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Skeptic's Toolbox
The Skeptic's Toolbox was a four-day workshop devoted to scientific skepticism. Founded by psychologist and now-retired University of Oregon professor Ray Hyman, it was sponsored by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Annual workshops focused on educating people to be better critical thinkers, and involved a central theme. The attendees formed small groups and were given tasks that to work on and whose results they then presented to the entire workshop on the final day. History Hyman created the Skeptic's Toolbox in 1989 to teach people how to be better skeptics. He tells James Underdown that "we were putting out more fires by skeptics than by believers... they were going overboard". The first toolbox was in Buffalo, NY with himself, James Alcock and Steve Shaw (now called Banachek). With the exception of the first year in Buffalo and one year when the toolbox was held in Boulder, Colorado, the toolbox was held at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Attendance was generally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Repressed Memory
Repressed memory is a controversial, and largely scientifically discredited, psychiatric phenomenon which involves an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is understood as a defense mechanism that excludes painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from consciousness. Repressed memory is presently considered largely unsupported by research. Sigmund Freud initially claimed the memories of historical childhood trauma could be repressed, while unconsciously influencing present behavior and emotional responding; he later revised this belief. While the concept of repressed memories persisted through much of the 1990s, insufficient support exists to conclude that memories can become inconspicuously hidden in a way that is distinct from forgetting. Historically, some psychoanalysts provided therapy based on the belief that alleged repressed memories could be r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientology
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially developed a set of Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. An organization that he established in 1950 to promote it went bankrupt, and his ideas were rejected as nonsense by the scientific community. He then recast his ideas as a religion, likely for tax purposes and to avoid prosecution, and renamed them Scientology. In 1953, he founded the Church of Scientology which, by one 2014 estimate, has around 30,000 members worldwide. Key Scientology beliefs include reincarnation, and that traumatic events cause subconscious command-like recordings in the mind (termed "Engram (Dianetics), engrams") that can be removed only through an activity called "Auditing (Scientology), auditing". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace Sampson
Wallace Sampson (March 29, 1930 – May 25, 2015), also known as Wally, was an American medical doctor and consumer advocate against alternative medicine and other fraud schemes.Antiscience Trends in the Rise of the 'Alternative Medicine' Movement, Wallace Sampson, 17 DEC 2006, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences/ref>SFGate: Healthy Doubts, ''Wallace Sampson – Alternative medicine doesn't exist and acupuncture is useless, he says'', Reyhan Harmanci, SF Chronicle, August 31, 2006/ref>Closer to the Truth, ''Wallace Sampson, Physician, Consumer Health Advocate'', Public Broadcasting System/ref>Traditional Medicine and Pseudoscience in China: A Report of the Second CSICOP Delegation, Special Report, Barry L. Beyerstein and Wallace Sampson, Center for Inquiry, Volume 20.4, July / August 1996 He was an authority in numerous medical fields, including oncology, hematology, and pathology. He was Emeritus Professor of Clinical Medicine at Stanford University. He was the former Head ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prometheus Books
Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz (who was also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). The publisher's name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. This act is often used as a metaphor for bringing knowledge or enlightenment. Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, focusing on topics such as science, freethought, secularism, humanism, and skepticism. It has published in the "atheism" category since its founding in 1969, and is considered the "grandfather" of atheist publishing in America. Their headquarters is located in Amherst, New York, and they publish worldwide. Jonathan Kurtz was an executive editor of Prometheus. Rowman & Littlefield acquired Prometheus Books in 2019. The publisher has roughly 1,700 books currently in print, and publishes approximately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Beyerstein
Barry L Beyerstein (May 19, 1947 – June 25, 2007) was a scientific skeptic and professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Beyerstein's research explored brain mechanisms of perception and consciousness, the effects of drugs on the brain and mind, sense of smell and its lesser-known contributions to human cognition and emotion. He was founder and chair of the BC Skeptics Society, a Fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Associate editor of the ''Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine'' Journal as well as a contributor to ''Skeptical Inquirer'', Beyerstein was one of the original faculty of CSICOP's Skeptic's Toolbox. Beyerstein was a co-founder of the Canadians for Rational Health Policy and a member of the advisory board of the Drug Policy Foundation of Washington D.C. He was a founding board memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Andrus
Jerry Andrus (January 28, 1918 – August 26, 2007) was an American magician and writer known internationally for his original close-up, sleight of hand tricks, such as the famous "Linking Pins", and optical illusions. Early life Andrus was born January 28, 1918, in Sheridan, Wyoming. At the age of 10, he moved to Albany, Oregon, where he lived until his death in 2007. At 12, Andrus became interested in the art of illusion when he saw a performance of a reformed " spiritual medium". He joined the International Society of Junior Magicians when he was 16 and soon became known as a "magician’s magician". Career Magic A self-taught magician, Andrus preferred to develop his own style rather than learn the craft as traditionally handed down from other magicians, eventually becoming world renowned as one of the "best and most-influential 'close-up magic' performers ever." He was known to many accomplished contemporary magicians, such as Lance Burton, Doug Henning, and Penn & Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harriet A
Harriet(t) may refer to: * Harriet (name), a female name ''(includes list of people with the name)'' Places * Harriet, Queensland, rural locality in Australia * Harriet, Arkansas, unincorporated community in the United States * Harriett, Texas, unincorporated community in the United States Ships * ''Harriet'' (1798 ship), built at Pictou Shipyard, Nova Scotia, Canada * ''Harriet'' (1802 EIC ship), East India Company ship * ''Harriet'' (1810 ship), American ship * ''Harriet'' (1813 ship), American ship * ''Harriet'' (1829 ship), British Royal Navy ship * ''Harriet'' (1836 ship), British ship * ''Harriet'' (fishing smack), 1893 British trawler preserved in Fleetwood Museum Other * Harriet (band), an alternative Americana band from Los Angeles * ''Harriet'' (film), a 2019 biographical film about Harriet Tubman * Harriet (novel), a 1976 romance by Jilly Cooper Dame Jilly Cooper, (born Jill Sallitt; 21 February 1937) is an English author. She began her career as a journ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loren Pankratz
Loren Pankratz (born February 27, 1940) is a consultation psychologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and professor in the department of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Following his retirement in 1995, he maintained a forensic practice until 2012. He testified nationally on cases of Münchausen syndrome by proxy (MBP), often defending mothers accused of harming their children. He has written and lectured on a wide variety of unusual topics such as dancing manias, spiritualism, Greek oracles, ghosts, plagues, historical enigmas, mesmerism, moral panics, con-games, self-deception, faith healing, self-surgery, miracles, ethical blunders, quackery, and renaissance science. He has also published magic history, magic tricks, and mentalism effects in magazines. Pankratz, along with Ray Hyman and Jerry Andrus, was a founding faculty member of the Skeptic's Toolbox in Eugene, Oregon. Pankratz is also a Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mentalist
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes special effects that may appear to employ psychic or supernatural forces but that is actually achieved by "ordinary conjuring means", natural human abilities (i.e. reading body language, refined intuition, subliminal communication, emotional intelligence), and an in-depth understanding of key principles from human psychology or other behavioral sciences. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats, deduction, and rapid mathematics. Mentalism is commonly classified as a subcategory of magic and, when performed by a stage magician, may also be referred to as ''mental magic''. However, many professional mentalists today may generally distinguish themselves from magicians, insisti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JREF
The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled scientific experimental conditions. The organization announced its change to a grant-making foundation in September 2015. The organization previously administered the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. The organization has been funded through member contributions, grants, and conferences, though it ceased accepting memberships after 2015. For several years, the JREF website published the blog ''Swift'', which included news and information as well as exposés of paranormal claimants. Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2012 Toolbox Faculty
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sports, where it commonly denotes the first, leading, or top thing in a group. 1 is the unit of counting or measurement, a determiner for singular nouns, and a gender-neutral pronoun. Historically, the representation of 1 evolved from ancient Sumerian and Babylonian symbols to the modern Arabic numeral. In mathematics, 1 is the multiplicative identity, meaning that any number multiplied by 1 equals the same number. 1 is by convention not considered a prime number. In digital technology, 1 represents the "on" state in binary code, the foundation of computing. Philosophically, 1 symbolizes the ultimate reality or source of existence in various traditions. In mathematics The number 1 is the first natural number after 0. Each natural number, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
