Since I started Cork Skeptics, I have had some feedback that “people were getting concerned about me”, as if that they thought I was going to be the next Jim Corr, or something. Oy vey.
So let me be very clear.
- I don’t believe that UFO’s (in terms of aliens) exist or have ever visited us. The vast majority of sightings are explicable.
- I am skeptical of most alternative medicine and alternative medical therapies.
- I think Astrology is a load of rubbish.
- I think the anti-vaccine people have very little to support their arguments and that they are putting children and vulnerable adults at risk.
- Homeopathy is too dilute to have any effect. Save your money.
- I don’t believe in an afterlife, ghosts, apparitions or spiritualism.
- I don’t believe that there are great conspiracies “out there”. In fact, most of them stink to high heaven. Incompetence explains far more and we’re not that great at keeping secrets.
- I don’t believe that prayer or meditation has any external effect whatsoever.
- I don’t believe people can predict the future (above and beyond the use of mathematical algorithms for forecasting), or that they can read minds or any of the other stuff so-called psychics claim to be able to do.
- I don’t believe that dowsing works. Look up the “ideomotor effect”.
- I don’t believe that the climate skeptics / deniers have any way proven their case. The evidence is weighted on the side of man-made global warming, and yes, we should be concerned.
- Creationism? Don’t get me started. It’s delusional. It would be a complete joke except for the fact that a large section of people in the most powerful country in the world accept it on faith. That’s worrying.
There’s plenty more where that comes from.
What do I believe?
- I accept that the evidence for evolution is overwhelming.
- I accept that modern medicine has provided us with truly incredible breakthroughs: vaccination, antibiotics, anti-rejection drugs, to name but a few.
- I believe that human psychology explains a great deal about how we all can be fooled and mislead, and how otherwise intelligent people can be lead down rat-holes.
- I am not cynical about people. Most people are honest and earnest in our work, our interests and our dreams for the future. I believe that people have been capable of extraordinary achievements and that such events should be celebrated, not derided.
- I believe we all make mistakes. Mistakes give us an opportunity to learn something new.
- There are not “two sides of the story” when it comes to established facts. Flat Earth theory is not “an alternative viewpoint”. It’s just plain wrong. Ditto most alt-med, creationism, etc.
- I think we could all do with a course in critical thinking and a better understanding of logical fallacies.
- I am willing to be proven wrong.
- I think we should learn more about probability and statistics. One in a million chances, hell, one in a billion chances will occur, given a big enough population size.
- I am passionate about education. It should never stop. We always have something to learn.
- I accept that our knowledge of many things is woefully incomplete. We have a lot more to understand and hopefully, some day we will get there. I would like to see Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s cured in the morning. There is so much we just don’t know, and it’s tragic. I am comforted however, in knowing that there are people out there who have dedicated their careers to solving these terrible problems.
So bottom line? I am fully behind that apparently humdrum, but often surprising and beautiful thing we call reality. If people are getting concerned about that, well, I’m not sure what else I can say.
Passive Impressions 
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Grania Spingies, Colm Ryan. Colm Ryan said: Blogged: Let me be clear. http://bit.ly/gkvyba […]
Colm, the only thing I’ve ever been worried you falsely believed was that you could handle that 6th pint in the River Inn. All others, I positively cannot vouch for 🙂
Mr Griffin, you are delusional. Take a homeopathic tablet and consult your star chart. I would be under the table after 4 pints and you know it well!
Only 6? That’s it Colm, we’re kicking you out of Skeptics In The Pub! You’ll have to sit outside and look through the window.
Also, this would make a lovely Sunday morning post on corkskeptics.org *wink wink*
Alan, got something in your eye? Or would you be shamelessly trying to promote corkskeptics.org on a friend’s blog. Corkskeptics.org, for your daily dose of skeptical vitamins.
I especially liked the line about education. It doesn’t ever stop, if we care care to take notice.
Cork Skeptics ? Sound’s interesting. I must attend there sometime. I heard it’s where all the cool people are at.
“There are not “two sides of the story” when it comes to established facts. Flat Earth theory is not “an alternative viewpoint”. It’s just plain wrong….I think we could all do with a course in critical thinking and a better understanding of logical fallacies.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Well as you say you are open to being proven wrong, then let me introduce you to the reality beyond your very limited, and in my opinion, very sad narrow view of things. For a start off can you tell me which of the things you write off as not existing have you honestly explored and researched . Please get in touch with me and let me know and if it is one of the subjects I have been researching then we can have a great debate. I hopefully, like you are open minded and if you can prove any of my extensive research wrong in any way then I would be very interested to hear it as I am an avid TRUTH seeker. Please contact me if you are really interested in the truth and not just trying to hide from things you don’t understand and therefore may frighten you.
Thanks for re-introducing me to this post that I had quite forgotten about, and I still fully agree with. That’s still my position as it is most people who value critical thinking and science.
So rather than play your childish guessing game, can you give me just one subject you disagree with me here?
Well all of them to be honest. I feel a bit affronted that you say I was playing a guessing game, please read my message again and you will see there was no guessing game only a request to know which of the subjects you have researched so that we can have a debate and hopefully learn something from each other, or at least have an opportunity to re assess or strengthen our opinions. As I said earlier I am only interested in finding truth. If you don’t want to choose something I would like to suggest 9/11 as a starter subject for a debate. What is your understanding of this event and how did you come to your conclusions ? Where have you sourced your information etc etc.
Hope you are interested in finding the truth just as much as I am and that you truly are open to looking at all the evidence.
I am looking forward to your reply
Deby
All of them? Really?
So you believe in UFOs, that homeopathy and all the different alternative medicines are effective, that horoscopes work, that vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they are acting against, that the spirit world is influencing our thoughts and you can predict the future, that everything is a big conspiracy and we’re all being controlled by a massive cabal, that we can change circumstances far away just by invoking a deity ??? Seriously?- ok I’ll just stop. This is just delusional. I have what is known as an education. I get my information from reading books, newspapers, listening to people who are even better educated than me, and having trust in media sources to the extent that what they say can be corroberated. And you are asking me to justify my position?
Mate, the burden of proof is on you.
Well we’ve clearly established we have different view points, otherwise there would be no point for debate. I asked you to suggest a topic for us to look at , but you evaded that by trying to mock any view that did not agree with your own.I then suggested a topic for us to discuss, but again you seem to be evading the issue. I would enjoy an honest debate with you and am prepared to look at the evidence you are relying on and ask you to look at the evidence I have found. Surely that is the “educated way” to proceed, just like in a court of law. If you are so certain what have you got to loose ? You have the opportunity to help me see the error of my ways and show me how I am wrong. Please be man enough to take up the challenge, otherwise it may look like you are not at all open minded and are not willing to prove your point.
Nah. I have nothing to gain in a debate with someone who is so far outside the mainstream. It’s just a game to you.
Have a good life.
Well I am so disappointed, and have no idea of what you mean by “its just a game” to me. I have spent a good portion of my life, questioning, researching, debating, reading, travelling,and attending seminars and lectures in order to have the life view I hold at present and am very aware that I have only just begun. Do you truly think of yourself as open minded ? Do you truly think of yourself as intelligent ? Well please think again. Anyone who is not willing to even look at evidence regardless as to whether it is proving your beliefs right or wrong is by definition NOT open minded, and intelligence requires an open mind. You are truly a product of the establishment, one of the “sheeple” as you are referred to .
It makes me sad to see what they have done to you. I was in exactly the same place as you are now a good few years ago,only believing what I had been taught at school and university, seen on T.V. or read in the newspapers, and ” arguing the leg off an iron pot ” with anyone outside that mind set. The difference between myself and yourself though is that I was ALWAYS prepared to look at every view point to see how and why people could think anything different than our limited reality suggests. For me thankfully I did, but there is little hope for you to see anything if you refuse to look.
It is not as scary as you may think, in fact your idea of reality is far more scary really. To believe that our world is the product of some haphazard occurrence and that life progresses due to random mutation renders everything meaningless and pointless. No wonder you need to drink enough beer to allow yourself to slip under the table in oblivion, I used to do the same thing. Carry on, keep hold of your blinkers, drink plenty of beer, read Richard Dawkins for confirmation and try not to think of death my friend , for in your reality there lies a very black hole.
If you are ever tempted to “look outside the box” , let me know, I have spent the last 20 years discovering the most incredible things about our existence, things that are backed by evidence, science and truly intelligent people.
Namaste
Thanks for the lecture. Enjoy your life.
I have no doubt it will be more fulfilling than yours.
Please share this post with all your friends at the skeptics group so that hopefully they can see just how closed minded and uneducated you really are. As I said earlier, very disappointing as I would love a debate with a total skeptic. Strange how none of them seem willing or able to back their beliefs.
If anyone from your group is sincere enough and dedicated to discovering TRUTH then please pass on the challenge. Your group would earn so much more credibility and respect to debate your beliefs with someone of another opinion.
How can you be sure of what you have been told if you are too afraid to question it ?