Skeptiko

49. Craig Hogan, Your Mind Is Not Your Brain

Alex Tsakiris — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:00:00 -0400

Guest: R. Craig Hogan, author of Your Eternal Self claims studies unmistakably point to the finding that the mind is separate from the brain.

Transcript for this episode coming soon.

File Download (58:38 min / 27 MB)

48. Jonathan Balcombe on Animal Rights

Alex Tsakiris — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:52:00 -0400

Guest: Dr. Jonathan Balcombe author of, Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good.

File Download (38:34 min / 18 MB)

47. Skeptical Researcher, Dr. Clive Wynne Tackles DogsThatKnow

Alex Tsakiris — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:45:00 -0400

Guest: Dr. Clive Wynne on the University of Florida’s participation in the DogsThatKnow experiment.

Read a transcript of this interview

File Download (33:14 min / 15 MB)

46. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake and the Skeptics

Alex Tsakiris — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:17:00 -0400

Guest: Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 75 scientific papers and ten books. As a former Research Fellow of the Royal Society, he studied natural sciences at Cambridge University and philosophy at Harvard University, before returning to Cambridge, where he took a Ph.D. in biochemistry. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, where he carried out research on the development of plants and the ageing of cells. He is the current Perrott-Warrick Scholar and Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project.

A complete transcript of the interview is available at: www.skeptiko.com/blog/?p=22.

File Download (44:17 min / 20 MB)

45. Researching Psychic Mediums

Alex Tsakiris — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:43:00 -0400

Guest: Dr. Julie Beischel, on the survival of consciousness and her proof-focused studies on psychic mediums.

“If there’s a question, that science’s job. There’s no line of what you can and cannot ask but, if you’re at a university, then there is because there’s public pressure and, you know, they are just a giant nonprofit basically. Like, they have to worry about funding and, you know, people were getting…you know…saying things like, “Oh, this is such a waste of taxpayer money.” No university dollar ever went to support our research. It was totally privately funded.” Read the complete transcript of this interview

The Windbridge Institute for Applied Research in Human Potential

File Download (36:06 min / 17 MB)

44. Dr. Steve Novella on Psychic Medium Research Protocols

Alex Tsakiris — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:03:00 -0400

Guest: Dr. Steven Novella from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe discusses his participation in an upcoming psychic medium demonstration. The panel also discusses the protocol used to avoid “cold readings”, and accurately score results.

Protocol For Medium Demonstration With SGU and Skeptiko

File Download (56:42 min / 26 MB)

43. From the desk of James Randi

Alex Tsakiris — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:30:00 -0400

Chronicles the email exchange between Skeptiko host, Alex Tsakiris and noted Skeptic, James Randi regarding DogsThatKnow experiment.

Read the entire email exchange

Transcript of This Episode

File Download (15:55 min / 7 MB)

42. Chris Carter, Parapsychology, Skepticism and Ideology

Alex Tsakiris — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:12:00 -0400

Part 2 of Chris Carter, Parapsychology and the Skeptics. Examines how the Skeptical community and magazines like the Skeptical Inquirer deal with scientific evidence for psi, telepathy and ESP:

“… you have to remember, the argument isn’t really about the evidence. The argument is about [Skeptic’s] assumptions and their preconceptions. There preconceptions are that these sort of phenomena don’t make any sense and challenge their worldview… so there going to do anything they possibly can to dismiss evidence that challenges their preconceptions.”

Tsakiris: “I don’t agree with you… I think they believe they have examined the evidence and have honestly come to a different conclusion.”

Carter also traces the origins of the Skeptical community and its links to atheism and secular humanism.

Featured Interviews:

• Chris Carter

File Download (35:54 min / 16.4 MB)

41. Psychic Dog Video, Skeptical Bias

Alex Tsakiris — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:57:00 -0400

Host discusses video of telepathic dog experiment recently posted on YouTube:

“if you look at how skeptics look at this stuff, there’s an almost unavoidable urge to make decisions that undermine the results. This can be unintentional. It’s just built into the worldview that these folks have, and it’s very, very difficult to overcome….”

Read the full transcript

File Download (14:04 min / 6.4 MB)

40. Chris Carter, Parapsychology and Skeptic Bullies

Alex Tsakiris — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:57:00 -0400

Guest: Chris Carter on the scientific argument for ESP, telepathy and other psi phenomena – and how Skeptics misjudge, misinterpret and get it wrong:

“… I think magazines like Skeptical Inquirer and originations like Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)… the problem is they lump scientific researchers in with all the practitioners of the occult without drawing any distinction between them” .

Featured Interviews:

• Chris Carter

File Download (39:10 min / 17.9 MB)