Episode #187

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Who's That Noisy

    Interview with Angie McQuaig

    • Angie McQuaig is the Director of Camp Inquiry and a member of ScienceDebate 2008. She has a PhD in educational leadership and discusses her thoughts on science education.

    Question #1 – Starseeds

    • First of all, I’d just like to say thanks for a great show. I came to the podcast about a year ago, and have recently been working my way through the old episodes, and enjoying them all a lot. If you’d welcome one person’s constructive and subjective criticism, I wish you’d pushed a bit harder to nail Neal Adams down in his interview (either metaphorically or literally would have been equally good), and possibly spent a bit more time screaming at the ‘brain’s a receiver, dualism rules’ guy ‘Are you fucking crazy?’, but, of course, this is just one listener’s opinion in a griwing sea of thousands. Given the rate at which much of the population of the internet seems to be pushing back the enlightenment, I suppose that I should not be surprised at all when I come across a new piece of craziness, but I must admit, I am often still stunned when one person’s really off-the-wall delusions seem to catch the mood of a group and are taken up as genuine beliefs. An example that I came across today is (are?) the self-titled ‘Starseeds’. It appears that there are a good few people who genuinely believe that they are aliens, sent here with alien DNA for a higher purpose, and to help humanity. Here is a typical site; http://spiritualnewearth.blogspot.com/2007/08/what-are-starseeds.html Given the quality of some of their output, I think that the most help that they ever give humanity is bringing their curly fries at the same time as their burgers, but hey, who am I as a mere human to comment on their purpose. I suppose that I am supposed to tag on a question, to make this something other than a pointless stream of consciousness post, so, er, how about them Mets, eh? Mainly, I did just want to say hello, and to say thanks, again, for the podcast. I really do enjoy it, and appreciate all of the hard work that you do, for no pay, just to bring a little more reality to a world sorely needing it right now Tony Potts London
    • I guess we can forget about the utility belt, this is los mas macho! http://www.eholster.com/ Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum Richard Drumm

    Science or Fiction

    Skeptical Quote of the Week.