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Guest wish list for TAMIII

The Bad Astronomer

Muse
The Bad Astronomer
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
828
We are already seeing threads about potential guests for TAMIII. Why not collate them?

I'm sure we'll see Julia Sweeney again, and I might drop by. :) So who do you want? Just a quick note, with a description. We should keep a separate thread for discussions if someone disagrees (and we could link to it from the post with the suggestion).

1) Dr. Dean Edell. He's a medical skeptic, well-spoken, thoughtful, and straightforward in his conviction.
 
Apart from Michael Shermer (duh!) and Phil Plait (double-duh!), I would also love to see the following people, in no particular order:

Phillip Klass
Joe Nickell
Susan Blackmore
Theodore Schick
Roger Culver & Phillip Ianna
Mark Pendergrast
Emily Rosa
Mark Edward

I probably left out some important people. I know that Martin Gardner doesn't make public appearances, but could JREF persuade him to simply show up? Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould are there in spirit anyway...

We should, of course, invite people from the Dark Side as well - at least, as a formality:

Sylvia Browne
John Edward
Gary Schwartz
Montague Keene
Brian Josephson
etc....

Hey, let's give them an opportunity to defend themselves...! I would love the chance to tear Schwartz' "experiments" apart... :)

However, I would appreciate it if Jerry Andrus was chained to something immovable. Does that guy ever get tired? He makes people a fourth his age look positively lethargic! No, really, he is a fixture at TAM, and it is great - if somewhat scary - to play with his optical illusions and see his tricks. I'm not sure if I love the illusions or hate them....they make me question my sanity. I have never seen him turn down an audience, be it of one or fifty. Keep him.
 
Tom Gilovitch-- his book " How we know what isn't so: The fallibility of human reason in everyday life." offers tangible reasons for why people believe wierd things...
I invited him to speak on the "hot hand" and other pitfalls of perception at fermi national lab and he gave a great talk, entertaining and informative...
http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/people/Faculty/tdg1.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0029117062/

Cecil Adams-- this guy knows how to research a topic. He has a webpage that has to be good for the critical thinking cause... and I bet he has some serious stories to tell. Let's get "The Straight Dope" at TAMIII
http://www.straightdope.com/

Massimo Pigliucci-- this guy seems to know his science and philosophy. Just because he writes for SI and FI doesn't mean he can speak at TAMIII-- right??
http://fp.bio.utk.edu/skeptic/default.htm

Karl Fezer-- his book "Scholarly World, Private Worlds" is an elegant work for teaching critical thinking and gently opening the door to skepticism for those with cherished religious beliefs. Truely a thoughtful book and I'd love to hear him speak. In terms of the athiesm/theism discussion of late, this book explores the boundaries in a non-threatening way yet pulls no punches.
http://faculty.concord.edu/kdfezer/
 
I wish that the political climate was such that JJ could volunteer to give a talk on "The Audiophile and New Age Physics".

But that's a touchy subject.
 
jj said:
I wish that the political climate was such that JJ could volunteer to give a talk on "The Audiophile and New Age Physics".

But that's a touchy subject.
Click to expand...

I don't see why that would be a touchy subject. Who would object? Why?
 
Andrew, Karl, Linda and I were discussing our wish list while we were in Vegas on Sunday. I think we came up with some cool people.

What I would say is think quickly because work on TAM3 is about to begin! :)

-Monkey Boy
 
Larry Kusche....

ok not sure of the spelling, but he exploded the whole Bermuda Triangle thing. His two books, one about the Bermuda Triangle and the other about Flight 19 are text books about how to investigate paranormal claims. Basically, hard work and research. As he's a teacher I think he would be able to talk in public. Plus, I've never heard of him speaking at a skeptic event.

We in the skeptic community really owe him a lot.

And how about some more European skeptics?
 
cosmic said:
Tom Gilovitch-- his book " How we know what isn't so: The fallibility of human reason in everyday life." offers tangible reasons for why people believe wierd things...
I invited him to speak on the "hot hand" and other pitfalls of perception at fermi national lab and he gave a great talk, entertaining and informative...
http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/people/Faculty/tdg1.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0029117062/
Click to expand...
I second that. I wish he would update it for use in critical thinking courses. It's where I first ever heard of the Wason 4 (and, ultimately, 2) Card Problem.
An unnamed individual told me that that problem upset some people at TAM1.
 
Nyarlathotep said:


I don't see why that would be a touchy subject. Who would object? Why?
Click to expand...

It's touchy because of how the industry (audio) is controlled.
 
Bill Nye! Totally!

I teach young children, and except for a few good books, including one by Michael Shermer (which is more about science) I'm making stuff up as I go along. Bill Nye would be a great resource.
 
Harlan Ellison. He was awarded this Scroll down a few inches. And he's a great writer.
 
Tom Lehrer.

Also, if we're going to continue the mentalist/magician theme, then Derren Brown would be hard to beat.
 
Matt Stone and Trey Parker! SOUTHPARK ROCKS!!!

Especially if you want a bigger population at TAMIII. I bet these guys will draw in a younger crowd too. Wait. . . Would that be good or bad? Anyhow, with items for auction from Penn & Teller, dinner with Julia and items from Matt and Trey, that could become a huge contribution of cash for the JREF.

Regardless of the TAMIII roster, I think more attention should be focused on auctioning items. I think the silent and live auctions were a great idea and success at TAMII and should be implimented into TAMIII. Hal! Start collecting items! I will start saving now to win something. So far I bid $28.37 towards dinner with Julia. Good thing I have a year to save more.

"I like Cheezy Poofs"
 
kevinsbikes said:
Bill Nye is good...
Johnny Carson
Howard Stern
Janeane Geraffalo (sp)
Click to expand...

Howard Stern might be a bit much, don't you think?

Bill Nye and Johnny Carson would get me there even if I have to hitchhike!
 
CFLarsen said:
We should, of course, invite people from the Dark Side as well - at least, as a formality:

Sylvia Browne
John Edward
Gary Schwartz
Montague Keene
Brian Josephson
etc....

Hey, let's give them an opportunity to defend themselves........
Click to expand...

Montague Keen might be a bit difficult (at least according to this thread )
Although, Maybe James Van Praagh could offer to channel him..........?
Peter
 
Peter Jenkins said:
Montague Keen might be a bit difficult (at least according to this thread )
Although, Maybe James Van Praagh could offer to channel him..........?
Peter
Click to expand...

My point exactly. Hey, are we open-minded or what? :)
 
In the months before TAM 1 I found out a woman from another board lived in that area. Her and her husband both do hypnotic past-life regressions, I told her she should come and do a demonstratin, maybe even take the challenge there.

she refused of course. still seeing a challenge done live would be cool. They can blame the failure on intense negative vibes being in a skeptical nexus.


Did you know Bill Nye was on a comedy show before doing science?
 
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