Miles's blog

I am joining a new group—the Skeptics Society.  A lot of people have called me a skeptic over the years, but they probably meant that I was a cynic; which I am.  Cynicism, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives.  That is certainly me, and if it wasn’t 30 years ago (and I think it was), my experience as a prosecutor made me one.  But that is not what I am talking about. 

I came across a talk on Ted by the president of the Skeptics Society, Michael Shermer.  It was entitled “The Pattern Behind Self Deception.”  In it he briefly explains the basis of how people can come to believe in UFOs, crop circles, satanic lyrics in songs played backwards and the like.  Intrigued, I went to the society’s website.  Here is their introduction:

THE SKEPTICS SOCIETY is a scientific and educational organization of leading scientists, scholars, investigative journalists, historians, professors and teachers. Our mission is to investigate and provide a sound scientific viewpoint on claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, fringe groups, cults and claims between: science, pseudoscience, junk science, voodoo science, pathological science, bad science, non science and plain old nonsense.

They have given lectures and printed papers on things like support for evolution, global warming and people’s role in it, alternative medicine, and similar topics.  This is great.  I love the idea that people are rigorously examining the crap that circulates through society (formerly in discredited publications like The National Enquirer and now over the internet) and issuing scholarly reasons why this stuff is junk.  For so long I have sat in the corner trying to call “bullshit” on things like UFOs but without a cogent argument to back it up.  The best I could do previously was see if Snopes.com had anything.  But the Skeptics Society is like Snopes on steroids.  These people are seriously smart.

Read some of their stuff or listen to their lectures.  There is an excellent article on the collapse of the World Trade Center responding to some of the conspiracy theorists.   There is some stuff about alternative medicine.  I plan to join and subscribe to their magazine.