Posts Tagged skeptic
Skeptics in the Pub: Simon Singh
Posted by Mike in Skeptics in the Pub on November 12, 2009
Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial
by Simon Singh
When: Thu, Jan 21, 2010 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Where: The Vines (aka The Big House), 81 Lime Street, Liverpool, L1 1JQ
Summary
Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. But how do you know which treatments really heal and which are potentially harmful? Simon Singh and his co-author Professor Edzard Ernst investigated the evidence for and against alternative therapies and published their conclusions in “Trick or Treatment?”, an honest, impartial and hard-hitting examination and judgement of more than 30 of the most popular treatments. Singh, who has also authored “Fermat’s Last Theorem” and “Big Bang”, will discuss how and why he got involved in writing about alternative medicine. In particular, he will discuss the origins, philosophy and testing of acupuncture and homeopathy, two of the most popular forms of alternative medicine. Singh, who is currently being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association, will also comment on his ongoing legal battle and the impact of libel laws on scientific journalism.
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Public Opinion On Science: Who To Trust And When?
Posted by Chris in Climate Change, Pseudoscience, science, Skepticism, vaccination on November 11, 2009
MSS-member and recent émigré to Canada Chris Hassall takes a look at how public perception of science is distorted, and the role of skepticism in combating the distortion.
People go about their daily lives making decisions on the basis of beliefs about the way the world works. Their epistemological framework is a complex architecture of foundations and interconnecting supports on which rest concepts held to be “true”. While some beliefs may have little consequence for the person holding that belief, others have the potential to seriously impact the lives of both the believer and, through the actions that those beliefs precipitate, the rest of mankind. When we come to examine issues of such magnitude, we see a difference between the beliefs held by the general public and those which are held by the majority of experts in the respective fields. To understand why this is the case, it is informative to consider two claims that have been made in recent years and the variation in the reception that each has received from the public. Read the rest of this entry »
Our Man In Ottawa: How to deal with Creationists
Posted by Chris in Creationism, Evolution, Religion, Skepticism on November 4, 2009
MSS-member and recent émigré to Canada Chris Hassall gives us a rundown of how to cope with the Creationist crazy.
When dealing with woo the most profitable tactic is usually simply to expose their quackery by taking apart their arguments. Very few woo-ers have anything more than thin reasoning behind their beliefs; often just enough pseudoscientific babble to provide a veneer of respectability for what is clearly nonsense. However, Creationism is one area in which a substantial publishing industry has grown up around the defence of the topic such that the average Creationist can bury you in books in response to questions. Also, a relatively large number of people are interested in finding a way to harmonise theories of biological origins with theological concepts (principally the creation myths of the Abrahamic religions). Thus we have two potential strategies that have emerged from the fray: confrontationalism and accommodationism. It will soon become clear to which camp I belong… Read the rest of this entry »
Skeptics Baffled By Yet Another Lame ‘Doctors Baffled’ Story
Posted by Marsh in Pseudoscience, Religion, Skepticism on October 29, 2009
Non-miraculous Dermatographic Urticaria, or 'skin writing'
There are few things more fun than when two classic pseudoscience memes clash. It’s a little game you can play, like a form of skeptic snap. Psychic healing? Sure. Astrology meets homeopathy? Why not. Baffled doctors meets religious apparition? Of course. Which brings us neatly to a recent news story which featured, erm, well – baffled doctors and religious apparitions. Which explains my introduction, obviously.
The particular doctor-baffler in question is young Ali Yakubov, a new-born from the Republic of Dagestan – a small republic bordering Georgia and Azerbaijan. And the religious apparition? The mystrious and sudden appearance of passages from the Koran on his skin. Apparently, the parents of nine-month-old were stunned when the word ‘Allah’ appeared on his chin soon after his birth. So stunned, in fact, that they didn’t tell anyone about the signs from the almighty one. At least, at first. But when the writings appeared on a more regular basis, coming and fading a few times a week, culminating in the direct order to ’Show these signs to people’, the parents took action and immediately announced their little miracle to the world. And of course they had documented proof that the signs were heavenly, and they did some very simple tests to prove that the messages were appearing without human intervention – for example, by having a camera set up to watch their child 24/7 and see that nobody was leaving the amazing marks on his skin. Something simple as that. You know, actual proof.
Oh, no, that’s right – they did none of that. Read the rest of this entry »
There’s Probably No Santa, So Stop Worrying and Forget About The Beard
Posted by Colin H in Atheism, Christmas, Religion, Skepticism on October 8, 2009
Next week we have the lovely Ariane Sherine coming up to Liverpool Skeptics In The Pub, when she will be talking about how she created the Atheist Bus Campaign, and about her new book The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas. The book is a great read, featuring essays by 42 famous atheists from different walks of life. Contributors include Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker, Simon Singh, Josie Long and many, many more. I thoroughly recommend it.
Anyway, in tribute to the book and Ariane’s upcoming talk (which will be fab, so please come along!), I thought I’d stick my oar in and have a bit of a blog about atheism myself. As far back as I can remember, I’ve never believed in a God. Lately, I’ve heard and read a lot of stories by people of their conversions to athiesm, or from atheism to theism, or of their struggle to ‘come out’ as an atheist, particularly in religious households; but I have no such story to tell. No-one in my family is religious or cares much either way about whether a God exists or not, and the friends I grew up with seem to have been in the same boat, so far as I know. It’s simply never been an issue for me, to the extent that I’ve never even really thought of myself as an atheist. It would be like giving myself a label based around the fact I have arms, or have never owned a chicken. Read the rest of this entry »
A Dog Day For The Daily Mail
Posted by Marsh in Media, Skepticism on September 16, 2009
Last week wild-ranting, rabble-rousing, immigrant-hating Daily Mail columnist Richard ‘You couldn’t make it up’ Littlejohn was left somewhat ovum-visaged when his incredulous take on an unusually-monikered brood of quintuplets took a rather unexpected turn for. In his article for the Mail online, he wrote:
“Reader Nick Paterson-Morgan drew my attention to the following announcement in The Times:
‘Births: On 27th August 2009 to Kate Pong, Newport, Shropshire, beautiful quintuplets, Beyonce Tyra Bobbi Barack and Earl’
My first reaction was that this must be a wind-up, probably placed for a bet by someone at the swine flu hotline with nothing better to do. We rang The Times advertising department and they assured us it was genuine. There’s no mention of a Mr Pong, or any father’s name for that matter.
If true, which I still doubt, somewhere out there in Shropshire is a single mother called Kate Pong with quins, variously named after an American pop singer, a model and the U.S. President. You couldn’t make it up” – Source: Mail Online, 05/09/09
Well I’m not so sure that you couldn’t make it, but I do know you very easily could fail to do even the basic amount of fact checking and wind up looking like a fool. Ask Littlejohn, he’ll tell you. Read the rest of this entry »
