QED & Me

 Hello again, Blogonauts.

This is a special interest post for those who want to know which workshops I attended October 18-20 at the QED (Question Explore Discover) Conference, a weekend celebration of science, reason, and critical thinking.

We started the weekend with Friday's "QED-Fringe" event, Skepticamp, an all-day rapid-fire set of mini-lectures. Each presentation took only 10 minutes, and topics ranged widely. They included the science of pee & of poop, misconceptions of both Scandinavian vikings & Turkish dogs, handwriting, computer code writing, prison overcrowding, punishment in schools, and too many further topics to include here. (See the link for details.)

In the evening after Skepticamp, we had a pub quiz, which was a delight. My team didn't do badly, but we could have won if we hadn't flubbed one answer. (Ask me about it later.)

Then on Saturday & Sunday, QED's proper schedule began. It was impossible to attend every presentation or workshop, so here are the fish I caught in my personal QED net.

1.    Dr. Idrees "Dr. Idz" Mughal gave tips on spotting health misinformation online (often spread through social media).

2.    A panel discussed how disinformation about the murder of 3 young girls in Southport, UK, led to weeks-long race riots around the country. (The rumor was that the murderer was an illegal Muslim immigrant, when in fact he was a teenage Christian boy who had been born in the UK.)

3.    Another panel discussion about class mobility (or immobility) in Britain. The class system in the UK has always puzzled me. This panel, which included a currently serving Labour Member of Parliament, helped only a bit.

4.    A live recording of a rarely-released podcast I have always enjoyed, "Incredulous", an ersatz panel quiz, where all the panelists already know many of the questions and have prepared MOST of the answers in advance. (Podcasts are supposed to be an audio-only format, but Incredulous is notorious for including visual aids, so watching the live recording was the only way to get the full experience.)

5.    A presentation by investigative journalist Rina Raphael about how the wellness industry is both enormously lucrative and rife with misinformation. Often the result is that at least waste money, or at worst, avoid seeking genuinely needed medical interventions.

6.    Another panel discussion of investigative journalists talking about how they choose stories and conduct their research into areas where the public's need to know is best served.

7.    A presentation by Professor Richard Wiseman talking about psychology, perception, and illusions (aka, magic).

8.    A presentation by comedian and broadcast host Robin Ince talking about neurodiversity, including his own diagnosis with ADHD.

9.    A workshop given by Dr. Jamie Gallagher on how to communicate when giving presentations.

10.   A presentation by Jenny Radcliffe, cyber-security specialist, about how to reduce your risk of falling prey to social media and phishing scams.

11.   A presentation by Dr. Joe Ondrak that drew parallels between the horror genres of the 18th & 19th centuries and how those same techniques and emotional manipulations are employed to draw people into believing in conspiracy theories, such as Q-Anon.

12.   A presentation by James Wilson, aka The Sleep Geek, about how efforts to monitor and improve sleep often result in worse sleep, and how to find sleep patterns that match personal needs.

That's the synopsis. Sorry for the block of text. If you have more questions, ask away!

Blog to you later!