This is the podcast version of the Skeptics in the Pub Online live-streamed talks. We take the audio and give it to you in a nice easy podcast feed for you to listen at your pleasure. All of the talks are still available on our YouTube channel if you want to see any visuals/slides/etc. We release the live shows as we do them on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month and on weeks when there isn't a live show, we release an episode from the archive.
Podcast
The Progressive Parent: Kavin Senapathy on science, justice, and the future of humanity – Kavin Senapathy
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What adults do for children today is shaping how humanity will ultimately fare. How can parents and other adults leverage information and resources to oppose bigotry and do the best for kids? In this presentation, Kavin Senapathy will discuss their book, The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids. From protecting babies and children from harmful chemical exposures to the truth about the gender and sex binaries, they will shed light on how to level up individual and collective approaches to raising children.
Kavin Senapathy is an award-winning science journalist and author of The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids (Hanover Square Press). Senapathy’s writing can be found in SciShow, Scientific American, SELF, Salon, Forbes, and more. A member of the National Association of Science Writers and the American Society of Journalists and Authors, their work delves into a slew of seemingly disparate but interconnected beats, from genomics to racism in society and medicine to food and health.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
Atheism, Religion, and Human Nature: The Evolutionary Puzzles of Faith and Atheism – Dr Will Gervais
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We’re all members of a very strange species. But where lots of human peculiarities – from art to warfare and beyond – have analogues across the animal kingdom, we stand alone as the only religious species. Yet, within our otherwise religious species, atheism is currently flourishing in large parts of the world. I’ll discuss research highlighted in my recent book (Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species), showing how people’s intuitions about morality lead them to assume the worst of atheists – with problematic implications for our scientific understanding of atheism, religion, and human nature.
Will Gervais (Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London) is a cultural evolutionary psychologist and has been a global leader in the scientific study of atheism for over a decade. Dr. Gervais’s research has been featured in media such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, Der Speigel, Psychology Today, Vox, and Scientific American. His interdisciplinary work, lying at the intersection of cultural evolution, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science, has garnered international scientific recognition. He was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science and is the recipient of the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association and the SAGE Young Scholar Award from the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology. Will likes cooking, camping, and his dog.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
SitPO – Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 16 – Is the Smoking Gun Enough? – Ben O’Brien
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
In spite of advancements in the field of forensic science, questionable practices and outright unproven methods still often get admitted into American court rooms. We’ll explore some examples of this happening, some intractable problems in some methods that may seem reliable, and the reasons why there’s even a chance of nonsense being admitted into court.
About the speaker:
Ben O’Brien (BSc, MSc) has a masters in Forensic Science from Virginia Commonwealth University and currently works as a forensic DNA analyst for a private company based out of northern Virginia, primarily analyzing sexual assault kits to aid Illinois State Police in preventing backlogs by ensuring all cases have evidence processed within 6 months.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
SitPO – Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 15 – What Mental Health Crisis? Psychiatrization & Social Media – Shayna Weisz
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
1 in 8 people globally are affected by a mental disorder, yet despite research, knowledge and awareness efforts, mental health is still increasing at an alarming rate. Could there be something misleading us in the data, an underlying reason why so many are identifying as mentally ill these days that is being overlooked? I will explain the concept of the “psychiatrization of society” as a possible explanation, in particular exploring social media’s role in the increasing pathologization of normality.
About the speaker:
Shayna is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham studying the gendered nature of modern mental health discourse & the psychiatrization of society. Her goal is to uncover and expose pseudoscience and sexism within psychiatry.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
SitPO – Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 14 – Why can’t they just behave? – Caradoc Gething
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
The dubious rants of an aging teacher, regarding discipline and punishment in schools and why we’ve never had it so bad, or good, depending on who you listen to.
About the speaker:
Caradoc is returning to Skepticamp for another year, hoping to prove that quantity is not necessarily quality. This year, fresh from joining a new school in September, he is embarking on his 24th year destroying the hopes and dreams of children in education. A keen lover of sport, vegetables and politics, he is extremely glad his brother lasted longer as Welsh First Minister than Liz “Lettuce” Truss. Will His daughters get a mention in this year’s talk? Who knows! His favourite Gladiator is Fury
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
SitPO – Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 13 – A Comedy of Errors (and Overcrowding) – The Prison Population Crisis – Emma McClure
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Last year prison lawyer Emma ran a long way to make an over-laboured point about prison conditions. The sequel calls for an even more ridiculous stunt… So Emma will be running in circles at a prison for 52 miles.
Our prisons are full to bursting. The situation is so bad that by soon thousands will be released before they have served even half of their sentence. In this talk Emma will clear up exactly how we got here, how it has been brewing for a long time and the facts about ‘early’ release.
About the speaker:
Emma is a former QED main stage speaker and solicitor specialising in prison and public law. She regularly represents prisoners before the Parole Board. In what is left of her spare time, Emma enjoys running and boring other people about how much she enjoys running.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
SitPO – Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 12 – Who owns AI?- Phil Armstrong
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Proponents of AI promise that AI will lead to the the democratisation of knowledge, but it is ultimately owned by various companies and investors. Who are these people and what are their goals for AI?
About the speaker:
Phil is a professional software engineer and an amateur board member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and The Skeptic magazine
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 11 – Postnatal Psychosis and me – Karin McClure
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
A talk about my experience literally losing the plot with Postnatal Psychosis and what it’s like to experience psychiatric care on the NHS
About the speaker:
Karin is a artist/skeptic based in Liverpool.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 10 – A priest, a viking, and a seamonster walked into a lake – Fredrik Trusohamn
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
From where do the stories about sea serpents, draugr, and trolls originate? In the case of one of Europe’s oldest lake monster, the story seems to originate from misinterpreting a historical artifact. So what happens when the church, king, and bureaucracy get involved in a monster hunt, and does the monster really exist?
About the speaker:
Fredrik is an archaeologist who investigates Ancient Aliens, alternative history, and even monsters. He hosts a podcast on the Archaeological Podcast Network called “Digging up Ancient Aliens.” Fredrik’s specialty is the Scandinavian Viking Age, and their specialty is the view of childhood. However, due to unforeseen events, he is now telling people online that Pakistan was not nuked by aliens. Or that dragons are not real.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
Skepticamp 2024 – Talk 9 – The cane only works if you use it – Cass Peters
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This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Nearly 1 in 4 Britons has some form of disability and, at least in theory, has access to a system that is designed to get them the accommodations that they need. However, we know that many people underutilize or even fully reject these accommodations, often causing themselves undue pain, suffering, and frustration. This talk will take a look at the research behind why this rejection happens and what we can do about it, ending with a call to action for good skeptics everywhere.
About the speaker:
Cass is the queer, trans, disabled immigrant that the Daily Mail warned you about. He’s a sociologist by training, and he taught undergraduates for years before health issues cut his PhD program short. These days he still gives occasional talks on subjects that take his fancy, particularly those related to disability, queerness, and identity. In between migraines he likes to make extremely sparkly art and take care of his many animals, all of whom are cuter than yours.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.