The Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Bad Astronomy Newsletter #30

Contents:  

0. Newsletter note

1. Reminder: The Amazing Meeting
2. Webcast of my Moon Hoax talk Monday
3. The NPR radio interview postgame analysis
4. Subscribe/Unsubscribe info

0) Newsletter note

I know, there have been a lot of newsletters this past week, but things have been hopping. This will be the last one for at least a week, and probably two. To make up for that, this is a long one. :-)

1) Reminder: The Amazing Meeting

In September I sent out a newsletter (issue 22) with an item about a skeptic meeting run by none other than James "The Amazing" Randi. I want to remind everyone that this meeting will be a lot of fun, and will feature some great speakers. Randi has a mystery guest he won't say anything about, except it's good. I have no idea who it (or they?) will be, and it's killing me. I'll find out with everyone else I guess!

The early registration deadline is November 30. After that, it goes up $25. There have been almost enough people registered already for Randi's Educational Foundation to break even, and I would dearly love to see them actually make some money. It goes toward critical thinking education, which is, well, critical today. If everybody were more skeptical and critical of what they hear, I'd be out of work. That's my goal. So go and check out what the Amazing Meeting has to offer.

Randi just announced that Marvin Minsky, sometimes called the father of artificial intelligence (he helped Stanley Kubrick develop Hal for the movie "2001") will be at the meeting too. I met him when I was in high school back in 198something. I wonder if he remembers me? :-) Read about Dr. Minsky at his site at MIT.

2) Webcast of my Moon Hoax talk Monday

On Monday, November 25th at noon (Eastern US time) I will be giving my Moon Hoax talk at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. I used to haunt the hallways of that building as a grad student working on the first generation of cameras that were on Hubble, and then again when I was working on the second generation. Now there's a third generation, and the best I can do is come back and tell them something they already know: the Apollo missions really did go to the Moon. The talk is not really open to the public, but they will be webcasting it! That's pretty neat. You can see the talk by going to their website.

3) The NPR radio interview postgame analysis

This is a bit long. I apologize in advance. But I have been dragged around for quite some time on this Moon Hoax issue, and I need to get some things off my chest. A couple of days ago I was on "The Connection", an NPR program, discussing the Moon Hoax. The show is archived at The Connection's website.

Also on was Jim Oberg, a space historian who will be writing a book (without NASA funding now) about the Apollo missions. Another guest was Moon Hoax curmudgeon Ralph Rene, who claims, among other wrong ideas, that the Apollo landings were faked. I knew they wanted a guest to advocate the Hoax side, but when I heard it was going to be Rene (as he likes to be called), my heart sank. I have seen and read interviews with him before, and I knew he can be crusty. I have had some first-hand dealings with him as well, and have seen this abrasiveness personally. He revels in it. While that's fine for an AM radio show, I had my doubts about something at the intellectual level of an NPR program.

I wasn't disappointed. Rene was... confused for some of the segment. He wasn't sure if the host was speaking or if Jim Oberg was, which caused some unusual and awkward moments. There was also the time spent listening to him rifle through a book looking for a quote... and then when he found it he read several lines of technical jargon without explaining it... and he never did make a coherent statement about his stance, even after being asked point blank by the host. He did manage to talk about radiation problems, but this tired diatribe has been debunked ages ago (see, for example, my page about it or Jay Windley's page). Let's just say he didn't do his side any service by being on the program.

After Rene left, we took some calls, which was more interesting. People called in about a distrust of government and a lack of science education, and we talked about many issues. It wasn't until the end that I really was able to talk about critical thinking. Science is many things, but it depends on critical thinking. How can you know if a theory is correct? Have you been collecting data objectively? Do you understand your equipment? Are there hidden biases in your judgment? Does some other explanation fit the observations better? These questions are the very heart of science, and they all need to be explored using critical thinking. Without skepticism, without being able to reduce an argument to its constituent components rationally, people can tell you anything they want, and if they phrase it properly you will be powerless to see why they are wrong.

This is at the core of the Moon Hoax problem. Some of the people behind it may be lying to you. Or they may think they are right, but for whatever reason do not or cannot understand that they are wrong. Either way, they are still wrong. Without the proper tools to analyze their arguments, how can you tell? Sure, I have some experience in photography, astronomy, physics and the like. But to disprove the idea that shadows on the Moon must be parallel, I went out and took some pictures myself that clearly show non-parallel shadows (you can see them in the Photos section of this group: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/badastronomy/lst). I didn't need to be an expert to do this; I just needed a camera and a chain link fence at sunset.

Anyone could do this, but they need to think around the problem, and not just listen to what the "experts" say. I'll note that hoax proponent David Percy claims to be an award-winning photographer, and Bart Sibrel claims to be an award-winning cinematographer, yet both haven't bothered to go out and take a couple of simple snapshots which can easily and handily disprove their theories. What does this tell you about them?

Many of the other claims can be shown to be wrong just as simply. But I don't ask you to simply believe me. I ask you to look at all the evidence and decide for yourself. Ironically, the Fox TV show asked the same thing, except they didn't give all the evidence. I am happy to. Look at the data, the pictures, the science, and think about it. Think! Don't just believe. Without thinking topics over critically, you will succumb to dogma, be swayed by propaganda. You will pay people money to support their nonsensical cause, throw your precious time away on fruitless endeavors.

For many people, decades of "information" absorption has made it difficult to break out of the habit of simply consuming whatever it is they are fed. Difficult, but not impossible. I came into being a hardcore skeptic (in my everyday life) relatively recently. It can be done. But it's easier for kids. They tend to absorb information rather than mull over it, but we can provide them with the tools they need to think, to ponder, to weigh options. It's up to us to provide them with those tools.

Teach them this: The next time you see a commercial on TV, ask yourself if the product really works that well. How many takes did the director need before things went the way they wanted? When you hear a politician speak, ask yourself if they are giving you all the data you need to understand the issue. And the next time you hear someone say they have evidence the Apollo landings were faked, ask yourself if there are reliable, verifiable sources of information you can use to find for yourself, and whether they are giving you the whole story, or just their side of it. And above all, keep one hand on your wallet.

4) Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

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Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
badastro@badastronomy.com
http://www.badastronomy.com