. In addition, many defense of the specific diesis that intelligence scientific evidence for acupuncture, ancient is a race-linked genetic trait. The same is true or modern, it remains, at least in my opinion, non-specific stimuli, including exercise and for Pinker's book: New Yorker reviewer Louis in die realm of magic and make-believe. placebo interventions, cause such eleva- Menand did a fine job of accepting The tions. Unfortunately, conclusions that his Blank Slate's overall "nature plus nurture" technique causes "healing actions" in the principle while still ripping into the book Roland Gerritsen van der brain and spinal cord, "balances hormonal widi a fiery passion (New Yorker, Nov. 25, Hoop, M.D., Ph.D. regulation by action of the pituitary gland" 2002). I believe Pinker is seeing willful Roswell, Georgia and "enhances homeostasis," simply cannot blindness to a solid scientific principle, when be justified based on current evidence. many of his critics are in fact presenting valid In his book The Biology of Acupuncture critical disagreement and anger with some of I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I was disappointed by Dr. Ulett describes a complex system of pad his specific conclusions. George Ulett's article. There were a mere two placement for various symptoms (using die paragraphs of findings, but litde support for traditional acupuncture points), yet he Greta Christina diem, and I was left wondering if anybody has claims that acupuncture is frequency-specific San Francisco, California replicated any of diem. We need more than and not point-specific. If diis is true, why just "Our own experience and reports from bother widi specific pad placements? In fact, clinics abroad have shown " Would diat be why bodicr widi doctors? It would seem Visit Our Web site at like reports from Tijuana lactrile clinics? that anyone could self-treat with a home www.csicop.org Exactly what conditions responded, and widi unit, placing the EKG pads on die hand and what level of uncertainty? arm for symptoms in any part of the body.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July/August 2003 63 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ulett showed us that the emperor had no I respond as follows: "You know, it tainly would have had the capability of clothes, but has he re-clothed the emperor would be harder to lake it than to actually tracking their own ship all the way to the in another imaginary suit? Time will tell— do it. To keep them quiet, they'd have to moon and back. Given that capability, don't good evidence will be persuasive. deep-six everybody who took part. How you think they would have tracked Apollo would they cover that up? Also, Congress 11, as well as all our other missions, just to Harriet Hall. M.D. appropriated $20 billion to finance the make sure wc did it? If they discovered we Puyallup, Washington moon flights. Where would it have disap- didn't actually make it, don't you think they David W. Ramey. DVM peared to? Anyhow, if they faked it, would- would have mentioned it to someone? Glendale, California n't one moon landing have been enough? Of course wc made it to the moon. If you Why fake six of them?" don't believe me, just ask the Russians! George Ulett stripped away the rituals and I don't know if I've converted any mem- Peter Coster mysticism surrounding acupuncture to reveal bers of the hardcore moon landing hoax Ashland, Virginia that the needles release the body's natural believers, but many times I've received painkillers, the endorphins. These chemicals knowing nods and comments such as, "Well, are also the mechanism underlying much of maybe you're tight." pain relief by aspirin. I prefer aspirin because While I'm at it, on the UFO thing I tell Taken' they're cheap, easy to take, and are simpler to them I believe there's plenty of life beyond find at 2 A.M. than an acupuncturist. Earth, but I don't believe there's any evidence Timothy Ferris's article in the March/April issue ("'Taken' Off") was both cogent and we've been visited during recorded history. Joel Kirschbaum entertaining. I believe, however, that if he were There are thousands of professional and Hillsborough, New Jersey to "check it out," he would find that John amateur astronomers observing and pho- Mack is a psychiatrist, not a psychologist. tographing the entire sky every night in George Ulett replies: The highest academic degree, the Ph.D., every wavelength from gamma and x-ray requires a background in the philosophy of through radio. Many know the sky like the The concerns raised by readers of my article on science and a demonstrated mastery of basic back of their hand. They discover comets, acupuncture are reasonable. I too would like to research methodology. Neither training nor asteroids, quasars, pulsars, supernovae, plan- see scientific studies on this subject conducted by education in scientific method is required for scientists at U.S. medical schools. Unfortunately ets orbiting other stars, and galaxies at the a doctorate in applied fields, e.g., law or they have ignored such an approach. The Chinese edge of the universe, but none have ever medicine. claimed to have discovered a UFO. It always government, however, is supportive of studies to Therefore, no one should be surprised by seems to be people who can't tell a planet modernize Chinese medicine whose theories were eminent forensic experts who denounce the from a star or Venus from Mars who claim to developed when our modern understanding of theory of evolution from the armchair, or by brain chemistry and physiology was not avail- have seen a UFO. Finally, when something is applied biologists who, lacking access to able. Dr. J.S. Han's large volume, referenced in really up there, like an unusually bright Occam's Razor, tangle speculation with anec- my article, reviews in detail the many scientifi- meteor, even though it only lasts a few sec- dote to produce a Gordian knot of belief in cally sound experiments conducted in his modern onds, hundreds or thousands of people see it abduction by extraterrestrials. laboratory at Beijing Medical University A and, these days, some even videotape it. reading of this material together with the report With UFOs it's usually just a single or a few Robert T. Flint of recent fMRI studies by Professor Cho ofUC- observers. This explanation gets responses Concord, California Irvine will best answer die questions raised. The similar to my moon hoax one. evidence given there will support my contention I invite SI readers to use these arguments that tlrere is an evidence-based treatment derived the next time they encounter believers in the Hey, Professor Ferris, nice article but remem- from studies of acupuncture and that it has the moon landing hoax or UFOs. ber "Taken" was on the Science Fiction potential, not just for brief pain amelioration, By the way, my second most often received Channel, not the Science Channel. SI stuff is but for long-term favorable results in treating on the Science Channel. We must not forget patients widi chronic conditions. question is, "Can you see the flag on the moon?" (it's too small for even die Hubble to to read the labels even on the snake oil bot- tles. Great issue. detect!), which is encouraging because it sug- gests that die vast majority of the U.S. public Lee Oldershaw Moon-Landing Deniers really does believe we went to the moon! Marco Island, Florida Herman M. Heyn As Baltimore's Street Corner Astronomer, for Baltimore, Maryland nearly sixteen years I have been offering mem- The James Ossuary bers of the public glimpses of die moon, plan- ets, and stars through an 8-inch telescope. Whenever I hear diat ridiculous claim diat Regardless of the questionable authenticity of What's the most often asked question I we never made it to the moon, I say this: the ossuary purported to have contained the receive? "How much did dial telescope cost?" The Russians were trying to land on the remains of the traditional disciple James, son But among my top dozen is. "Do you believe moon before wc did (that's why they called it of Joseph, brother of Jesus (popular media's diey really landed on the moon?" Having read a Space Race). In fan, they tried to launch a translation), ("Bone [Box] of Contention: James Oberg's "Lessons of die 'Fake Moon spacecraft a few days before we were sched- The James Ossuary" by Joe Nickell, Right' Myth" (March/April 2003). allow me uled to go, but found they couldn't do it. If March/April 2003) perhaps the most ignored to report on how 1 handle diat question. they were successful in launching, they cer- element of the funerary vessel's curious

6 4 July/August 2003 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

inscription is that of the inscription itself. I have a fairly comprehensive Web page some forty shrouds, including the "Fraud of As Joe Nickell noted in the article, the lit- devoted to debunking die hoax theory for die Turin"), not a single one has been proven eral transliteration of the text (I have taken moon landings, and in my experience a belief authentic. the liberty to fine-tune this) is: in conspiracies is die single most infallible Whether or not the James ossuary is an sign of the crank. So when a writer argues for exception must be decided on the evidence, not Ya'aqob bar Yosep ahuy Yesu'a a hoax as the best explanation for a phenom- on a dismissal of the evidence and ad enon widiout strong evidence, my pseudo- homincm insinuations. science detector goes into Red Alert Mode. Meanwhile, a "very prominent" Israeli col- Jacob, Joseph, and Jesus (or Joshua) were lector has come forward to allege that the common enough names in first-century ossuary had been offered to him a year before Israel, so there could easily have been a num- the Biblical Archaeology Review article. The ber of people whose genealogy matched that inscription at that time, he stated bore only the on the alleged ossuary of James. Jesus Christ words "James son of Joseph. " did not come from a prominent family, and the relic craze had not yet infected Christianity, so the odds are against the Jack the Ripper ossuary, even if it's genuine, being that of This would read, translated properly, as Christ's brother. Why would it have received Regarding Joe Nickell's review of Patricia "Jacob, son of Joseph, brother of Joshua." any special preservation? Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Allow me to briefly explain. It bothers me when skeptics react with Ripper Case Closed (March/April 2003), he The name/«Kf is die Anglicized-Latinizcd- something close to panic at the notion that states that Cornwell begins her story of Hellenized form of the Aramaic form (Yelua) there could be physical relics connected Walter Richard Sickert "without ever really of Old Hebrew Yehohta which we read as with Jesus Christ. Their reasoning is almost explaining how she chose him." Actually Joshua in die Christian English-language Old identical with that of fundamentalists—they on page 12 of her book she says that she Testament (recension notwithstanding). How seem to believe that verifying any pan of the was told about him by Scotland Yard's Yaaqob became "James" is somewhat more Bible at all somehow proves the whole Deputy Assistant Commissioner John complicated (Greek Iakobos = Latin lacobus = thing. Even if the ossuary is genuine and Grieve who said, "There's one other inter- Old Italian Giacobo - Italian Giacomo = actually that of a relative of Jesus Christ, it esting chap.... An artist named Walter English James, omitting two or dirce steps). proves only that three people mentioned in Sickert. . . . I've always wondered about Thus "Jacob, son of Joseph, brodicr of Joshua" the New Testament actually existed, some- him." This makes me think that she heard better approaches die translation consistent thing that there's no particular reason to about Sickert from Grieve and not just that with die Anglicized Hebrew understood not doubt anyway. So why muddy die water she started wondering about him after "flip- only by scholars but by English-speakers of with accusations of a hoax over an artifact ping through a book of his art." Jewish heritage. The media's translation is that, in the final analysis, doesn't tell us any- Christian embellishment. thing new at all? Tina Seaborg It would, therefore, be equally as valid to Decatur. Alabama Steven I. Dutch translate said text, Professor, Natural and Jake, son of J o e , brother of Josh Applied Sciences Regarding Joe Nickell's review of Patricia University of Wisconsin- ... or even Cornwell's "contribution" to Ripperology: Green Bay After all the laudatory crapola about Hamish, son of Joey, brodier of Jess Green Bay, Wisconsin Cornwell's book, how refreshing to read an ... depending on personal or collective accurate piece. Joe Nickell replies: predisposition. However, it is the only Jewish While reading the book I was astonished ossuary inscription that I've ever encoun- that it managed to get published, much less The letter of Thomas L. Munden is as intelli- tered which ever made a reference to the get any press at all. One suspects that had gent and informative as that of the other writer brother of the deceased. Though the Cornwell not been an established fiction is ill-formed and hostile. Having been con- Aramaicized names were common enough in writer, her Jack the Ripper book would never sulted in many famous cases involving ques- Roman-Era Palestine during the First have found a legitimate publisher. tioned documents and other artifacts, and hav- Century B.C.E.—First Century C.E. (also It's die most blatant example of begging ing published extensively on the subject noteworthy), I'd be willing to wager that die question I think I've ever seen. As Nickell through the item itself seems genuine, the (including the book Detecting Forgery/ / so eloquently pointed out, Cornwell obvi- inscription is » fake. have to wonder at someone who equates find- ously arrived at her lame conclusion and then ing evidence of possible forgery with offering And whether you call the deceased Jacob, shopped for details. She found just enough crank conspiracy theories. Jimmy. Yaakov, Hamish, Jake or James, he ingredients to cook up a decidedly thin gruel. As to the suggestion that I may be panicky certainly deserves better than diat! I'm just glad I didn't pay full price for the at the possibility of there being "physical relics" Another of many fine articles by Joe book, although I paid 100 percent more associated with "Jesus Christ. "Professor Dutch's (Yehoisap J Nickell. than it was wordi. attempt at mind-reading has failed In any Thomas I. Munden case, while there have been numerous Jake relia Tom Pantera Kapa'au, Hawaii of Jesus (for example, at least thirty-nine of Fargo, North Dakota

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July/August 2003 65 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Has anyone mentioned that Patricia Corn- well was not the fint to accuse Sicken, she per- he distinguishes them, sometimes he confuses well's central thesis about the Whitechapel haps undentandably did not want to bring up and reconciles them." murders borrows from a prior book entitled, the "Joseph Sicken" silliness. She had enough of Carl Sagan cherished science. Whitman only Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution by the late her own to offer. pretended to. Even as he Imrralicd science, he rel- Stephen Knight? I mean, give credit where egated it to inglorious handmaiden for mysticism. credit is due. Whitman was indeed a poet, one of the best. Regrettably, he was also a poet pseudoscience. Dan Riga Walt Whitman Burlington, Ontario Canada Gary Sloan's article about Walt Whitman (March/April 2003) misses a pivotal element in Whitman's poetry and cosmology. Whit- Once again Joe Nickell has d o n e a good job man certainly believed that life goes on on a tough subject. Barring a supreme beyond our individual endings, but he was a a stoke of luck (finding a diary in an old believer in recycling rather than reincarna- trunk in an attic, or something similar) the tion. His statement tJiat "No doubt I have murders attributed to Jack the Ripper will died myself ten thousand times before" is never be solved. At this point they are about elucidated by an abundance of evidence of 115 years old and what evidence exists is his belief in recycling. As "Song of Myself" more than cold. Like most people, I am ends, he writes, "I bequeath myself to the curious as to the identity of Jack, although I dirt to grow from the grass I love. If you am not entirely comfortable with smearing want me again look for me under your boot- the reputations of men who are beyond soles." In "This Compost," he tells of how defending themselves. the earth "gives such divine materials to I find Cornwell's thesis unlikely. In addi- men, and accepts such leavings from them at tion to Nickell's criticism I would add last." For Whitman, immortality lay in recy- another line of reasoning. As far as we know, cling. Other examples abound. the Ripper murders ceased in 1888 after two Sloan's accusarion that Whitman "preyed 1 take great pleasure in being a subscriber and a half months in which six women were on science" seems unduly fussy. It is a charge to SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. I am also a great murdered. In today's language. Jack sounds that, if allowed to stand, should also be lev- fan of Sherlock Holmes—which prompts like a serial killer on a roll. Suddenly he stops eled at Carl Sagan. Both Whitman and me to comment on the introductory para- and is apparently never heard from again. I Sagan honored "positive science" and were graph of the article "Omission Neglect" am the first to admit that human beings are able to find inherent beauty in it. That's not in the March/April 2003 issue. The capable of doing unpredictable things. But a "preying" on science; it's a reasonable exten- recounting of the incident from "The serial killer who suddenly voluntarily stops sion of science. Adventure of Silver Blaze" (not "The Silver killing after two a nd a half months is rare, if I also need to ask why Sloan and SI chose Blaze") is inaccurate. not unheard of. I am forced to conclude that to critique a poet who never claimed to be a Sherlock Holmes did not ask Dr. Watson Jack either took his business on the road or scientist, who has been gone for more than a immigrated.. .. to consider the previous night's "curious inci- century, and who despite a less than pristine dent" involving a dog. It was die local scientific perspective gave American writing Inspector who asked Holmes, "Is there any Phil Trice its most distinctive voice. He was a poet, not other point to which you would wish to (By e-mail) a faidi healer, a medium, or a pseudoscicn- draw my attention?" tist. Lighten up, guys. Joe Nickell replies: "To the curious incident of the dog in the Jacob D. Stone night-time." It's a pleasure to write for such alert and engaged Doylestown, Pennsylvania "The dog did nothing in the night-time." readers. Regarding Tina Seeborg's point, what I "That was the curious incident," re- was referring to was not how Cornwell heard Gary Sloan replies: marked Sherlock Holmes. about Waller Sicken but why she decided to pick Perhaps the article's subtitle ought to be him from the proliferating lineup. Cornwell In The Evolution of Walt Whitman, Roger "The Importance of Missing Correct Infor- states (on the same page 12 Ms. Seaborg cites), 7 Asselineau notes that Whitman's belief in rein- mation." began to wonder about Sicken when I was flip- carnation, expressed in such poems as "Faces" ping through a book of his an. " and "So Long," was intermittently reasserted Lloyd S. Nelson Dan Riga is correct that Stephen Knight Whitman opined that "sooner or later all will Londonderry, New Hampshire previously accused Sicken of being the Ripper, be saved for all the transfen [reincarnations! but as pan of a high-level government conspir- undergone by living beings are 'promotions.' acy involving a second killer and an accom- Each being rises gradually in the hierarchy of Inconsolations of plice. The main source was one "Joseph Sicken" the universe." Whitman did vacillate in his Philosophy who claimed to have been Sickens illegitimate assessment of our post-mortem condition. "He hesitated "sap Asselineau, "between the mysti- son. He later confessed that his conspiracy story Ralph Estling, in "Inconsolations of cal concept of a dissolution in the Great All was "a hoax; I made it all up," he said, but Philosophy" (March/April 2003), managed and the belief in personal survival Sometimes later retracted his confession. Although Corn- to entangle himself in his very entertaining

6 6 tuly/August 2003 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

prose and to come up with a philosophical you to publish an article whose righteously "" (News & Comment, March/ mishmash of the very kind he disparages. no-nothing [sic], anti-intellectual tone is so April 2003), a real "boys will be boys" load of Space prohibits me from defending fully the antithetical to every single value that your tripe that pollutes the media and one reason above assertion. The evidence is to be found magazine says it stands for? I won't turn on tli.it appliance. in die essay itself. Vulgarity is rapidly replacing civility. In Robert P. Crease Suffice it to say, however, that in the space other words, we arc returning to the grunt. I [email protected] of two pages Estling first dumps all French believe the more fashionable crude behavior philosophies down a French toilet, and dien and speech become, the more insidiously Ralph Estling replies: ultimately reserves die same fare for all phi- total invasion of privacy is invited. losophy. He also informs us that the "funda- It is hard for mc to fadiom dial Greg Mike Nichols once said about lepers that there mental and immutable trutJis ... offer very are good lepers and bad lepers. I believe there Martinez would admit to sitting and watching little in the way of solace," a claim that pre- are good philosophers and bad philosophers but insipid trash and then having a reputable mag- sumably can only be made by die holder of mostly bad ones, starting in the late eighteenth azine report his opinion. I am stunned.... those truths. A touch of humility would not century with the German Idealists. The bad Margot Plummer be misplaced. ones are bad because they do not seem to live in Golden, Colorado However, a grain of an important idea or care very much about this world, so what appears in the last few paragraphs, where he they think and philosophize over is likely to be seems to be saying that we should replace not very relevant, except perhaps to other South Park is an excellent resource for skepti- philosophy with science. This deserves to be philosophers. But real, worthwhile thought cal views—Martinez righdy praised episode rephrased clearly lest it be lost: Science should amount to something more than just 615—"The Biggest Douche in the should stake as much of a claim into the taking in each other's laundry. I think it was Universe." ground of philosophy as it is possible to do Aldous Huxley who said that philosophy is I can also recommend: without compromising its methods. what we do when we don't know what we are • Episode 407 "Cherokee Hair Tampons" Stated in this form, the idea deserves a talking about and I'm fairly certain it was (alternative medicine); better defense than was offered in the essay. Wittgenstein who said that philosophy occurs when language goes on holiday. My own view, •Episodes 410/411 "Do the handi- Such defense would include an historical per- for what it's worth, is that philosophy occurs capped go to hell.'/" (religion and spective of how science answered a number of when people with intelligence don't know what Pascal's wager); questions that were once thought to be the to do with it and so invent word-games to fill • Episode 504 "The " exclusive concern of philosophy and how in in their time and thereby escape the otherwise (conjuring and religion); and the process it brought some fresh air to maddening boredom of their existence. At least •Episode 513 "Kenny dies" (stem cell replace the often hot air of philosophical that seems to have been the case in the last 200 research). debates. Cautionary tales of extrapolation years or so. South Park has also dealt delicately with beyond the point where the scientific method environmcntalism, false abuse allegations, ends should also be included. Perhaps Estling By and large, philosophers of the last 200 or rainforests, sex education, freedom of speech will consider putting his admirable writing so years come in two shapes and sizes: those that and drugs. . . . talent to use in such an endeavor. hold up a hand in front of their face and say "I see a hand " and those that hold up a hand Peter Lucey Pantazis Mouroulis in front of their face and say "I see no hand. " Berkshire Glendora, California What is there to say about either of them? I United Kingdom think there is nothing to say about either of them. Nothing at all Nothing. As a philosopher who for three years has As for the wit and humor of Martin Cobb County Clowns written a column for Physics World entitled Heidegger, when he was not acting as a "Critical Point," which frcquendy broaches defender of the Nazis he was telling us all about William J. Hoyt, Jr., led readers astray with issues from competition to pseudosciencc the Beingness of Nothingness, e.g., "This wholly pics he threw ("Cobb Country Clowns Stage to whose clarification philosophical con- Other to all entities is the Non-entity But this Another Pi Fight," March/April 2003). First, cepts are essential, I'm utterly baffled by Nothing essentiates as Being . . . As historical, Peter Beckmann's A History of Pi informs your decision to publish "The In- Beingness is possible only by reason of its tempo- that the pi bill failed the Indiana Senate and consolations of Philosophy," by Ralph rality and temporality temporizes itself in the never became a law. Estling. The author knows zero about what ecstatico-horizontal unity of its raptures. " Creationists didn't mangle Darwin's philosophy is and does. He appears to So there. book tide. Rather, publishers are primarily lament its failure to provide a "philosophy of responsible. A student might sensibly con- life"—but as Heidegger wittily said, that clude Origins is title enough after repeated phrase has about as much meaning as "the South Park*? encounters with An Abstract of an Essay on botany of plants." What would you think the Origin of Species by Means of Natural about an article diat attacked science as Wow! Am I surprised and skeptical! 1 was Selection, Darwin's proposed title; On the bogus for failing to cure die common cold under the assumption that SKEPTICAL Origin of Species by Means of Natural and land a man on Jupiter, and whose idea INQUIRER was an intellectual, sophisticated Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races of a scientist is somewhere between Michael magazine with culture and class. T h e n I read in the Struggle for Life, John Murray's 1859 Guillen and Ralph Nader? What motivated Greg Martinez expounding on an episode of publication; The Origin of Species & the

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July/August 2003 67 LETTERS TO TH E EDITOR

Pigliucci is merely repeating common- (Letters, March/April 2003) was wrong. But places if he is saying i li.n conclusions must let us be charitable and assume that Nagy did be to a degree tentative and that future evi- not understand what Mole was saying. He dence cannot presently be known. But we was not saying that the probability of getting have no basis for saying that an evidentiary just one head from ten coin tosses is the same statement may be wrong unless and until as that of getting five heads. He was saying contrary evidence is observed. that the probability of getting any particular In his example in the March/April sequence e.g., his series (1) is the same as that "Thinking about Science" column, air pres- of getting any other particular sequence e.g., sure affected whether electrical charge could his series (2). Obviously there are only ten be detected for cathode rays (electrons). ways of getting just one head but 252 ways Until that variable could be eliminated, the of getting five heads. resulting statement could only be about the Brian Gibney nature of the experiment, not about die Sandy Hook, Connecticut nature of electrons. Descent of Man (no dates). Random House's Scientific investigation proceeds not by combined publication with Darwin's later amassing conclusions but by accumulating book with J he Origin of Species by Means of In response to George K. Nagy's letter on incremental evidence, which is all that we Natural Selection or the Preservation of coin flip odds (March/April 2003), Nagy Favored Races in the Struggle for Life on the can know. Conclusions, being not knowable appears to have fallen into exactly the kind of title page and The Origin of Species on con- in the same sense as evidence, perhaps incorrect reasoning that our common sense tents page; Origin of Species, a common ref- should be excluded from empirical thought. frequently leads. Phil Mole's article was erence; and The Origin of Species, popular William S. Bunn describing odds based on an exact, pre- 1979 Gramercy edition. This last is the Algonac, Michigan defined sequence of results. Nagy's applica- exact words used by Georgia's Cobb County tion of the binomial coefficient would be Board of Education mystifyingly objected to Massimo Pigliucci replies: correct if one were looking for the odds of by Mr. Hoyt. getting any one result out of all possible with a 50/50 split as compared to the odds of get- Students of Darwin might learn to dis- Bunn finds it puzzling that I assert that present ting any one result out of all possible with a tinguish facts (observations) from other scientific knowledge may be wrong. And yet 90/10 (for example). notions. They might discover that the this is a point on which alt philosophers of sci- ambiguous word "species" isn't automatically ence, and even most scientists in their most By Nagy's reasoning, one would be wise singular. Come on, students and professors. sober moments, surely would agree. The nature to bet that out of the next ten flips, five Allow skepticism! of scientific knowledge is tentative, and it is would be tails and five heads, rather than therefore perfectly possible that what we con- betting that out of the next ten flips one Daniel F. Baright sider true today may turn out to be incorrect in would be heads and nine would be tails. This Lebanon, Missouri the light of future evidence. is correct, but that was not the point of Phil However, my column—which was largely Mole's example. presenting ideas discussed in much more detail William Hoyt attributes efforts to legislate pi Thad Engeling in Peter Achinstein's The Book of Evidence— Austin, Texas to be 3 to a desire to make things simple. In focused on the nature of evidence. Bunn claims a sense, he is right. The idea of the proposal that while scientific conclusions are tentative, is to bring mathematics in line with the evidentiary statements are objective, yet my Bible. Put yourself in the frame of mind of a point was not about objectivity (an interesting While reading George K. Nagy's letter to the Biblical litcralisi, read I Kings 7:23, and "do subject in its own right, and to which I intend editor, I wondered how I, as an applied sta- the math." to return in a future column), but about what tistician, missed die apparently obvious fail- criteria can be used to consider an experimen- ure by Phil Mole in neglecting the binomial David P. Babcock tal result or observation as evidence for a par- formula when calculating the probabilities of New York, New York ticular conclusion. given sequences of heads and tails in coin tosses in his article "Are Skeptics Cynical?" In the case of research on cathode rap, the But upon rereading Mole's article, I early results were taken as evidence that elec- Evidence vs. Conclusions quickly realized that Mole and Nagy were trons did not have charge, until that evidence using two different definitions of a sequence was re-evaluated and shown to be insufficient I am puzzled and dismayed by Massimo of heads and tails. Mole was calculating the to reach the conclusion. So, both conclusions Pigliucci's continued assertions that present probability of obtaining a very specific and evidence are tentative. scientific knowledge may be wrong. ordered sequence, while Nagy was not con- First, we must distinguish between con- sidering die order, just the number of heads clusions and evidentiary statements. The lat- and tails. Each was correct in his calculation, ter, including explanations of how evidence Coin-Flip Odds Confusion given his definition of die characteristics of was obtained, are objective. But conclusions, die sequence. at least insofar as they exceed restatements of I am no statistician either but surely Phil This difference in interpretation relates evidence, are unavoidably to some extent Mole ("Are Skeptics Cynical?", November/ very much to Massimo Pigliucci's article subjective. December 2002) was right and George Nagy "Hypothesis Testing and the Nature of

6 8 July/August 2003 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Skeptical Investigations" in the November/ referring to but they certainly arc not the were no effect at all, you may get the same December 2002 issue. The proper interpre- global mean surface air temperatures pub- result five times out of 100 by plain luck. tation of statistical probabilities is not easy lished by NASA (www.giss.nasa.gov/ Rarely one can say how often one can and is dependent on the exact definitions of data/update/). These data show that the last expect a repeat performance of the outcome what is being observed. There are several twenty-five to thirty years of temperature of an experiment.... statistical "paradoxes" arising from misdefi- rise are absolutely unprecedented in the his- nition of what is being observed. Among tory of recorded climate data (and the rate Jan Willem Nienhuys them is the so-called "Monty Hall Problem" of change continues to increase). He may be Dommelseweg, The Netherlands popularized some years ago by Marilyn Vos referring to the satellite data from the past Savant. Martin Gardner, commenting on thirty years but these arc now hotly disputed (Earlier letters on this were published in our an earlier version of the problem, observed as to validity and relevance. May/June issue.—ED.) that "in no other branch of mathematics is Furthermore, and more importantly, the it so easy for experts to blundet as in prob- rise in CO; and other greenhouse gases in the ability theory." past 100 years is also unprecedented (ice core Science vs. Religion Firing data from Greenland and the Antarctic). The Paul Kuckein current level of CO; is now at the highest level Here is a potential news story: I wrote an Los Altos, California it has been in the past 420,000 years (by 25 essay whose thesis is that science and religion percent from previous highs) and possibly are incompatible. The editor who published since the early Eocene over 50 million years it has been fired. In the index which just George Nagy's criticism of Phil Mole's article ago. The fact that we arc now adding about 18 came out, any reference to the essay and its "Are Skeptics Cynical?" only shows that he billion tons of CO) to the atmosphere annu- follow-up do not appear. didn't get the point. The human mind will ally provides an undeniable strong human Details: The essay, "Suicide Bombers and focus at least as much on patterns as on component to the observed temperature rise. Their Deity," was published in Spring 2002 number counts. I have no doubt that if the issue of IEEE Technology and Society order of example (1) were to be rearranged so Bruce Bartleson Magazine, pp. 5, 6. The text appears as Essay that heads and tails alternated, John Doc Gunnison, Colorado #18 on my Web site, www.siddcutsch.org. would estimate this to be a less than random The editor is (or was) sequence. Five heads followed by five tails P. Aarne Vesilind would appear even less random. Danish Committee Decision Civil & Environmental Engineering The binomial formula calculates the Dept. probability of different heads/tails combina- Readers who wrote to complain about the Bucknell Univ. tions. It doesn't calculate the probability of treatment of Bjorn Lomborg's book The Lewisburg, PA 17837 sequences within those combinations. Skeptical Environmentalist (Letters, March/ e-mail: [email protected] John Doe's estimates and George Nagy's April 2003) might be interested in the deci- Readers' responses were published in Fall four-decimal binomial calculations ore both sion by the Danish Committee on Scientific 2002 issue, pp. 4-6; this text appears as wrong. Every sequence of the same length is Dishonesty (an officially established group) Essay #21 on my Web site. The 2002 Index an equally probable permutation. Grouping upon their review of the book. They found appears in the Spring 2003 issue. these sequences into either patterns or that the book was "objectively speaking, Sid Deutsch counts of heads and tails is a construct of the deemed to fall within the concept of scientific Sarasota, Florida mind. Once John Doe spots a pattern his dishonesty." Some social scientists have come focus narrows and he gives too much impor- to Lomborg's defense, claiming that it's okay tance to its perceived improbability. The sci- to use data selectively as Lomborg has entist partitions results into hits and misses because selection of information is common and then might rush to publication when the in the social sciences and is important to null hypothesis is not supported. Sec develop theories in those fields. What limita- Massimo Pigliucci's article on hypothesis tions this places on their conclusions they testing in the same issue.. .. don't say.

Barry Zimmerman Bill Ferrell Lake Mary, Florida Philomath, Oregon

Deep Denial on Warming? Statistical Analyses

In his response to letters (March/April Richard Fisher (January/February 2003) 2003, p. 70), Vojtech Mornstein appears to explains the meaning of p < 0.05. He seems be in deep denial concerning global warm- to imply that this means that you can show ing. He states: "I saw some temperature by statistical analysis that if you repeat the change plots which do not seem to differ experiment 100 times you would be from those measured in previous decades." I expected to get the same result ninety-five don't know which temperature plots he is times. Wrong. It means that even if there

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