Skeptic Zoners

Presented for your listening pleasure, on Friday 10th October, 2008.

Dr Ginger Campbell - Brain Science Podcast

First – apologies for the delay in posting this blog entry – we were at the Australian Skeptics National Convention held in Adelaide over the weekend and will bring you footage to prove it for later episodes!

Introduction by Richard Saunders and Stefan Sojka – we have over a thousand subscribers and over 2000 downloads so far! We’re still growing and are inspired by the cool skeptic shows out there on iTunes, so get subscribing to us all!

One of the other great shows that we are proud to feature in our interviews is Dr Ginger Campbell of the Brain Science Podcast.

Stefan ponders if it’d be possible for us to one day have brains that pick up TV, radio and podcast shows, like the second episode, released last week! Our new feature is Dr Rachie Reports, with Live Blood Analysis. The ‘Think Tank’ returns, with its own wonderful theme songs.

Don’t forget, our theme song is available as a ring-tone on our site! We’ve been getting fan-mail for our show and we look forward to more comments and reviews, especially at iTunes and Digg.

[We especially send our love to the blog 'Musings, Silliness', for being the first to Digg us and we have an upcoming photo to prove our technological miracle status... or maybe just be a bunch of posers who can use photoshop... ]

Our second half of the Dragon*Con 2008 show we did! Kylie gets up to something not scripted – a tiny musicbox playing of ‘Waltzing Matilda’!

Dr Ginger Campbell discusses her early influences and multiple podcasts. She mentions the ‘Grande Dame’ of podcasting, Mur Lafferty (who features on this episode of Books and Ideas) – Ginger talks about the great Australian Sci Phi show and the support from Jason Rennie – she features on The Sci Phi Show, Outcast #50.

Oh no! Her early episodes of ‘Books and Ideas Podcast‘ ended up profiling some of the worst books on Audible.com last year! She discusses the influence of Dr Eugenie Scott in an interview, where Ginger was able to tackle the ongoing issue of ‘evolution vs creationism’ and refutes prejudice against those with religious beliefs:

‘I don’t take what I call “a radical skeptic position”, because my goal is to have a show that everyone with a brain can listen to and I don’t intentionally try to alienate a person who has beliefs, because I think the more you learn, the belief thing will take care of itself…’

Richard praises the inclusion of Dr Eugenie Scott on Episode 21 of the show and hopes to interview her for a future interview and highly recommends her contributions to any podcast.

'Hawkeye' Pierce is NOT a real ER doctor!

Ginger discusses the episode on ‘The Myth of Free Will’ by Chris Evatt, with pieces by Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore; are people really claiming that ‘my brain made me do it?‘ Apparently people are trying to get that excuse accepted and she talks about brain imaging in her recent recording of Brain Science Podcast #46: Recorded LIVE at Dragon*Con 2008 with Dr. Shella Keilholz and Dr. Jason Schneiderman.

Karen asks about myths about the brain discussed in the Skeptical Inquirer – will science fiction and paranormal claims ever be realised, with more research via fMRIs and the like? Dr Ginger talks about how the study Karen references discusses how scans could demonstrate simple actions ten seconds ahead of time; how conscious awareness is a popular topic on the Brain Science podcast. Our responsibility isn’t removed despite our thoughts – but Richard does deserve some hitting, we agree!

Richard discusses a similar interview on Skepticality about Dr Susan Blackmore and how she came to her conclusions about the brain – Dr Campbell critiques the ‘Buddhist-like’ view that Blackmore has and how she considers it more of a non-conscious element. Intuition and feelings are a big topic for many; whether it is part of the paranormal. One of Dr Campbell’s most recent guests was Robert Burton and his book ‘On Being Certain’ – you can catch that episode here! Intuition and gut-feelings from ‘lower circuits’ in the brain; how Burton is a novelist and how he discusses the myth of the ‘muse’ in creativity and novel-writing.

Support Robert Lancaster - buy a shirt like Kylie's!

Kylie raises the question about superstitions in the Emergency Room! Dr Campbell relates some funny and fascinating stories about the profession she’s in, the ghost in the hospital and how coincidences create the impression that the hits are more than the misses.

What about House and shows like ER – how do TV shows contribute to people’s impressions of doctors? Richard regrets how the actor Alan Alda, who played M.A.S.H’s ‘Hawkeye‘, just wasn’t as impressive in real life as he was on the screen!

Dr Campbell relates a sobering story about how people’s high regard for the ER doctors can result in being the preferred point of call for medical advice.

We thank Dr Campbell (don’t worry – she also got a Skeptic Zone T-Shirt and you can get one too!) – and do enter in for the Brain Science video contest! The deadline for entering is December 15, 2008.

** Advertisement by Brian Dunning for Skeptoid – Check It Out! **

** New Feature – Dr Rachie Reports! On Live Blood Analysis – hocus pocus? **

** Advertisement for Skeptics Unite and Fundraising to Help Robert ‘Stop Sylvia Browne‘ Lancaster – check out the merchandise at SkepticsUnite.com site **

The Think Tank returns! This time it’s stories whilst a Mahjong tournament takes place in the background! A request for a ‘virtual wall’ in NSW and a discussion of the media’s treatments of Jewish beliefs. The story that is related by Michael is probably best reflected in John Safran’s depiction of Jehovah’s Witness Prince doing his door-to-door promotion of ‘The Watchtower’:

Michael discusses an article about Swedish taxpayers supporting Scientology! Rachael recalls an E-Entertainment item on vegan fads and how a child died from starvation after being put on a diet. And is colonic irrigation and ear-candling seriously being used in detoxing claims? Apparently so! We even have a Skeptic Zone T-Shirt saying ‘no ear-candling!’

Starsigns? Rachael recalls a classic feature of the mysteryinvestigators.com site and we urge you to encourage Richard to write more ‘Orb Fontal’! And what’s this about women’s panties in a pastor’s pocket?? Rachael reports on virulent strains of HSV1 known as BGKL and how it is striking down Sumo wrestlers and rugby players – scrumpox! She defends it as being very much related to ‘medical issues’ and important to skepticism. Or maybe she just enjoys a laugh about the name. Rather like Michael’s report on Dutch Christians Cancel Naked Service. Or how the Vatican Gets Solar Panels?

We don’t do innuendo on this show, by the way… We say farewell in a variety of languages and will catch you next episode! Watch out for the Australian Skeptics National Convention where we uploaded this very show! Here’s a sneak preview of what it was like: