• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

"Environmental Wars" - Who's Going?

I thought about going, but have a scheduling conflict.

I look forward to hearing all about it from the JREFrs
 
Yesterday I "crashed" this event. :D I ate before I went and went to hopefully see JREF friends for awhile at dinner time - I hit the jackpot! I had the pleasure of being with RSLancaster, Mercutio, Electric Monk, Wyvern, Liam from the Skeptic Society, and a few others. Yes, Renata too, but I don't have evidence... it was great to see you all and hope most if not all of you go to TAM5 so I can see you again.
 
It was great to spend some time with you, MLMynn!

By the way, could you please put some stripes behind Zephyr in your new avatar? For continuity's sake. :D
 
Anyone keep a blog of this event, or willing to share how it went? I wanted to go, but have a house full of in-laws. I was going to go but I thought it was at Cal Poly in SLO. Apparently the earth survived,
 
I didn't keep a blog of it. I might take the time to write up some impressions later, but for me, on a scale of 1 to 10, TAM4 was an 8 or 9, and this was a 3. Maybe.

To be fair, this was largely because the topic of Global Warming - perhaps I should be ashamed to say this - does not hold my attention.
 
The content was good, but the format was difficult to take. One solid day and evening of being lectured at caused my brain to try to hide in the dark corners of my cranium like a mouse that thought it saw a cat. I guess it is more palatable for people who've been students more recently. </old_person> I'd recommend this event if it's on a theme that interests you, but be aware of the format.
 
I was particularly unimpressed with the main speakers, Michael Crichton and John Stossel.

Stossel's appearance seemed to be primarily another stop on his book-signing tour, and offhand, I don't recall if his talk even had a theme or point, and I would venture to say there was little if anything in it which was news to the average attendee.

Crichton took the wacky, bold stand that there are no such thing as skeptics any more.

His "proof" of this was along the lines of "Where were skeptics when Eugenics was in common practice? So many people were sterilized, and where were the skeptics?"

That was pretty much the thrust of his entire talk.

Luckily, two people during the Q/A session addressed this. One said something to the effect of "I admit that I did nothing to stop Eugenics. I also admit that I did nothing to stop the Spanish Inquisition." The other person pointed out that Crichton's accusation was specious. After all, Eugenics ended, so SOMEONE must have been skeptical of its benefits.

All in all, for the "big draws" of the conference, they were sadly lacking.
 
I took a few notes on the conference. ;)

I wan't very impressed with the headliners, though they were billed as "Special Guests" and not as keynote speakers.

Stossel's theme was that mainstream media tries to scare us with overhyped claims. It's a matter of the programming being guided by the bottom line. Examples he gave included Love Canal, airline crashes, and terrorism. He made the connection to the disaster scenarios of global warming, and pushed the idea that the market, and not central planning would solve things best.

The theme of Crichton's talk was that when mass movements are afoot, skeptics go into hiding. His historical example was the eugenics movement, which was supported by a wide range of scientists, (including from my own knowledge many of the secular and humanist activists of the time). He gave a figure of 20,000 for the number of "feebleminded" who were forced to undergo forced sterilization in Los Angeles alone, and that the practice continued until 1964.

Crichton's current examples were of the increasing domination of science by commercial and political interests. Cases of doctors taking genetic samples and profiting from them without permission of the patient, the fruits of public research being given to corporations who then charge the public for the resulting products (well beyond their costs, I imagine he means, but he did not say that, directly).

He claimed that in mideval times, courageous skeptics kept the witchhunters at bay for some time, and that modern skeptics are falling down on the job.

Jonathan Adler, who spoke on "Fables of Federal Environmental Regulation" has a liveblog of the conference on The Commons Blog. Note that he mentions a "Russian immigrant" questioning Crichton's preference for non-commercialized science. The questioner was Renata. Adler writes that "In response Crichton seemed to backtrack a bit..." :)

--James
 
Electric Monk said:
Note that he mentions a "Russian immigrant" questioning Crichton's preference for non-commercialized science. The questioner was Renata. Adler writes that "In response Crichton seemed to backtrack a bit..." :)

--James
Click to expand...

So Renata was stirring up trouble as usual?

I'm kicking myself for not going. I kept putting off making plans until it was too late. :mad:
 
Thanks for the details, EM. Did we meet at the conference? My guess is that you were one of the people talking to the Russian immigrant, who I neglected to butt in and introduce myself to...
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
So Renata was stirring up trouble as usual?

I'm kicking myself for not going. I kept putting off making plans until it was too late. :mad:
Click to expand...
You bastard. You and Dups, both of you.

There were no lizards, but there was performance art.

Oh, yeah, there was the conference too.

EMonk takes amazing notes. I think he filled 25 pages.

I think I will make most of my comments on skepticforum, since it was Skeptic's conference after all...
 
RSLancastr said:
Thanks for the details, EM. Did we meet at the conference? My guess is that you were one of the people talking to the Russian immigrant, who I neglected to butt in and introduce myself to...
Click to expand...
Yep, I was the one three seats down from you, between our new friend Renee, and Mercutio, wearing the "Got Skeptic" t-shirt and furiously scribbling notes. I knew who you were from your TAM4 talk, and I guess I didn't share my online identity with you. :)

I also have some pix of your TAM4 talk waiting to be processed and sent to you if any of them are good, and if you have any interest.

And yes, Merc, the total was 25 pages which I'll be using to comment on the Skeptics board, probably tomorrow.

--James
 
Electric Monk said:
Jonathan Adler, who spoke on "Fables of Federal Environmental Regulation" has a liveblog of the conference ... Note that he mentions a "Russian immigrant" questioning Crichton's preference for non-commercialized science. The questioner was Renata. Adler writes that "In response Crichton seemed to backtrack a bit..." :)
Click to expand...

Thank you James. I saw Jonathan typing furiously throughout the conference on his laptop.

I also had never met Renata before, but I was sitting directly behind her for the evening session, and I had spoken with her at last year's conference.

GO RENATA!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom