The Amazing Meeting has announced its list of speakers for this year, its ninth meeting. There are a lot of them, and quite a few– at least ten, from what I can tell– are people who can speak to the topic of how and why people believe weird things. Or rather, why everyone isn’t skeptical all of the time. That’s really encouraging. If I were able to go, I’d make sure to attend those talks. However accomplished a scientist or entertainer you are, I’m just not as interested in hearing how sure you are that ghosts and gods don’t exist and/or making fun of people who think they do. That’s not to say that those topics don’t have their place, but they just don’t really grab me anymore. Well, not unless the non-skeptical are trying to implement their non-skeptical beliefs via legislation or terrorism, in which case I’m definitely interested but it’s less about the lack of skepticism than about the use of force to push it.
But hey– it’s their meeting and I’m not going (can’t afford it), so who cares what I think? It’s just nice to see skeptics being interested in the hows and whys regarding “woo” and not just the whats.
There is usually a small entourage from DFW who go to TAM. You could try applying for a scholarship. I know someone from DFW who went to TAM8 and someone else who went to TAM7 on scholarships.
Thanks David, I'll check into it.
Too bad TAM 8 didn't have the legacy that TAM 7 did