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Bay Area Science, SciSchmooze Newsletter, ExplOratorium

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College of Marin

SkepTalk – Online

John Cook, Ph.D.

WHAT: What To Do About Misinformation (in Four Dimensions)
Misinformation is a complex problem pervading many aspects of society, with technological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects. Countering misinformation requires tackling the many-headed beast from a variety of disciplines and directions. The 4D Project synthesizes four research themes: Detect, Deconstruct, Debunk, and Deploy. Detection involves training machine learning models, in collaboration with UK-based political scientists, to automatically detect and categorize climate misinformation in real-time. Deconstruction uses a critical thinking methodology developed with University of Queensland philosophers to analyse and identify reasoning fallacies in misinformation. Debunking can take a variety of forms, and Cook will outline his collaboration with US-based communication researchers to experimentally test different approaches and improve psychological understanding of misinformation correction. Deployment involves putting into practice the theoretical insights from the first three themes. For example, the Cranky Uncle game, developed with the U.S. creative agency Autonomy, combines critical thinking, inoculation theory, and cartoons in the form of a smartphone game that builds players’ resilience against misinformation.

WHO: John Cook holds a Ph.D. in cognitive science from the University of Western Australia. Currently he is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub. His research focus is understanding and countering misinformation about climate change, with an emphasis on using critical thinking to build resilience. In 2007, he founded Skeptical Science, a website that won the 2011 Australia Museum Eureka Prize for the Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge. In 2013, he published a paper quantifying the 97% scientific consensus on climate change which was highlighted by President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron. In 2015 at the University of Queensland, he led the development of a Massive Open Online Course on climate science denial, that has received 40,000+ enrollments from over 185 countries. He co-authored the college textbooks Climate Change: Examining the Facts and Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis, as well as the book Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand. In 2020, he published the book Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change applying critical thinking, inoculation research, and cartoons to engage and educate readers about climate misinformation. He is also a recipient of the Friend of the Planet award from the National Center for Science Education in the US.

WHEN: Thursday 12 August 7:30pm PDT (02:30 UTC)

WHERE: Online. Click HERE

HOW: Presented FREE by the Bay Area Skeptics

WHY: Because we are curious creatures.

SkepTalk – Online

Richard Saunders

WHAT: Que Sera, Sera. Is the future ours to see? The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project.

For more than 10 years, Richard Saunders has been compiling and researching psychic predictions made in Australia covering the years 2000 to 2020. With over 3000 predictions in the database, what conclusions can we draw about those who claim to be able to see into the future? How many of the thousands of predictions turned out to be on the money, how many were too vague to score and how many were just plain wrong? This talk will also detail the work of Richard’s online team of researchers from around the world, including the Bay Area, who have for over a year met each week to pour over and mark the predictions. A sneak-peek into the results of the project before official publication.

WHO: Richard Saunders lives in Sydney, starred as the “Skeptical Judge” on two seasons of the TV show “The One: The Search for Australia’s Most Gifted Psychic.” He is also the host of the weekly podcast “The Skeptic Zone,” now in its 14th year. Richard is also an origami expert and children’s author, CSI Fellow and life member of Australian Skeptics.

WHEN: Thursday 9 September 7:30PM

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