Canberra Skeptics Inc
This Web page provides information about the Canberra Skeptics, including notices of forthcoming events and activities.
The association holds regular informal meetings, usually on the 13th of each month, at various locations; see below for details.
Planned Events and Activities
The Canberra Skeptics' programme of planned activities is outlined below. Please note that details may change.Next Event
On Monday, 14 July 2008
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia, Acton Peninsula
Free admission
Future Events
- Friday, 12 September 2008
Fundamentalists - every religion has them!
Speaker: Dr Paul Collins
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: The Studio, National Museum of Australia, Acton PeninsulaThe talk will focus on the characteristics of fundamentalism, on why people become fundamentalists, and especially on how they respond to modernity and pluralistic secularism. By no means are all fundamentalists violent or intolerant. Many such as the Amish are profoundly good people. Fundamentalism is a very modern phenomenon and it is not going to go away quickly. It is rooted in a profound disenchantment with the speed of change, the dominance of modern secularism, and the way modernity relegates all religion to the sphere of the private and refuses to recognize the role religion plays in world affairs.
Fundamentalists insist that their scriptures are literally true and unique, they take an exclutionist and absolutist approach to faith, and tend to see themselves as involved in a titanic struggle with the forces of evil represented by secular modernity - although they are quite happy to use modern technology such as the Internet to fight back. They often feel cornered and demonise anyone who opposes them, including moderates who belong to their own faith as the worst traitors. They see no distinction between the secular and the sacred.
Born in Melbourne, Paul Collins is an historian, broadcaster, and writer. A Catholic priest for thirty-three years, he worked in varying capacities in TV and radio with the ABC from 1986 - 1996, and for three years was Specialist Editor - Religion. He resigned from the active priestly ministry in 2001 due to a dispute with the Vatican over his book Papal Power (1997). He is the author of eleven books and numerous articles in leading newspapers and magazines in Australia and overseas, and he writes regularly for The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, as well as the London Tablet, the National Catholic Reporter in the US, and several magazines in Germany and Austria. He is well known as a commentator on Catholicism and the papacy, and he also has a strong interest in ethics, and environmental and population issues. His book God's Earth has been made into a major TV documentary by the ABC. He has a Master's degree in theology (Th.M.) from Harvard University, and a Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D) in history from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra.
- Monday, 13 October 2008
Anomalistic psychology
Speaker: Dr Krissy Wilson, University of Tasmania
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia, Acton PeninsulaAs opinion polls repeatedly indicate, belief in the paranormal is extremely common among the general public and indeed appears to be on the increase. Anomalistic Psychology attempts to explain why, despite very little scientific support, so many of us continue to believe in ghosts, mediumship, clairvoyance, and other related psychic phenomena. It would seem that very little evidence is required to convince us that these types of phenomena are real. This talk will present some examples of the systematic biases in the way in which we process information that may help to explain why so many believe in the paranormal and report ostensibly paranormal experiences.
Born in London, Krissy Wilson began her career as a professional actress followed by several years as an air-stewardess while she studied part-time for a degree in psychology. She finally completed her doctorate at Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2006. At the end of 2007 she emigrated to Australia taking up the post of Lecturer at the University of Tasmania. Her main areas of interest focus on the psychology of self-deception, the creation of false memories, and the psychology of belief. Current research projects include investigating the benefits of belief, and the relationship between paranormal and religious belief in Tasmania.
- Thursday, 13 November 2008
The Use and Misuse of Statistics
Speaker: Professor Terry Hull
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Place: Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia, Acton PeninsulaProfessor Hull is a demographer at the Australian National University. He has worked on issues of population and development in the Asia Pacific region for over four decades, with particular emphasis on Indonesia, China, and Vietnam.
His work on Asian population has caused him to be very skeptical about the numbers found in newspapers and government reports. In recent years he has been advising the national statistical office in Indonesia concerning ways of improving population census results. He will discuss some of the common traps surrounding demographic estimates and suggest ways members of the public can avoid being misled.
Past Events
Details of some previous Canberra Skeptics events and activities can be found here.About Canberra Skeptics
Canberra Skeptics Inc is a non-profit association incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory for the purpose of promoting critical thinking. While it is a branch of the Australian Skeptics, the two organisations are independent. For more details about the Australian Skeptics, visit their Website.More details of the objectives of Canberra Skeptics are listed here.
Copies of the winning entries in the Cartoon Competition run as part of the Young Skeptics' programme at the Annual Convention can be found here.
Subscriptions
Membership fees for Canberra Skeptics are currently $8 per year, or $5 per year for members with limited incomes, payable by 30 June each year. For new members there is also a one-off joining fee of $2.Financial members are entitled either to free admission, or to admission at a members' discount rate, to all Canberra Skeptics' functions where fees are charged. Members without access to e-mail will also receive notices of all Canberra Skeptics' activities by post.
While anyone interested in critical thinking, member or not, is
welcome to attend our informal monthly get-togethers, non-members will,
of course, not be entitled to vote at any formal meetings where
official business of Canberra Skeptics is to be conducted.
Nor are they eligible to receive members' discounts on admission to any
of its functions.
Membership of Canberra Skeptics does not include a subscription to the Australian Skeptics' magazine, the Skeptic, and nor does subscription to that magazine include membership of Canberra Skeptics.
E-mail Mailing List
Canberra Skeptics' secretary maintains an e-mail mailing list of people interested in receiving notices about its activities. It is not necessary to be a member to have your e-mail address on this list. If you would like to be placed on it, please let us know. (Also please let us know if you change your e-mail address!)
Committee
The Canberra Skeptics' committee meets once a month. To obtain further information about, and a mug shot of, any committee member, click on his or her name below.
Pierre le Count
Antonia Lehn
Tony Martin-Jones -- Publicity Officer and Website manager
Michael O'Rourke -- President
Marianne Pietersen -- Treasurer
Nick Ware -- Events Coordinator
Stephen Wilks -- Secretary
Contacts
The postal address of Canberra Skeptics is:
Canberra Skeptics
PO Box 555
Civic Square ACT 2608
and our e-mail address is: