Well, hello there! Craig isn't looking and Mark is busy writing, so I thought I would slip in here and write the editorial for this week.
It's pretty timely as I've been pondering a bit about what it means to be a skeptic, and how it contributes to the way I think and live.
I am also always amazed about the assumptions made about what skepticism is when I tell people I'm involved with this group. Reactions range from thinking that I don't believe anything is real at all, through to being rabidly antireligious. So, I get lots of practice explaining what it is.
There are different types of skepticism, and what the NZ Skeptics are involved in is scientific skepticism – for me this means I make decisions about what I believe based on scientific understanding and evidence. This is different from philosophical skepticism, which may well get into the ‘nothing is real' realm.
Armed with the thinking tools of scientific skepticism, I have started to notice just how much junk information is coming towards me every day and sucking up my time. In my first article I do a bit of brain dump on the seven things that have started to make me cold turkey switch off particular news and media sources and take that time back.
Following that, I switch from mind to body and, inspired by Craig's previous article on the dubious keto gummies, I take a look at what the research is saying about the health effects of going on the full ketogenic diet.
Mark then delves into the man and methods behind the torturing of data to ‘predict' bitcoin prices.
Bronwyn also continues her exploration into the mysterious history of the Builders of the Adytum, and after the cliff hanger she left us on last week, we will finally find out about New Zealand's important place in that.
And if you didn't click the link last time you can still see our chair, Craig, who appeared as a mystery guest on the show 7 Days last week, as a result of our new $100,000 challenge. Notably, he got one over on Jeremy Corbett with some hilariously damning photographic evidence. If you want to watch the episode, it's available on Three's On Demand service, Craig is in the end section of the programme:
https://www.threenow.co.nz/shows/7-days/thursday-20-april-2023/61183/M71635-893