Skepticism is a method of assessing claims. It is a form of critical inquiry which can be used positively: in business; by consumers; in the defence against being defrauded or scammed; as an intellectual exercise; and in increasing one's knowledge and awareness of reality in general.
The idea is to look beyond claims, beliefs and opinions, which are often accepted at face value, and look at whether the evidence actually supports such claims. This approach also makes skepticism a valuable thinking tool where opposing or contradictory claims are made for the same issue.
For an overview of skepticism see: What is Skepticism?
Items and News
The libel reform campaign
Message from Simon Singh:
Dear Friends,
I’ve had an idea – an unusual idea, but I think it might just work.
As you know, England’s chilling libel laws need to be reformed. One way to help achieve this is for 100,000 people to sign the petition for libel reform before the political parties write their manifestos for the election. We have 17,000 signatures, but we really need 100,000, and we need your help to get there.
www.libelreform.org/sign
My idea
My idea is simple: if everyone who has already signed up persuades just one more person each week to sign the petition then we will reach our goal within a month!
One person per week is all we need, but please spread the word as much as you can. In fact, if you persuade 10 people to sign up then email me (simon@simonsingh.net) and I promise to thank you by printing your name in my next book … which I will start writing as soon as I have put my own libel case behind me. I cannot say when this will be, but it is a very real promise. My only caveat is that I will limit this to the first thousand people who recruit ten supporters.
When persuading your friends remember to tell them:
(a) English libel laws have been condemned by the UN Human Rights Committee.
(b) These laws gag scientists, bloggers and journalists who want to discuss matters of genuine public interest (and public health!).
(c) Our laws give rise to libel tourism, whereby the rich and the powerful (Saudi billionaires, Russian oligarchs and overseas corporations) come to London to sue writers because English libel laws are so hostile to responsible journalism. (In fact, it is exactly because English libel laws have this global impact that we welcome signatories to the petition from around the world.)
(d) Vested interests can use their resources to bully and intimidate those who seek to question them. The cost of a libel trial in England is 100 times more expensive than the European average and typically runs to over £1 million.
(e) Three separate ongoing libel cases involve myself and two medical researchers raising concerns about three medical treatments. We face losing £1 million each. In future, why would anyone else raise similar concerns? If these health matters are not reported, then the public is put at risk.
My experience has been sobering. I’ve had to spend £100,000 to defend my writing and have put my life on hold for almost two years. However, the prospect of reforming our libel laws keeps me cheerful.
Thanks so much for your support. We’ve only got one shot at this – so I hope you can persuade 1 (or maybe 10) friends, family and colleagues to sign.
Massive thanks,
Simon
www.libelreform.org/sign
The Libel Reform Campaign is a coalition of English PEN, Index on Censorship and Sense About Science.
So far, 188 MPs have signed our Parliamentary Early Day Motion calling for libel reform and the Justice Secretary Jack Straw has formed a working party that the Libel Reform Coalition is represented on.
Please also considering donating to keep our campaign going: www.libelreform.org
Keep an eye out for eyewitnesses
There's a new series coming soon to the BBC:
"A groundbreaking new BBC series co-produced by The Open University, Eyewitness explores the memory re-call of eyewitnesses. Will their memories help Greater Manchester Police piece together the events of the two mock crimes?"
It should be of interest as it will explore the fallibility of our perception and memory. To non-psychologists it will probably come as a surprise just how fallible we are when it comes to accurately observing and recalling details that we "have seen with our own eyes" (which is usually regarded as solid evidence that something is true).
No broadcast times yet.
Near Death Experiences - a critical examination.
There is a growing perception that the existence of near-death experiences (NDEs) poses a serious challenge to current scientific understandings of the brain, mind and consciousness. This was reaffirmed recently in a high-impact publication published in the Lancet by van Lommel, van Wees, Meyers, & Elfferich (2001); however, Dr Jason Braithwaite, an award-winning cognitive neuroscientist from the University of Birmingham (UK), notes that while the van Lommel paper is methodologically useful it contains errors of interpretation and conclusion.
In his paper 'Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of the Dying Brain' recently published in The Skeptic magazine (UK) (edited by Professor Chris French), Dr Braithwaite argues that Survivalists have repeatedly misunderstood and misrepresented the dying-brain hypothesis when trying to argue against it.
UKS newsletter released
The second UK-Skeptics newsletter has been released.
Again, we have news, articles, commentary and a competition.
There are articles on magnetic fields and haunting experiences, understanding skepticism, an interview with UFO expert Nick Pope, and a new feature looking at skepticism and historical claims and understanding.
Follow us on twitter.
We're now tweeting! If you're on Twitter too and you want to follow UK-Skeptics then just click the link above and choose to follow us.
It's a very convenient way to share links and keep up to date with what's happening in the skeptosphere!
Aquino Landscape PhotographyHere's a website showing some excellent photographs of UK landscapes and panoramic views.
Some of the photos were taken near Muncaster Castle, the location of the UK-Skeptics conference this year. Some of the sunsets were taken at Ravenglass just half a mile down the road and there's some of nearby Irton church.
Check them out to see what a beautiful location this is!
