sci.skeptic FAQ

(Frequently Asked Questions)

This page has been accessed 6775 times since February 1, 1995.

Email all additions, corrections or suggestions concerning this FAQ and its contents to Paul Johnson at: <Paul@treetop.demon.co.uk>

Table of Contents

Introduction

Background

• 0.1: What is sci.skeptic for?
• 0.2: What is sci.skeptic not for?
• 0.3: What is CSICOP? What's their address?
• 0.4: What is "Prometheus"?
• 0.5: Who are some prominent skeptics?
• 0.6: Aren't all skeptics just closed-minded bigots?
  • 0.6.1: Why are skeptics so keen to rubbish fringe ideas?
  • 0.6.2: How do we know Randi is honest?
  • 0.6.3: Why don't skeptics challenge religions?
  • 0.6.4: How can I persuade the other side?
• 0.7: Is there any scientific psi research?
• 0.8: What is a "conspiracy theory"?
• 0.9: What is "cold reading?"
• 0.10: Is there a list of logical fallacies?
• 0.11: What national and local skeptics organisations are there?
• 0.12: Where can I get books on paranormal phenomena?
• 0.13: Where can I find skeptical information on-line?
• 0.14: Where can I find paranormal information on-line?

The Scientific Method

• 1.1: What is the scientific method?
• 1.2: What is the difference between a fact, a theory and a hypothesis?
• 1.3: Can science ever really prove anything?
• 1.4: If scientific theories keep changing, where is the Truth?
• 1.5: "Extraordinary evidence is needed for an extraordinary claim."
• 1.6: What is Occam's Razor?
• 1.7: Galileo was persecuted, just like researchers into today.
• 1.8: What is the "Experimenter effect".
• 1.9: How much fraud is there in science?
  • 1.9.1: Did Mendel fudge his results?
• 1.10: Are scientists wearing blinkers?

Psychic Powers

• 2.1: Is Uri Geller for real?
• 2.2: I have had a psychic experience.
• 2.3: What is "sensory leakage"?
• 2.4: Who are the main psi researchers?
• 2.5: Does dowsing work?
• 2.6: Could psi be inhibited by the presence of skeptics?
• 2.7: Why don't the skeptics test the *real* psychics?
• 2.8: What is the ganzfeld?

UFOs/Flying Saucers

• 3.1 What are UFOs?
  • 3.1.1: Are UFOs alien spacecraft?
  • 3.1.2: Are UFOs natural phenomena?
  • 3.1.3: But isn't it possible that aliens are visiting Earth?
• 3.2: Is it true that the US government has a crashed flying saucer? (MJ-12)?
• 3.3: What is "channeling"?
• 3.4: How can we test a channeller?
• 3.5: I am in telepathic contact with the aliens.
• 3.6: Some bozo has just posted a load of "teachings" from a UFO. What should I do?
• 3.7: Are crop circles made by flying saucers?
  • 3.7.1: Are crop circles made by "vortices"?
  • 3.7.2: Are crop circles made by hoaxers?
  • 3.7.3: Are crop circles radioactive?
  • 3.7.4: What about cellular changes in plants within crop circles?
• 3.8: Have people been abducted by UFOs?
• 3.9: What is causing the strange cattle deaths?
• 3.10: What is the face on Mars?
• 3.11: Did Ezekiel See a Flying Saucer?
• 3.12: What happened at Tunguska?
• 3.13: How did the Dogon know about Sirius?

Faith Healing and Alternative Therapies

• 4.1: Isn't western medicine reductionistic and alternatives holistic?
• 4.2: What is a double-blind trial? What is a placebo?
• 4.3: Why should scientific criteria apply to alternative therapies?
• 4.4: What is homeopathy?
• 4.5: What is aromatherapy?
• 4.6: What is reflexology?
• 4.7: Does acupuncture work?
• 4.8: What about psychic surgery?
• 4.9: What is Crystal Healing?
• 4.10: Does religious healing work?
• 4.11: What harm does it do anyway?

Creation versus Evolution

• 5.1: Is the Bible evidence of anything?
• 5.2: Could the Universe have been created old?
• 5.3: What about Carbon-14 dating?
• 5.4: What is "dendrochronology"?
• 5.5: What is evolution? Where do I find out more?
• 5.6: "The second law of thermodynamics says...."
• 5.7: How could living organisms arise "by chance"?
• 5.8: But doesn't the human body seem to be well designed?
• 5.9: What about the thousands of scientists who have become Creationists?
• 5.10: Is the speed of light decreasing?
• 5.11: What about Velikovsky?
• 5.12: Are there human footprints from 250 million years ago?

Fire-walking

• 6.1: Is fire-walking possible?
• 6.2: Can science explain fire-walking?

New Age

• 7.1: What do New Agers believe?
• 7.2: What is the Gaia hypothesis?
• 7.3: Was Nostradamus a prophet?
• 7.4: Does astrology work?
  • 7.4.1: Could astrology work by gravity?
  • 7.4.2: What is the `Mars Effect'?
  • 7.4.3: But couldn't there be some undiscovered connection between people and plants?
• 7.5: What is Kirlian photography?

Strange Machines: Free Energy and Anti-Gravity

• 8.1: Why don't electrical perpetul motion machines work?
• 8.2: Why don't magnetic perpetual motion machines work?
• 8.3: Why don't mechanical perpetual motion machines work?
• 8.4: Magnets can levitate. Where is the energy from?
• 8.5: But its been patented!
• 8.6: The oil companies are conspiring to suppress my invention!
• 8.7: My machine gets its free energy from +
• 8.8: Can gyroscopes neutralise gravity?
• 8.9: My prototype gets lighter when I turn it on
• 8.10: Can magnets improve fuel efficiency or descale pipes?

AIDS

• 9.1: What about these theories on AIDS?
  • 9.1.1: The Mainstream Theory
  • 9.1.2: Strecker's CIA Theory
  • 9.1.3: Duesberg's Risk-Group Theory
• 9.2: What About the Sailor with AIDS in 1959?

You Must Remember This

• 10.1: What is "False Memory Syndrome"?
• 10.2: How can I contact the False Memory Syndrome Foundation?

Introduction

This is the sci.skeptic FAQ. It is intended to provide a factual base for most of the commonly discussed topics on sci.skeptic. Unfortunately I don't have much time to do this in, and anyway a FAQ should be the Distilled Wisdom of the Net rather than just My Arrogant Opinion, so I invite submissions and let all the net experts out there fill in the details. Submissions from any point of view and on any sci.skeptic topic are welcomed, but please keep them short and to the point. The ideal submission is a short summary with one or two references to other literature. I have added comments in square brackets where I think more information is particularly needed, but don't let that stop you sending something else.

If you are reading this with a newsreader and want to follow up on something, please copy the question to the subject line. This is more informative than a reference to the entire FAQ.

This is in no way an "official" FAQ. I am a computer scientist by profession and deeply skeptical of paranormal claims (although I may include some pro-paranormal arguments here). If anyone else with a less skeptical point of view wants to start a FAQ list, please feel free. I certainly can't stop you.

How to Get It

This FAQ is posted once per month on the Usenet groups sci.skeptic and news.answers. Look for it around the 20th of the month.

Many FAQs, including this one, are available on the archive site rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which a FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-name line at the top of the article. This FAQ is archived as skeptic-faq.

Various people have placed copies of this FAQ on their web servers, or on CD-ROMS or other places. These copies may not be up to date. Please check the date at the top of this document to see when it was last updated. Something gets changed most months. If you send a correction, please make sure you are referring to the latest version, or at least quote the version number in your message.

I AM NOT A MAILSERVER. Requests to email the FAQ will be silently ignored.

Suggestions and Updates

I am always happy to accept corrections to this FAQ.

In general it is not very useful to criticise areas of the FAQ as "not explaining it properly". If you want to see something changed then please write a submission which explains it better. Grammar and spelling corrections are always welcome though.

If you send me information related to the FAQ, please say whether I can use your words in the next edition. I have to be careful about this, lest I be accused of publishing private email.

Copyright

This document is Copyright 1993 Paul Johnson. Permission is granted to you the reader to copy this document onto any medium, including but not limited to paper, electronic storage systems, and microfilm.

Seeking Information

Please send in contact addresses for local and national skeptics organisations not listed in section 0.11.

I'm still looking for someone to tell me about gyroscopes and the angular momentum of the Earth.

I'd like to start up a section of references to other on-line information, skeptical and otherwise. If you know of publicly accessible collections then please let me know.

Credits

Thanks to all the people who have sent me submissions and comments. There isn't enough room to thank everyone individually, but some of the more major contributors are listed here:

York H. Dobyns <ydobyns@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> provided carbon 14 dating information, notes about current psi researchers and other useful comments.

Dendrochronology information came from <whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.com>.

The questions "What are UFOs?" and "Are crop circles made by flying saucers?" were answered by Chris Rutkowski <rutkows@ccu.umanitoba.ca>

Ken Shirriff <shirriff@sprite.Berkeley.EDU> provided information on perpetual motion machines, Leidenfrost reference and the AIDS section.

Robert Sheaffer <sheaffer@netcom.com> sent information about Philip Klass and UFO abductions.

The Ezekiel information comes from a posting by John Baskette <jfb@draco.macsch.com>.

John Boyd <jboyd@uk.ac.ed> provided skeptical references on acupuncture.

Eric Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> contributed information on acupuncture, the origin of life, and the CIA AIDS theory.

Kirlian photography information was paraphrased from an article by Dave Palmer <dpalmer@csulb.edu>.

Cold reading information came from an article by Pope Charles <popec@brewich.hou.tx.us>.

Todd Stark <tark@com.dec.ENET.dwovax> sent information on acupuncture analgesia, and provided section 10.1: "What is False Memory Syndrome".

Geoff Lane <zzassgl@uk.ac.manchester-computing-centre.uts> provided the article and references on Tunguska.

The skeptic organisation list came from Holger Stegemann <holger@esfra.sub.org>.

Roger Nelson <rdnelson@EDU.Princeton.phoenix> provided section 0.7: "Is there any scientific psi research?".

Information and references on 250 million year old footprints comes from a posting by Darby South of Baton Rouge, LA.

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