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Past Activities of the Canberra Skeptics

Nuclear Issues in Australia and Beyond; One Perspective

Date: 14 May 2012

Professor George Dracoulis, FAA

Members Free/Non-Members Gold Coin Donation

Nuclear issues in Australia have had a conflicted history. We are a country with significant uranium resources but no nuclear power. This talk will cover selected aspects of uranium production, nuclear fission, the scale of present and future nuclear power world-wide, life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from competing technologies, and the demand and comparative cost of electricity generation in Australia. In the year following the dramatic events at Fukushima and at the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, there are numerous topics that underlie the debate. These include politics, risk, public perception and public acceptance.

George Dracoulis has been a member of Department of Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University since 1973, and was Head from 1992.to July 2009. He was appointed Professor Emeritus in 2010. During 2006 he was a member of the Prime Minister’s task force that reviewed the prospects for uranium mining, processing and nuclear energy in Australia and he has been involved in public engagement on nuclear policy issues, here and abroad.

The Atlas of Living Australia: an online tool for discovering Australia’s biodiversity

Speaker: John La Salle, Director Atlas of Living Australia
Date: 17 April 2012

The Atlas of Living Australia is a national initiative to deliver web-based information about Australian plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms. Existing information about Australian species is distributed across countless databases, specimen catalogues from museums and herbaria, printed literature, images and hundreds of web sites. The ALA is integrating this dispersed information to provide as complete a pictures as possible for each species. The Atlas provides a variety of tools to let people explore the biodiversity at a regional or local level, and contribute to the knowledge of Australian biodiversity.

John La Salle, Director Atlas of Living Australia, has been involved in the Atlas since its inception and played a key role in its establishment in 2006. John would like to unlock the information stored in many Australian museums, herbaria, other natural history collections and databases, and make these data freely available online through the Atlas. This huge, rich database would generate new avenues of research and enquiry.

John is the former Director of the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC). His main area of research has been on the taxonomy and biology of parasitic Hymenoptera (wasps), including their significance in maintaining sustainability in both natural and agricultural ecosystems.

John is a native Californian, who has lived in Australia since 2000.

CRITICAL THINKING AND COGNITIVE BIAS

Speaker: Dr Karen Macpherson

Date: Wed 14th March

The chances of winning Lotto are 8,145,060:1. Many newspapers carry astrological forecasts. Most people think they are above average drivers. And astoundingly, most university academics think their research is more important than other academics’ research.

It is generally assumed that professionals know how to think - but overall, we have limited insight into the thinking process, and we have limited training in critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is sabotaged by a range of cognitive biases; by the availability of resources; by personality; even by motivation. As one researcher put it, if our car engines were as erratic as our deliberate intellectual efforts, most of us would not get home for dinner

In this seminar, Dr Karen Macpherson talks about the nature of critical thinking; how it can be taught; and its complex relationship with its evil twin, cognitive bias.

Dr Karen Macpherson is a Professional Associate with the Faculty of Education at the University of Canberra, where she was a full-time academic for a number of years. Her PhD thesis investigated the development of critical thinking and information literacy skills in tertiary students, in the context of end-user computing for information retrieval. Her post-doctoral research has examined critical thinking and clinical decision-making skills in medical students, and in emergency medicine interns and specialists.

Diagnosis by "Dr. Google"

Speaker: Dr. Rachael Dunlop

Date: Wednesday 15th February 2012

A comprehensive set of notes is available as well as a podcast from this meeting is available on our "Podcasts from Meetings" page located on the menu or here

With so much information proliferating on the internet and no mechanisms in place to check for accuracy, how can consumers distinguish what is right and what is not? This is particularly important when it comes to health information, since 1 in 2 of us now “self-diagnose” and 2 in 3 research our medications on the web. Using the example of vaccination information, Dr Rachael Dunlop sifts through the quagmire of Google and reveals conspiracies involving “Big Pharma”, a New World Order with Lizard People, chemtrails, and a plethora of misleading information. In a time when many parts of the world are experiencing as resurgence in communicable diseases, Rachael offers some tricks and tips for navigating the “bottomless pit of misinformation” that is health information on the internet.

Some controversy has arisen surrounding this talk. For details concerning this click on this link.

Dr Rachael Dunlop PhD is a medical researcher at the Heart Research Institute Sydney, Vice President of Australian Skeptics, a reporter for the Skeptic Zone podcast, blogs at the Skeptics Book of Pooh Pooh and a member of Mystery Investigators science show for kids.

An introduction to MPS (Management PseudoScience): or why a hard nose is no protection for a soft head.

Speaker: John Smyrk

Date: Tuesday 13th December 2011

A comprehensive set of notes is available as well as a podcast from this meeting is available on our "Podcasts from Meetings" page

The field of management has provided particularly rich soil for the cultivation and propagation of nonsense. This observation lies in sharp contrast to the common perceptions of managers as cold, hard, evidence-based decision makers. Entire cottage industries have sprung up around popular publications of authors whose works range from sound, well-argued scientific studies through to the patently absurd. In this talk John will explore a number of quite distinct forms of, what he calls “Management PseudoScience (MPS): including Myers-Briggs, In Search of Excellence and subliminal advertising.

John (a Novocastrian) is a Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Business at the ANU where he teaches project management and participates in a related research program. He is also in private practice as a project management consultant. Amongst his clients are the ABS and the World Bank.

Get off that Armchair and Change the World – Skeptical Activism in Action!

Speaker: Richard Saunders

Date: Monday 14th November 2011

Richard Saunders will give an overview of some of the recent success achieved by skeptical activism, including the downfall of the Power Balance company in Australia and the battle against the anti-vaccination movement. The talk will include a demonstration of the four major body tricks used by those selling magic bracelets that even fool the peddlers themselves. There may even be spoon bending!

Richard Saunders is a vice president and Life Member of Australian Skeptics, a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a co-founder of the Mystery Investigators science show. He is the host and producer of The Skeptic Zone podcast and appears regularly as a skeptical commentator on television and as 'the skeptical judge' on TV's 'The One'. He is additionally known internationally as a children's book author.

Topic: "J'accuse: Aliens and Free Will, the gods of choice for atheists."

Speaker: Dr Charles H. "Charley" Lineweaver

Senior Fellow at the Planetary Science Institute, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University.
Date: Tuesday 13th Sept 2011
Time: 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Place: Optus Lecture Theatre, CSIRO Discovery Science Centre,
Clunies Ross Street Acton ACT 2601

Topic: "J'accuse: Aliens and Free Will, the gods of choice for atheists."

Dr Lineweaver will discuss how intelligent aliens and individual free will are (in his view) the thinly veiled god delusions of many skeptics and atheists.

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Canberra Skeptics Inc. and the CSIRO Discovery Science Centre Proudly Present
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Witch-hunters, Injustice and Superstition: How science and skepticism will benefit Africa

Speaker: Mr Leo Igwe
Date: Thursday, 18th of August 2011
Africans stand to gain a lot by embracing the skeptical outlook; what are those gains?
Will Africans ever harvest them? And how do we ensure that Africa reaps the fruits of skeptical rationality?

Mr Leo Igwe will talk about how science and skepticism has been used to challenge irrational beliefs systems that have resulted in children being killed for being witches. He will also discuss the consequences of challenging such beliefs in Africa and the role science, skepticism and critical thinking can play in Africa’s future.

Leo Igwe is the founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, the Nigerian Skeptics Society and former director of the Center for Inquiry/Nigeria. Leo currently works for the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) as its director in West and Southern Africa. He also represents IHEU at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights in Banjul, Gambia. In the past few months, Leo has spent much of his time rescuing alleged witch children in Akwa Ibom state in Southern Nigeria. Leo has been arrested, detained and beaten up several times by the police and local gangs in the course of his work and campaign against superstition, injustices and religious fanaticism. He writes for “The Skeptic” and has authored numerous articles on human rights, humanism, skepticism and freethought in Africa.

The event was made possible by a generous grant from the National Science Week 2011.

"Cold on the trail of cryptids"

Speaker: Dustin Welbourne
Date: Wednesday 13th of July 2011

Dustin will be speaking on what he calls the ‘crypto continuum’, and the evidence, or lack of evidence for unlikely organisms. His talk will range from unusual animal behaviour on one end of the continuum, - behaviour or traits that haven’t really been observed scientifically but often claimed i.e. snakes chasing people - through to the seemingly evolutionarily implausible i.e. such “beasts” as the chupacabra, Pegasus, and some crypto-botanical examples.

Dustin is completing a Masters in Science Communication through the ANU, and expects to begin a PhD on invasive organisms at ADFA this year. He is director of the Canberra Reptile Sanctuary.

"Seeing Through The Haze – A Clear Perspective On Australia’s Drinking Culture"

Speaker: Michael Thorn, Chief Executive, Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation
Date: Tuesday, 21st of June 2011

A comprehensive set of notes, which includes video links, from Michael Thorns presentation is available here .

Michael Thorn, Chief Executive of the Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation, will talk about what we do and don’t know about the way we drink in Australia.

In this lecture Michael will provide an overview of what alcohol use looks like in Australia. This will include the current evidence base on Australia’s use of alcohol, the extent of alcohol-related harms, and the economic and social effects. He will also talk about Australia’s drinking culture, how this has changed overtime and how it now compares to other countries. This will include the drinking behaviour of children, Gen Y, Gen X, and baby boomers.

Finally, he will examine how the community perceives alcohol, the framing of policy responses, and the effectiveness of population-wide measures to address alcohol misuse.

Michael Thorn has extensive experience in strategic social policy development and implementation, most recently in Canberra and previously as a policy director of the Western Australian Department of the Premier and Cabinet from 2001 until 2008. He has also worked as a policy and management consultant in the fields of housing, Indigenous affairs, regional economic development and employment, and early in his career was a policy adviser and chief of staff to a number of WA Cabinet ministers.

Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation (AER Foundation): The Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation (AER) is a unique, independent, not-for-profit organisation with a goal to change the way we drink. The AER Foundation collaborates with grass-roots community organisations, all levels of government, Police, researchers and the private sector to turn evidence-based research on alcohol and solvent misuse into practical, real-life solutions. Since its inception in 2001, AER has invested over $100 million in prevention, public education, workforce development, and treatment & rehabilitation projects, underpinned by innovative research. Our dedication to creating a safer and healthier Australia sees the AER Foundation forming new partnerships and alliances with like-minded organisations, with a focus on youth and Indigenous issues. Looking forward, the AER Foundation continues its commitment to changing Australia’s drinking culture to one of safety and responsibility. For further information: www.aerf.com.au

Australia's Foreign Aid: Who For? What For?

Speaker: Philip Eliason
Date: Friday 13th of May 2011

A comprehensive set of notes from Philip Eliasons presentation is available here as a word document.

This talk will assess foreign aid as a tool of the Government and as an industry. AusAID is seen by most officials and aid grant bidders as the most cash rich agency of the Commonwealth Government. However, does aid spending have a benefit for Australia and does aid spending substantially benefit its recipients or target groups?

Does aid reflect Australia's domestic political wishes and worries of the voter or is it a tool in the Government's outward looking foreign policy kit? Where should aid sit as a diplomatic instrument?

Philip Eliason is a former diplomat who has worked independently for over 20 years in the policy and poltical domain. In 2009, Philip went to Yemen to run a UK government aid project. He also reviewed Save the Children fund activity and worked pro-bono on a Yemen government project to protect the Arabian Peninsula's only dinosaur trackway. From March 2010, he has worked on issues such as extremism, homelessness, agricultural development, greenhouse proofing and training for Government officials.

On arrival in Yemen in November 2010, he was welcomed, photographed and interrogated. Following this short visit he returned to Australia where he has helped remotely a number of assistance projects in the country.

Philip will seek to place foreign aid into a program category which despite its substantial developmental evaluation remains driven by home and not beneficiary considerations.

Philip took a BA Hons from ANU in 1980 and joined the now DFAT in 1981 and worked in Egypt, Syria and on the Arabian Gulf before resigning in 1988 to help lead the National Farmers Federation. He has run other national lobby groups, advised the Government on security of Australian's abroad and worked in Parliament as a foreign policy adviser. He has a wide range of foreign contacts in the Middle East and sees the turbulence in the area as a reason for Australian firms to review their business relationships in the area.

TOO EASY TO BELIEVE? Skepticism and the psychology of suggestibility

Speaker: Dr.Krissy Wilson
Date: Wednesday, 13th of April 2011

Dr Krissy Wilson will review the nature, mechanism and psychological impact of suggestibility, including hypnotic suggestibility and how this relates, for example, to false memories, .

Dr Wilson is a graduate of the University of London. Formerly at the University of Tasmania, she now teaches at Charles Sturt University.

Vaccines in Peril

Speaker: Ken McLeod
Date: Friday 11th of March 2011

Recent newspaper articles were most disturbing: "Polio emergency in the Congo." Once again Polio breaks out just when it appeared we had won that war. In the Democratic Republic of Congo we can blame this outbreak on lower vaccination rates due to civil war and the breakdown of government infrastructure. However in Australia we are facing outbreaks of diseases we thought were beaten, not because of civil war, but due to a large and vocal anti-vaccination lobby.

It sounds weird to us more mature citizens who remember the last of the polio epidemics of the '50s, but yes, there are people in Australia dedicated to persuading parents not to vaccinate themselves or their children. They give the most bizarre reasons, ranging from "vaccines don't work" to "vaccines cause autism" and "natural immunity is preferable" and so on, with the occasional mention of international conspiracies. Many people, including parents, have been persuaded by the so-called "Australian Vaccination Network" (a group of rabid anti-vaxxers based near Byron Bay), to forgo vaccination, with tragic consequences. See the attached chart of the increase in Pertussis notifications over the last few years.

A campaign to counter the anti-vax groups has been going since May 2009, when baby Dana McCaffery died of Pertussis, (whooping cough), a disease which the "Australian Vaccination Network" (AVN) claims is never fatal. A large group of health professionals, members of the Australian Skeptics, and laymen have formed an alliance to counter this propaganda. The campaign's first major success was the public warning issued by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission concerning the AVN, see http://tinyurl.com/2bnbtev .

One of Canberra's Skeptics, Ken McLeod, is a leader of the campaign to counter the anti-vaxxers. He was awarded the Australian Skeptics' "2010 Thornett Award For The Promotion of Reason." He also shared in the Australian Skeptics' "2010 Skeptic of the Year Award" which was awarded to the group "Stop the Australian Vaccination Network." (See http://www.tamaustralia.org/ ). This was for his role in the campaign against the AVN.

World-wide campaigns to provide vaccinations are at risk. Ken will describe Australia's anti-vaccination lobby, and what is being done about it. He will also brief you on similar campaigns overseas.

KEN MCLEOD – Retired navigator -air traffic controller - Search And Rescue (SAR) national manager – Australian aviation representative on 2 United Nations committees- Senate researcher; now an investor- boutique farmer – stirrer. Past President Moruya Rotary Club, (Paul Harris Fellow). Came to Scepticism after being bothered by “psychics” and crackpot inventors for 20 years in SAR. Submitted complaints to the Health Care Complaints Commission and the Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing targeting the Australian (anti-) Vaccination Network.

Why We Should be Buying Kidneys from ‘Donors’ from Poor Countries

Speaker: Dr. Jeremy Shearmur
Date: Monday, 14th of February 2011

There is a podcast from this talk on the "Podcasts from meetings" page.

There is currently a shortage of kidneys in Australia – in the sense of there being people who will live poor-quality lives on dialysis, and die, because of kidney failure. Things will soon get much worse, not least because of the effects of type-2 diabetes, which is now becoming increasingly prevalent in our population. The government favours the kind of approach that has been adopted in Spain, in which particularly good efforts are made to ‘harvest’ the kidneys of those who are suitable to donate, who die on life support. This approach, even if fully adopted, could not possibly resolve the problems that will face us. Dr Jeremy Shearmur will argue that what we should work towards is a fully legalized, and also privately certified, program for the purchase of kidneys from healthy, voluntary live donors from poorer countries. Dr Shearmur will explain why, on the one side, the ethical objections to such a program are mistaken and how practical difficulties can be overcome. He will also argue that this is also currently to be preferred to all other feasible options known to him.

Jeremy Shearmur is a Reader in Philosophy, and currently Deputy Head of School, in the School of Philosophy, Australian National University. He has previously worked at the London School of Economics, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Manchester and George Mason University, and was also Director of Studies at the Centre for Policy Studies in London. He has written books on Friedrich Hayek and Karl Popper, and was co-editor of Popper’s After The Open Society. He has also published widely on issues from how to solve the ‘NIMBY’ problem, to ‘Intelligent Design’. He hopes to finish his much-delayed Living With Markets this year – a volume which will inter alia, discuss the supply of blood and kidneys, and possibly also pornography.

The Coming Famine: risks and solutions for global food security

Speaker: Adjunct Professor Julian Cribb
Date: Monday, 13th December 2010

In coming decades the world faces the risk of escalating regional food crises leading to conflicts and mass refugee movements. This is driven primarily by emerging global scarcities of all the primary resources required to produce food – water, good farm land, energy, nutrients, technology, fish and stable climates – at a time when international demand for food is poised to double. The talk explains key factors in emerging global food insecurity, the risks to global stability and the challenges facing farmers, scientists, governments and consumers. It will also propose some solutions.

Julian Cribb is an author, journalist, editor and science communicator and principal of Julian Cribb & Associates who provide specialist consultancy in the communication of science, agriculture, food, mining, energy and the environment. His career includes appointments as newspaper editor, scientific editor for The Australian newspaper, director of national awareness for CSIRO, member of numerous scientific boards and advisory panels, and president of national professional bodies for agricultural journalism and science communication.

His published work includes over 8000 articles, 3000 media releases and eight books. He has received 32 awards for journalism. His book, The Coming Famine explores the question of whether we can feed humanity through the mid-century peak in numbers and food demand

Visions of Paradise – Inside the Inner Workings of Cults

Speaker: Adrian Norman
Date: Friday, 12th November 2010

References that Adrian mentioned in his presentation.
steven hassan (cult expert) http://www.freedomofmind.com/.
rick ross http://www.rickross.com/.
cult information and family support: http://www.cifs.org.au/.
visions of paradise (educational doco on cults) http://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2523.html .
excerpts from visions of paradise: http://vimeo.com/10199827.

Adrian Norman, a film maker, spent 7 years in a cult and has seen the damage they can do first-hand. He was recently interviewed in The Skeptic magazine about his documentary Visions of Paradise.

According to Adrian cults have resulted in, “Abandoned careers, marriages destroyed descent into mental illness, systemic abuse and even suicide. Once you’re in a cult, you’re no longer in control of your thoughts – the cult is!”

Adrian, in conjunction with the Cult Information and Family Support Service (CIFS), recently produced Visions of Paradise, a five-part educational documentary that tells the story of four people who have joined cults and the devastating consequences it had on them and those close to them.

Visions of Paradise argues that mind control exists from a psychological perspective. Although theologians will argue that 'free will' trumps all organised groups' efforts to control the thoughts and actions of its members, the opposite is in fact true. With reference to three seminal studies into social psychology - the Asche Conformity Experiment, the Milgram Electric Shock Experiment and the Stanford University Prison Experiment -Visions of Paradise argues that people are hard wired to conform, to obey authority and perform to systemic expectations. Through the manipulation of these human predispositions cults can quickly transform normally intelligent previously well-balanced people into mindless zealots willing to take their own lives and others.

In this lecture Adrian will discuss what a cult is, what mind control is from a psychological perspective, his own personal involvement in a cult and how it affected him, what can be done about cults and how organisations like the CIFS can help people.

Adrian Norman started out as a stand-up comic in the early days of the Comedy Store in the80s. He studied directing at NIDA and co-founded Theatre Sans Frontieres, an award-winning theatre company in the UK where he worked as a director and producer for most of the 90s. In 2001 he returned to Australia and completed a Master of Education. While working at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School he became interested in filmmaking and began working on Visions of Paradise. In 2008 he founded Educational Video and Design, offering video and educational consultancy services.

For more information on the Cult and Family Support service (CIFS) please visit their website http://www.cifs.org.au/index.php.

Alternative medicines - from the perspective of a player in the pharmaceutical mainstream

Speaker: Speaker: Dr Susan Walters
Monday, 13 September 2010

The speaker is a retired pharmacist who specialised in the quality of medicines. After a short period in the pharmaceutical industry, she spent the remainder of her career reviewing pre-market data on the quality and bioavailability of prescription medicines. The talk will conclude with a series of slides entitled: If I ruled the world, this is how alternative medicines would be regulated.

A comprehensive set of notes from Dr. Susan Walter's presentation is available here as a PDF presentation, 41.8 MB, as well as a list of the references used here .

Issues which divide skeptics

Speaker: Dr Martin Bridgstock, Griffith University
On Monday, 16 August 2010

Belief in the paranormal, according to a wide range of polls and measures, hovers at about 80% of the Australian population. The Australian skeptics are a small network of people who keep demanding evidence for paranormal phenomena. They test dowsers and psychics, criticise creationists, and expose quackery in alternative medicine.

Despite all this activity, skeptics disagree on some fairly fundamental issues. What is the link between skepticism and atheism, if any? What should skeptics think about human-induced climate change? Should there be a national organisation, to which all Australian skeptics can belong? These are questions about which skeptics disagree sharply, and sometimes angrily.

In this talk, for the first time, a prominent skeptic tackles all of these issues head-on. The aim will not be to push a particular viewpoint, but to open up the issues for profitable thinking and discussion. By the end of the talk, you will know what the speaker thinks about the issues, and why, and you will also have the chance to articulate your own views.

Dr Martin Bridgstock, a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University, has been associated with the skeptical movement for more than 25 years. He runs the highly successful course Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal, which has won several teaching prizes. He is a former joint Australian Skeptic of the year, a consultant to CSI, and has also won the Australian Skeptics’ Prize for Critical Thinking. His skeptical book Beyond Belief was published by Cambridge University Press last year.

This event is an ANU Public Lecture and is made possible by a grant from National Science Week

Skepticism and the climate change debate

Speaker: N.G. Ware
Tuesday, 13 July 2010

a powerpoint presentation of Nick's talk is available here .

The question of climate change arouses passionate discussion with arguments from alarmists, activists, sceptics, and deniers. The scientific establishment finds itself in the middle of this spectrum of opinion and is embarrassed both by the excesses of the alarmists and the disinformation of the deniers. This talk will examine the evidence in the anthropogenic global warming debate from the viewpoint of the Skeptic.

The speaker is a retired chemical microanalyst and mineralogist. He has managed analytical laboratories in the UK and at the ANU and has developed novel spectrometric techniques.

How do we know when we are at war?

Speaker: Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy, AC
Tuesday, 15 June 2010

There is a podcast from this talk on the "Podcasts from meetings" page.

War is no longer clearly defined by state, size, scale, and soldiers in uniform. The old indicators of war - declaration, mobilisation, and large scale conflict between states - are no longer a reliable guide. Instead we have new indicators - undeclared, come as you are, among the people, asymmetric, against non-state actors, and involving all elements of national power. We are also trying to comprehend the security implications of new threats such as transnational criminals, climate change, and food, water and energy shortages. What do we make of the convergence of war and crime? Will these events lead to war or are they part of a larger war we have yet to comprehend?

There are limitations on what the military can achieve in this new type of war. Our politicians and national security community must adopt a more prominent role. We used to say that war was too important to be left to the Generals. We now need to say that war is too important not to involve the civilians.

Peter Leahy retired from the Army in July 2008 after a 37-year career as a soldier. As an infantry officer the focus of his career was with soldiers in command, training and staff appointments. He was fortunate enough to command at almost every level in the Army and to serve on exchange in Hong Kong with the Gurkhas and in the United States at the Army’s Command and General Staff College.

Peter concluded his career in the Army as the Chief of Army. He served in this appointment for 6 years, which was the longest period of service as Chief since General Harry Chauvel in the 1920s. His period of command was marked by the continuous global deployment of Australian soldiers on high-tempo, complex, and demanding combat operations. During his tenure as Chief of Army he was responsible for the rapid expansion and development of the Army to enable it to cope with the many changing demands of modern conflict. His focus was to provide a hardened and networked force with increased adaptability and flexibility.

Since leaving the Army Peter has joined the University of Canberra where he was appointed as a Professor and the foundation Director of the National Security Institute. Peter is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has been appointed to the Boards of Codan Pty Ltd and Electro Optic Systems Holdings Pty Ltd. He is a Director of the Kokoda Foundation and a member of the Defence South Australia Advisory Board.

Skeptical activism

Speaker: Eran Segev, President of Australian Skeptics (Sydney)
Thursday, 13 May 2010

Various groups with a variety of agendas have all kinds of ideas about autism. Looking at their claims can be one step towards active skepticism.

Eran Segev is a father of 3 boys, an IT consultant, and the President of Australian Skeptics Inc (Sydney Skeptics).

Is bullshit just the opposite of truth?

A review of Frankfurt's On Bullshit, with implications for informatics
Speaker: Craig McDonald
Tuesday, 13 April 2010

The author of the little book On Bullshit is Harry Frankfurt, an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. This book starts: "One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share". He argues that "we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, we have no theory". I want to argue that while Informatics theory, particularly Popper's* 3 worlds and the theory of reference (aka the correspondence theory of truth), does provide some conceptual context within which to place his analysis (and the entertaining works of Don Watson), it doesn't account for it and an extension to Popper's 3 worlds is needed.

* The Austro-British philosopher Karl Popper died in 1994. He had taught during the 1940s at Canterbury University College, Christchurch, New Zealand (as it then was), but was passed over for the chair of philosophy at Sydney University. From 1949 he was professor of logic and scientific method at the University of London. His Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963) deals with 'falsificationism' as an account of scientific method. He discussed the idea of "3 worlds" in his Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (1972; revised edition, 1979

Craig McDonald is Associate Professor of Information Systems at the University of Canberra.

Terrorism conspiracy theories and the 1978 Sydney Hilton bombing, Lockerbie, 9/11, and the London 7/7 bombings

Speaker: Adjunct Professor Clive Williams
Monday, 15 March 2010
An ANU Public Lecture presented by Canberra Skeptics and the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre

There is a podcast from this talk on the "Podcasts from meetings" page.

Terrorism has been an increasingly visible part of life for the last 40 years, and following 9/11, one of the defining features of the early 21st century. There are, however, many who believe that terrorist acts are the result of insidious covert governmental organisations seeking to control the people they claim to be acting on behalf of.

Adjunct Professor Clive Williams from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU will examine the nature of conspiracy theories, particularly in relation to terrorist incidents - including 9/11. Discover the covert role played by aliens, neo-cons, shape shifters, Israeli agents, spin doctors, or neo-Nazis in the significant events that have shaped our world.

intelligence appointments. After leaving the Army in 1981, he pursued a civilian career in Defence Intelligence, working mainly on transnational issues. He was a Chevening scholar at the War Studies Department, King's College, London, in 1987. He has worked and lectured internationally on terrorism-related issues since 1980, and started running terrorism courses at the ANU in 1996. He left Defence in 2002, and has since run terrorism and national security-related Masters course electives at the ANU and a number of Australian and overseas universities. He became an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (PICT) at Macquarie University in 2006. He also became a Visiting Professor at the School of Human and Social Sciences (HASS) of the University of NSW at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in 2006. He is a member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO), and an Associate of the International Academy of Investigative Psychology (AIAIP).

The lecture is on YouTube .

Fighting the scammers: how the ACCC tackles scams

Speaker: Therese Dupé
Monday, 15 February 2010

Slides for the scam watch lecture are located here as a PDF presentation

Every year thousands of Australians fall victims to all manner of scams and scammers. The victims come from all walks of life and all have lost substantial amounts of money - in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Therese Dupé will be speaking about how the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deals with scams and scammers. Along the way she will discuss the background of the ACCC and provide an overview of scams and why they succeed. She will also provide information about the SCAMwatch website and the Australian Consumer Fraud Taskforce.

Therese Dupé is the Assistant Director of Enforcement Operations for the ACT and National Projects, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. She has been in the ACCC for 10 years, 7 of them dealing with scams

N.B.: any media enquiries about SCAMwatch should be directed to the ACCC. Click here to go to their Web site.

To order a free copy of The Little Black Book of Scams, click here .



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