SoS1: Sean Rafferty Talks about the Science of Skepticism (Part A)

Dr. Sean Rafferty is an archaeologist at the University at Albany. His office is right next door to Cara’s. He was one of Chris’ professors in grad school. Sean’s focus has moved from strictly cognitive and Northeastern U.S. archaeology to the philosophy of skepticism. While Chris fondly remembers Sean as skeptical by nature, he has delved deeper into the discipline, theory, and literature of skepticism and teaches several courses and sections on it to UAlbany students. Cara hosts Science on Tap lectures at a local pub in Albany, and Sean gave a lecture for her on skepticism. Episode 2 is the audio of that lecture. We interviewed Sean as a way to set up the episode, and we all have so many words, we decided to split it into two parts. Learn more about Sean’s research and teaching at his department webpage: http://www.albany.edu/anthro/rafferty.php Sean got into skepticism by listening to podcasts (fancy that!), so we asked him what some of his favorite podcasts are and promised to provide links to them here: ● Skeptics Guide to the Universe - http://www.theskepticsguide.org/ ● Center for Scientific Inquiry - http://www.pointofinquiry.org/ ● Skepticality - https://www.skepticality.com/ ● Skeptic Magazine - http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/ ● Monster Talk - http://monstertalk.skeptic.com/ ● Skeptoid - https://skeptoid.com/ ● Society for Science Based Medicine - http://sfsbm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=163&Itemid=786 ● Sisyphus Speaks - http://sfsbm.org/sysiphusspeaks.com/ ● Penn Jillette - http://pennsundayschool.com/ ● The Cracked - http://www.cracked.com/podcast/ ● Buzzfeed - https://www.buzzfeed.com/podcasts Classroom Materials Calling Bullshit Syllabus: http://callingbullshit.org/ Recommended Books: The Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan You are not so smart - David McRaney Nonsense on Stilts - Massimo Piglucci The Believing Brain - Michael Shermer Abominable Science - Donald Prothero Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten our Future - Donald Prothero Contact Sean Rafferty: srafferty@albany.edu Journal of Northeast Anthropology http://www.albany.edu/northeast_anthropology/, neanthro@albany.edu Contact Us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation http://humbio.org/ https://twitter.com/HumBioAssoc Cara Ocobock http://www.albany.edu/anthro/72074.php cocobock@albany.edu https://twitter.com/CaraOcobock Chris Lynn http://cdlynn.people.ua.edu/ cdlynn@ua.edu https://twitter.com/Chris_Ly The song in the soundbed is “Broke 4U Baby” by the Morning Shakes, Chris’ band from the 1990s.