This issue was delayed primarily because of enormous complications in getting legal permission to print frames from the Zapruder film for a special section on the JFK assassination. It will finally go out in the mail at the end of this week. Thank you for your patience and sorry for the delay. The good news is that Vol. 7, #1 is almost done (Theme: INFLUENCE) so we will catch up and get out all four issues of Skeptic for 1999 in a timely fashion.
Signups for the May 21-22 conference are going faster than they ever have. The conference is already over half full. We may have to find a larger hall or theater at Caltech. In the meantime, if you want to insure your spot, please sign up ASAP. I've included the information on the conference again at the end of this post, especially since we have so many new people signing up on the hotline list every day.
THANKS AGAIN RANDY CASSINGHAM AND LYRIS
Thanks to Randy Cassingham, "Dumbth New" columnist for Skeptic and "This is True" columnist for the world, and to Lyris our service provider for the Skeptic Mag Hotline, we are now up to just about 6,000 people around the world who receive these postings.
Our next Skeptics Society event is:
Wednesday, March 10, 7:30 pm, Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech PLEASE NOTE! THIS IS A SPECIAL DAY AND TIME
DOUBT AND CERTAINTY
Debates on Science, Mysticism, Reality, the Knowable, and the Unknowable
Dr. Tony Rothman
When scientists construct models to explain the phenomena and laws of nature, do those models actually simulate what's really out there in the world, or do they only synthesize the way we think the world is? And how does our cultural upbringing affect the way we think about the world? Against this backdrop Dr. Rothman considers such deeply meaningful questions as: Is the Universe Knowable? Is the World Symmetrical? Are Doubt and Certainty Complementary? Can We Learn Anything From Parallels Between Physics and Eastern Philosophy?
Dr. Tony Rothman, Professor of Physics at Illinois Wesleyan University, has written fiction, as well as several bestselling books, including A Physicist on Madison Avenue (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), Frontiers of Modern Physics, The World is Round, and Instant Physics. His latest book, Doubt and Certainty, will be available for purchase and signing.
FROM THE BOOK (Doubt and Certainty, 1998, Perseus Books):
Regarding "Theories of Everything":
"But what IS the Theory of Everything?" both you and your friend want to know.
Well, if you believe that one can unify the four forces of nature into a single "superforce" and if you believe that the four forces are responsible for everything that takes place in the universe, then you will have succeeded in creating a theory of everything.
"A theory or The Theory?"
At the moment no one will deny that there are a number of candidates, so it would be premature to call any one of them The Theory.
"Some theories are more equal than others," replies one of the sonic hedgehogs.
"Ah," responds a fox, "the history of physics has been a process of just peeling off one layer of the onion after another. Each time you have discovered the ultimate particile, you then find another."
"It cannot be denied," sighs a sympathetic hedgehog, "a number of researchers have investigated preonic models, in which quarks are composed of more fundamental entites known as preons."
You reel from the shock. "Do you mean, these quarks, which nobody can observe, are already considered to be composed of further unobservable particles?"
Among certain quarters.
"You see!" exclaims the same fox in triumph. "What makes you think you will ever get to the bottom?"
This is the question. Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the trend toward unification in physics, begun with Maxwell's unification of electricity and magnetism into electromagnetism. By now, as discussed in the Third Debates, the electromagnetic and the weak and strong nuclear interactions have all been brought together by shotgun into the standard model of particle physics. Only gravity remains the "odd man out."
However, in the past few years ever more frequent claims have been appearing that even this problem has been solved by string theory, in which case according to the son hedgehogs, a theory of everything--or perhaps The Theory of everything--is in the offing. Sonic hedgehogs are the ultimate reductionists.
"It's all rubbish," replies an old fox.
Let us see.
Reinventing Evolution
The Great Debate at the High Table of Evolutionary Theory
Plus:
James "The Amazing" Randi
&
Richard Milner: "Charles Darwin--Live & in Concert"
Friday and Saturday
May 21-22, 1999
FRIDAY NIGHT, MAY 21
PASADENA HILTON HOTEL
7:00-9:00pm SOCIAL EVENING OF COCKTAILS & MAGICIAN: Danny Sylvester "the Jester" the living cartoon. He does things previously only seen on Saturday morning cartoons.
Meet with our speakers, staff, and fellow skeptics in a casual setting at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel
SATURDAY, MAY 22
Baxter Lecture Hall, California Institute of Technology
7:45-8:45: Registration with coffee and bagels
8:45-9:00: "Is Evolution in Trouble?" Introductory Remarks by FRANK MIELE, Conference Moderator, Senior Editor, Skeptic
9:00-10:15: "What Americans Believe About Evolution." DR. EUGENIE SCOTT, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education, Recipient of the 1998 Isaac Asimov Science Award from the American Humanist Association.
Break
10:30-11:30: "Gould's Dangerous Idea: What Really Scares People About Evolution." DR. MICHAEL SHERMER, Publisher, Skeptic, Author, Why People Believe Weird Things, and forthcoming HOW WE BELIEVE: The Search for God in an Age of Science.
Lunch Break 11:30-12:45 (Catered: $6.00 per person)
12:45-1:45: "A Century of Pseudoscience: A Look Back at 20th-Century Nonsense." JAMES "THE AMAZING" RANDI, Executive Director, James Randi Educational Foundation, Author, Flim Flam!, The Faith Healers, The Mask of Nostradamus.
Break
2:00-3:15: "Why People Don't Believe in Evolution." DR. JACK HORNER, Curator of Paleontology, Museum of the Rockies. Author, Digging Dinosaurs, The Complete T. Rex, Digging Up Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dinosaur Lives.
3:15-4:30: "Is There a Revolution in Evolution?" DR. NILES ELDREDGE, Curator, American Museum of Natural History, Co-discoverer of Punctuated Equilibria, Author, The Miner's Canary, Reinventing Darwin, The Pattern of Evolution.
Break
4:45-6:00: "Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction?" DR. MICHAEL RUSE, Professor of Philosophy and Zoology, University of Guelph, Ontario. Author of Darwinism Defended, The Darwinian Paradigm, Monad to Man, Mystery of Mysteries.
6:00-6:30: Panel Discussion with Speakers and Audience. Moderated by Frank Miele
Dinner Break 6:30-7:45 (Catered: $6.00 per person)
7:45-8:00: Skeptics Society Dumbth Awards with Randy Cassingham. "Dumbth News" columnist for Skeptic, author of This is True books and syndicated column.
8:00: KEYNOTE ENTERTAINMENT: RICHARD MILNER: "CHARLES DARWIN--LIVE & IN CONCERT. Charles Darwin is brought to life by historian of science, songwriter, author, anthropologist, and entertainer Richard Milner, in a musical theater experience that is one of a kind. Includes such songs as "The Book!," "Let Him Be First," and "Why Didn't I Think of That?"
Tony Randall: "These offbeat songs about Darwin and evolution are absolutely wonderful--and Richard Milner performs them with surprising skill and panache."
Randy Cassingham is the author of the syndicated newspaper column "This is True" and a regular columnist for Skeptic magazine. His books collecting Dumbth stories have become classics of skeptical literature and include Deputy Kills Man With Hammer, Glow in the Dark Plants Could Help Farmers, Pitbulls Love You--Really! and Artificial Intelligence Like Real Thing
Dr. Niles Eldredge is curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the coauthor with Stephen Jay Gould of the 1972 paper that proposed the theory of punctuated equilibria, and the author of numerous popular science books, including The Miner's Canary (a New York Times Book Review "Notable Book of the Year" for 1992), Reinventing Darwin, The Pattern of Evolution, Time Frames, Macroevolutionary Patterns and Evolutionary Dynamics, Unfinished Synthesis, Dominion, Life in the Balance, and many more.
Dr. John R. "Jack" Horner is the curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, where he lives. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship and holds an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Montana. He has been featured on countless documentaries about dinosaurs as one of the world's experts on dinosaur behavior. His discovery of the first dinosaur eggs in North America won him critical acclaim and international recognition. His books include Digging Dinosaurs, Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up, The Complete T. Rex, Digging Up Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his latest, Dinosaur Lives, in which he challenges conventional evolutionary wisdom on the classification of dinosaur species and genus.
Frank Miele is Senior Editor of Skeptic magazine who has contributed numerous cover stories and interviews since he joined the staff in 1994. His articles have encompassed the Holocaust revisionists, evolutionary psychology, overpopulation and environmental debates, and his upcoming cover story on cloning and genetic engineering. His interview subjects have included E. O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Lionel Tiger, Robin Fox, Garrett Hardin, Julian Simon, Charles Murray, Robert Sternberg, and Jerry Brown.
Richard Milner is a historian of science, songwriter, anthropologist, entertainer, and Senior Editor of Natural History magazine at the American Museum of Natural History. His essays and articles on Darwin have appeared in Natural History and Scientific American. He is the author of Encyclopedia of Evolution: Humanity's Search for Its Origins and Charles Darwin: Evolution of a Naturalist. His live stage show has been performed at colleges and universities all over the world. His show has been highly praised by Stephen Jay Gould, Penn & Teller, Sir David Attenborough, and Tony Randall.
James "The Amazing" Randi is the Executive Director of the James Randi Educational Foundation, professional magician, author, lecturer, and the world's most famous and respected investigator of paranormal claims. His books include Flim Flam!, The Faith Healers, The Mask of Nostradamus, The Truth About Uri Geller, Houdini--His Life and Art, Conjuring, and An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate and won a prestigious MacArthur "genius award" fellowship. Isaac Asimov called Randi "a national treasure." His $1,000,000 prize for anyone who can prove a paranormal power under controlled conditions keeps him busy testing all manner of claims.
Dr. Michael Ruse is Professor of Philosophy and Zoology at the University of Guelph, Ontario. He has appeared on "Quirks and Quarks," the Discovery Channel, and countless documentaries on evolution over the years, as well as in William F. Buckley's PBS "Firing Line" debate on evolution and creationism. Ruse is well-known as an expert on the evolution-creation debate, and testified in the critically important Arkansas Creationism Trial, alongside Stephen Jay Gould, as they defeated the creationists in what was called the "Scopes II" trial. He is the author of The Darwinian Revolution, Darwinism Defended, The Darwinian Paradigm, Monad to Man, Taking Darwinism Seriously, But Is It Science?, and most recently, Mystery of Mysteries.
Dr. Eugenie Scott is Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, a pro-evolution nonprofit science education organization with members in every state. She holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology from the University of Missouri and taught at the university level for many years before assuming her job at NCSE. Dr. Scott has received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Missouri, the Isaac Asimov Science Award from the American Humanist Association, and was elected to the California Academy of Sciences. She is a consultant on science education, advising school districts and states on curricula and church/state separation issues. She serves on the National Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, on the National Advisory Council of Americans for Religious Liberty, and is on the Board of Directors of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. She is frequently called upon by the media to comment on a scientist's view of pseudoscience, and is an internationally-recognized expert on the creation/evolution controversy.
Dr. Michael Shermer is Publisher of Skeptic magazine, Director of the Skeptics Society, and author of Why People Believe Weird Things (W. H. Freeman, 1997). His next book is O Ye of Little Faith: The Search for God in the Age of Science. Shermer is also the author of Teach Your Child Science (Contemporary Books, 1988) and co-authored Teach Your Child Math and Mathemagics (1990, 1993 with Arthur Benjamin). He has his own radio show, "Science Talk," on Wednesdays from 6-7pm on KPCC, 89.3FM, the NPR affiliate for Southern California. Since his creation of the Skeptics Society he has appeared on such shows as Charlie Rose, Tom Snyder, Donahue, Oprah, Sally, Lezza, Good Morning America, Dateline, 20/20, Unsolved Mysteries, and others, as a nationally- recognized expert on scientific and pseudoscientific controversies.