CSICOP's Joe Nickell at the Air Force Academy
SkeptInq@aol.com
Wed, 14 Apr 1999 13:57:47 EDT
Dear CSICOP List Reader:
Last month Joe Nickell, CSICOP's Senior Research Fellow traveled to Colorado
for several days worth of lectures, demonstrations, and investigations. In
the coming days we hope to send out reports on Joe's latest adventures,
including this one today on his visit to the Air Force Academy. The report
was written by Dr. Barry Fagin, an instructor at the Academy.
FromFaginBS.DFCS.USAFA@usafa.af.mil (Dr Barry S.Fagin, 333-3340)
***
Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy got a rare treat last week
with a visit from CSICOP Senior Research Fellow Joe Nickell. Joe was a guest
lecturer in two sessions of "Paranormal Psychology and Pseudoscience", an
upper level psychology course designed to encourage critical thinking and
skeptical methodology in the evaluation of extraordinary claims.
Critical thinking is an important part of the mission of the Air Force
Academy, but it can be a challenge to implement in an environment where
students must also be trained for success on the field of battle, which
requires immediate and uncompromising obedience to authority. Dr Nickell's
visit raised the profile of the skeptical perspective at USAFA; his talk was
very well received by cadets and faculty alike.
Dr Nickell's escort at USAFA was Dr Barry Fagin, a CSICOP member and SI
contributor from the computer science department. After Dr Fagin's
introduction of Dr Nickell to the class, Dr Nickell began with a cut and
restored rope trick, to enthusiastic applause from the cadets. He then
discussed the process of investigating extraordinary claims for CSICOP,
including statues with heartbeats, weeping icons, and incorruptible corpses,
all accompanied with slides and wry humor.
Saving the best for last, Dr Nickell concluded his talk with an analysis of
the Shroud of Turin.
The Shroud is of particular relevance at USAFA because of a descriptive
display dedicated to it in the Academy's Catholic chapel. At the end of
class, Dr Fagin and Dr Nickell visited the display and took note of what was
both said and unsaid. With the increasing visibility of CSICOP and Dr
Nickell's work, Dr Fagin expressed the hope that perhaps someday the display
will be updated to reflect more current thinking.
The syllabus of the Academy's "Paranormal Psychology and Pseudoscience"
course is available online at http://www.usafa.af.mil/dfbl/courses/bs495para/.