Posts Tagged sceptics

32 results.

2017-02-08 Tim Harford on Statistics: Why Truth Matters

Feb08
by on 2017-02-08 at 18:34
Chapter:

Another fascinating talk on post-truth, this time by Tim Harford of Radio 4’s “More or Less” fame. The take home message seems to be that people need to care more about the world, and that facts alone aren’t enough to change opinions.

↓ Transcript
2017-02-08 Tim Harford
Statistics: Why the truth matters
1953 New York -- John Hill "Doubt is our product"
Sir Walter
painted smoke gives mice cancer
[F]acebook [F]act checking -- probably helps a little bit. Helps those who already know some facts.
Pope endorses [Trump]?
Fake news -- is more profitable (advertising) - Click!
"Backfire Effect"
* £340M -- Just not true! -- but truth is hard to forget
* Simple facts are more persuasive
* Princeton vs. Dartmouth -- "They saw a game" -- Perception is coloured by feelings
-- And it's WORSE for scientists!
[Flu jab] doesn't cause flu -- accepting this is not enough! Still won't get vaccinated.
Filter bubbles and echo chambers:
Algorithms make it worse, searches are personalised, therefore biased.
BUT people do it naturally.
It's not a problem (today)
-- Filter bubblers don't even read the news!
(China) 50 cent army -- creating distraction.
Sally Prusiner (Nobel prize) for CJD and prions -- funded by tobacco!
TRIVIALISM
most people just aren't paying attention
* Dan Kahan - measuring curiosity
We need to make people care
Hans Rosling (1948-2017) -- we need more like him.

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2017-01-11 Mark Lynas in the Pub

Feb01
by on 2017-02-01 at 23:39
Chapter:

Another interesting talk at the Oxford Skeptics in the Pub meeting — Mark Lynas is an eco-activist who came to the conclusion that GMO is not necessarily bad, and that Organic isn’t necessarily good, using the power of critical thinking. One interesting point he made is that the degree of scientific consensus supporting GMO safety is roughly the same as that supporting climate change. So if you think critically you have to accept both (or possibly neither?)

↓ Transcript
Science in the Age of Post-Truth, by Mark Lynas 2017-02-01
Trump for a reason - we abandoned reason.
Royal Society - Nullius in Versa
GMO - destruction of crops
Science support for climate change = science support for GMO saftey
Virus resistant cassava
an entire maize crop (drought in Tanzania)
BT aubergines
Dosimeter at Fukushima
Golfball sized piece of Uranium
Wind turbines won't be enough
E. Coli from Organic food - kidney failure
1961 technology -- you'd need this much extra land for agriculture [2 x USA]
join Refugees Welcome in Oxford
Gene drive vs. Malaria
40% coal (UK) -> 10% coal
identity bubbles get smaller and smaller
Plea: be an activist on critical thinking.

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2017-01-11 Helen Czerski in the Pub

Jan11
by on 2017-01-11 at 23:39
Chapter:

The very energetic and interesting Dr. Helen Czerski presented “We need to Talk about Physics” at today’s meeting of Oxford Skeptics in the Pub. We learnt why blueberry jam isn’t blue; why the Hubble telescope is like a raw egg; and why there is a lot of physics still to do to understand everyday phenomena (such as how bubbles move in a turbulent fluid.)

I’m afraid the likeness is worse than usual. Dr. Czerski doesn’t do standing still.

↓ Transcript
PV=nkT
oceanographers
graph of time vs size: quantum / cosmos, life in the middle
benedicts' reagent and blueberry jam
slosh damping bubbles -- frequency of slosh depends on size of cup. Walk slower (or faster)
Mexico city eqrthquake: freq(quake) = freq(buildings) Tai Pei 101, pendulum inside resists toppling
Helium powered gas gun -- jelly diamond catcher
toaster: far more interesting* than a distant star -- and it makes toast! (*maxwell's laws, *black body radiation)
"What can you do when you know that?"
body - planet - civilization (life support)
physics ducks
Homework Experiments:
1. raisins in lemonade...
2. watch spilt coffee dry...
3. tap the rim of a tea cup...
4. slide buttered toast off the table...

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2015-05-30 Sturm und Drang

May31
by on 2015-05-31 at 10:59
Chapter:

Well, it’s been a while, sorry. Nice to see Noah again, and then I found that a pair of hippos had crept in to this comic too.  Probably they came just to communicate with their cousin. I have no idea what that pair leaning out of the porthole are.

 

↓ Transcript
Noah: Get gopher wood, he said. Get tar and pitch, he said. Take two of each animal, he said. Didn't bloody say nothing about bringing change for the meter.

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2013-06-04 Balloonist

Jun05
by on 2013-06-05 at 00:00
Chapter:

I made this comic on my Android tablet, using Autodesk Inc.’s Sketchbook Pro for Tablets. It’s a little bit fiddly, but I think it came out all right.

I’d like to thank Karen for suggesting the comic.

↓ Transcript
no no no! I /don't/ doubt your ballooning qualifications!

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2013-05-04 Privatisation

May05
by on 2013-05-05 at 00:00
Chapter:

Remember, your blood pressure may go up as well as down. Your kidneys may be at risk if you do not keep up the payments.

I suppose this comic is nothing new in places where there’s no free, national health service. But in the UK we used to have one, that all of us were proud of (excepting the present government, of course.)

And I don’t usually do political satire. But I did so much want to use the sentence “your illness is important to us.”

Transcript:

999 calling…
RING RING
Thank you for calling NHS Direct PLC Premium-Plus-Extra service…

… All of our customer representatives are busy, but we will answer your call as soon as our shareholders allow. Your illness is important to us. Please hold the line…

While you’re waiting, why not take a couple of aspirins?

Did you know that with NHS Direct PLC’s Extra-Super Service you pay for two illnesses and get the third absolutely free?

Get that heart bypass operation you’ve always wanted, on easy terms with NHS Direct PLC…

↓ Transcript
999 calling...
RING RING
Thank you for calling NHS Direct PLC Premium-Plus-Extra service...

... All of our customer representatives are busy, but we will answer your call as soon as our shareholders allow. Your illness is important to us. Please hold the line...

While you're waiting, why not take a couple of aspirins?

Did you know that with NHS Direct PLC's Extra-Super Service you pay for two illnesses and get the third absolutely free?

Get that heart bypass operation you've always wanted, on easy terms with NHS Direct PLC...

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Hands off our Internet

Dec10
by on 2012-12-10 at 00:00
Chapter:

For those of you desperately looking for the joke, I have to say there isn’t one. Unless the joke is those governments which call themselves “democracies”.

Avaaz says:

“Posted: 10 December 2012
Right now at a UN meeting in Dubai, authoritarian regimes are pushing for full governmental control of the Internet in a binding global treaty — if they succeed, the internet could become less open, more costly and much slower. We have only 2 days to stop them.”

Please help by signing the petition.

And then perhaps we can get back to the giraffes in leopard-suits.

↓ Transcript
Hands off our Internet!
Internet is a force for democracy
-- tell your government to leave it that way!
...we don't have much time...

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2012-08-28 Bad Breath

Aug30
by on 2012-08-30 at 00:00
Chapter:

I hope I invented this one — it’s been sitting around on my “to do” pile for some time now. If not, please let me know who it was.

↓ Transcript
1.
2. Blow into the bag, please sir.
3. Breathalyse? What did I do wrong?
4. No, not a breathalyser Sir, it's carbon sequestration.

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2012-04-20 Hardware

Apr21
by on 2012-04-21 at 00:00
Chapter:

This weekend we’re planning a heist of the Ashmolean museum in Oxford. They’ve got nice stuff, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to get away with some great artwork.

UPDATE: the heist was a fantastic experience — reccying the Ashmolean Museum with the security chief and operatives themselves (ex casino and police types) pointing out the various countermeasures and answering (most) of our questions about what you’d have to do to steal their artwork! Heist comics of may well appear on adam’s site eventually… (I for one haven’t finished mine, and it’s rapidly getting more complicated… aiiieee)

↓ Transcript
-- morning!
-- Morning Sir! What can I get for you?
-- long-handled axe, please?
-- certainly, sir. Anything else?
-- a chainsaw and a flame-thrower. Please.
-- I'll get you some fuel for these, too
-- a set of large kitchen knives
-- a high-voltage power supply; four metres of piano wire and ten of stout cord; a nail gun; a box of firelighters; a dozen bottles of gin; an electric winch; a bottle of compressed air; and...
-- ...two litres of concentrated sulphuric acid. Please.
-- There you are sir, all wrapped.
-- Oh, I almost forgot! ...A packet of aspirin -- 64 please
--
-- sorry sir -- I can only sell you 32 of those. They're dangerous.

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2012-03-24 Alternative

Mar25
by on 2012-03-25 at 00:00
Chapter:

Nothing to do with the comic, but today is Karen’s big solo concert day… it will be fabulous!
http://pianorocketship.co.uk

Kaleidoscope of Mirror World Stories

↓ Transcript
1. ...and there's no need to worry, as we offer the full range of complimentary therapies
2. No! The word is COMPL/E/MENTARY
3. oh, and how do /you/ know which spelling I chose?
4. BECAUSE // this is a comic
5. Nevertheless, I chose my spelling advisedly
6. May I say what a fine jacket you're wearing?

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