Light it up!
June 24, 2002
I'm a freakin' geek.
That fact became terribly evident to me as I was sitting in the middle of the Fourth World Skeptics Conference in scenic downtown Burbank. Looking around, it was really neat to meet several hundred of like-mind free thinkers and skeptics, all of us engaged at some level in the struggle against the magical and pseudo-scientific thinking that is highly prevalent in popular culture.
Looking around it was also clearly evident that everyone there was a dweeb. Some of us hid it better than others. Some of us, in addition to being intellectual, also had social skills, dressed in matching patterns and could debate more than just the finer points of the fourth verses fifth seasons of Babylon 5. Yet the mere fact that we all of us knew that there was a difference between seasons was the telling proof of our intrinsic and geekiness.
Lest anyone get the wrong idea, it wasn't some giant Star Trek convention (though Harlan Ellison did speak) or Macintosh mutual masturbation society (though the majority of presenters did launch Power Point presentations off of PowerBooks and TiBooks.) But the people who were there -- doctors, lawyers, magicians, teachers, students, reporters, scientists, jocks, preps, grunge, dads, moms and children - all share an understanding that, as Carl Sagan wrote: "...skeptical thinking... is the means to construct, and to understand, a reasoned argument and -- especially important -- to recognize a fallacious or fraudulent argument..."
That we were all, either obviously or secretly, geeks and dweebs was just icing on the cake.
Harlan Ellision gave a special address during the Saturday luncheon, outlining his take on 9/11 and how, for the first time in his life, he really didn't have anything to say. That was until Jerry Falwell spewed voluminous bile of vileness blaming gays, atheists, feminists and others for the tragedy that befell us all. Always interesting, terribly profane, and incredibly enlightening, Ellision was a real treat to hear.
Jan Brunvand, David & Barbara Mikkelson and Timothy Tangerherlini gave a great presentation on urban legends, their origins and how they impact today's culture. There was a good deal of coverage given to the crap that appeared across the net after 9/11 regarding the "fake" Pentagon attack and the "hidden messages" on US currency that predicted the attacks.
Marvin Minsky, the big guru of AI and all things computers, gave a horrible, rambling, and insanely boring speech on... nothing. Not anything at all. He touched on evolution, Intelligent Design, theism and computer development, but a cohesive and ordered presentation leading to a point it was not. Of course, following many in the crowd, I left about half way through and joined a much more interesting discussion about magic and illusion in the lobby.
On the reassuring front, Amanda Chesworth led a great panel on efforts to promote skeptical thinking among children and young people. Diane Swanson, author of Nibbling on Einstein's Brain, talked of her book that helps this effort by getting kids at very young ages to begin to discriminate good reporting from bad and valid inferences verses poorly drawn studies. (Amazing what can be accomplished with crazy hats when you think about it.) And Vicki Hyde spoke on raising skeptical kids in a demon haunted world.
Or course, the most interesting debate, and on some levels the scariest, was on Evolution and Intelligent Design. Kenneth Miller and Wesley Elsberry gave a wonderful, reasoned, and insightful refutation of the bunk put forth by the ID set. William Dembski, one of the main apologists for the ID set, gave an insightful and scary argument of his own on why ID will have great success. He basically argued that ID allowed people to eat their cake and have it too - they could get the benefits of science and still hold on to the magical, god of the gaps thinking that ID proposes. Rather than demonstrating or arguing the merits of his own critique of evolution and his own theory of irreducible complexity, he indicated that as science removes explains more and more, thus removing the "Just So" basis for long cherished magical and theistic beliefs, people will want to believe, more and more, in the pseudo-scientific Intelligent Design theory, because, like all such stories, their special place in the universe is ensured.
The logical conclusion of Natural Philosophy, and the discoveries unfolding as a result of it, is that the Heavens are empty, the vampires are gone and magic must be found in the human heart and not in incantations, spell books or blood soaked sacrifices, is the metaphorical equivalent of no longer being able to take your laundry to your mom's house to get it washed for free -- something more than many people are willing to face.
Overall, it was great to spend a few days with people who, like me, are trying to foster a bit more rationalism and skeptical thought in the world. Whether we succeed is beside the point. It's the attempt to light a candle in the darkness that offers the chance for light and warmth to spread. To do nothing is to ensure the cold night to endure unchallenged.
Posted by Jody at June 24, 2002 02:17 PM