HELP with my Senior Honors Thesis on Skepticism??

[BigBird]

Hey folks! I was hoping a might be able to get some ideas stirring regarding the topic I have chosen to discuss in my senior honors program thesis for my undergrad degree, "Skepticism and The Scientific Method".

I was hoping some of you might be able to throw some ideas at me, and possibly critique any of my own if you feel it necessary. My project will consist of something like a 50+ page paper and approx. an hour long live presentation. I hope to make my presentation funny, engaging, and educational, and am beginning to plan this first.

I plan to open up with an introduction, a general intro into science and the scientific method, what it is and what it isnt, describing the difference between real science and pseudoscience, and also getting into skepticism as a mindset and a movement. This part will be about 15 minutes long.

At some point during my intro I wanted to do something a little controversial and maybe a bit suspenseful. I was hoping to commit 'homeopathic suicide' with some homeopathic sleeping pills (gotta make sure i get the good stuff so theres nothing in it ;) ) I know a few of my teachers and sisters on campus (yes i go to a catholic private school, dont go there) are true-believers in all kinds of whacky things include alt. medicine, so I think I will stir up some controversy with this. Any thoughts? I planned on tossing a bottle into the audience and having someone read what it was and opening the bottle for me and tossing it back up, where I would down the bottle and say something like "i just took an entire bottle of an alt. medicine called homeopathic sleeping pills, I'll continue with my presentation and we will how long it takes me to go unconscious." (sarcastically)

After the intro is done I wanted to get into most likely 4 major areas that I hear discussed a lot in the skeptical community, mostly on the SGU, namely:

-Psychics,Cold Reading,Psy (sylvia browne, ganzfield exp, etc)
-Alt Medicine,Homeopathy,Acupuncture,etc (Hahnemahn, then ill then discuss my homeopathic suicide in detail and explain why nothing happens)
-Creationism, ID, Evolution denial, etc (age of the earth, genetic, geological, fossil evidence)
-Anti-Vaccine movement (removal of thymerisol based preservatives net no change in autism rates, etc)

Other than some input on anything you think I might want to add or remove to make it more informative or entertaining, can anyone give me some specific ideas and/or logical fallacies commonly related to each of the 4 major areas? For example, you cant talk about psychics and cold reading without mentioning confirmation bias, and you cant mention creationists without talking about moving the goalpost.

The more ideas the better guys. I appreciate any help in advance! :D

[Denver]

You might want to run the pills idea by the principal before planning too much there. It sounds like something that could get you in homeopathic hot water.

To round out your thesis, I'd recommend doing some research into why people believe these things. You might find some of the reasons are out of desperation, or abuse, or ignorance due to lack of education or money. None of these things are funny, and people should be respected, not laughed at, just because they believe something you don't.

A better direction, I suggest, is looking at the ways charlatans take advantage of people. StopSylvia.com has a lot of information on that, as do many other such sites. Showing the plight of the believer, rather than making fun of them, I think would be more deserving of an honors project.

[BigBird]

You might want to run the pills idea by the principal before planning too much there. It sounds like something that could get you in homeopathic hot water.

To round out your thesis, I'd recommend doing some research into why people believe these things. You might find some of the reasons are out of desperation, or abuse, or ignorance due to lack of education or money. None of these things are funny, and people should be respected, not laughed at, just because they believe something you don't.

A better direction, I suggest, is looking at the ways charlatans take advantage of people. StopSylvia.com has a lot of information on that, as do many other such sites. Showing the plight of the believer, rather than making fun of them, I think would be more deserving of an honors project.

I appreciate the input, although I'm not sure how it came off that I was to be mocking anybody. I agree discussing why people believe what they believe is essential to the topic, and I hadn't thought of that before. Great idea! EDIT: Let me add that I do plan on harshly criticizing and shedding light on any charlatans and frauds mentioned such as sylvia browne.

Also, I basically need not run anything by anyone here on campus. My topic has been accepted by my academic adviser and the head of the dept, and I am essentially free to do what-ever I want within reason for this project. I highly doubt that eating a bottle of sugar pills on stage to help make a point, a week before I graduate will generate any problems for me.

I appreciate your concern though. Thanks!

[drkitten]

Also, I basically need not run anything by anyone here on campus. My topic has been accepted by my academic adviser and the head of the dept, and I am essentially free to do what-ever I want within reason for this project. I highly doubt that eating a bottle of sugar pills on stage to help make a point, a week before I graduate will generate any problems for me.

I think you're overconfident that what you will be eating is sugar pills.

"Homeopathic" medicines can contain useful levels of medicine (here's an ad, for example for some medicines available at "2C" concentration (http://www.asc-alchemy.com/pregnenolone.html) -- essentially one part in 10,000). A bottle of arsenic 2C would probably kill you.

The other thing to remember is that, frankly, homoeopathic manufacturers lie about what they put in the bottles. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1168305/Fears-Chinese-herbal-Viagra-containing-hidden-doses-pharmaceutical-drugs.html) So you really have no idea what they are using.

Basically, it's not a safe stunt. Impressive as hell, but you really don't want to discover that this particular batch of pills is the one they put dramamine into....

[fls]

It may be more useful if you can demonstrate a few of these effects in action. For example, you could bring an 'astrologer' with you to provide individualized, written readings for a few audience volunteers. Ask "who here finds it helpful to read their horoscope?" and pick out 5 of those who raise their hand to come up to your astrologer and provide them with a personal item, their name and birthdate, and then sit back down. While you start your talk, have the astrologer write out the 5 readings and hand them back to their owners. Ask then to read through them (silently) and rate how accurate they are (hopefully they rate it highly accurate). Then reveal that they were all given the same reading and read it out loud.

Or you could do a simple taste test. Get one of those wine magnets and ask for volunteers to test its effectiveness. Do the before and after tasting unblinded and when you find some people who can definitely tell the difference, do a blind test and see what results they get. You probably won't be able to do this because it involves alcohol, but maybe find another device that's supposed to change the taste of food.

Or see if you can find some people in the audience who believe in homeopathy and ask them whether they'd be able to tell whether you gave them a sugar pill or a homeopathic sleeping pill by the end of your presentation (i.e. give them an hour to figure out if they're getting drowsy or not). Go through the motions of assigning placebo vs. homeopathic remedy, but give them all sugar pills, and when some of them state that they got the real thing, reveal that none of them did. Or if you have enough people, you could actually do it as a double-blind, RCT.

I think it is helpful to have a direct experience of being fooled by your own judgements.

Linda

[BigBird]

I think you're overconfident that what you will be eating is sugar pills.

"Homeopathic" medicines can contain useful levels of medicine (here's an ad, for example for some medicines available at "2C" concentration (http://www.asc-alchemy.com/pregnenolone.html) -- essentially one part in 10,000). A bottle of arsenic 2C would probably kill you.

The other thing to remember is that, frankly, homoeopathic manufacturers lie about what they put in the bottles. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1168305/Fears-Chinese-herbal-Viagra-containing-hidden-doses-pharmaceutical-drugs.html) So you really have no idea what they are using.

Basically, it's not a safe stunt. Impressive as hell, but you really don't want to discover that this particular batch of pills is the one they put dramamine into....

I completely understand. Still considering it as an option, and I see people do it all the time, including randi, with no effects. If I can find out exactly what randi has used in the past, maybe that would be less of a risk?

[TraneWreck]

I completely understand. Still considering it as an option, and I see people do it all the time, including randi, with no effects. If I can find out exactly what randi has used in the past, maybe that would be less of a risk?

Just buy a bottle of homeopathic remedy X, dump out the pills, replace with sugar pills---voila!

It will also be something of a meta-experiment as your talk is about critical thinking and you can guage, by responses, whether your stunt convinced people even though they had no means of confirming what was in the bottles.

[Lucian]

I completely understand. Still considering it as an option, and I see people do it all the time, including randi, with no effects. If I can find out exactly what randi has used in the past, maybe that would be less of a risk?

My roommate has done this trick (as an instructor) in three classes in one morning. I just checked; he used Quietude (http://www.boironusa.com/products/quietude.php). It's not a bottle of pills, though; it's a box, so it's a matter of removing them from the box, then pushing the pills through the blister packets--slightly less impressive than opening a bottle and upending it in your mouth. I think he may have taken one blister packet per class instead of whole box, for financial reasons as much as anything else. Non-medicines with no ingredients aren't cheap.

At any rate, he did the trick safely three times, so the dilution should be great enough; however, DrKitten's comments about quality control are still pertinent.

[BigBird]

My roommate has done this trick (as an instructor) in three classes in one morning. I just checked; he used Quietude (http://www.boironusa.com/products/quietude.php). It's not a bottle of pills, though; it's a box, so it's a matter of removing them from the box, then pushing the pills through the blister packets--slightly less impressive than opening a bottle and upending it in your mouth. I think he may have taken one blister packet per class instead of whole box, for financial reasons as much as anything else. Non-medicines with no ingredients aren't cheap.

At any rate, he did the trick safely three times, so the dilution should be great enough; however, DrKitten's comments about quality control are still pertinent.

Excellent, I'll see if I can find that around here.. Thanks for the info!

[Denver]

I appreciate the input, although I'm not sure how it came off that I was to be mocking anybody....

I'm glad you're not. You didn't say anything about that, but I've found often when people present the fallacies of some of these beliefs, in a fun way, sometimes it turns into a making-fun-of way. So I just wanted to caution about too much of that, or at least, insuring it is not directed at the victims, bur rather at the crooks.

[TraneWreck]

I'm glad you're not. You didn't say anything about that, but I've found often when people present the fallacies of some of these beliefs, in a fun way, sometimes it turns into a making-fun-of way. So I just wanted to caution about too much of that, or at least, insuring it is not directed at the victims, bur rather at the crooks.

A great many people really deserve to be mocked for their nutty ideas, though.

[blutoski]

Hey folks! I was hoping a might be able to get some ideas stirring regarding the topic I have chosen to discuss in my senior honors program thesis for my undergrad degree, "Skepticism and The Scientific Method".

I was hoping some of you might be able to throw some ideas at me, and possibly critique any of my own if you feel it necessary. My project will consist of something like a 50+ page paper and approx. an hour long live presentation. I hope to make my presentation funny, engaging, and educational, and am beginning to plan this first.

I plan to open up with an introduction, a general intro into science and the scientific method, what it is and what it isnt, describing the difference between real science and pseudoscience, and also getting into skepticism as a mindset and a movement. This part will be about 15 minutes long.

At some point during my intro I wanted to do something a little controversial and maybe a bit suspenseful. I was hoping to commit 'homeopathic suicide' with some homeopathic sleeping pills (gotta make sure i get the good stuff so theres nothing in it ;) ) I know a few of my teachers and sisters on campus (yes i go to a catholic private school, dont go there) are true-believers in all kinds of whacky things include alt. medicine, so I think I will stir up some controversy with this. Any thoughts? I planned on tossing a bottle into the audience and having someone read what it was and opening the bottle for me and tossing it back up, where I would down the bottle and say something like "i just took an entire bottle of an alt. medicine called homeopathic sleeping pills, I'll continue with my presentation and we will how long it takes me to go unconscious." (sarcastically)

After the intro is done I wanted to get into most likely 4 major areas that I hear discussed a lot in the skeptical community, mostly on the SGU, namely:

-Psychics,Cold Reading,Psy (sylvia browne, ganzfield exp, etc)
-Alt Medicine,Homeopathy,Acupuncture,etc (Hahnemahn, then ill then discuss my homeopathic suicide in detail and explain why nothing happens)
-Creationism, ID, Evolution denial, etc (age of the earth, genetic, geological, fossil evidence)
-Anti-Vaccine movement (removal of thymerisol based preservatives net no change in autism rates, etc)

Other than some input on anything you think I might want to add or remove to make it more informative or entertaining, can anyone give me some specific ideas and/or logical fallacies commonly related to each of the 4 major areas? For example, you cant talk about psychics and cold reading without mentioning confirmation bias, and you cant mention creationists without talking about moving the goalpost.

The more ideas the better guys. I appreciate any help in advance! :D

Before answering, I think I need to understand what you mean by 'thesis' - I don't see a thesis above so much as a research paper with a public demonstration appended?

[blutoski]

I completely understand. Still considering it as an option, and I see people do it all the time, including randi, with no effects. If I can find out exactly what randi has used in the past, maybe that would be less of a risk?

It would be less of a risk, but doesn't eliminate the risk. We have been toying with this in Canada for a national 10^23 demonstration. Unless you test the tablets before you eat them, there's no guarantee of safety. Many homeopathic remedies are adulterated with prescription medications, and while I'm sure they have a method as to which are which, it's opaque to the consumer.

I am leaning toward serial diluting urine and drinking the final solution with vodka and a twist at the end of the demo.

[Jeff Corey]

An hour presentation? For an undergraduate thesis? Fifty pages? My Ph.D. defense took a half hour with the picky questions. My thesis was 28 pages plus figures and references.
What is your college, Whatsamatta U.?
But seriously, what is your major?
What is your topic?
What is you favorite colour?

[The True Scotsman]

If it is time fill you need, then perhaps you could discuss the evolution of science (which you could probably digress into an 8 hour long speech if you choose to :p). Some figures that come to mind (to give you an idea) include:
1. Galileo
2. Copernicus
3. Kepler
4. Newton
5. Francis Bacon
6. Descartes
7. Vesalius-Challenged established medical practices in the mid 1500's
8. Darwin
9. Voltaire- Popularized Newtonian Theory
10. Hobbes- Social Contract Theory as justification for Absolutism as opposed to the Divine Right of Kings
11. Locke- Social Contract Theory as justification for Constitutionalism as opposed to the Divine Right of Kings
12. Spinoza
13. David Hume

Some movements that come to mind are:
1. Humanism
2. Delineation for the Catholic Church during the 15th and 16th century, including:
a. Anabaptist Movement
b. Calvinist Movement
c. Hussite Movement
d. Lutheran Movement
e. Anglican Church

Some events that lead to greater political or economic freedom and then to greater concern for universal questioning and freedom of ideas, including:
1. Agricultural Revolution (1690's)
2. The English Civil War (1642-1646) which weakened the power of the English King
3. The Glorious Revolution (1688) which allowed English Parliament more power and freer elections for Parliament
4. The tolerance of ideas in the Dutch Republic during the 15th-17th century, which acted as a safe haven for many controversial pamphlets and books
5. The Protestant Reformation and its related wars, which greatly reduced the power and influence of the Catholic Church in European's political and, by extension, intellectual affairs

As for the whole ingesting pills on stage idea, all I have to say is "Don't Choke...literally". :p

[BigBird]

An hour presentation? For an undergraduate thesis? Fifty pages? My Ph.D. defense took a half hour with the picky questions. My thesis was 28 pages plus figures and references.
What is your college, Whatsamatta U.?
But seriously, what is your major?
What is your topic?
What is you favorite colour?

I'm a business management major at a small private catholic school in NH, nothing special. I got to choose my own topic, even if its completely unrelated to my major. Some people have done their thesis on everything to harry potter, brazilian salsa dancing, to publishing their own calc textbook. I just picked skepticism cause I'm passionate about it and if I'm not into it I wont care at all, thats just how I am I guess.


Oh, and my favorite color is red... :D

[BigBird]

A great many people really deserve to be mocked for their nutty ideas, though.

Agreed. I plan to discuss the victims and mock the charlatans and frauds. I won't feel too bad about that approach.

[BigBird]

Before answering, I think I need to understand what you mean by 'thesis' - I don't see a thesis above so much as a research paper with a public demonstration appended?

So it's a research paper with a public demonstration appended. Any help? ;)

[Spindrift]

You might want to check your schools drug policy first before bringing any homeopathic items into the school. In some places students aren't allowed to have aspirin with a doctor's note. Even though they aren't really drugs, they may just fit the local Board of Ed's definition of drugs. You don't want to end up suspended or even expelled because of some asinine zero tolerance policy.

[BigBird]

You might want to check your schools drug policy first before bringing any homeopathic items into the school. In some places students aren't allowed to have aspirin with a doctor's note. Even though they aren't really drugs, they may just fit the local Board of Ed's definition of drugs. You don't want to end up suspended or even expelled because of some asinine zero tolerance policy.

Maybe in elementary schools around here their policies may be like that, but not a private college. My schools "drug policy" says nothing about medicines or any drugs that aren't illegal, so I'm not worried about that. How the hell could any college or university think they have the right to tell a 21 year old no aspirin without a doctors note?

Anyway, thanks for your concern, but I'm not worried about that too much.

[BigBird]

Actually just sent a proposal to my adviser on the project to make it a educational/documentary style film a but longer than an hour. I think that would be a cool way to get a lot more exposure over a much longer time period and still be able to get the same amount of information in using some stuff like youtube vids/interviews/etc. in the process.. Any thoughts?

[The True Scotsman]

Actually just sent a proposal to my adviser on the project to make it a educational/documentary style film a but longer than an hour. I think that would be a cool way to get a lot more exposure over a much longer time period and still be able to get the same amount of information in using some stuff like youtube vids/interviews/etc. in the process.. Any thoughts?

If you are using youtube videos, I would recommend either videos where James Randi or Derren Brown use sleight of hand or mentalism, respectively, to demonstrate to people how easily they can be fooled into believing untrue things or, for interview, anything with Richard Dawkins or Daniel Dennett.

[ingoa]

A classical case of scientific method, skepticism and resistance is

Ignaz Semmelweis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis)

For sure one of the heroes in medicine. It also makes a good story.

[Larry Barrieau]

Snippets from John Stossel "The Power of Belief" video. Emily Rosa's testing of Therapeutic Touch is simple and effective. And from James Randi's "Secrets of the Psychics", the segment of Peter Popoff doing faith healing is good. Try to obtain and show first some non-skeptical video of each of these claims and then show the skeptical side.

[BigBird]

Try to obtain and show first some non-skeptical video of each of these claims and then show the skeptical side.

Thats a great idea! Thanks! I find while I'm outlining my paper and presentation that it seems as though I'm creating strawmen when discussing the logical fallacies of most non-skeptics. Some of the quotes I've gotten are so ridiculous I feel as though people will perceive that I'm making them up, and I hadn't thought to simply get video or audio proof incorporation into my presentation to then point out the fallacies that are committed. Thanks for the insight!