Conspiracy skeptic Aug 30

[Kieran]

Really looking forward to this episode. I can't wait to hear the skeptic Karl mamer views on the paranormal and the response's Gene and Dave give back. Maybe their will be agreement on certain topics within the discussion, that is sometimes the nature of the game.
The Roswell episode, Karl has up on his website, is interesting just listening to it now.I won't predjudge Karl views and beliefs from just listening to one show, that would be simply be unfair to the him.

 

[Jose Collado]

I'm going to have to check this out. I enjoy Skeptoid the most when it comes to skeptical podcasts.

 

[pixelsmith]

jose will be in love with this bozo.

 

[Jose Collado]

ASSumptions, ASSumptions. Are you secretly in love with me?

 

[pixelsmith]

ASSumptions, ASSumptions. Are you secretly in love with me?

you wish...

just sayin this guy sounds like he is right up your alley... not that there is anything wrong with that.

we need skeptics here. if we all agreed, it would be pretty boring.

 

[Jose Collado]

I've been listening to the 2012 episode and so far I've found it pretty interesting.

I wonder if they'll do an episode on contrails...oops, I mean, chemtrails.

 

[pixelsmith]

contrails good
chemtrails bad

 

[tyder001]

Skeptics? Yeah we do need skeptic if you mean by skeptic one who questions and researces with an open mind. One who has no political or religous dogma to pound. But if by skeptic you mean "atheist" like jimmy randi or michael s (sorry I'll butcher his last name if I try to spell it right now.) then no, no we don't need em. I would no more listen to a rabid religous atheist like james randi or the c-cops discuss spiritual or paranormal reality than I would listen to patty robertson or jimmy swaggart discuss the virtues of Buddism. Of course I have said I would like to see The Paracast give james randi the same hard questioning treatement he gives others. But the thing is David and Gene would be honest and I'm not so sure randi and his ilk would like that. Or stand for it for that matter. So, yeah I enjoy skeptics like Paul Kimball and Greg Bishop who actually do the research. But jimmy randi and the c-cops? Not so much.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

I like James Randi. He did well exposing that Yuri Geller fraud. And then Criss Angel called Geller out again when he was on that show Phenomenon. That was amazing.
I don't always agree with what some skeptics say about UFOs (like Bill Nye acting like a jerk on Larry King) insomuch as explaining stuff away by saying it's swamp gas, but I am also not one to automatically say that UFOs are Aliens. Yes, people have seen things but we don't know what they are. The Paracast has really changed me and made me less skeptical on that subject.

I must say that when it comes to conspiracy theories, I'm very skeptical. Most of those theories are laughable, and when proof is shown that they are wrong (like the fake moon landing), that proof becomes part of the conspiracy. We landed on the moon, get over it! There also aren't and reptiles that want to take over.

 

[tyder001]

I consider myself a "skeptic." I 've seen things in the sky and contrary to what some want to say I didn't jump to paranormal conclusions. There is still an incident I can't explain but I still think there is a natural explantion for it. Geller? Well I gotta tell ya I have mixed emotions. I sometime think that we look for ablsolutes in a field where they are not so easy to find. I was watching when Chris Angel threw his tantrum and yeah he did make the guy look bad. But he also looked like he had a bug up his ass so it wasn't all that great a show. I have heard James Randi for years and although I do admit I don't watch him closely he has often come off as an angry old athiest with a bad attitude. I also have to admit something else in the spirit of honesty. I put athiest like randi in the same catagory as fanatics like swaggart. Sorry I just do. I persoally don't beleive in the nuts and bolts flying saucer type of U.F.O. but I still enjoy the debate and watching the night sky. I think Sheldrake and Moody and Ring and Harraldson and Stevenson have contributed much to the debate and search for truth. But, I don't think anything has been "proven." I take it all with a grain of salt. I have my own feelings and my own experience and I like everyone else wake up in my own skin everyday. I know what I've experienced. I have some possible past life memory. Have had all of my life and I'm over 50 now. But I was raised in the (cue northern anchor voice here) "deep south" bible belt and subjects like that were dismissed and ridiculed so I haven't had many people to discuss it with. I'll listen and see what I think but I really don't care much for evangelical atheist anymore than evangelical religous folks.

 

[Kandinsky]

'Excited' is a strong word but I'm quite excited about the show. Decent explanations for weirdness are always welcome and the guy seems well-versed in the subject. He doesn't seem like a Nye/Shermer type, but I guess we'll have to wait and see? The impression I get is that a lot of Paracast fans have already read-up on scientific explanations and there aren't many!

If he's one of the didactic nay-sayers, I hope the guys sent him home with an ulcer and burning ears 8)

 

[David Biedny]

'Excited' is a strong word but I'm quite excited about the show.

I would recommend tempering your excitement, the guy was in over his head, and it comes out. I also got fairly hot at a couple of points, not my best day, either. Oy.

dB

 

[CapnG]

I would recommend tempering your excitement, the guy was in over his head, and it comes out. I also got fairly hot at a couple of points, not my best day, either. Oy.

Ah, now reading that has gotten me interested in this episode. Skeptics can be so very dry, espescially if they're all reasonable and stuff. Knowing he got under your skin David tells me he's not as reasonable as he pretends.

See this is what makes the Paracast important. It's not enough to go after the charlatans on the woo-woo side of the equation. Let's face it, that's low hanging fruit. But to take the so-called skeptics to task when they're being overly rigid and remind them exactly what the term "skeeptic" means, now THAT requires effort.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

I would recommend tempering your excitement, the guy was in over his head, and it comes out. I also got fairly hot at a couple of points, not my best day, either. Oy.

dB

This sounds like it'll be fun actually. If he was an asshole, I hope that you put him in his place.

 

[Kandinsky]

the guy was in over his head, and it comes out.

That's a shame. I guess we're all looking to have our ideas challenged...there just aren't many 'out there' that can do it. In the subject of weird phenomena (UFOs, paranormal), we're all in over our heads, but at least we admit it. I can't remember if it was George Knapp or Frank Warren...one of them said that all these years and he sometimes feels no further forward than when he started. The Phil Klass Curse apparently has a bit of truth to it...dammit!

 

[Angel of Ioren]

I consider myself a "skeptic." I 've seen things in the sky and contrary to what some want to say I didn't jump to paranormal conclusions. There is still an incident I can't explain but I still think there is a natural explantion for it. Geller? Well I gotta tell ya I have mixed emotions. I sometime think that we look for ablsolutes in a field where they are not so easy to find. I was watching when Chris Angel threw his tantrum and yeah he did make the guy look bad. But he also looked like he had a bug up his ass so it wasn't all that great a show. I have heard James Randi for years and although I do admit I don't watch him closely he has often come off as an angry old athiest with a bad attitude. I also have to admit something else in the spirit of honesty. I put athiest like randi in the same catagory as fanatics like swaggart. Sorry I just do. I persoally don't beleive in the nuts and bolts flying saucer type of U.F.O. but I still enjoy the debate and watching the night sky. I think Sheldrake and Moody and Ring and Harraldson and Stevenson have contributed much to the debate and search for truth. But, I don't think anything has been "proven." I take it all with a grain of salt. I have my own feelings and my own experience and I like everyone else wake up in my own skin everyday. I know what I've experienced. I have some possible past life memory. Have had all of my life and I'm over 50 now. But I was raised in the (cue northern anchor voice here) "deep south" bible belt and subjects like that were dismissed and ridiculed so I haven't had many people to discuss it with. I'll listen and see what I think but I really don't care much for evangelical atheist anymore than evangelical religous folks.

Thanks for that honest post tyder. Well said.

I think that the issue that people like Randi and Angel have with someone like Geller is that he pretends to have an ability that he actually doesn't. Kinda like a Silvia Brown. If he would have come out as a magician, Randi would have never had a problem with him, and neither would Criss Angel.

I have no problem with people's beliefs, as long as they don't push them on me. I think it's possible to be able to believe in both God and science.

 

[skunkape]

I also got fairly hot at a couple of points, not my best day, either. Oy.

dB

Dolphins and Humbolt Squid...am I the only one, here?
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[David Biedny]

I have no problem with people's beliefs, as long as they don't push them on me. I think it's possible to be able to believe in both God and science.

And for a good discussion of that idea, you should listen to the Bernard Haisch episode, one of our better episodes, IMO.

 

[David Biedny]

Dolphins and Humbolt Squid...am I the only one, here?
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I must be tired, that whizzed right over mi cabeza.

dB

 

[Angel of Ioren]

And for a good discussion of that idea, you should listen to the Bernard Haisch episode, one of our better episodes, IMO.

Thanks David. I'm downloading it right now. That was a few months before I discovered the Paracast, and I must admit that I have not listened to all of the past episodes, although I have listened to many.