Jun 18 2008
Away at TAM6
I am away this week at The Amazing Meeting 6 in Las Vegas. This is the sixth annual meeting of the James Randi Educational Foundation, which has evolved into the meeting of the skeptical movement. For those of you who will be there, stop by and say hello. I will be conducting interview throughout the meetings. The Skeptics Guide will also be recording two live shows, from 8-9AM, Friday and Saturday morning. I will be giving a lecture Saturday morning on the similarities between creationism and cartesian dualism – pretty much a summary of my blogs on the topic.
I will still be posting my usual assortment of blogs here, at Science-Based Medicine, and the Rogues Gallery. However, I will not be as attentive to the comments as I usually am – so be a little patient.
Next week I will give you a report from the conference.
10 Responses to “Away at TAM6”
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The question is will Pec still manage to disagree with this post.
See you there!
Have a great time at TAM6, Steve. I hope to make it out there next year for TAM7.
superdave: “The question is will Pec still manage to disagree with this post.”
I’ll take over that duty….
Novella says he’s ‘away’ but provides zero evidence of this, nor anything supporting his assertion this is the 6th TAM. Of course, his readers just line up lock step and swallow his assertions.
And who is Novella to declare that Randi’s TAMs have become “the” meeting of skeptics? He uses the term ‘evolved’ -again, without a shed of evidence to back up this proffered example of dubious ‘evolution’. Isn’t it possible the Randi TAM became “the” skeptics’ meeting by default, due to the relative small size and infrequency of other skeptic-related gatherings, rather than by ‘evolution’? Ah, but alternative explanations simply aren’t allowed in the closedminded, ideologically driven, skeptical enclave of blind believers who just accept such assertions not on their merits, but on the perceived authority of their issuer, Dr. Steven Novella.
And he says “I will be conducting interview throughout the meetings.” Huh? A single interview ongoing throughout the entire TAM6? I strongly doubt this. I suppose Novella will weasel out of this by declaring it to be a minor typo by a writer rushing to make his flight to the TAM. Right. If a non-skeptic offered up a like excuse, he’d be excoriated for it.
He further outlines his agenda and advises “I will not be as attentive to the comments as I usually am – so be a little patient.” What? Is this the proper euphemism for dwarfism that a supposedly licensed medical doctor ought to employ? Shall we wonder if its Novella’s education, training, and licensure as a doctor or his rock-rigid, materialistic outlook, looking-thru-the-wrong-end-of-the-telescope skeptical mindset that prompts such unfeeling and insensitive nomenclature?
Lastly, he threatens us with this: “Next week I will give you a report from the conference.”
Oh no, not “a” report, but Novella’s report, all of it putatively ‘rational’ and ‘critically thought out’ and all in accordance with the tenets of contemporary scientific skepticism – no doubt without a word reflecting alternative viewpoints, dualism, or anything else that threatens the closedminded demagoguery of the skeptical position. For shame!
Given all this, I think we’re forced to toss out all evidence supporting evolution, materialism, skepticism, biology, physics, geology, astronomy, chemistry, and um, math.
~*~
Howzat, Dave?
@Devilsadvocate
You have me convinced. How can I ever trust anything Steven Novella writes again? Is he even a real doctor?
From now on, I will only let Dr. Michael Egnor define my reality.
*Now if I could just remember the address to his blog…*
haha good job devil’s advocate. Can you try Dr. Egnor now?
DA – good work…
I’ve suspected for a while that pec may be an alter-ego of one of the regulars; a character who deliberately puts forward controversial statements, full of logical fallacies, in order to encourage further argument. A devil’s advocate, if you will….
A – ha!
I’ll keep this simple:
I hate you.
;-p
I’m so totally bummed that I couldn’t make it to TAM this year…
@Devilsadvocate
Fantastic post. Thanks for the good fun.