Advisors

Susan Gerbic
Leonard Tramiel
Greg Dorais
Dan Dugan, Sound Designer		web
Dean Edell, M.D., ABC Medical Reporter
Andrew Fraknoi, Former Chair, Astronomy Department, Foothill College
Donald Goldsmith, Ph.D., Astronomer and Attorney
Mark Hodes, Education Consultant
Alexander Jason, Investigative Consultant
David Knapp, Ph.D., Physicist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Lerner, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, California State University, Long Beach
Larry Loebig, CEO, CaliforniaCom, Inc.	email	web
John E. McCosker, Ph.D., Director, Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences
Kit Moser, Science writer
Richard J. Ofshe, Ph.D.,U. C. Berkeley
Kevin Padian, Ph.D., Professor, U. C. Berkeley
James Randi, Magician, Author, Lecturer
Francis Rigney, M.D., Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center
Terence Sandbek, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist	email	web
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D., Anthropologist; Founding Director, National Center for Science Education
Robert Sheaffer, Technical Writer, UFO expert
Ray Spangenburg, Science Writer
Jill C. Tarter, Ph.D., U.C. Berkely. Chair Emeritus, SETI Institute

25 May – Virtual Skeptics in the Pub
26 May – Skeptical Inquirer Presents
9 June – SkepTalk – Online
16 & 17 July – SkeptiCal 2022

Virtual Skeptics in the Pub

WHAT: Virtual Skeptics in the Pub
This is a casual night of socializing with fellow skeptics. We’ll have a number of breakout rooms for quieter conversations.

Please join us! This is a free event brought to you by Bay Area Skeptics. All are welcome, but please be respectful of others.

WHEN: Wednesday 25 May 7 PM

HOW: Online. Click HERE to enter the pub.

Skeptical Inquirer Presents – Online

Carl Bergstom & Jevin West

WHAT: Calling Bullshit: The Art Of Skepticism In A Data-Driven World

Today’s world is more thoroughly quantified than ever before. We are awash in numbers, statistics, figures, algorithms, and data graphics. Quantitative information is power: it is used to convey objectivity, to strengthen arguments, and to inform decisions—and all too often it is used to impress, overwhelm, and persuade without any conviction to truth. Fortunately, one doesn’t need an advanced degree in statistics or computer science to see right through the vast majority of quantitative misinformation. Drawing on examples of misleading claims from the COVID pandemic, misuses of artificial intelligence and other world events, we will empower you to push back when confronted by numerical arguments and data-hungry technologies. By focusing attention on the data sources and their weaknesses, rather than on the complex and often obscure algorithms and statistical procedures, you can see through the hype and hold your own against those who would sell you digital snake-oil.

WHO: Carl Bergstrom is a professor of biology at the University of Washington and a faculty member at the UW Center for an Informed Public. Trained in evolutionary biology, mathematical population genetics, and infectious disease epidemiology, Carl is perhaps best known for working crossing field boundaries and integrating ideas across the span of the natural and social sciences.

WHO: Jevin West is an Associate Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. He is the co-founder of the new Center for an Informed Public at UW aimed at resisting strategic misinformation, promoting an informed society and strengthening democratic discourse. He is also the co-founder of the DataLab at UW and Data Science Fellow at the eScience Institute.

WHEN: Thursday 26 May 4PM PDT

Where: Online. Register HERE

SkepTalk – Online

Lee McIntyre, Ph.D.

WHAT: How to Talk to a Science Denier – Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason
It is sometimes claimed that trying to convince a science denier with facts will only backfire. The latest research, however, shows that this is mistaken and that there ARE effective techniques that can be used to keep someone from becoming a science denier and even help them to overturn mistaken beliefs once they are formed. The secret lies in recognizing that even empirical beliefs may be held for reasons that have nothing to do with evidence, such as personal values, trust, ideology, and group identity. The best way to convince someone in this case is not to insult them — or clobber them with evidence — but to engage in calm, respectful, patient conversation that simultaneously builds trust and encourages them to reflect not just on what they believe but the reasoning strategy that brought them to believe it.

WHO: Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he previously taught philosophy at Colgate University, Boston University, Simmons College, Tufts Experimental College and Harvard Extension School.

McIntyre is the bestselling author of POST-TRUTH (MIT Press, 2018) — which was named a Book-of-the-Week in April 2018 by CNN and a Best Book of 2018 by the PBS News Hour — along with thirteen other works of fiction and nonfiction, including DARK AGES: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior (2006), THE SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience (2019), and his latest book HOW TO TALK TO A SCIENCE DENIER: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason (2021). His work has been translated into thirteen languages.

McIntyre’s popular essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Nature, Newsweek, Scientific American, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and numerous other venues. He has appeared on CNN International on Amanpour and Company — and several other programs on PBS, NPR and the BBC — and has spoken at the United Nations, the Aspen Institute, and the Vatican.In 2021, McIntyre starred in the docu-series INFODEMIC: Global Conversations on Science and Misinformation, broadcast on LINK TV and PBS.

WHEN: Thursday 9 June 6:30PM (early)

Where: Online. Click HERE

SkeptiCal 2022

WHAT: Annual Science & Skepticism Conference
In its 12th year, the SkeptiCal Conference brings stimulating and entertaining speakers to a nation-wide audience of science fans, critical thinkers, and, in the words of Carl Sagan, questioners of “extraordinary claims”. Join us for two stimulating days of speakers, interviews, and discussions. And – test your wits on a round of SkeptiCal trivia, and try your hand at SkeptiCal’s popular Skepardy! game.

WHO:

Kenny Biddle
John Cook
Emery Emery
Edzard Ernst
Susan Gerbic
Ian Harris
Alex Kasprak
Nick Little
Leighann Lord
Michael Marshall
Steven Novella
Bill Nye
Bill Patterson
Eugenie Scott
Celestia Ward
Mick West

Prizes from the following exhibitors will be raffled off during the conference:

GeeksBearingGifts
HouhaDesigns
LaunchPins
MontroseBiology
ShopMicrobi .

More information & Tickets: HERE

HOW: SkeptiCal is sponsored by the Bay Area Skeptics, the Sacramento Area Skeptics, the Monterey County Skeptics, and the Center for Inquiry-San Francisco.