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Tam 8

hcmom said:
Don't worry, it's difficult to miss that part, if you're there that week at all...
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And we're working on a Drinking Skeptically meet-and-greet the night before--just to set the base you understand ;) (Separate thread on that).
 
hcmom said:
Don't worry, it's difficult to miss that part, if you're there that week at all...
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Well, in all fairness, it is Vegas. Its kind of hard to miss out on the hanging out in the bar any week of any year. No guarantee on a large number of skeptics to hang out with except for the week of TAM though.
 
saganite said:
It looks like they made an active effort to recruit more female speakers this year. Karen Stollznow, Carol Tavris, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Maria Walters (Masala Skeptic on Skepchick), and others...plus a Feminist Skepticism workshop. Makes me happy!
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There was some... discussion... after Bill Prady's talk last year. So it's not all that surprising that there's some focus on women this year.

And no, I'm afraid there's no way I can afford a trip overseas this year. :(
 
saganite said:
It looks like they made an active effort to recruit more female speakers this year. Karen Stollznow, Carol Tavris, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Maria Walters (Masala Skeptic on Skepchick), and others...plus a Feminist Skepticism workshop. Makes me happy!
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Crap - they're bringing Jennifer Micheal Hecht to speak? Get ready for a bunch of post-modernist crappy confused thinking regarding how dependable science is...

If you're not quite sure what I mean, listen to her interview with D.J. on For Good Reason.
 
sowellfan said:
Crap - they're bringing Jennifer Micheal Hecht to speak? Get ready for a bunch of post-modernist crappy confused thinking regarding how dependable science is...

If you're not quite sure what I mean, listen to her interview with D.J. on For Good Reason.
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We were wrong before, so we MUST be wrong now!
 
BillC said:
Haven't been for ages now, so will try to get to this one.
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If you're going, mate, I'll definitely be there. By the way, I'll be back in London the last weekend in May. Another pint or 4?
 
I wasn't familiar with Jennifer Michael Hecht before, but after doing a little Amazon and Wiki-ing, she seems like a very odd fit with TAM's purpose. It appears that her whole platform is doubt for doubt's own sake? Is that right? If so, then it makes perfect sense that she's a poet but not so much that she'd be a speaker at a conference for science education.
 
saganite said:
I wasn't familiar with Jennifer Michael Hecht before, but after doing a little Amazon and Wiki-ing, she seems like a very odd fit with TAM's purpose. It appears that her whole platform is doubt for doubt's own sake? Is that right? If so, then it makes perfect sense that she's a poet but not so much that she'd be a speaker at a conference for science education.
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Example?
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Example?
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Her big-selling book is called Doubt: A History:

Cited midway through this magisterial book by Hecht (The End of the Soul), the Zen maxim "Great Doubt: great awakening. Little Doubt: little awakening. No Doubt: no awakening" reveals that skepticism is the sine qua non of reflection, and discloses the centrality that doubt and disbelief have played in fueling intellectual discovery. Most scholarship focuses on the belief systems that have defined religious history while leaving doubters burnt along the wayside. Hecht's poetical prose beautifully dramatizes the struggle between belief and denial, in terms of historical currents and individual wrestlings with the angel. Doubt is revealed to be the subtle stirring that has precipitated many of the more widely remembered innovations in politics, religion and science, such as medieval Jewish philosopher Gersonides's doubt of Ptolemaic cosmology 200-300 years before Copernicus, Kepler or Galileo. The breadth of this work is stunning in its coverage of nearly all extant written history. Hecht's exegesis traces doubt's meandering path from the fragments of pre-Socratics and early religious heretics in Asia, carefully elucidating the evolution of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, through the intermingling of Eastern and Western religious and philosophical thought in the Middle Ages that is often left out of popular histories, to the preeminence of doubt in thrusting open the doors of modernity with the Cartesian "I am a thing... that doubts," ergo sum. Writing with acute sensitivity, Hecht draws the reader toward personal reflection on some of the most timeless questions ever posed.
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Also her website describes her as "poet, philosopher," rather than "educator," "scientist," "skeptic," etc.
 
I finally got my act together and registered, booked flight and hotel. Are the workshops usually worth attending? What else is happening while they are going on? I'm also thinking of signing up for Penn and Teller.
 
zooterkin said:
I finally got my act together and registered, booked flight and hotel. Are the workshops usually worth attending? What else is happening while they are going on? I'm also thinking of signing up for Penn and Teller.
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I have the same question and am currently debating if $45 each or $100 for all of them is worth it.

Saw Penn and Teller last year (not at TAM 7) and recommend them!
 
I'll be there, no doubt feeling much like this:

In the end, I kept coming back to one thought: at this great meetup, this enormous event, a place and time where everyone not only talks of community and coming together but seems to honestly feel and believe what they're saying, I felt more detached, more isolated, while in this 1000-strong crowd of skeptics than I had in a long time.
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(from http://actionskeptics.blogspot.com/2009/07/amazng-meeting-7-thursday-and-friday.html )
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Wow. I hope this guy doesn't get near any 20th story windows.
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No kidding. His strategy was really quite interesting:

1. Go to 1000-person conference.

2. Be completely hostile to the notion of speaking with any of the other "mouth-breathing gomers" in attendance.

3. Complain about feeling lonely.
 
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