Skepticblog

Recently I hit a milestone on my audio podcast Skeptoid: the 150th episode. I wanted to do something really fun, and decided a lavish broadway musical was the way to go. Normally my listeners expect 10 minutes of me talking in a dry and boring manner, so I figured this would be a fun way to surprise everyone.

The concept was a musical version of a secret meeting of the Illuminati, ruing the fact that the population has discovered alternative and faith-based everything, and thus profits are down. Continue reading…

I have a very good friend who is from Eastern Europe, a country in the former Eastern Bloc where gypsies roam and belief in the paranormal flourishes. It’s little wonder, for a country that took its first steps out of a modern Dark Age only twenty some years ago, that its people are deeply accustomed to folk wisdom and traditional healing methods. In a nation whose healthcare system was decades behind the world and offered few tools of value, you often were better off staying home and applying a poultice.

One night we were out for drinks and were discussing a few Skeptoid episodes where I’d discussed various non-scientific alternatives to healthcare. Soon, he’d had enough. And he told a story that went about like this: Continue reading…

This is a brief video introduction to the power of belief through the three books of my trilogy: Why People Believe Weird Things, How We Believe, The Science of Good and Evil, and (pace Douglas Adams) volume 4 of the trilogy, The Mind of the Market. The first volume is on science and pseudoscience and, as the title says, why people believe weird things. Vol. 2, How We Believe, is on why people believe in God (but the publisher didn’t want to call it that so they went with the more generic title on belief). Vol. 3 is on why we are moral, but since the book deals more than with the evolutionary origins of morality, they once again went with the broader title. Vol. 4, then, expands on the theme of belief in the realm of economics, and why people believe weird things about money and why markets seem to have a mind of their own.

I’ve greatly enjoyed reading the comments from my last post about the Quarter Incident at the Queen Mary. The discussion, the lines of thought and the way that people differ in their analysis of this event is one of the things that I most cherish about the power of my line of work. I love being able to be the catalyst for that.

You know, It continually amazes how much utter garbage is on TV. The work to getting something like The Skeptologists that is not only entertaining, but is thought provoking and dare I even say it aloud: “educational” on TV is stupendously difficult.

The problem that we (And I mean we as Skeptics) really have is that we’re not cool. Ah ah ah, don’t even start… Nope, we’re not. Granted, there’s a few that tip the scales towards coolness, and heck most of you all are some of my biggest heros! I am humbled by the intellect, provoking discourse and ability to wrangle science like a frontier cowboy. BUT! Compared to the stars of the entertainment world, sports, politics and just pure celebrity, we don’t got it. Well, not yet anyway.

I’m not worried though. That’s not what it’s all about. The issue however is convincing the TV execs that in this case, the star power is truth and science! They want celebrity-star-power and a sure fire hit. One reality that is very evident by the response that we get as we work through the process of selling the show, and other projects that I’m working on is that no exec will put his or her individual neck on the line and go to bat for a show anymore. They want consensus, unanimous opinion and a way to point both their fingers in opposite directions and say “it was their fault” when the ratings start to fall, as they eventually will, no matter how good a show you have. All the TV executives want a clear and unobstructed way out. If you watch a few hours of network prime-time, you’ll quickly understand why everything pretty much looks and feels the same within a few major genre’s… They all can point to another show and say “But American Idol was a hit! So America’s Got Talent has GOT to work!” Everyone around the big mahogany table nods appropriately, and bang-o you got a network deal.
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Why is it that crackpots get so much air time? Is it because they yell louder than anyone else?

While that is probably true (non-crackpots see the world logically, and don’t understand how it could be any other way. Hence, no yelling.), the factor driving the publicity engine is controversy. The media loves controversy because it is usually fueled by emotion, and emotion gets peoples’ attention. Continue reading…

I met Alom Shaha last year while in London; by coincidence, really. He was working with my friend Gia filming an interview with her, and I tagged along (I got to use the clapper to start the clips!). Afterwards we went to a diner and had a great conversation. Gia and I left, and I figured I’d never hear from him again.

Wrong! Alom had an idea, and it was a good one: get scientists and science popularizers to write essays and make videos, saying why they thought science was important, and put them on a website called, oddly, Why is Science Important. Alom asked me to do one, and I kept blowing him off until he I felt way too guilty, so I finally caved and made a video.

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Being a skeptical blogger is easy. You can say what you want, and everyone assumes you’re just some antisocial jerk in his basement. Doing it in real life can be… difficult.

I sometimes have trouble in social situations because someone will say something that is perhaps not supported by reality, and I have wind up jumping right in. I don’t say they’re stupid or anything like that, but people identify with their ideas, so saying that an idea is wrong is basically saying they are wrong, and maybe even implying they’re stupid (or, more likely, they wind up inferring it).

It’s a delicate thing, trying to change someone’s thinking. Do it too strongly and you violate Wil’s Rule (in his banner). Do it too weakly and you may feel you’re not true to your convictions.

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Most skeptics know that self-proclaimed psychics such as Uri Geller, who claim to be able to bend cutlery with just their minds, are actually using magic and trickery to do so. Of course, if they could really bend metal with just their minds you have to wonder why at some point they always have to touch the spoon. The answer is obvious to skeptics: because the only way to bend a spoon is by physically bending it! But how? Continue reading…

So you have what, like zero days left to buy presents. Today’s the day, you’re panicked, and you’re not sure what to do. Run to the bookstore for a gift certificate? Hope the local superbox has more cartons of electric toothbrushes? Just panic?

There are some things you still can do. They may not be the latest video game or a big plasma TV, but there are some good gifts left to give, and maybe you can do a good deed at the same time:

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The timing is perfect to compare Bernie Madoff, the investment swindler, to Dr. Seuss’ Grinch. However, in this case, since the majority of Mr. Madoff’s clients were Jewish it’s not Christmas that was stolen, but Hanukkah.

I am fascinated by the story of Madoff and the billions of dollars he managed to steal from trusting individuals and organizations. $50 billion is such a large number, that the extent of his manipulations is truly mind-boggling. The list of those affected keeps growing.

Just today, I read a note from ‘The Scientist‘ Associate Editor, Elie Dolgin:

Some of the big losers include New York’s Yeshiva University, home to the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, which lost at least $100 million according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, which invested funds raised from donations in Madoff’s securities firm and now estimates its losses at around 25 million shekels ($6.7 million), according to Ha’aretz. Several other charitable organizations that regularly donated to medical research, such as Steven Spielberg’s Wunderkinder Foundation, have also been hit hard, the Jewish Journal reported.

It’s not the get-rich-quick types who fell for Madoff’s scheme. He was able to trick veteran investors and cautious organizations, those who are normally skeptical of deals that seem too good to be true, into giving him their money. How did he do it? Continue reading…