/ sciencereason   ... World Skeptics Congress 2012 (2): "A Brief History of the Skeptical Movement" with James Alcock. More videos of the World Skeptics Congress will be uploaded to the following channels:

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James E. Alcock is a Professor of Psychology at York University (Canada). He has been a professor at York since 1973. Alcock received his BSc (Honours Physics) from McGill University and a PhD in Social Psychology from McMaster University. Alcock is also an amateur magician and is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

James Alcock is a noted critic of parapsychology. He is a Fellow and Member of the Executive Council for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). As a member of the Editorial Board of "The Skeptical Inquirer", he is a frequent contributor to the magazine.

In October 2010 CSI announced James Alcock (and others) as a part of their policy-making Executive Council, he will also serve on Skeptical Inquirer's magazine board. In 1999, a panel of skeptics named him among the two dozen most outstanding skeptics of the 20th Century.

• http://www.csicop.org/author/jamesalcock
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Al...

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World Skeptics Congress: Promoting Science and Critical Thinking in a World of Uncertainty.

Why do people turn to pseudoscience for help? What makes alternative medicine so attractive - and how can we find out what really works? Why is it so difficult for us to deal with risk and uncertainty in a rational way? Can we teach children to think critically and scientifically? And how can academic disciplines like biology or psychology protect themselves from pseudoscientific contamination?

The 6th World Skeptics Congress in Berlin was an intellectually stimulating three-day event dealing with paranormal and supernatural claims, fringe science issues, and scams. Major topics at this event were science and pseudoscience in education, in particular anti-evolution claims and origin myths, and the problems of risk and benefit assessment, especially in alternative medicine.

Gerd Antes, Wim Betz, Johan Braeckman, Edzard Ernst, Chris French, Luigi Garlaschelli, Harriet Hall, Ray Hyman, Chris Mooney, Simon Perry, Massimo Polidoro, James Randi, Gita Sahgal, Eugenie Scott, Simon Singh, Samantha Stein, Kylie Sturgess, Rebecca Watson, Tomasz Witkowski are just some of the world-renowned presenters who took part, taking apart the claims and conspiracies of the modern world.

• http://www.worldskeptics.org/
•   / worldskepticscongress2012  
• http://www.gwup.org/
•   / gwup.org  

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Keywords: Brief History of the Skeptical Movement World Skeptics Congress 2012 James Alcock critic parapsychology Fellow Member Executive Council Committee Skeptical Inquiry CSI The Skeptical Inquirer magazine Professor of Psychology University International Brotherhood of Magicians science pseudoscience Critical Thinking paranormal supernatural GWUP Berlin
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