Posts

That Time Houdini Threatened to Shoot All the Psychics (2013)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Skepticblog, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Skepticblog.org on March 24, 2013. An archived version is available here.

As a magician, Harry Houdini was a trickster pretty much by definition—and, of course, a good one. He was quick to turn mere happenstance to his advantage (as when he commanded the rain to stop and begin again at a Fourth of July party)1 and to turn people’s assumptions against them. Sometimes, the results of such trickery were simple delight. Sometimes, as in his exposures of fraudulent psychics, his craftiness served the public good. On other occasions, Houdini’s performances had more tragic consequences. Such was his own assessment of mentalism performances he gave earlier in his career, in the guise of a medium:
Read more

Wonderful Phenomena Demand Wonderful Evidence (2012)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Skepticblog, Posts , , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Skepticblog.org on Dec 11, 2012. An archived version is available here.

Growing up in a family of silvicultural contractors, much of my parents’ dinner table conversation revolved around the low bid system, which made the treeplanting industry a deeply exasperating, boom-and-bust roller-coaster. The challenge was how to work out bids which would cover the costs of the work and allow us to keep a roof over our heads through the winter, while also somehow outbidding people who didn’t know how to do that. Maddeningly, startup treeplanting companies were constantly jumping in with an incomplete appreciation of the complexity and risks (and therefore true costs) of running large contracts. The inexperienced routinely underbid the experienced (leaving us hungry) and then went promptly out of business. So I grew up with the lesson that things are always more complicated than they look at first glance—a lesson my work in skepticism has never failed to confirm.
Read more

The Remarkable Mr. Rinn (2013)

Daniel Loxton (Old) eSkeptic / Skeptic.com, Posts 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on Jan 30, 2013. An archived version is available here.

Portrait of Joseph Rinn against bookcases

Joseph F. Rinn. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

In recent months, I’ve been digging into the forgotten history of early skeptical thinkers, authors, and activists. I’ve acquired and explored dozens of books from the nineteenth century and the first three quarters of the twentieth (the period prior to the 1976 formation of the CSICOP, which is usually considered the birth of the fully modern skeptical movement). From this research I’m developing a series of articles that include a recent Skepticblog post on the roots of the slogan “extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence,” my upcoming Junior Skeptic article on two hard core skeptical investigators who happened to be women, and a chapter-length project on the scope of scientific skepticism (and why it matters).

Today, I’d like to share a little about Joseph F. Rinn, a leading media skeptic who was most active in New York City in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Though his classic volume Sixty Years of Psychical Research is rarely consulted today (and a little pricey), it remains the deepest and most important source on the skeptical scene during the 1890–1950 period.
Read more

A Life of Service (2008)

Daniel Loxton Posts , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct BC Skeptics Rational Enquirer blog in July, 2008. An archived version is available here.

When considering my first BC Skeptics blog post, the subject seemed to me obvious and unavoidable: remembering the great Barry Beyerstein, who passed away almost exactly a year ago.

“Obvious” because Barry personally introduced me to skepticism almost 20 years ago. “Unavoidable” because of the influence he continues to wield over my work.
Read more

Ode to Joy (2010)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Skepticblog, Posts , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Skepticblog.org on July 26, 2010.
An archived version is available here.

Many readers will recall a central scene in the action movie Die Hard, in which a group of brilliant thieves succeed in opening the seventh lock of a vault containing hundreds of millions of dollars. As the door opens, light spills across the awestruck faces of all present—and the soundtrack sweeps us forward into “Ode to Joy.”

That was almost exactly how I felt the first time I stepped into a university library. I mean, I actually made that comparison at the time, which isn’t entirely surprising; who at 18 does not believe they’re the central character of a Hollywood movie?
Read more

The Reasonableness of Weird Things (2010)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Skepticblog, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Skepticblog.org on July 26, 2010.
An archived version is available here.

Audience view of the crowd at the The Amazing Meeting 8The Amazing Meeting (TAM) conference in Las Vegas is always the center of the skeptical universe, and TAM8 was no exception. Bigger and more representative than any previous year (it was co-sponsored by all three national US skeptics groups), TAM8 was an unprecedented summit for North American skepticism.

A lot happened. For a detailed discussion of TAM8, check out my roundtable chat with Tim Farley (What’s the Harm?), Blake Smith (MonsterTalk), and Derek and Swoopy on Skepticality [no longer available]. There’s been a lot to talk about.
Read more

The Skeptical Virtue of Seriously Just Being Quiet (2018)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Insight blog, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Insight blog at Skeptic.com on April 10, 2018. An archived version is available here.

Recently I attended a dinner party as the guest of a new friend among people who’ve known each other for decades. After dinner, the conversation turned to a story that had puzzled and intrigued the hosts. They were excited to share a YouTube video about a black leopard whose behavior was allegedly improved through the intervention of an “animal communicator” (pet psychic).

Now, this is a literate, philosophical bunch. They like debating, speculating, and devil’s advocacy, so they didn’t much mind that my friend found the claims of the video preposterous. After some lively verbal fencing, she turned to me in exasperation and said, “We have a professional skeptic right here! Daniel, you write about this stuff for a living. What do you think?” Read more

Fringe Claims: Unified by Neglect, Structural Similarity, and Direct Interconnection (2016)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Insight blog, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Insight blog at Skeptic.com on June 6, 2016. An archived version is available here.

A recent Scientific American blog post raised a very tedious and very old complaint about scientific skepticism—in essence, “Paranormal and pseudoscientific claims are trivial. Why don’t you do something I consider important?” The answer I expressed in my previous post is that fringe beliefs are a significant part of the fabric of human existence, and yes, sometimes important in their own right. Seeking to understand those beliefs is a worthwhile research endeavor.

This brought to mind a more interesting question: why does modern skepticism seek to study such a broad and seemingly heterogeneous group of topics—everything from UFOs to climate denialism to mermaids to quack cancer cures?
Read more

The Complexity of Alien Abduction and the Multidisciplinary Nature of Fringe Claims (2016)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Insight blog, Posts , , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Insight blog at Skeptic.com on June 7, 2016. An archived version is available here.

Looming "grey" alien reflected in close up of a human eye

Image by Daniel Loxton with Jim W.W. Smith and Jason Loxton

In my last post I explained that the teeming menagerie of seemingly dissimilar fringe claims studied by skeptics are unified by the neglect of other scholars, by structural similarities, and (in some cases) by direct interconnection. For this reason, a range of topics can be usefully gathered under the skeptics’ umbrella, and useful insights drawn between them.

Today I’ll ask a related question: why are skeptics a mixed group of magicians, psychologists, doctors, historians, science popularizers, artists, and so on?
Read more

The Value of Vertigo (2010)

Daniel Loxton (Old) Skepticblog, Posts , , 0 Comment

This article was originally published at the defunct Skepticblog.org on Aug 3, 2010.
An archived version is available here. (Its inspiration, Dr. Ruse, passed away in 2024.)

Abstract portrait of the author against orange spiral background, in reference to artwork for the film Vertigo
In June of 2009, philosopher of biology Michael Ruse took a group of grad students to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky (and also some mainstream institutions) as part of a course on how museums present science. In a critical description of his visit, Ruse reflected upon “the extent to which the Creationist museum uses modern science to its own ends, melding it in seamlessly with its own Creationist message.” Continental drift, the Big Bang, and even natural selection are all presented as evidence in support of Young Earth cosmology and flood geology.
Read more