December 13, 2010

DAY 1

8AM

Have you ever been to The Amazing Meeting before? No? Neither had I.

Not one for morning starts, I can attest that TAM’s optimistically early opening time of 8am produced a number of bewildered-looking skeptics, who upon registration were expertly cajoled into waking up over coffee and a particularly friendly welcome from a polite bunch of volunteers. Having never been to a TAM event before, I was pleasantly surprised by the buzz of excitement rippling through the morning crowd as we all filtered in to the main conference hall to find seats. The organisers had made a good job of finding a space large enough to accommodate so many delegates, and the screen suspended at the front of the room (along with additional smaller screen along the flanks) promised that even those seated at the very back would have a good view.

9AM

After a fabulously cheeky musical introduction by the Amateur Transplants, the excitable and eccentric psychology professor Richard Wiseman graced the stage as our (somewhat over-qualified?!) MC, kicking the conference off to a lively start with some mind-bending jokes. After a quick run-down of what we could expect over the following 48 hours, he invited the wonderful James Randi to the stage. Looking very spritely for all his 82 years, Mr Randi gave an impassioned opening speech, declaring that the health concerns of the previous year were firmly behind him, and warning any quacks and charlatans unfortunate enough to be sharing a room with him to be ready for a fight. After a standing ovation and a warm round of applause, Richard introduced our first speaker for the day, the notoriously colourful
Sue Blackmore.

Renowned for her thorough and extensive research investigating ESP and the paranormal, Sue delivered an engaging lecture in which she chartered her journey from hard-core hippy believer to skeptic. As someone who has dabbled in mysticism in the past, I found her story both familiar and compelling, and was surprised to discover that this is only the second event at which Sue has openly discussed her experiences. Her story shed light on the intimately personal side of overcoming obstacles to reach a position of clarity, and she illustrated how perseverance and courage can win out in the face of hostility and incredulity.

10AM

After a brief interlude in which we were all mathematically appraised of the evil that is the Teletubbies, Richard introduced our next speaker, the world-renowned Professor Richard Dawkins. Opening his address with the assertion that “My subject, evolution, is under threat – especially in America”, with his customary verve Dawkins went on to add “I want to come out fighting”. Describing that “science is the poetry of reality”, Dawkins delivered an elucidating talk on the merits of teaching evolution as a “Classic”, pointing out that evolution is our shared history and that geology should bring us humility and a sense of our place as humans within the world. True to his style, he painted an elegant picture of the process of evolution for apes and humans, describing that if we held hands with our mothers, and they with theirs, until we reached all the way back to our common ancestor with chimps, the distance would only be 200 miles long. Digesting this mind-blowing concept, the audience remained rapt as Dawkins described how life depends on the hi-fidelity digital code of DNA being transferred and copied, asking “How much of what we know about life is peculiar to this particular sample [on Earth]?” He went on to assert that Darwinian natural selection is “the only force capable of producing complexity and variety of life anywhere in the universe,” and that “If more of our political masters understood statistics, the world would be a better place.” Indeed.

11AM

Next up was Cory Doctorow, author of the blog BOINGBOING and advocate of the old adage “money talks, bullshit walks”. The theme for this talk was copyright and the internet, and Cory kicked off his argument by declaring that when considering copyright, the question we should be asking is “how we can support the best artists?”, not “how can we meet the expectations of all artists to have a middle-class income?”. He described research that compared two low-income families living on an estate, one of which had access to internet and the other that did not. To some surprise, the results showed that the family with internet access not only had better nutrition, but better grades, education and social mobility than the family without internet. Not only did this identify how valuable the internet is as a tool for social mobility, but also demonstrated how it can enhance all aspects of peoples’ lives. Doctorow went on to describe the internet as a “system that creates the most diversity of works by the most diversity of artists,” and articulated that with regards to implementing copyright, “yesterday’s pirates are today’s admirals”, with each new technological medium accusing the next new medium of “piracy” (or to use his preferred definition, “sharing”). He lauded the advent of YouTube as a revolution in providing creatives with a platform to make “magic” (spending a little money to create something great).

11.50AM

Following Doctorow on the stand was Adam Rutherford, whose chosen topic was the notorious Christian ‘Alpha Course’, which (as they describe it) provides “an opportunity for anyone to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed setting”. In the name of good journalism he bravely signed up to the course and found it to be a haven for homophobia (“Alpha welcomes all comers, but homosexuals can be healed…”) and glossalalia (speaking in tongues) – or in layman’s terms, “an idiot’s guide to conservative Christianity”. Rutherford described how the main purpose of the course seemed to be to convert people from one brand of Christianity to another, re-claiming the “de-churched” (the educated middle-classes with a culturally Christian background) to fight the rise in the new generations of “un-churched” (people with no Christian education). He even met with the Alpha Course’s founder, and quipped “I’m suspicious of people in power, doubley suspicious when they’re nice, and tripley (sic) suspicious when they have jam on their crotch.”

Rutherford went on to dissect three Alpha Course assertions, namely: 1) Christianity is not boring – agreed: the art, literature and architecture that has arisen from Christian history is by no means boring; 2) Christianity is not irrelevant – agreed: any religion that provokes two leaders of the Western World – Bush and Blair- into starting a holy crusade, cannot be considered irrelevant; and 3) Christianity is not untrue – well… this is where the debate begins. Rutherford tackled the third assertion by pointing at the lack of historical evidence for Jesus’s existence, without which the cornerstone of Christian belief cannot exist. If Jesus never walked the earth, then the Christian claim that he lived and DIED for our sins providing us eternal salvation through his DEATH, is false, which means that Christianity is left utterly undermined and untrue. Adding more subversion to the lecture, Rutherford went on to dismiss C.S Lewis’ Narnia and Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings (“it’s basically just walking”), as boring, and challenged the audience to find an Alpha course and do it, not only to discover what really happens behind the closed doors, but also to use it as an opportunity to challenge people. In answer to the Alpha Course poster campaign “Is this it?” Rutherford gave his perfectly formed, carefully considered answer, “Yes this is it and it’s fucking awesome”.

12.30PM

On this note, TAM disbanded for lunch and descended upon the buffet laid on for us in another hall. I managed a few quick bites before running up to the press room on the fourth floor to catch the conference with the wonderful James Randi. I sneaked in a few minutes late and was able to catch the bulk of the interview, even participating in a fabulous card trick – James Randi had all the spark of a young leprechaun, and all the charm of a magician. It was hard not to be entirely enchanted.

1.30PM

After lunch, the lectures resumed with Richard Wiseman interviewing Andy Nyman – actor, magician, and creator of ‘Ghost Stories’, a theatrical production promoting skepticism which is now showing in the West End. When asked about the goal of Ghost Stories, he replied that “Theatre’s expensive and a lot of the time it’s really fucking boring, so I want them to go away not feeling that.” He also managed to slip in a friendly piece of advice to theatre-goers, “Don’t check your phone in a theatre, even discretely, the glow is hugely obvious. That means you. YOU.” As one of the orchestrators behind some of Derren Brown’s events, it wasn’t long before he was quizzed on the now-famous Lottery event. When asked what they were trying to achieve, he replied that if Channel 4 can get 12 headlines a year “it ticks a box for them”, and becomes a question of “what do you want them to go away and think it is?” whilst also trying not to insult the audience’s intelligence.

2.10PM

Many photos and anecdotes later, and Karen James took the podium to give a short talk on The Beagle Project (www.thebeagleproject.com), which aims to “rebuild the ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world, starting in Darwin’s bicentenary year of 2009. The new Beagle will sail the world in Darwin’s wake, and will inspire global audiences through unique public engagement and learning programmes, and original scientific research in evolutionary biology, biodiversity and climate change.”

2.30PM

After this brief interlude, Paula Kirby (blogger and writer for the Washington Post) graced the stage with her elfin-like presence and deceptively incisive wit. Opening her talk with observations about the Christian Party, she reminded me a little of a pleasantly sharp-tongued Mary Poppins, at once affable but sharp as a pin. Asserting that the Christian Party believe that “the fact that we’re not allowed to hit children any more is the root of all crime in society,” Kirby went on to dissect their disturbingly surreal manifesto, describing that if you believe in original sin, “you see secularism going hand-in-hand with the degradation of society”, and that “moral absolute has had had to compete with relativism”. She argued that the Christian Party are keen to preserve their own rights and not those of others, blaming “secular humanist fundamentalism” for the “decline of our society”. To much of the audience’s surprise, we discovered that not only are they pro-corporal punishment, but they also seem to think that we have too much equality between the races, sexes, religions and sexual orientations – and that the only equality we need is the knowledge that we are all loved equally in the eyes of God (oh the simplicity).

I know of several TAM-goers who thought this topic was a little too atheist in tone for a skeptics gathering, but I have to disagree. Any group that wields political power and is capable of affecting our lives should be open to scrutiny, and if their methods and claims are based not a process of critical thinking but blind, pro-segregation belief, then we as skeptics should be very concerned indeed. Kirby recounted the Christian Party’s claim that “special favour for interest groups is contrary to Christian society”, obviously oblivious to the irony in this statement. Much to the amusement of the audience, Kirby quipped cheekily a less-known 11th commandment: “Thou shalt obsess about what other people are doing with their naughty bits”, and stated that whilst we should not try to disenfranchise Christians, we should however be in no doubt as to the society they would like to impose on us. She then issued a rallying cry – that every time anything is said, or broadcast, or displayed against (for instance) evolution, women’s rights, or anything else the Christian Right disapprove of, we must “make sure theirs are not the loudest voices, we must become equally vocal”, not just to complain, but to encourage and support those under attack, and join forces with other outspoken groups to become our own advocates, because “if we don’t do it, who will?”

3PM

With perfect continuity, Tracey Brown (director of Sense About Science) invited a note-worthy panel to the stage to discuss skeptical activism. As Evan Harris (MP), David Allen Green (the blogger formerly known as Jack of Kent), and Simon Singh walked on, I couldn’t help but think these guys must have rubbed shoulders at least a few times at libel-related events in the past year. The thrust of this debate centred around empowering people to use “skeptic questioning” as the “public’s vaccine against pseudo science”. (Barely did the debate open than someone mentioned the hygienic merits of peeing in the shower – don’t ask, I was there and I totally failed to grasp the relevance). After a little light defamation aimed at ‘magician’ Uri Geller (which predictably received a healthy round of applause), Green took the floor stating that “Skeptical blogging is in an extraordinarily good state,” due in part to the fact that unlike other bloggers, skeptics tend to research their articles and provide links to verifiable sources. He also pointed out that skepticism can be useful when applied in a wider context, such as policy areas involving economics, politics and sexual health. Simon Singh (having freshly snatched a legal victory from the jaws of the libel-bleating Chiropractic Association), urged the audience to maintain the momentum of the skeptic movement, and announced a new skeptic campaign, “The Nightingale Collaboration”, run by Alan Henness and Maria McLachlan, that will launch January 1st 2011. The main impetus for this talk was that skeptics should remain active and should strive to co-ordinate in order to achieve greater impact.

4.20PM

At this point we were granted a short tea-break before re-joining Robin Ince who was interviewing the eponymous James Randi onstage. Opening the talk with a mention of Randi’s stint on Happy Days, we swiftly moved on to the mysterious world of illusions, and the way in which charlatans (magicians and preachers alike) abuse their targets like “vultures sitting in the tree, waiting for these people to pass” (JR). Randi recalled a boyhood experience in which, at 14 years of age, he devised and executed a technique that successfully exposed the ‘one-ahead’ trick used by a ‘psychic’ preacher, in front of his congregation. Much to Randi’s tangible chagrin, the faithful refused to acknowledge this dénouement, instead demanding Randi’s instant and forcible removal from the church by the police across the road. Ince then raised the question of whether Randi felt thwarted in his efforts by the continued success of such fakes as Uri Geller, to which Randi responded by recounting an instance in which he helped orchestrate the downfall of one of Geller’s spoon tricks on national TV. It’s the little victories.

Randi then moved on to talk about the fraudulent Evangelist Peter Popoff (“an unsinkable rubber duck”), another ‘psychic’ preacher that Randi caught on camera receiving information from his wife, fed through an ear-piece that was linked to a microphone she had hidden in the dummy of the baby she was carrying. Randi’s disgust at the predatory nature of such frauds was clearly audible, especially when he recounted how the pastor and his wife made genuinely spiteful, disparaging remarks about their congregation, and how he had (at another time) overheard someone telling their friend that if she didn’t give all her money to the pastor, God would not notice, and her prayers would go unanswered. This visibly upset Randi, and it was affecting to see that even after a lifetime of exposure to these things, he is still deeply moved by the plight of the vulnerable and credulous. Upon being asked “Have you ever had anything on the JREF Million Dollar challenge where you’ve thought, ‘you know what, actually this might be a little tricky’?” by Ince, Randi replied “Nope”.

5.30PM

As the day’s proceedings drew to a close, James Randi stepped up to the microphone to award the JREF prizes. The first, for Outstanding Achievement in Skepticism in the Professional Category, went to Ben Goldacre, who despite his physical absence (he was abroad) was welcomed over a video communiqué in which he exclaimed that “the nerds shall inherit the earth!”. The second, a Grassroots Award, went to the brave and brilliant 15-year-old Rhys Morgan, whose efforts single-handedly brought the world’s attention to the dangers of Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), and whose actions have saved a great many lives. On this triumphant note and to an even more triumphant round of applause, TAM day 1 came to an end, as a tired but content-looking exodus of skeptics left the Hilton for a well-deserved rest… At least until they returned for the debut of Tim Minchin’s STORM later that evening.

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