Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 5-17-99
SkeptInq@aol.com
Mon, 17 May 1999 12:36:39 EDT
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ELECTRONIC DIGEST
May 17, 1999
SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)
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CSICOP publishes the bimonthly SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for Science
and Reason. The May/June 1999 issue features two articles on Bigfoot, and a
special section on the urban legends of organ snatching and snuff films.
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In this week's SIDIGEST:
--Southern Califorina Heats Up with Skepticism
--Dawkins and Pinker Debate "Is Science Killing the Soul?"
--James Oberg's "Space Power Theory" On-line
--Homeopathy Over E-mail?
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HEATS UP WITH CENTER FOR SKEPTICISM
Dramatic changes are taking place at the Center for Inquiry-West, the west
coast bureau and resource center for CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer. In a new
phase of growth, February 1999 saw the arrival of Executive Director Matt
Cherry, and the expansion into new offices and meeting spaces. The new
Center will be home to a greatly expanded range of programs and services for
skeptics in the Southern California region.
Visit the Center for Inquiry on-line at http://www.cfiwest.org.
Resources already on the site, or soon to be added, include an introduction
to the views and concerns of skeptics, information on the work of the Center,
and a calendar of upcoming events. The site was constructed by Vaughn Rees
of the Rational Inquirers of Orange County.
CALLING ALL CAMPUSES. The Center for Inquiry wants to hear from skeptics on
Southern California campuses. We are compiling a list of campus contacts who
might be interested in meeting other skeptics at their institution. We are
especially interested in hearing from anyone interested in starting a
skeptics group on campus or inviting a CSICOP representative to speak on
campus. Whether you are a student or faculty member, please send you contact
details and any relevant information to Matt Cherry at FICHERRY@aol.com or
call 310-306-2847.
On May 1, CSICOP chair Paul Kurtz along with author/entertainer Steve Allen
spoke at the Center for Inquiry-West on "The Future of the Book: The Greatest
Publishing Crisis Since Gutenburg." Over 150 people attended the event, part
of Prometheus Book's Thirtieth Anniversary Party. Prometheus is the world's
largest publisher of books on skepticism.
Kurtz raised alarm at the increasing conglomerization of publishing and the
media, warning that dissenting viewpoints may be squeezed out of the
marketplace of ideas, with negative consequences for consumers and public
debate. As an example, Kurtz pointed to the media's heavy sensationalism of
the paranormal and pseudoscientific from aliens to psychics. Steve Allen
talked about the urgent need for a cultural renaissance in American
publishing and the media.
DAWKINS AND PINKER DEBATE "IS SCIENCE KILLING THE SOUL?"
In February, scientists and authors Richard Dawkins and Stephen Pinker
debated the question is "Is Science Killing the Soul?" at the Westminster
Central Hall in London. A transcript of the debate can be found at:
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge53.html
JAMES OBERG'S "SPACE POWER THEORY" ON-LINE
Former NASA engineer and CSICOP fellow James Oberg latest book "Space Power
Theory", commissioned by the US Space Command (and hence not subject to
copyright) is now online at:
http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace/SPT/overview.htm
HOMEOPATHY VIA E-MAIL?
A copper coil is wrapped around a bottle of homepathic solution.
Electromagnetic signals from the solution set up a current in the coil.
Current variations are digitized and transmitted to a second, distant coil.
Can signals from that coil turn pure water into a homeopathic solution?
Leon Jaroff of TIME magazine covers the question in the May 17 issue.
According to the article, Physicist Robert Park of the American Physical
Society and Nobel prize winner Brian Josephson are close to agreeing on a
protocol for a double blind test of homeopathy over the Internet.
As TIME reports, Park and Josephson would test homeopathy proponent Jacques
Beneviste's latest claim "that the 'memory' of water in a homeopathic
solution has an electormagnetic 'signature.' This signature, he says, can be
captured by a copper coil, digitized and transmitted by wire--or, for extra
flourish, over the Internet--to a container of ordinary water, converting it
to a homepathic solution."
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