Geoarchaeology and Delphi • Winchester Mystery Mansion • Fourth World Skeptics Congress Skeptical Inquirer! THE MAGAZINE FOR SCIENCE AND REASON Volume 26, No. 5 • September/October 2002 x A Skeptical Look at September 11th ^ - ill*1* 4* L^i U JMF H Can We React More Rationally to Terrorism? Sheldrake's Crystals: A Critique .. <s and a Reply From Sheldrake «•>• • Teaching Skepticism • Skepticism Under the Big Sky cientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal THE COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL AT THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY-INTERNATIONAl (ADJACENT TO THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO) • AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION Paul Kurtz. Chairman; professor emeritus of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo Barry Karr, Executive Director Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director FELLOWS James E. Alcock.* psychologist, York Univ., Consultants, New York, NY Irmgard Oepen, professor of medicine Toronto Susan Haack, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts (retired), Marburg, Germany Jerry Andrus, magician and inventor, Albany, and Sciences, prof, of philosophy, University Loren Pankratz, psychologist, Oregon Health Oregon of Miami Sciences Univ. Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor-in-chief, C. E. M. Hansel, psychologist, Univ. of Wales John Paulos, mathematician, Temple Univ. New England Journal of Medicine Al Hibbs, scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist, MIT Robert A. Baker, psychologist, Univ. of Douglas Hofstadter, professor of human Massimo Polidoro, science writer, author, Kentucky understanding and cognitive science, executive director CICAP, Italy Stephen Barrett, M.D., psychiatrist, author, Indiana Univ. Milton Rosenberg, psychologist, Univ. of consumer advocate, Allentown, Pa. Gerald Holton, Mallinckrodt Professor of Chicago Barry Beyerstein,* biopsychologist, Simon Physics and professor of history of science, Wallace Sampson, M.D., clinical professor of Fraser Univ., Vancouver, B.C., Canada Harvard Univ. medicine, Stanford Univ., editor, Scientific Irving Biederman, psychologist, Univ. of Ray Hyman,* psychologist. Univ. of Oregon Review of Alternative Medicine Southern California Leon Jaroff, sciences editor emeritus. Time Amardeo Sarma, engineer, head of dept. Susan Blackmore. Visiting Lecturer, Univ. of Sergei Kapitza, former editor, Russian edition. at T-Nova Deutsche Telekom, executive the West of England, Bristol Scientific American director, GWUP, Germany. Henri Broch, physicist, Univ. of Nice, France Philip J. Klass,* aerospace writer, engineer Evry Schatzman, former president, French Jan Harold Brunvand, folklorist, professor Edwin C. Krupp, astronomer, director, Griffith Physics Association emeritus of English, Univ. of Utah Observatory Eugenie Scott physical anthropologist, execu­ Vern Bullough, professor of history, California Paul Kurtz,* chairman. Center for Inquiry tive director, National Center for Science State Univ. at Northridge Lawrence Kusche, science writer Education Mario Bunge, philosopher. McGill University Leon Lederman, emeritus director. Fermilab; Robert Sheaffer, science writer John R. Cole, anthropologist, editor, National Nobel laureate in physics Elie A. Shneour, biochemist, author, Center for Science Education Scott Lilienfeld, psychologist, Emory Univ. director, Biosystems Research Institute, Frederick Crews, literary and cultural critic, Lin Zixin, former editor, Science and La Jolla, Calif. professor emeritus of English, Univ. of Technology Daily (China) Dick Smith, film producer, publisher, Terrey California, Berkeley Jere Lipps, Museum of Paleontology, Univ. of Hills. N.S.W., Australia F. H. C. Crick, biophysicist, Salk Inst, for California, Berkeley Robert Steiner, magician, author. Biological Studies. La Jolla. Calif; Nobel Prize Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology. El Cerrito, Calif. laureate Univ. of Washington Jill Cornell Tarter, astronomer, SETI Institute. Richard Dawkins, zoologist, Oxford Univ. Paul MacCready, scientist/engineer, Mountain View, Calif. Cornells de Jager, professor of astrophysics, AeroVironment. Inc., Monrovia, Calif. Carol Tavris, psychologist and author, Los Univ. of Utrecht, the Netherlands John Maddox, editor emeritus of Nature Angeles. Calif. Paul Edwards, philosopher, editor, David Marks, psychologist. City University, London. David Thomas, physicist and mathematician, Encyclopedia of Philosophy Mario Mendez-Acosta, journalist and Peralta. New Mexico Kenneth Feder, professor of anthropology. science writer, Mexico City, Mexico Stephen Toulmin, professor of philosophy, Central Connecticut State Univ. Marvin Minsky, professor of media arts and Univ. of Southern California Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading Univ.. U.K. sciences, M.I.T. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and direc­ Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer, Foothill College, David Morrison, space scientist, NASA Ames tor, Hayden Planetarium, New York City Los Altos Hills. Calif. Research Center Marilyn vos Savant Parade magazine con­ Kendrick Frazier,* science writer, editor, Richard A. Muller, professor of physics, Univ. tributing editor and CBS News correspondent SKEPTICAL INQUIRER of Calif., Berkeley Steven Weinberg, professor of physics and Yves Galifret. vice-president. Affiliated H. Narasimhaiah, physicist, president. astronomy, Univ. of Texas at Austin; Nobel Organizations: France Bangalore Science Forum, India Prize laureate Martin Gardner,* author, critic Dorothy Nelkin, sociologist. New York Univ. Richard Wiseman, psychologist, University of Murray Gell-Mann, professor of physics, Santa Joe Nickell,* senior research fellow. CSICOP Hertfordshire Fe Institute; Nobel Prize laureate Lee Nisbet* philosopher, Medaille College Marvin Zelen, statistician. Harvard Univ. Thomas Gilovich. psychologist, Cornell Univ. Bill Nye, science educator and television host. Henry Gordon, magician, columnist, Toronto Nye Labs * Member. CSICOP Executive Council Saul Green, PhD, biochemist president of ZOL James E. Oberg, science writer (Affiliations given for identification only.) Visit the CSICOP Web site at http://www.csicop.org The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (ISSN 0194-6730) is published bimonthly by the Committee for the Articles, reports, reviews, and letters published in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER represent the Scientific Investigation of Claim* of the I\uanormal, 1310 Sweet Home Rd., Amherst. NY views and work of individual authors. Their publication docs not necessarily constitute an 14228. 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CONFERENCE REPORT Skeptical Inquirer Fourth World Skeptics Conference September/October 2002 • VOL. 26, NO. 5 in Burbank a Lively Foment of Ideas ARTICLES Scams, intelligent design, urban legends, fringe psychotherapies get critical attention 29 A Skeptical Look at KENDRICK FRAZIER September 11th and BENJAMIN RADFORD How We Can Defeat Terrorism by Reacting to It More Rationally SPECIAL REPORT At the one-year anniversary, we examine reactions to the September II, 2001, attacks in the context of other causes of 17 Circular Reasoning: premature deaths. An objective of terrorism is to multiply dam­ age by inducing irrational fears in the broad population. One The 'Mystery' of Crop Circles defense is to learn to evaluate such situations more objectively. and Their 'Orbs' of Light CLARK R. CHAPMAN and JOE NICKELL ALAN W. HARRIS COLUMNS 35 Sheldrake's Crystals An exchange of views on morphogenesis leads to the conclusion EDITOR'S NOTE: One Year After September 11 4 that testing Sheldrake's ideas about crystallization is useless. NEWS AND COMMENT MARCEL van GENDEREN, BART KOENE, 'Miraculous' Image of Guadalupe Painted / 'ESP Test' Fools