1993 Skeptics Conference

Science, Pseudoscience and Junk Science

Christchurch, September 3rd-5th

The programme for the 1993 Skeptics Conference is still under development, but it’s shaping up to be really interesting. It’ll be a rather omnivorous event, complete with meat and teeth. Come along for the usual humour and frivolity that make our conferences fun, but also be prepared to be challenged.

We know we’re a diverse group, but one of the common characteristics of Homo skepticus/skeptica is the tendency to talk and debate…at length…at the drop of a hat…on almost any subject.

Consequently, this year’s conference is looking at having a number of panel sessions to encourage participation from a range of speakers semi-simultaneously, with plenty of discussion time following to enable extended participation from the floor.

To date, three main panels are under development:

The Nature of Scientific Method — what are the characteristics of good science, what should we be looking for in science, how should science be conducted, and how can it be useful in everyday life?

Junk Science — having got some form of grounding in real science, we then turn our attention to junk science to see the way in which science is used and abused in everything from environmental issues to health research.

Teaching Critical Thinking — what is being done in schools to encourage critical thinking and/or an appreciation of the scientific method, what should be done and how can it be encouraged, is there room for this in the new curriculum, what is the place of science and technology?

There’ll also be a pile of speakers and unspeakable demonstrations throughout the conference, such as:

  • Ghosts
  • Police Use of Psychics
  • Acupuncture
  • Electric Medicine
  • Witches
  • Manufacturing Memory

Last, but by no means least, we are delighted to be able to tell you that we have a magical after-dinner speaker in the form of Margaret Mahy, internationally acclaimed children’s author and Skeptic. She’s living proof that you can be creative and rational at the same time! (Don’t forget to send in you filking and photography entries, even if you can’t make it to the conference itself!)

The New Zealand Skeptic Overseas

Several copies of each issue of our newsletter are sent to the international skeptical movement’s headquarters in Buffalo, New York. Many of these are distributed to our sister organisations around the world, and it is gratifying when items by our members are noticed in other publications.

Two recent examples:

Russell Dear’s article on “Equine Pseudoscience” is reprinted with acknowledgement in the UK Skeptic for March/April (Vol 7 No 3). Solace for poor Russell, who appears from his writing to live a “horse-pecked” existence.

An editorial in Skeptiker (1/93) summarises at length Hugh Young’s recent article on “Cold Reading for Fun and Profit”. Hugh’s gentle deception of “Madame Mamoque’s” customers receives high praise. So also does Dr John Welch, whose notes in “Hokum Locum” are seen as a refreshing antidote to the views of many German doctors.

More from A Skeptic’s Bibliography

Continued from last issue. Prices are US dollars.

UFOs

Billig, Otto, Flying Saucers: Magic in the Skies, Schenkman Books, 1982, H-$19.95, ISBN 0-87073-833-X; P-$11.95, ISBN 0-87073940-9.

Klass, Phillip, UFOs: The Public Deceived, Prometheus Books, 1986, H-$19.95, ISBN 0-87975-203-3; 1986, P-$14.95, ISBN 0-87975322-6.

Klass, Phillip, UFO-Abductions: A Dangerous Game, Prometheus Books, 1988: 1989 (updated), P-$16.95, ISBN 0-87975-509-1.

Oberg, James, UFO’S and Outer Space Mysteries, Donning, 1982, P$6.95, ISBN 0-89865-102-6.

Sagan, Carl and Thornton Page, eds., UFOs: A Scientific Debate, Norton, 1974, P-$8.95, ISBN 0-393-00739-1.

Sheaffer, Robert, The UFO Verdict: Examining the Evidence, Prometheus Books, 1986, P-$14.95, ISBN 0-87975-338-2.

Ancient Astronauts and Cult Archaeology

de Camp, L. Sprague, The Ancient Engineers, Ballantine Books, 1988, P-$4.95, ISBN 0-345-00876-6.

de Camp, L. Sprague, Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme, Dover, 1970, P-$6.50, ISBN 0-486-22668-9.

De Mille, Richard, ed., The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies, Ross-Erikson, 1979, H-$19.95, ISBN 0-915520-257; P-$?, ISBN 0-534-12150-0, Wadsworth Press, 1990.

Hadingham, Evan, Lines to the Mountain Gods: Nazca and the Mysteries of Peru, Random House, 1986, H-$22.50, ISBN 0-394-54235-5, University of Oklahoma Press, 1988, P-$16.95, ISBN 0-806-12130-0.

Harrold, Francis and Raymond Eve, eds., Cult Archaeology and Creationism: Understanding Pseudoscientific Beliefs about the Past, University of Iowa Press, 1987, H-$20.00, ISBN 0-87745-176-1.

Stiebing, William H., Ancient Astronauts, Cosmic Collisions, and other Popular Theories about Man’s Past, Prometheus Books, 1984, P$13.95, ISBN 0-87975-285-8.

TVNZ Newsman Writes Book!

The TVNZ fortnightly newsletter, Networks, recently carried the welcome news that a Senior Editor in TVNZ’s news division has written a book. The Astrologer and the Paradigm Shift will, according to Networks “clear up many common misconceptions about astrology.”

According to the author of the book, “Astrology is loosely grouped with modern New Age beliefs but it is in fact an ancient philosophical tradition out of which modern science arose.”

The newsman, a physics graduate, gave up his intention to pursue a scientific career when he found “physics didn’t address the connection between the human being and the environment, so was too divorced from reality.”

His book is 468 pages long. When asked how his colleagues felt about having the author of a book in their midst, he said that some of them didn’t know how to handle it, “although lots are intuitively sympathetic to where I’m coming from. I’ve done chart readings for several people” at TVNZ.

As is so often obvious, TVNZ news has no qualified specialist science or medical reporters. (In the recent flap over their carcinogenic potential, cellphones were in one TVNZ report repeatedly referred to as “radioactive.”) Nevertheless, it is heartening to learn that it now has a qualified astrologer to cast horoscopes for the staff.

Video Library Update – New Titles, July 1992

A CSICOP video library is run by Alastair Bricknell, RD2 Kuaotunu, Whitianga. Tapes may be hired for the cost of postage and packing, around $5 (extra donations gratefully accepted).

Homeopathy — Medicine or Magic?, QED (BBC TV), 1990, 30 minutes

A very interesting look at the state of homeopathy in the UK in the ’90s including its use by some “conventional” doctors and vets. Details are given of a few trials (some double and triple blind) that have been conducted claiming to give support to homeopathic techniques. Unfortunately, relatively little time is permitted for dissenting views and I am sure many of our rural members will have other explanations for some of the “miraculous” animal cures presented. A thought provoking programme nevertheless; it should be essential viewing for any skeptic confronting homeopathic enthusiasts.

Secrets of Sedona, 48 Hours (CBS), 1991, 60 minutes

A visit to Sedona, Arizona, a centre for “New Age” thinking(?) in the US. Topics covered include fire walking, astrology, UFOs, vortexes (vortices?), pendulums, channelling, reincarnation, and New Age music — surely there is something for every skeptic in this one. The programme shows how some successful businessmen and women use New Age techniques to influence their business decisions and the industry that has built up around this philosophy in a beautiful part of the American west. A good balanced look at a phenomenon that is starting to become increasingly popular in New Zealand,

Spiritual Healing, Foreign Correspondent (TVNZ), 1992, 15 minutes

A brief but interesting and relatively balanced look at the healing scene in the UK. Topics covered include New Age healing methods, “Touch for Health” healing (some skeptics might say “Clutch for Wealth” would be more appropriate), the charismatic Christian movement, and several other alternative medical practices. A revealing discussion with a conventional medical practitioner illustrates the tragic consequences that can arise for those relying on these fringe methods while cancers continue to grow.

Chelation Therapy, Frontline (TVNZ), 1992, 15 minutes

A good introduction to chelation therapy as practised in New Zealand at present. Discusses the double blind trial currently underway in Dunedin that is due to end in a few months. Sensible comments from conventional medical practitioners about the merits of this controversial therapy provide some balance to this interesting program.

A Skeptic’s Bibliography

This is an excerpt from Thomas and Rusk’s lengthy bibliography of works with skeptical viewpoints. Prices noted are in US dollars.

General

Abell, George and Barry Singer, eds., Science and the Paranormal, Scribners, 1983, P-$13.95, ISBN 0-684-17820-6.

Asimov, Isaac, The Roving Mind, Prometheus Books, 1983, H-$21.95, ISBN 0-87975-201-7; P-$15.95, ISBN 0-87975-315-3.

Cazeau, Charles J. and Stuart D. Scott, Jr., Exploring the Unknown: Great Mysteries Reexamined, Plenum Press, 1979, H-$18.95, ISBN 0-306-40210-6.

de Camp, L. Sprague, The Fringe of the Unknown, Prometheus Books, 1983, P-$14.95, ISBN 0-87975-217-3.

de Camp, L. Sprague, The Ragged Edge of Science, Owlswick Press, 1980, H-$16.00, ISBN 0-913896-06-3.

Frazier, Kendrick, ed., Paranormal Borderlands of Science, Prometheus Books, 1981, P-$17.95, ISBN 0-87975-148-7.

Frazier, Kendrick, ed., Science Confronts the Paranormal, Prometheus Books, 1985, P-$17.95, ISBN 0-87975-314-5.

Gardner, Martin, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, Dover, 1957, P-$6.50, ISBN 0-486-20394-8.

Gardner, Martin, Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus, Prometheus Books, 1981, P-$15.95, ISBN 0-87975-573-3.

Goran, Morris, Fact, and, and Fantasy: The occult and Pseudosciences, Littlefield, 1980, P-$7.95, ISBN 0-8226- 0356-X.

Hines, Terence, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence, Prometheus Books, 1987, P-$17.95, ISBN 0-87975-419-2.

MacKay, Charles, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Templeton, 1985 (original 1841), H- $24.95, ISBN 0934405-00-X; P- 3 editions available.

Nickell, Joe and John F. Fischer, Secrets of the Supernatural: Investigating the World’s Occult Mysteries, Prometheus Books, 1988, H-$18.95, ISBN 0-87975-461-3.

Paulos, John Allen, Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences, Hill and Wang, 1988, H-$16.95, ISBN 0-8090-74478.

Randi, James, Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and Other Delusions, Prometheus Books, 1982, P-$12.95, ISBN 0-87975-1983.

Rothman, Milton A., A Physicist’s Guide to Skepticism, Prometheus Books, 1988, H-$19.95, ISBN 0-87975-440-0.

Sagan, Carl, Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science, Random House, 1979, H-$14.95, ISBN 0-394-50169-1.

Schultz, Ted, ed., The Fringes of Reason: A Whole Earth Catalog, Harmony Books, 1989, P-$14.95, ISBN 0-517-57165-X.

Stanovich, Keith E., How to Think Straight About Psychology, 2nd ed., Scott Foresman and Company, 1989, P-price not set, ISBN 0-67338412-8.

Astrology

Bok, Bart J. and Lawrence E. Jerome, Objections to Astrology, Prometheus Books, 1975, P-$10.95, ISBN 0-87975-059-6.

Culver, Roger B., Sun Sign Sunset: A Statistical Investigation of the Claims of Sun Sign Astrology, Pachart Publishing House, 1980, P$9.95, ISBN 0-912918-00-4.

Culver, Roger B. and Phillip A. Ianna, Astrology: True or False? A Scientific Evaluation, Prometheus Books, 1988, P- $14.95, ISBN 087975-483-4.

Gauquelin, Michel, Dreams and Illusions of Astrology, Prometheus Books, 1979, H-$19.95, ISBN 0-87975-099-5.

Jerome, Lawrence, Astrology Disproved, Prometheus Books, 1977, H$22.95, ISBN 0-87975-067-7.

Monkey Business

From Jerusalem comes news that Israel’s former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has ruled that trained monkeys may turn off lights or do other domestic chores forbidden to Jews on the sabbath. But only a borrowed monkey — or a dog or other animal capable of performing such tasks — can be used because their own beasts must be allowed to rest.

Skeptic Carl Wyant, who has sent us this information, says that it bugs him: “Apparently God doesn’t care if gentile monkeys get a day of rest or not.”

Magic Medicine Turns Businessman into Sex Zombie

Magic potions made from natural ingredients are generally hailed as environmentally friendly. But is this necessarily true? Not if you’re a rhinocerous!

Rhino horn is highly valued for its alleged power as an aphrodisiac and can sell for up to three times the price of gold.

In 1968 there were 18,000 rhinos cantering playfully on the plains of Kenya; now there are 400. Organic horn harvesters have hunted the rhino to virtual extinction. But hey, there are culturally sensitive traditions to uphold… not to mention the oldest tradition of them all — wrangling money from the gullible.

Dr Jim Woolnough

The New Zealand Skeptics lost one of its founders with the recent death of Dr Jim Woolnough, aged 77.

Jim was not only a passionate Skeptic, but a courageous fighter for the rights of New Zealand women to obtain safe, legal abortions. He was indicted in 1974 for performing abortions for the Auckland Medical Aid Centre; his acquittal on appeal in 1975 resulted in the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act of 1977, which made abortion legal in most cases.

Jim will be missed.

New Video Titles

Homeopathy – Medicine or Magic?

QED/BBC, 1990; 30 minutes

A very interesting look at the state of homeopathy in the UK in the ’90s, including its use by some “conventional” doctors and vets. Details are given of a few trials (some double and triple blind) that have been conducted claiming to give support to homeopathic techniques. Unfortunately, relatively little time is permitted for dissenting views, and I am sure many of our rural members will have other explanations for some of the “miraculous” animal cures presented. A thought-provoking programme nevertheless; it should be essential viewing for any skeptic confronting homeopathic enthusiasts.

Secrets of Sedona

48 Hours/CBS, 1991 60 minutes

A visit to Sedona, Arizona, a centre for “New Age” blather in the US. Topics covered include fire walking, astrology, UFOs, vortexes, pendulums, channelling, reincarnation, and New Age music — surely there is something for every skeptic in this one. The programme shows how some successful businessmen and women use New Age techniques to influence their business decisions, and the industry that has built up around this philosophy in a beautiful part of the American west.