Communicating Skepticism Science Based Healthcare Conspiracy Theories a New Chair-Entity Skeptical Desiderata the Kardashian Index Good Germs and Bad Germs
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Qanon • 75 Years of the Bomb • Vaccine History • Raising
SQANON • K75 YEARS OF ETHE BOMB P• VACCINE HISTORYT • RAISINGI CTHE DEAD? Extraordinary Claims, Revolutionary Ideas & the Promotion of Science—Vol.25Science—Vol.25 No.4No.4 2020 $6.95 USA and Canada www.skeptic.com • WHAT IS QANON? • HOW QANON RECYCLES CENTURIES-OLD CONSPIRACY BELIEFS • HOW QANON HURTS THEIR OWN CAUSE • QANON IN CONSPIRATORIAL CONTEXT watch or listen for free Hear leading scientists, scholars, and thinkers discuss the most important issues of our time. Hosted by Michael Shermer. #146 Dr. DonalD Prothero— # 130 Dr. DeBra Soh—the end # 113 Dave ruBIn— # 106 Dr. DanIel ChIrot— Weird earth: Debunking Strange of Gender: Debunking the Myths Don’t Burn this Book: you Say you Want a revolution? Ideas about our Planet about Sex & Identity in our Society thinking for yourself in an radical Idealism and its tragic age of unreason Consequences #145 GreG lukIanoff—Mighty # 129 Dr. Mona Sue WeISSMark Ira: the aClu’s controversial involve- —the Science of Diversity # 112 ann Druyan—Cosmos: # 105 Dr. DIana PaSulka— ment in the Skokie case of 1977. Possible Worlds. how science and american Cosmic: ufos, # 128 MIChael ShellenBerGer civilization grew up together religion, and technology #144 Dr. aGuStIn fuenteS— —apocalypse never: Why environ- Why We Believe: evolution and the mental alarmism hurts us all human Way of Being # 127 Dr. WIllIaM Perry and #143 Dr. nICholaS ChrIStakIS— toM CollIna—the Button: the apollo’s arrow: the Profound and new nuclear arms race and Presi- enduring Impact of Coronavirus on dential Power from truman to trump the Way We live # 126 Sarah SColeS—they are #142 Dr. -
Regression to Fundamentalist Religion As an Inadequate Defense Against Growing Environmental Complexity
Paper prepared for the sessions of the Research Committee on Sociocybernetics at the 16th World Congress of Sociology, July 23-29, 2006 in Durban, South Africa THE "WAR ON TERROR" AND "THE FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION": REGRESSION TO FUNDAMENTALIST RELIGION AS AN INADEQUATE DEFENSE AGAINST GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEXITY FELIX GEYER, [email protected] DRAFT VERSION, NOT YET TO BE QUOTED! 1. INTRODUCTION: In this paper we will argue that the present period of rapidly increasing environmental complexity and interdependence tends to increase feelings of insecurity caused by a lack of environment mastery, in both the developed Western world and the largely underdeveloped Muslim world. This will be the case especially in the less educated parts of the population, where it will stimulate an upsurge of religion, especially its fundamentalist versions. In my last few papers I have dealt, directly or indirectly, with the overwhelming political and economic1 reasons for the war on terror 2 and the leading role of the US in that war 3, in this paper attention will therefore be directed to these religious aspects, both on the Muslim side and on the US-Christian side, and to the functions of religion as such in the 21st-century world. For a thorough understanding of the following, nearly all you might ever want to know about terrorism from the Muslim side can be found by thoroughly looking at the PowerPoint presentations – and if you are interested in the subject also the papers - of the participants in a 2004 Suicide Terrorism Conference in Washington. 4 A recent MIT study complements these findings.5 The main points of these presentations will be discussed later. -
CURRICULUM VITAE Colm Mulcahy
CURRICULUM VITAE (2-page version available upon request) Colm Mulcahy Address Department of Mathematics Spelman College, PO Box 953 Atlanta, Georgia 30314, U.S.A. Email : [email protected] URL : www.cardcolm.org Twitter : @cardcolm Born September 1958, Dublin, Ireland Citizenship Irish (Permanent resident status in U.S.A.) Education Ph.D. in Mathematics, Cornell University, 1985 M.A. in Mathematics, Cornell University, 1982 M.Sc. in Mathematics, University College Dublin, 1979 B.Sc. in Mathematical Sciences, University College Dublin, 1978 Employment Spelman College, 1988 − , Professor of Mathematics (Chair, 2003 − 2006) Awards & Recognitions 1. Presidential Award in Scholarly Achievement, Spelman College, May 2013. 2. First ever Faculty Innovation and Initiative Award (from Spelman College’s Faculty Council), May 2011. 3. Fannie Lou Hamer Award (Spelman College Board of Trustees) for community service, April 2001. 4. Carl B. Allendoerfer Award (Mathematical Association of America prize for excellence in exposi- tion), for “Plotting and Scheming with Wavelets,” Mathematics Magazine, August 1997. Courses taught Mathematics for Liberal Arts, Honors Quantitative Reasoning, Precalculus sequence, Applied and regular Calculus sequences, Multivariable Calculus, General Statistics, Introduction to Mathematics Seminar, Foundations of Mathematics, Linear Algebra I & II, Discrete Mathematics, Mathematical Magic with Cards, Number Theory, Geometry, Numerical Analysis, Probability & Statistics I & II, Abstract Algebra I & II, Real Variables I & II, Senior Seminar Book 1. Mathematical Card Magic: Fifty-Two New Effects, AK Peters/CRC (380 pages, August 2013) Book Chapters 1. (with Neil Calkin, to appear) “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes quattuor (Mathematics Inspired by Dealing Cards into a Pile),” in The Earnest Contemplation of Trivial Pursuits: Progress in Recreational Mathematics, edited by Jennifer Beinecke & Jason Rosenhouse, Princeton University Press, August 2015 2. -
How Religiously Neutral Are the Anti-Creationist Organisations?
How Religiously Neutral are the Anti‐Creationist Organisations? Two case studies by Don Batten and Jonathan Sarfati 1) USA’s so‐called ‘National Center for Science Education’ In NCSE Reports 15(2):9, 1995, the Executive director, Eugenie C. Scott, protests against Dr John Morris of the Institute for Creation Research saying the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is ‘an offshoot of the American Humanist Association’. Scott claims confusion could possibly be due to NCSE's journal, Creation/Evolution, being started by the American Humanist Association (AHA) and initially edited by the executive director of the AHA, Frederick Edwords (a philosopher, not a scientist). The journal ‘was later sold by AHA to NCSE’, says Scott. Although humanism is an atheistic religious belief, Scott claims that NCSE was intended from the start to ‘be a religiously‐neutral organization focusing on science and education’. Scott says that NCSE has members from all sorts of religious persuasions, including ‘conservative evangelical Christians’. NCSE is supposedly just interested in ‘science education’. However, it seems strange that the only ‘science education’ NCSE seems interested in is evolution; not chemistry, physics, astronomy, or even experimental biology. ‘Science’ seems to be a euphemism for ‘evolution’, certainly nothing to do with the operational science that put men on the moon, cured diseases, etc. In NCSE Reports 16(1):7, 1996, readers are directed to an article ‘on our web site at http://www.csicop.org’. This is the Skeptics' (USA) web site, the ‘Science and Reason Site’, as the Skeptics claim, which overtly espouses materialism (atheism) with direct links to the Council for Secular Humanism and other atheistic / anti‐Christian sites. -
+Dragons, Brains &Energy
SKEPTICISM . SCIENCE . SOCIETY Vol. 36, No 3. September 2016 Risks & Stats What Skeptics need to know +Dragons, Brains & Energy Australian Skeptics . www.skeptics.com.au Skeptic_Cover_SEP16.indd 1 30/08/2016 1:22 pm The Skeptic September 16 Skeptical Groups in Australia NSW VIC Australian Skeptics Inc – Eran Segev Australian Skeptics (Vic) Inc – Chris Guest www.skeptics.com.au GPO Box 5166, Melbourne VIC 3001 PO Box 20, Beecroft, NSW 2119 Tel: 1 800 666 996 [email protected] Tel: 02 8094 1894; Mob: 0432 713 195; Fax: (02) 8088 4735 Skeptics’ Café – Third Monday of every month, with guest [email protected] speaker. La Notte, 140 Lygon St. Meal from 6pm, speaker at 8pm Sydney Skeptics in the Pub – 6pm first Thursday of each sharp. More details on our web site www.skeptics.com.au/vic month at the Crown Hotel, cnr Goulburn and Elizabeth Streets in the city (meeting upstairs) Dinner meetings are held on a regular basis. Ballarat Skeptics Currently being re-activated. See Facebook for details Hunter Skeptics – John Turner Tel: (02) 4959 6286 [email protected] Citizens for Science - Mornington Peninsula (formerly Peninsula Skeptics, aka The Celestial Teapot) Meetings are held at the Club Macquarie, Lake Road, Argenton Contact: Graeme Hanigan 0438 359 600 on the second Thursday of each month, excepting January, http://www.meetup.com/Citizens-for-Science/ commencing 7.00pm, with a guest speaker or open discussion www.facebook.com/groups/peninsula.skeptics/ on a given topic. Visitors welcome. Further information from the secretary -
"Goodness Without Godness", with Professor Phil Zuckerman
Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.santabarbarahumanists.org JULY 2019 Join Us for the July Speaker Meeting at Valle Verde: Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis The tragic problem of gun violence is not a political issue but a public health concern of epidemic proportions. Nearly 40,000 people died from gun violence in the U.S. in 2018, two thirds of them from suicide. This was the highest level of gun violence in 20 years. The Coalition Against Gun Violence (CAGV) has been working for over 24 years to create a safer community, to raise the awareness of the potential dangers of firearms through education and awareness. CAGV supports reasonable gun violence prevention legislation to ensure gun safety at the local, state, and national Toni Wellen, Chair, Coalition Against Gun Violence. Photo provided by Toni Wellen. levels. CAGV focuses on keeping firearms away from irresponsible people. Our Speaker: Toni Wellen is the Chair and co-founder of the Coalition Against Gun Violence, a Santa Barbara County Coalition with over 40 partner organizations. Toni, a resident of Carpinteria, is a Marriage & Family Therapist. She previously worked for The National Council on Alcoholism and as an elementary school teacher. Toni earned degrees from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, UCLA, UCI, and Chapman University. She and her husband Larry have four children and seven grandchildren. When: Saturday, July 20, 2019 Where: Valle Verde. 900 Calle De Los Amigos, Santa Barbara, CA. Parking: Please park at Veronica Springs Church, 949 Veronica Springs Road. Free shuttle to and from meeting. -
Emotional and Descriptive Meaning- Making in Online Non-Professional Discussions About Science
` “Nah, musing is fine. You don't have to be 'doing science'” Emotional and Descriptive Meaning- Making in Online Non-Professional Discussions about Science Oliver Martin Marsh UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2017 1 ` Declaration I, Oliver Martin Marsh, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 ` Abstract In this thesis I use online settings to explore how descriptive and emotional forms of meaning-making interact in non-professional discussions around ‘science’. Data was collected from four participatory online fora, from March 2015 to February 2016. Posts and comments from these fora were examined through discourse analysis, supplemented by interviews with participants and computer-aided text analysis, over the period August 2015 to August 2017. Theoretical background drew on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Fan Studies (FS), to examine how science was presented in both descriptive and emotional terms. There were two main findings. Firstly, discussions were shaped by an expectation that members should respect mainstream scientific consensus. In a manner familiar from STS, participants treated claims which went against scientific consensus as incorrect or non- credible. Responses also showed emotional aspects which shaped participation. Respect for scientific consensus facilitated social bonding and expression of community values, while disrespect was met with anger and/or ridicule. Through normalisation of such behaviour, scientific authority was maintained by communal sanctions rather than accredited expertise. The second main finding was a distinction between two forms of discourse, which I refer to as musing and identifying. -
The Secular Circular
THE SECULAR CIRCULAR Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBHumanists.org JANUARY 2013 January Program: Jonathan Young "Supernatural Tales of Chosen People: Mythic Perspectives on Religious Traditions" Jonathan Young, Ph.D. -- storyteller and psychologist -- assisted Joseph Campbell at seminars and served as the founding curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives & Library. His books and articles focus on personal mythology. Many of his articles are posted at www.folkstory.com. Dr. Young teaches mythology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and appears frequently on History Channel documentary series. He has been a certified Humanist Minister since 1979. He lives with several wise cats in an old house in the Oak Park neighborhood. Dr. Young's talk is an exploration of familiar religious images, stories, and ideas as essentially mythological in nature. He will draw on his work with Joseph Campbell to expose the roots of beliefs, rituals, and stories. We will discuss the sources and meanings of such themes as the promised land, the journey through the desert, pilgrimage, and the belly of the whale. Come hear surprising Humanist views of the stories behind the stories When: Saturday, January 19, 2013 Where: Patio Room at Vista del Monte. (Park ONLY in spaces marked "VDM".) Time: Doors open at 2:30pm. Program begins at 3:00 pm Cost: $2 members/$5 non-members Dinner: Vista del Monte. $22 includes tax and tip. RSVP [email protected] or 967-7911. For More Info: [email protected] or call 769-HSSB 2 The HSSB Secular Circular -- January 2013 Defending Secular Humanism every year at this time. -
A Student╎s Guide to Studying Weird Things
Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice Volume 4 | Issue 1 Article 7 Summer 2008 A Student’s Guide to Studying Weird Things Frank Trocco Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/jppp Recommended Citation Trocco, Frank (2008) "A Student’s Guide to Studying Weird Things," Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/jppp/vol4/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Lesley. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Lesley. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Trocco: A Student’s Guide to Studying Weird Things 65 A Student’s Guide to Studying Weird Things Frank Trocco . popular ideas of our time that have little or no scientific support include dowsing, the Bermuda Triangle, poltergeists, biorhythms, creationism, levitation, psychokinesis, astrology, ghosts, psychic detectives, UFOs, remote viewing, Kirlian auras, emotions in plants, life after death, monsters, graphology, crypto-zoology, clairvoyance, mediums, pyramid power, faith healing, Big Foot, psychic prospecting, haunted houses, perpetual motion machines, antigravity locations, and, amusingly, astrological birth control. (Shermer, p. 274) A student walked into my office recently and excitedly told me that she wanted to study the “Starchild.” I had no idea what she was talking about. The Starchild, she explained, is a remarkable 900 year-old skull, found in Mexico about seventy years ago. One researcher, Lloyd Pye, believes it is from “some sort of human-alien hybrid,” the result of the human race evolving through “off-world intervention.” I invited her to have a seat. -
Flat, Hollow &Doomed +Skeptics &Religion, Psychic Detective, MTHFR
SKEPTICISM . SCIENCE . SOCIETY Vol 38, No 1. March 2018 The Earth Flat, Hollow & Doomed +Skeptics & Religion, Psychic Detective, MTHFR Australian Skeptics . www.skeptics.com.au Skeptic_Cover_Mar18.indd 1 8/03/2018 11:14 pm The Skeptic March 18 Skeptical Groups in Australia NSW VIC Australian Skeptics Inc – Eran Segev Australian Skeptics (Vic) Inc – Chris Guest www.skeptics.com.au GPO Box 5166, Melbourne VIC 3001 PO Box 20, Beecroft, NSW 2119 Tel: 1 800 666 996 [email protected] Tel: 02 8094 1894; Mob: 0432 713 195; Fax: (02) 8088 4735 [email protected] Skeptics’ Café – Third Monday of every month, with guest speaker. Clyde Hotel, cnr Elgin and Cardigan Sts, Carlton. Meal Sydney Skeptics in the Pub – 6pm first Thursday of each from 6pm, speaker at 8pm sharp.($4 contribution). More details month at the Occidental Hotel, York Street in the city, near on our web site www.skeptics.com.au/vic Wynyard Park (meeting second floor) Dinner meetings are held on a regular basis. Ballarat Skeptics in the Pub http://facebook.com/groups/3978112230309544 Hunter Skeptics – John Turner Tel: (02) 4959 6286 [email protected] Geelong Skeptics Society Occasional social meetings at the Cricketers Arms Hotel, Cooks Contact: James Rolton [email protected] Hill. Those on the contact list will be sent details in advance. Online group: See Facebook for details. Currently meeting at 12.30 on third Sunday of each odd-numbered Hosting the Annual Surf Coast Summer Skepticamp (February) month. Gippsland Skeptics in the Pub Blue Mountains Skeptics Interested parties contact Mark Guerin or Martin Christian Power See Facebook for details. -
Psychic Experiences Explained
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Vol. 16PSYCHI No. 4 C EXPERIENCES EXPLAINED The Scientist's Skepticism The Paranormal's Popularity Self-Help Books/Ghost Lights Published by the Commute Investigation of Claims of the PParanormaa an l THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (ISSN 0194-6730) is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, an international organization. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Philip J. Klass, Paul Kurtz. Consulting Editors Isaac Asimov, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Contributing Editor Lys Ann Shore. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Assistant Business Manager Sandra Lesniak Chief Data Officer Richard Seymour. Computer Assistant Michael Cione. Production Paul E. Loynes. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian, Ranjit Sandhu. Staff Leland Harrington, Jonathan Jiras, Atfreda Pidgeon, Kathy Reeves, Elizabeth Begley (Albuquerque). Cartoonist Rob Pudim. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo. Barry Karr, Executive Director and Public Relations Director. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock, psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Isaac Asimov, biochemist, author; Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of Kentucky; Barry Beyerstein, biopsychologist, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; Irving Biederman, psychologist, University of Minnesota; Susan Blackmore, psychologist, Brain Perception Laboratory, University of Bristol, England; Henri Broch, physicist, University of Nice, France; Vern Bullough, Distinguished Professor, State University of New York; Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill University; John R. -
Top 10 Things You Should Know About Alternative Medicine
The Wit & Wisdom of Harriet Hall,M.D. tHe SkepDoc Top Ten Things You should Know AbouT AlternAtive Medicine I’m an equal opportunity skeptic. I’m skeptical about alternative medicine, pseudoscience, and quackery; but I apply the same standards of skepticism to conventional medicine. I don’t write about conventional medicine 1 so much, because I don’t need to. Science itself is inherently alternative v. skeptical and scientific medicine is self-criticizing conventional and self-correcting. When better evidence comes along MeDicine medical practices change. © 2009 Skeptics Society and Harriet Hall. Read more by Harriet Hall at www.skeptic.com and www.skepdoc.info 2 Swine flu vaccine fearMongering Between April 15 and July 24, 2009, there were 43,771 confirmed and probable cases of H1N1 in- fluenza (“swine flu”) in the U.S. There were 5,011 hospitalizations and 302 deaths, 39% among those aged 25 to 49, in contrast to the usual flu where 90% of the deaths are in people over age 65. The anti-vaccine zealots are scary. They are not insane, just self-deluded and misguided. I hope the swine flu won’t develop into a reprise of 1918; but if it does, the false information these people are spread- ing could be responsible for a great deal of death and suffering. These people are irresponsible fear- mongers. They are wrong, and they are dangerous. D.D. Palmer, a grocer and magnetic healer, 4vaccineS anD invented chiropractic autiSM: a DeaDly on September 18, 1895. He did some- ManufactroverSy thing to a deaf man’s There is no vac- Thousands of par- back.