Skeptic: Promoting Science and Critical Thinking

Can History be a Science? Conference 1997, Part II. Plus: Randi by Dr. Frank Sulloway, James “the Amazing” Randi (VHS.) University of California, Berkeley historian of science Dr. Frank Sulloway demonstrates how to make history a Science. Historians have long offered theories about events such as the French Revolution or the Darwinian Revolution, but unlike almost all other sciences, historians almost never test their ideas. Sulloway shows precisely how historians can practice scientific history, with several fascinating examples including a statistical “content analysis” he performed on Darwin’s Beagle notes and Darwin’s letters sent home during his voyage. Plus: The Million Dollar Challenge. The always entertaining “Amazing” James Randi, one of the founders of the modern skeptical movement, updated skeptics on his new organization, the James Randi Educational Foundation, and his famous $1,000,000 Psychic Challenge. He urges skeptical organizations to abandon win-lose/zero sum game mentalities that assume that if any one organization receives a member that means one less member for the other organization.