In this week’s eSkeptic:
Steven Pinker lecture moved to Caltech’s larger hall. Tickets now available in advance!
Is this the first writing style guide based on science, instead of anecdote and tradition? Will it replace all style guides that came before because it is based on how the brain works instead of historical accident?
The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
SATURDAY, Oct. 4 at 2 pm
Beckman Auditorium, Caltech
On Saturday, October 4, 2:00pm, in Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, Harvard University professor Steven Pinker will be speaking about his new book, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, followed by an “in conversation” with Michael Shermer on the topic of human nature, then a Q&A with your questions and a book signing after. The book addresses the topic of literature and writing from the perspective of the science of linguistics and cognitive psychology, so we thought you would be interested. We invite you to attend, and encourage you to bring your friends, colleagues, and students as well.
Get directions, and a map to the campus, and see ticket information below. Call our office if you have questions: 1-626-794-3119. We look forward to seeing you there!
For your convenience, download and share with your friends, colleagues, and students this one-page PDF with details about the event:
Tickets
Tickets are $10 for Skeptics Society members/Caltech/JPL Community, and $15 for nonmembers, and $5 for Caltech students. Ordering tickets in advance is strongly recommended! Tickets may be purchased in advance in 5 ways:
- OR, by calling 626-395-4652 between 9am and 4pm Monday–Friday
(Do not leave a message.); - in person, by visiting the Caltech ticket office in 101 Winnett (MAP) between 9am and 4pm Monday–Friday;
- by faxing the Caltech Ticket Office at 626-395-1721; or
- at the door on the day of the event.
Service Charge on Phone/Fax Ticket Orders
For all tickets purchased by phone or fax for Beckman Auditorium, Caltech will add an $8 service charge per ticket order (no matter how many tickets are ordered). No service charge will be added to tickets purchased at the door on the day of the event or in person at the Caltech ticket office in advance.
Dinner Evening & Wine Tasting Event
Join Steven Pinker, Michael Shermer & Special Guests
After the lecture by Steven Pinker, and in conjunction with the annual fundraising drive for the Skeptics Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit science education organization, Michael and Jennifer Shermer are hosting a dinner, wine tasting, and star party at their home in the mountains of Altadena, just up the hill from Caltech. Cost is $600/plate. $550 of the $600 donation is deductible. Your donation guarantees you a front-row seat in Beckman Auditorium for Pinker’s 2pm talk (see lecture details in the lecture announcement below), plus a signed copy of his new book, A Sense of Style. You will have a spectacular sunset view of all of Southern California from their cliffside home, and enjoy viewing Mars, Saturn, and the moon through their 8-inch Meade telescope that night. Good cause, good fun. Reserve your seat online with a minimum $600 donation and join us! For more information, please call our office at 1-626-794-3119.
LECTURE-ONLY TICKETS FOR STEVEN PINKER: First come, first served at the door. Seating is limited. $10 for Skeptics Society members and the JPL/Caltech community, $15 for nonmembers. Your admission fee is a donation that pays for our lecture expenses. For a front row seat, an autographed book, and the dinner event at Michael Shermer’s home, the cost is $600, and should be reserved online in advance via the donation link above.
LECTURE, BOOK, AND DINNER EVENT TICKETS FOR STEVEN PINKER: For a front row seat, an autographed book, and the dinner event at Michael Shermer’s home, the cost is $600, and should be reserved online in advance.
Don’t Miss Dr. Marcelo Gleiser
on Sunday, October 5
Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science
and the Search for Meaning
SUNDAY, Oct. 5 at 2 pm
Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech
DO ALL QUESTIONS HAVE ANSWERS? How much can we know about the world? Is there such a thing as an ultimate truth? To be human is to want to know, but what we are able to observe is only a tiny portion of what’s “out there.” In The Island of Knowledge, Dartmouth College astronomer and physicist Dr. Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence. In so doing, he reaches a provocative conclusion: science, the main tool we use to find answers, is fundamentally limited. These limits to our knowledge arise both from our tools of exploration and from the nature of physical reality: the speed of light, the uncertainty principle, the impossibility of seeing beyond the cosmic horizon, the incompleteness theorem, and our own limitations as an intelligent species. Recognizing limits in this way, Gleiser argues, is not a deterrent to progress or a surrendering to religion. Rather, it frees us to question the meaning and nature of the universe while affirming the central role of life and ourselves in it. Science can and must go on, but recognizing its limits reveals its true mission: to know the universe is to know ourselves. Order The Island of Knowledge from Amazon. A book signing will follow the lecture.
TICKETS FOR MARCELO GLEISER: First come, first served at the door. Seating is limited. $10 for Skeptics Society members and the JPL/Caltech community, $15 for nonmembers. Your admission fee is a donation that pays for our lecture expenses.
Weekly Highlights
INSIGHT at Skeptic.com sheds light, offers critical perspective, and serves as a broadly accessible, evidence-based resource on mysteries of science, paranormal claims, and the wild, woolly, wonderful weirdness of the fringe. This week’s highlights are:
History Channel’s Vikings and the Mystical Land of England
Video: TAM 2013 Panel on the Scope and Mission of Scientific Skepticism
From the Skeptical Literature: Thomas Ady on the Role of Mental Illness in Witchcraft Confessions (1655)
Some of My Work in Skeptical History (Updated)
Critical and Thinking
SKEPTICALITY EPISODE 240
In this episode of Skepticality, Derek sits down with previous Skepticality guest Ian Harris, a working comedian whose material focuses on topics around critical thought and skepticism. Ian recently released a new video special, and comes on Skepticality to talk a bit more about the climate of humor when performing stand up comedy in front of wildly varied crowds across the United States.
The Latest Episode of Mr. Deity: Mr. Deity and The Help
Lucy talks with Mr. Deity about all the help he’s been giving people in the wealthier countries of the world.
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