Reporting in
So this is the end of the first module (as they call it). Julian got a (partial) standing ovation – most embarrassing. We went out for a celebratory (or good-bye [to Julian and to Charles Echelbarger]) with Ibn Warraq and Joe Hoffmann and others. Jeremy wondered if he could ask skeptical questions about skeptics and humanists, and the consensus seemed to be that he could and should, though everyone for miles around urged him to be sweet about it. Two women came up at the end and said ‘We have some questions for you’ and I figured it was a delegation from Homeland Secuurity or Animal Control or similar, but it was just a survey about how wonderful everything was or wasn’t. It seemed odd that it took two people, but never mind.
My ‘keynote address’ went better than you might expect considering that it was me giving it, that is to say, it went well, and I didn’t fall down or cry or throw up or anything. Jeremy took pictures of me doing it. Perhaps he’ll stick them on here some time. We’ll see.
Hahaha… Nice report. I hope to see the pictures soon.
Any chance of hearing your address online?
People never look the way I imagine them to. If I ever see a shot of you, OB, I expect to be surprised.
BTW, sweetness is vastly overrated.
Well done!
“Jeremy wondered if he could ask skeptical questions about skeptics and humanists”
Thats an absolutely first principles ‘yes’ I would have said !
No chance of hearing my address online, I think, since as far as I know it wasn’t recorded. I was going to publish it here but Joe wants it for Free Inquiry, so it will be there (after I tinker with it a bit, probably).
“Thats an absolutely first principles ‘yes’ I would have said!”
Well yes – which is part of why Jeremy sometimes gets shirty with some humanists (not the ones around here of course), and why he likes to do thought experiments about whether people trained in science can be skeptical of science itself – not particular findings but the methodology itself – which can lead to very puzzling questions that make my head go around.
The three of us took ever such a nice car trip to the Finger Lakes yesterday. It was a perfect day for it, utterly bright and clear and smog-free and sparkling. Really nice it was. It was a TPM bonding experience.
We’ve just taken the necessary trio pics – it looks like a police line-up, but never mind. Might post one here sometime.