The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

On the Future of Religion and Morality (in conversation with Michael Shermer)

RICHARD DAWKINS is an evolutionary biologist, Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature, and the author of The Ancestor’s Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil’s Chaplain, The God Delusion, The Greatest Show on Earth and The Magic of Reality. He was the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He stars in the documentary film The Unbelievers.

On the Future of Human Health & Longevity

ESTHER DYSON was born in Zurich, Switzerland to prominent mathematician Verena Huber-Dyson and physicist and futurist writer Freeman Dyson. After earning her degree from Harvard in economics she founded EDventure Holdings, a pioneering information technology and new media company, and has been active in the public discussion about the future of the Internet ever since, including in a regular column for the New York Times. She was named one of the most powerful women in American business by Forbes magazine and is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in technology. As co-chair of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC), head of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), and interim chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Dyson has helped mediate and inform public policy regarding privacy, encryption, trust, and the assignment of Internet domain names. Her book, Release 2.0, addressed to a general, non-technical audience the key issues and controversies surrounding the evolving Internet.

On the Future of Language & Culture

JOHN H. MCWHORTER earned his Ph.D. in linguistics from Stanford University and became Associate Professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley after teaching at Cornell University. He is also a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal where he writes and comments extensively on race, ethnicity and cultural issues. His Book, All About the Beat, calls for a new politics for Black America and for a renewed sense of purpose and pride in black communities. Dr. McWhorter is also the author of the New York Times best seller Losing the Race and an anthology of race writings, Authentically Black. He was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Non-Fiction and has appeared on numerous national TV and radio shows, such as Meet the Press, John McLaughlin’s One on One, The O’Reilly Factor, and NPR’s Fresh Air. McWhorter is also a well-known and widely published linguistics scholar and the author of The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language and Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music in America and Why We Should, Like, Care.

The Future of Fundamental Science and the Long Term Future of Life

LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS is an internationally known theoretical physicist whose studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He has investigated questions ranging from the nature of exploding stars to issues of the origin of all mass in the universe. He taught at Yale University and Case Western Reserve before taking up current post as Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics, and Inaugural Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, which has become a national center for research and outreach on origins issues, from the origins of the universe, to human origins, to the origins of consciousness and culture. Dr. Krauss is the author of over 300 scientific publications, as well as numerous popular articles and such bestselling books as The Fifth Essence: The Search for Dark Matter in the Universe, The Physics of Star Trek, Beyond Star Trek, Quintessence, Atom, Hiding in the Mirror, Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science, and his runaway bestseller A Universe from Nothing. In 2013, starred in a new full length feature film documentary, The Unbelievers, which follows Krauss and Richard Dawkins around the world.

On the Future of Gender, Race & Human Nature

CAROL TAVRIS is a social psychologist, writer, teacher, and lecturer. Her recent book, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by ME), was coauthored with Elliot Aronson and applies cognitive dissonance theory to a wide variety of topics, including politics, conflicts of interest, memory (everyday and “recovered”), the criminal justice system, police interrogation, the daycare sex-abuse epidemic, family quarrels, international conflicts, and business. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association as well as a Charter Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. Her honors and awards include the Distinguished Media Contribution Award from the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology (for her book The Mismeasure of Woman), the Media Achievement Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Distinguished Contribution to Women’s Health Award from the APA Conference on Women’s Health, and an award from the Center for Inquiry for contributions to skepticism and science.

On Mistakes Made by People and Nations that Hurt Their Futures

JARED DIAMOND is Professor of Geography at UCLA. He began his scientific career in physiology and expanded into evolutionary biology and biogeography. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical society. Among his many awards are the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Japan’s Cosmo Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Prize Honoring the Scientist as Poet. He has published more than 600 articles and his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. His other books include The Third Chimpanzee, Collapse, and The World Until Yesterday.

On the Future of War and Human Values

IAN MORRIS is Professor of History at Stanford University and a Fellow of the Stanford Archaeology Center. His book Why the West Rules—For Now traces the patterns of history and what they reveal about the future. His latest book is Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve, a compelling new argument about the evolution of human values, one that has far-reaching implications for how we understand the past—and for what might happen next. Fundamental long-term changes in values, Morris argues, are driven by the most basic force of all: energy. Humans have found three main ways to get the energy they need—from foraging, farming, and fossil fuels. Each energy source sets strict limits on what kinds of societies can succeed, and each kind of society rewards specific values. But if our fossil-fuel world favors democratic, open societies, the ongoing revolution in energy capture means that our most cherished values are very likely to turn out not to be useful any more.

On the Future of Space Travel & Colonization

GREGORY BENFORD is a physicist and acclaimed science fiction author. He earned his Ph.D. from U.C. San Diego, worked at the Lawrence (Calif.) Radiation Laboratory and has been a professor of physics at U.C. Irvine since 1971 where he conducts research in plasma turbulence theory and astrophysics. He has published over 100 papers in various fields of physics and is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, and has served as an advisor to the Department of Energy, NASA and the White House Council on Space Policy. Benford is the author of over 20 novels, including Jupiter Project, Artifact, Against Infinity, Eater, and Timescape and has won the Nebula Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Australian Ditmar Award, the 1995 Lord Foundation Award for achievement in the sciences, and the 1990 United Nations Medal in Literature. He was a scientific consultant for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

On the Future of Privacy, Security & Liberty

DAVID BRIN is a scientist, best-selling science fiction author, and tech-futurist. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell, and Nebula awards, and his novel The Postman was adapted as a feature film starring Kevin Costner. His nonfiction book The Transparent Society won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association. He is the author of Startide Rising, The Uplift War, and his newest novel, Existence, explores the ultimate question: if billions of planets are ripe for life, where is Everybody? His new research is on how we will shape the days and years ahead, and how tomorrow will shape us.

On the Future of Life on Earth

DONALD R. PROTHERO is Senior Paleontologist at ArchaeoPaleo Environmental Management, Inc., and Research Associate in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He taught for 35 years at Columbia, Knox, Pierce, Vassar, Occidental, and Caltech. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 34 books and over 250 scientific papers, including five leading geology textbooks. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Paleontological Society, and the Linnaean Society of London, and has also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Science Foundation. In 2013, he received the James Shea Award of the National Association of Geology Teachers for outstanding writing and editing in the geological sciences. He has also been featured on many television documentaries, including episodes of Paleoworld (BBC), Prehistoric Monsters Revealed (History Channel), Entelodon and Hyaenodon (National Geographic Channel) and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (BBC).

On the Future of Religion and Morality (in conversation with Richard Dawkins)

MICHAEL SHERMER is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. He is the author of numerous bestselling books including The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, and Why People Believe Weird Things. He received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, and Larry King Live (but, proudly, never Jerry Springer!). His latest book is The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.

FRANKIE MORENO is a musical virtuoso, pianist and performer prodigy turned Las Vegas headliner sensation! Frankie started as a child prodigy pianist and was first introduced to American audiences at the age of ten with his debut on CBS’s “Star Search”. Named Headliner of the Year in Las Vegas, making national television appearances, releasing a brand new album, and preparing a nationwide PBS Special titled “Frankie Moreno in Concert”, Frankie is capturing the attention of millions and leaving a lasting impression.

JAMY IAN SWISS is a magician, author, and public speaker with more than 25 years of skeptical activism experience. He has appeared internationally for presenters ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the Smithsonian Institution. His U.S. television appearances include CBS 48 Hours, PBS Nova and the PBS documentary The Art of Magic, and repeat appearances on The Today Show and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He is the author of books including two collections of essays, Shattering Illusions and Devious Standards, and of The Art of Magic, the companion to the PBS documentary, and co-wrote the chapter “Explaining Magic” in Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte. He has produced and written for television, including Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular, and created the Discovery Channel special, Cracking the Con Games. He is producer of New York’s longest-running Off-Broadway magic show, Monday Night Magic, now in its 18th consecutive season.

Jamy is a co-founder of the National Capital Area Skeptics; a co-founder of the New York City Skeptics; has spoken and performed across the U.S. on behalf of the Center For Inquiry; has been a contributor to Skeptic magazine; is a co-producer and on-stage host of the Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism; has presented or performed annually at James Randi’s “The Amazing Meeting” since its inception in 2003; and is a past Senior Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation for which he has served as a blogger, creator of the Honest Liar video commentaries, and continues to help administer the foundation’s Million Dollar Challenge.

In a lengthy profile in the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik writes, “Swiss is widely thought to have one of the most masterly sleight-of-hand techniques in the world today…” And Penn & Teller call him, “James Bond with a deck of cards as a pistol!”

JACK VELOUR is a performer of close-up magic, where his audiences witness miracles from inches away. He has captivated thousands of people across the country, including numerous celebrities. After becoming a successful close-up magician in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Jack moved to California in 2012, where he continues to mystify audiences at corporate functions and private gatherings, and most recently Jack was invited to perform for record producer, Clive Davis, at his 83rd birthday party. Jack Velour’s performances are loaded with surprises and humor, creating a fun and enchanting atmosphere for almost any audience. He is also an active member of The Magic Castle in Hollywood.

ARTHUR BENJAMIN is considered to be the world’s greatest living lightning calculator. If you have never seen him perform, you are in for a treat! Bring your calculators and challenge the master! Dr. Benjamin will not only demonstrate how he does calculations in his head faster than you can with a calculator, he will reveal his secrets and teach you how to do it yourself. Not only will he reveal his own secrets, he will demonstrate how the great lightning calculators of the past did it. Dr. Benjamin is the Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. He has received numerous awards for his writing and teaching, and served as editor of Math Horizons magazine for the Mathematical Association of America. He has given three TED talks, which have been viewed over 10 million times. Reader’s Digest calls him “America’s best math whiz.” His newest book, out this Fall, is called The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring out Why.