The last talk/panel I attended at Convergence/Skepchicon on the second day was a nice general one on how to recognize & deal with pseudoscience in general. It’s a long one, so here goes…
Bullshit Detection Kit: Why Pseudo-Science Doesn’t Deliver
Exploring pseudoscience and why it is highly improbable. It’s called pseudo-science for a reason.
Ted Meissner (moderator), David Walbridge, Greg Laden, Steve Thoms, Bug Girl, Stephanie Zvan, Lois Schadewald
Ted: We’re going to talk about our favorite forms of pseudoscience. Mine is Deepak Chopra talking about how meditation can cause an earthquake.
Stephanie: my favorite pseudoscience is parapsychology.
Lois: I’ve picked Flat Eartherism as my favorite pseudoscience.
David: My interest is psychics.
Greg: I’ll be talking about the pseudoscience of woo related to the brain (“you only use 10% of your brain”).
Bug: Surprisingly, there is a lot of pseudoscience related to emptomology – for example, electronic bug zappers (ultrasonic repellers) are total b.s.
Steve: For me it’s all about alternative medicine, and it really bugs me because this stuff kills a lot of people and hurts people I know.
The Skeptical Teacher 