Ever since I became aware I was a 'skeptic' I had struggled to find any kind of skeptical community to feel a part of.
That changed when I discovered podcasts like The Skeptics Guide to the Universe and even more so when I started using twitter regularly.
In fact, I conversed more with skeptics in Australia than I did with any in Auckland or even New Zealand.
But then I 'met' unifex on twitter. He is the organiser of Christchurch Skeptics in the Pub (SitP), webmaster of skepticsinthepub.net.nz and he offered some of his meetup.com credits to allow us to start Auckland SitP.
I set up the first meeting expecting 20 or so skeptics to crawl out of the Auckland woodwork but on the 10th September around 50 turned up at the Horse and Trap for the inaugral meeting.
Our numbers were definitely boosted by the attendance of special guest Kylie Sturgess, an Australian skeptic and a member of the Skeptic Zone podcast team.
She shared some of her experiences, recorded a conversation with a group of us to form part of the podcast (which you can download in mp3 format here) and even had time for some video shooting:
The meeting was a little disorganised, partly because no-one had any idea what was expected from the meeting, but despite that it was successful and plenty of ideas were shared for the next meeting.
And so this Thursday at 7.00pm another group of skeptics will gather at the Horse and Trap to listen to Matthew Dentith give a talk about conspiracy theories, have a beer and some snacks and do some networking.
If you're in the area feel free to drop in and check it out, and ideally join the group online so you can keep in touch with what's happening and help us build up our Auckland group.
Of course, if you're in Wellington or Christchurch then feel free to join their groups and head along to their meetings instead.
I promise you won't regret it.
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Skepticism is hard
The hardest thing about skepticism and critical thinking, for me, was giving up some of the ideologies I thought were positive.
The best example I can give is probably with politics. Traditionally I'm what you call a liberal - a left wing kind of guy who would traditionally vote for the furthest left standing for election.
In New Zealand that probably puts me in the Green camp. But the scientist in me finds that an intolerable position.
Not only was their opposition to the trans-Tasman amalgamation of medicine regulators TGA and Medsafe based on beliefs that were just plain wrong, their over-arching love of 'natural' products often invokes a huge amount of pseudo-science.
But the biggest thing is probably their anti-nuclear stance. I listen to the wonderful Brian Dunning's Skeptoid podcast, and I listened to his nuclear power podcast with a great deal of well. . . skepticism.
But in 10 minutes I was forced to face a firmly held belief and read more about the issue. The more I read, the more I realised the likelihood that New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance is probably based on information that is years, if not decades, old and any debate about nuclear power should be about the science as it is, not was.
I still think there's some validity in a country willing to push it's clean, green image for tourism purposes, but in a country which will face electricity shortages in the future it's madness not to debate the issue in a proper fashion.
The same is true for genetically modified crops. It only took 10 minutes to make me realise my long-held position against the crops was not only logically flawed but probably ignorant as well.
Of course, like a true skeptic I didn't just take Brian Dunnings word for it. Nor would he expect anyone to, I imagine.
I read, and - probably for the first time in my life - I'm making decisions solely based on critical thinking rather than because of where I am in the political spectrum or what I was brought up believing.
And you know what? It's not comfortable. Sometimes this puts me in the same box as right-wing politicians I would normally disagree with every ounce of my being.
Thankfully the internet - and Facebook and Twitter in particular - means a skeptic never needs to stand alone any more. And for that I'll be forever thankful.
The best example I can give is probably with politics. Traditionally I'm what you call a liberal - a left wing kind of guy who would traditionally vote for the furthest left standing for election.
In New Zealand that probably puts me in the Green camp. But the scientist in me finds that an intolerable position.
Not only was their opposition to the trans-Tasman amalgamation of medicine regulators TGA and Medsafe based on beliefs that were just plain wrong, their over-arching love of 'natural' products often invokes a huge amount of pseudo-science.
But the biggest thing is probably their anti-nuclear stance. I listen to the wonderful Brian Dunning's Skeptoid podcast, and I listened to his nuclear power podcast with a great deal of well. . . skepticism.
But in 10 minutes I was forced to face a firmly held belief and read more about the issue. The more I read, the more I realised the likelihood that New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance is probably based on information that is years, if not decades, old and any debate about nuclear power should be about the science as it is, not was.
I still think there's some validity in a country willing to push it's clean, green image for tourism purposes, but in a country which will face electricity shortages in the future it's madness not to debate the issue in a proper fashion.
The same is true for genetically modified crops. It only took 10 minutes to make me realise my long-held position against the crops was not only logically flawed but probably ignorant as well.
Of course, like a true skeptic I didn't just take Brian Dunnings word for it. Nor would he expect anyone to, I imagine.
I read, and - probably for the first time in my life - I'm making decisions solely based on critical thinking rather than because of where I am in the political spectrum or what I was brought up believing.
And you know what? It's not comfortable. Sometimes this puts me in the same box as right-wing politicians I would normally disagree with every ounce of my being.
Thankfully the internet - and Facebook and Twitter in particular - means a skeptic never needs to stand alone any more. And for that I'll be forever thankful.
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