Learn the truth

A short blog-post today about two ways to question, and learn, the ”truth”.

In psychology and neurology one of the most repeated ”facts” is what happened to Phineas Gage in 1848. (He got an iron rod through his head and survived it, making the rest of his life very interesting to everyone who studies the brain.) In Slate there is an article about how one of the most told stories when retold, even to university students, is largely fictional. Or to be kind, even some scientists have used poetic freedom when describing the case of Phineas Gage. Now anecdotes are an important part of describing the world including science, but it is somewhat depressing that one of the great scientific stories are also one of the great examples of how to spin a story. It appears that there is a lack of information about what actually happened to Phineas Gage after the accident and that people have filled in the blanks with what they think should be the truth.

There is a lot of debate about energy, arguments about the environment, safety, and world politics is a huge part of the debate. Yesterday in the book store I came across a book arguing that nuclear energy is something bad, using Fukushima as an example of the dangers of nuclear energy. There is no doubt that nuclear energy is dangerous, but everything in life is associated with some danger. The question we need to ask is how dangerous nuclear energy is and anyone who wants to use Fukushima as an example should read this UN-report.
A small extract from the report:

38.
No radiation-related deaths or acute diseases have been observed among the workers and general public exposed to radiation from the accident.
39.
The doses to the general public, both those incurred during the first year and estimated for their lifetimes, are generally low or very low. No discernible increased incidence of radiation-related health effects are expected among exposed members of the public or their descendants. The most important health effect is on mental and social well-being, related to the enormous impact of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident, and the fear and stigma related to the perceived risk of exposure to ionizing radiation. Effects such as depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms have already been reported. Estimation of the occurrence and severity of such health effects are outside the Committee’s remit.

Page 10 of SOURCES, EFFECTS AND RISKS OF IONIZING RADIATION, UNSCEAR 2013 Report,Volume I, REPORT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, SCIENTIFIC ANNEX A:
Levels and effects of radiation exposure due to the nuclear accident after the 2011 great east-Japan earthquake and tsunami

I want to emphasise that nuclear energy is dangerous and that the text above is cherry picked to show that it is not as dangerous as some people say it is.

What is critical thinking?

I have an acquaintance who is very much familiar with what is happening in the education system in Sweden. He knows about different schools and different methods for teaching and he expressed to me that he was just sick of all the talk about critical thinking. Everywhere the term ”critical thinking” is used almost as a spell, as long as the pupils are taught critical thinking it's not very important that they know anything else. If the schools just teach critical thinking skills the pupils will find all the other information that they need by themselves.
This is of course idiotic and anyone who used critical thinking would realise that this is the case. My guess is that too many fall in the trap of using a popular word without even trying to think about what critical thinking really is.

What it isn't
To think critical about something is not to be able to find the correct information about that something or the correct answer to a question. (Here ”correct” is of course only a temporary property for a certain set of statements. The term ”correct” is relating to the ”truth” which is only an approximation, our current knowledge of the ”Truth” - how things really are.) To do that is to expand the existing knowledge either for oneself, a group of people, or for humanity if what is discovered is something not previously known. To be able to establish the truth is not the same as being able to think critically. To think critically comes before finding the truth and sometimes a truth cannot be found but it is still possible to think critically before that.
To think critically is not to doubt everything. That is what skepticism is often accused of as well, being nothing but doubt of all assertions. But there is not much thinking involved in doubting everything. It is also not very efficient to doubt everything even if one tries to do it in a Cartesian way in order to find a fundamental Truth, something that cannot be a mistaken impression or a lie by a deceitful god. It would also be difficult to avoid solipsism if one begin to doubt everything.

It is in my opinion likely that critical thinking is not one thing but a collection of different important techniques that has to be used and weighted with judgement. To do this is to employ critical thinking skills. The indiscriminating doubt of everything is not critical thinking but doubt is likely to sometimes be the result of judging the evidence at hand, and it can also be an important part in weighing the evidence. To acquire the skill for critical thinking include both knowing the different techniques and having the experience of using them, non of which is easy or comes natural to us humans. Today I am beginning to write a series of blog-posts about important elements of critical thinking. The first one is Heuristics

Important parts of critical thinking – Heuristics
Some relatively simple heuristics is a part of critical thinking. These might be so well known that they are even made into proverbs. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is – is one that most people have heard. It is probably also possible to include longer stories that are teaching an important lesson of what to do or not to do. To cry wolf is something that is bad, you can understand this either by thinking about how people would react to constantly get false alarms or you can learn it from the story.
But is it critical thinking to know that crying wolf is not a good thing to do? No, not really, the critical thinking part comes earlier. If we get the impulse to sound the alarm even if we know that there is no danger, we can either act on the impulse or think about it and chose not to. In reality we have a choice between the immediate satisfaction of an impulse or to consider what might be good for us in the future if we would need to sound the alarm for real. That it is bad to cry wolf is not something that is set in stone, from an individuals point of view it might be more rewarding to follow the initial impulse and have a laugh sounding the alarm. It can probably be argued that for a society it is bad if people have the habit of crying wolf. But what says that an individual should place the benefit of society above the joy of following an impulse? This is one reason why heuristics are never 100%. But this kind of reasoning is not likely to take place in the head of the person tempted to sound the alarm. The Story About the Boy Who Cried Wolf is a way to avoid thinking critically and arrive at the conclusion without thinking. That is to say the opposite of critical thinking. If we start to think critically about heuristics we realise that they are general rules that are questionable.
I still consider heuristics to be an important part of critical thinking, not because it always leads one to a correct result but because it gives us a quick warning about when we need to start thinking. The heuristics are there because we as a species have learned to not trust our impulses all the time, and we use our culture to give us warnings in tricky situations. The heuristics are something like a starting point for critical thinking. Unfortunately we don't have heuristics for all situations and some people follow them more or less blindly. They have limits but with all their faults they can still not be ignored.

First ever Uppsala Magic & Comedy or What I Did Last Weekend

Friday the 25th to Sunday the 27th was the dates for the first ever Uppsala Magic & Comedy festival, an opportunity for people to see some high class magic and comedy. There was also the opportunity to see the Swedish Championships in Magic so many magicians were at the festival for that reason as well.
The person that we have to thank for the festival and its success is Johan Ståhl who created and organised the festival. Of course also all the magicians and other artist at the festival helped making it a huge success. Finally the audience was important to make the festival the greatest magic & comedy festival in Scandinavia, all from the youngest children to senior citizens where there.
I was myself to some degree involved in organising the competitions so I didn't get to see all of them but I have been told that they where over all quite good. Unfortunately it was as always difficult for the people competing in the mentalism category although they had very good acts.

Johan Ståhl the person responsible for everything and probably the one who slept the least.

There were some acts for the very young. Zillah och Totte was a big success with the youngest children.

Tom Stone, one of the greatest magicians in Sweden and known among magicians all over the world, both performed and gave a lecture about how people are being fooled.

You could also learn magic either from Magnus Vihagen if you were a little bit younger or from Andreas Mattisson if you were more interested in manipulation. It was also possible to buy magic tricks from the dealers, some who came from so far away as Denmark.

From even further away than Denmark was one of the stars of the festival Inez from Spain. She had a very pleasing combination of comedy and great magical moments in her acts.

The two greatest international stars was without doubt David Williamson and Yu Ho Sin. They represent two completely different forms of magic. I learned that some thought that David Williamson was too pushy and harsh towards the spectators he brought on to the stage. I was on the other hand impressed by that in my opinion he never crossed the line even though he was pushing it. Yu Ho Sin on the other hand didn't need any spectators on stage. His act is pure magic and the manipulations that he is doing are not possible, that's how good he is.

The photos were taken by Theresa Kriegler and she will probably write something about the festival on the blog TrixxBox (in German)

If you want to read more about the festival right away it is possible to do that at Magi-arkivet (in Swedish) There you will also find the results from the competitions.

The Heretics, by Will Storr

Review: The Heretics – adventures with the enemies of science, by Will Storr

It was a new experience for me to read a book where people pop up in the text that I have had mail conversations with, met for a cup of coffee, or had dinner with. People that are acquaintances of mine and that I have as friends on facebook. This implies that this review will be biased in some way but one lesson from the book is that all reviews are biased anyway, because they are the product of a mind that is defending its own conception of how the world is. I also recognised a lot of the books referred to in the text as standing in my own bookshelf, so it is no surprise that The Heretics was a very suitable birthday gift that I devoured quickly.
In the interest of full disclosure I should point out that one reason that I liked the book might be that within the skeptics movement I am somewhat of a heretic myself due to my Christian believes. I am sure that there are also some Christians that consider me to be a heretic but that is not the kind of Christians I hang around with.

The Heretics in the book are people that have a world-view that is very different from the scientific one and who often feel that they are treated unfairly by the scientific establishment. Some have had to leave academia after, as they see it, being branded as heretics. Others may see it as that they had to leave since they gave in to what they wished to be true instead of following the evidence.
In the book many of the biases that we suffer as humans are discussed, not least how we tend to see what we want to see and stop investigating an issue after we have found sufficient evidence to confirm our preconceived ideas of how the world should be. The refreshing and interesting thing with this book is that it apply this also to the scientific community and the skeptics. Because if these biases are human and scientist and skeptics are human there is a risk that also scientists and skeptics will be victims of these biases.
Will Storr describes how he talks to skeptics that are against homeopathy (as we are) without having read the scientific studies and without having tried to look at the evidence themselves. And he juxtapose this with believers in fringe theories and pseudoscience that also haven't read the research and can't remember what was the name of that article that proves beyond a doubt what they believe is true. He has a very good point although I don't agree with it 100%.
No person can be up to date with all research in all fields and at some point we have to trust the people that can give a summery of the research. If you believe that an authority has more knowledge than you of a topic, use the same scientific method as you would use, and is an honest person, it is all right to trust what that person says. At least until evidence to the contrary materialise. In the skeptic community we are interested in the promotion of science and critical thinking in general and are just a little less trusting of our leaders than the believers. So we skeptics should show some humility in regard to our believes.
Unfortunately on the other side you often find the ”experts” that are not trying to avoid bias and are not up to date on the scientific research, and you find people selling ideas and products with a confidence that they have no ground for. To me there is a difference between the skeptic taking an overdose of homeopathic sleeping pills to make a point without being as well read as Edzard Ernst and the homoeopath selling homeopathic anti-malaria pills without understanding what it is, how it works and if it works.
But the book is not about the skeptical movement it is about what it is like to be a human. Storr tries to understand not just how the heretics can hold their believes and preach them to others but also why they hold those believes. And he is not afraid to scrutinise himself and the stories he uses to justify his own beliefs and opinions. He gives a glimpse of the humans, some are easier to understand than others, some take larger liberties with the truth than others to defend their story but they all share the illness and blessing of having a brain. A brain that will create an image of the world as it suits us to see it. Storr doesn't spend much time describing science as the solution to our faulty vision but that is the way he treats it. What makes the book interesting is that he doesn't divide everything into black or white, pseudoscience and science, some people are just better at applying critical thinking even to themselves, but no one is perfect.
For a moment consider the opinions that you have about global warming, the Middle East, GMOs, the distribution of wealth, and all the other opinions that you have. What opinions that you have are wrong? You know that not all of your opinions can be correct, but you have no way of telling which of the things that you believe at this moment are incorrect. Some opinions no one can say if they are correct or not, but that doesn't help. No one is perfect, we don't live in a black and white world. That is what is important and that is what this book is about. In my mind the moral of the story is that the virtue of humility is still very important. We who want to think of our selves as guided by science must listen to what people experience and doubt our old truths enough not to miss new knowledge. In my opinion (which might be wrong), Storr have written a book that all skeptics should read since it is not the hero story that we are used to. We still need and we also have, heroes in the skeptical movement but we should not have any saints. It is also a book that highlights the human condition of having a brain that creates an image of reality and not a reflection of it and what problems that will follow because of this difference. It is a book that will let the interviewed heretics question what is sane and what is not, even so far as to entertain that hearing voices in your head is just another way of being sane. Read this book.

So can you be a Christian if you also want to be scientific about things? In this book it is stated that several studies show that religious people are happier than atheist. I doubt that being religious is a choice but if it was, the atheist would be in the same category as smokers, doing something that science know is wrong. (Since this is a written text I should point out to my atheist friends that this last bit is written partly in jest and partly to show that we live life in a complex world without right and wrong answers to many questions.)

What I do for a living

Just so that no one forget it, what I do for a living is to lie an cheat. And people actually like it, at least that was the impression I got from the applauds for my show this last Saturday. I don't talk about my performances unless they are public and since I do mainly private parties, corporate events and university related gigs I don't say much about work here.

Since this was a public event I can tell you that this Saturday I was filling in for a fellow performer who got sick. Usually we do three days in a row when we perform at Magic Bar (Karlaplan 6). But now I only did one night and performed with Tom Stone who was one of the scheduled performers. Because you get to see at least two magicians when you visit Magic Bar Thursday-Saturday.

Is the source important?

I saw a friend posting a link to an article on facebook about the 911 memorial in New York and the motto that has been chosen. If the motto is good or not is of course subjective. What is also to some degree subjective is what the motto means. We can compare that with the motto above the entrance to the auditorium of Uppsala University “Att tänka fritt är stort, att tänka rätt är större” (To think free is great, but to think right is greater). Over the centuries people have had many different ideas about the meaning of those words. Some hate them and some love them, but usually they just disagree about what the meaning is.
What is less subjective is where the motto is from and what it was originally about. But does that really matter?
The motto at the 911 memorial is: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” - Virgil.
That is actually quite impressive, a quote by Virgil, it is from the Aeneid and concern events in book 9. It would never work in Sweden were people have hardly no classical education at all. But perhaps the only reason it might work in the US is that people lack a classical education there as well. (You might notice that the quote is not in the original Latin.)

A key-chain that will be sold at the museum bears the inscription.
Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The sentence is about two Trojan soldiers and lovers, and I guess that some would object to their relationship. But perhaps more importantly is that in the Aeneid they are killed after something similar to a suicide mission where they attacked the Greek army killing soldiers in their sleep.
It does seem a bit wrong if you want to remember the civilians that died at World Trade Centre. It works much better at the Valiants Memorial in Canada, which commemorate soldiers and where the quote is also used (but in Latin).
But is the source important? It is true that the person that know about the story behind the quote might find it objectionable. Celebrating young men who willingly embrace death after killing people in their sleep might not be the best quote for a 911 memorial. (To my Canadian friends I can reassure you that there are a bit more to the story so it is not as strange on a military memorial.)
To be honest though, how many are aware of who the “you” are in “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”? Most people have never heard about Virgil, and If you heard of Virgil (before reading this) it is not likely you read anything of him. Though if you have read something by Virgil it is likely to be the Aeneid.
Now is it actually important what a few academics think about a motto?
If not what is the use of academics? The reason that we have a society where people can be experts in something like old Latin poetry is because these academics are societies bank of knowledge. Scientists are frequently asked to contribute their knowledge, now when people who study the classics are finally in a position where they can contribute why not listen to them?

Great Magic

This blog is supposed to be about magic among other things. So I thought I might actually post something that has to do with magic. I know about a few very creative minds in magic. This video is from one of the greatest, Lubor Fiedler. And I mean that he is really worth watching.



If you don't understand exactly how these effects are done don't worry, most professional magicians don't have a clue.

Concerning Dunning

A few days ago I posted a speculation about how the Dunning-Kruger effect could in part explain why Americans that cannot find Ukraine on the map are more likely to support military intervention. And now there is a recent interview with Dunning online. This is about why we tend to think of ourselves to be better than people in general.

An observation

During yesterdays activity on facebook in relation to my birthday I made an interesting observation. I have friends in a few different places, also I know some people better than other, and although this is not statistically significant I did find that people seem to use facebook differently in different countries.
Many of my Czech friends didn't write on my wall they sent me personal messages instead. Of my Swedish friends even close friends wrote on my wall. It seems like Czech people prefer to write directly to people instead of using the built in facebook option of writing on someone's wall when they have a birthday. I don't know if Czech people are more private or what it might be. But about 50% of my Czech friends who congratulated me wrote private messages and less than 2% of other people.
Concerning my next birthday, number 40, I just want to point out that it is a boring number not worthy of celebration. But 41, that is something different:

The expert and the non-experts

This is a good and funny video about the position an expert often find him- or herself in. I must say it has quite a bit of resemblance to my experience of talking with, among others, believers in new age and pseudoscience.

Knowing the map and asking for war

In the Washington Post one could read about a survey where Americans (here used incorrectly as a synonym for U.S. citizen) were asked about what they thought the US should do about the situation in the Ukraine. But they were also asked to show where they thought Ukraine was on a map One interesting correlation that was found in the study of ~2000 people was that the more off you were in placing Ukraine on the map the more likely you were to be for a military intervention. This was significant to 95% according the report.
Any keen critical thinker would at this point consider the question if the correlation reported was the only one that was investigated. Statistical significance is a little bit like the lottery. The odds are poor for one player, and thus a win is significant. But if you are looking for many different correlations in your material this is equal to observing all players in the lottery and find that someone won, not that amazing.
But what is this report telling us? Well one thing it is telling us is that apparently the saying that ”War is God's way of teaching Americans geography” is wrong. Another thing might be that people that are less informed are more sure about their opinion and what action to take. That would be in accordance with the Dunning-Kruger (D-K) effect, although not following from it automatically. The D-K effect tell us that people that don't know something also don't know that they don't know. My guess is that people with fewer doubts are also more likely to support extreme actions. This is as I state a guess, but if their is a research done in this area I would not be surprised if it shows this to be true. Combined with the D-K effect that would imply that less knowledge leads to proposing more risky solutions to problems.

A Quick affair

Once upon a time Sweden had the strange honour of having one of the worlds most peculiar serial killers. His name was Thomas Quick. He killed people and that made him a serial killer. He used different methods, he killed at different places, and his victims could be of any age, sex, and ethnicity. He also forgot a lot of information about his acts and could remember almost nothing about the murders he confessed except some precise details.
Now Sweden instead have one of the worlds strangest miscarries of justice. A person who has taken back his old name of Sture Bergwall instead of Thomas Quick, has been found not guilty to all the murders he was previously sentenced for. And people are wondering how the police, the psychologists, the attorney, and even Thomas Quick's own lawyer, all could believe that he was guilty.
Given the change in what is reported to be the ”truth” it is perhaps not surprising to find that some of the people most involved in the original case are meeting to discuss the case of Thomas Quick. They are: the academic who stated that the way Quick's memory ”worked” was consistent with him being the murderer, the prosecutor who based his career on the case, the policeman responsible for many of the interrogations of Quick, the journalist from a local paper that suddenly was reporting on a case of world wide interest, and finally the chancellor of justice who declared that there was no miscarry of justice right before all the sentences were appealed and revoked one by one.
You can read about the meetings in the local paper Dalademokraten (DD).
If you like to see it from their point of view they are suffering from the media's change of heart, all due to some journalists that got everything wrong. Even if Quick has been acquitted in a court of law from all the murders he was sentenced for that does not imply that he didn't commit them. And if only the media had not changed their angle Quick would still be locked up and justice would have been served. It is now up to them to explain this to the people so that they understand that it is only due to some legal technicality that Sture Bergwall is a free man.
From a different point of view it might look like the people responsible for the unlawful imprisonment of a liar and for the fact that several real murderers walks free are either still suffering from their delusion or are trying their best to save themselves. If there has been a miscarry of justice they are all responsible for it and many might feel that they should face other consequences beside being told about their responsibility in the press.
For those who have not studied all the cases this is an interesting exercise in critical thinking. What is most probable: that one man managed to kill a huge number of people without leaving any technical evidence, confessed to the murders and managed to walk free after a retrial when he changed his plea, or that a number of professionals and the media was duped by a liar on heavy medication to believe in a spectacular lie? The odds are not great for either of the two and yet one is the truth. What a critical thinking individual has to do is to listen to the arguments that are presented and look at the evidence.

An informative lecture

Had a very interesting lecture today, or rather this evening, touching among other things on the fight for Aleppo. The violence is of course unforgivable but just to make everything clear I am discussing the conquest of Aleppo by the Hittites in the 16th century B.C.
It is said that those who are ignorant of their history are doomed to repeat it. There are a lot of ignorant people because it is sad to find out this evening that a city suffering from war today suffered the same situation some 3600 years ago. It is equally sad that the BBC series Sherlock had no problem moving the story to modern times and still have Watson returning from the war in Afghanistan.
Can we hope for a better knowledge of our history in the future?

Inflated news or not, it is science!

Since you are reading this blog you are probably at least slightly interested in science. That was a deduction not mind reading. And you are then aware of the fact that in the news there have been a lot of information about a recent find that seems to confirm the inflation model of the early universe. You can even see a video of one of the founders of this theory being told about the experimental finding and given empirical evidence for his idea. See it here!
If you missed it you can read about the discovery here.
This is of course very important and exciting news, but so is what you can read in this blog: In the Dark.

When exciting news appears and new evidence emerge what should be done in science is to question it. I am not qualified to say if the critique offered in the blog is valid or relevant, but what I can say is that it is scientifically motivated to try to find other possible explanations for the results of the measurements. It is scientifically motivated to try to challenge the conclusions because all scientists sooner or later need the help of their colleagues to not see only what they want to see in their data.
It is true that the theoretician Andrei Linde is a scientific hero, so are the experimentalists who did the experiment that might have found gravitational waves from the early universe. If their results are correct they will all be receiving even more praise. But the author of the In the Dark blog is also a scientific hero. Unfortunately the media will probably miss the important part that the author of the blog and many other with him play in science by looking critically at the results.
But this is what science looks like, it makes progress because people care about the truth.

Old Philosophers

Yesterday I was taking the train up north to spend a few days in Falun and give a talk at my old gymnasium about ”good, bad, and pseudoscience”. On the train I was sitting beside this probably very nice person who was solving some kind of word puzzle in a magasin. From the letters you got left you hade to form the name of an old philosopher. I know this because I was reading over her shoulder. The name had six letters (Swedish spelling, five letters in English) and I quickly checked if A, L, N, O, P, and T were still left and since they were I guessed that I had solved it although there were still other letters left as well.

I had solved it, but my neighbour didn't. I told her the name, which she didn't recognize. I realized that there are people in this world living perfectly happy lives, without knowing about Plato, Socrates, and probably Aristotle as well.
I realised that I take many things for granted. I apparently believe that people don't know about Plato's idealism or about his ideas about how a state should be governed but that they do so out of a choice. The idea that adults in a western country don't know or even recognize the name of Plato, that is just strange. Now I have to try to realise that it is probably I who is strange just because I have friends that have read Plato in the original greek. But I probably also have many friends who have not heared of Plato or at least don't remember that they ever heard of Plato. I never thought of that before.

Even in death

I don't know much about law. A bit perhaps about laws of nature, but not this humans-make-up-the-rules-as-they-go-along kind of laws. But this is about an interesting law I didn't know of before.

After a writer, composer or artist have been dead for some time what they did will become public domain. Anyone can reproduce it but apparently, at least in Sweden, there are limits.
A manufacturer of auto-mobiles (Mercedes-Benz) is using a poem by Karin Boye to sell their cars. Now the Swedish Academy, yes those who hand out the Nobel prize in literature, are threatening to take Mercedes-Benz to court. Apparently they are one of three institutions in Sweden that can take people to court for using important texts or works of art in a way that ”kränker den andliga odlingens intressen” (almost ”violates cultural interests” but more literally “violates the interest of the cultivation of the spirit” - spirit is used in a non-religious way).

Basically this seems to be a law that will protect the integrity of a work of art after the death of the creator. I don't know how common these laws are in the world but I think I approve of this law as long as it is not used to prevent other artists from finding new uses for existing art.

Source (in Swedish)

Out of body memories

A recent study from two Swedish universities appear to be showing that how well our memories work depend on where our ”self” is located. Unfortunately according to the Swedish news agancy Tidningarnas telegrambyrå (TT) the study isn't published yet so this comment is only based on what is reported in the ordinary press, and we all know how warped science reporting can be. The findings will be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) next week according to TT.

What they appear to have done is to show some events to people divided into two groups, one group present in ”themselves” and one group present outside of ”themselves”. The out of body experience was created using VR-goggles, an interesting and well tested technique to achieve this effect. They later tested the participants memories of the events and found that the people who were present in “themselves” remembered the events much better than the ones using the VR-goggles.

This reminded me about a similar study made concerning the effect of the environment on memory. The experiment was conducted as following. Half of the participants learned some information on land beside a pool and the second half learned the same information under water in the pool. For the memory test phase half of the people in the pool did it on land, and half of the people on land did the memory task under water. It was found the what was important for a good recall of the information was that the retrieval of the memory was in the same environment as the one you learned the information.

I haven't read the study so I don't know if they in some way took this into account but the study would be flawed if the memory test was not made using the same division of the subjects in the learning phase and the test phase as described above. If the memory test was made without the VR-goggles for all the participants it is not a surprise that the people who learned the information without the VR-goggles had the best result.

Welcome to COSMOS

Yesterday in the US there was something happening relating to the popularisation of science that hopefully will be as successful as it's predecessor. It was in 1980 that Carl Sagan was the guide to the COSMOS and now Neil deGrasse Tyson has taken over the helm of the spaceship of fantasy.

I have no idea if it will be shown on Swedish Television but these are my thoughts about the first episode. Neil is a great presenter, which he has proven earlier. Perhaps his best part was the homage to Carl Sagan at the end of the episode.
As in the original series the first episode was devoted to establishing both deep space and deep time. The cosmic calender is still there as in the original. In the new version they spend a lot of time on Giordano Bruno and his persecution by the catholic church. It is a very good illustration of how people throughout history have been persecuted even if they were correct.
Not that Bruno had any scientific evidence for his believes but I doubt he would have been treated any differently by the inquisition if he did. It is not even sure why Bruno was executed, it might have been for other reasons than his ideas about the universe. But what believes he died for is irrelevant since no one should have to die for what believes they hold true.
There was one thing that I didn't like with the story of Bruno, it was animated. I love animation but I most say I loved the re-enactments in the original version more. It will be interesting to see if they will continue with the animations throughout the series when they discuss past events.
It is true that in the original they had the library in Alexandria as a drawn background or perhaps created in a computer. But there were many actors involved in portraying famous scientists and I think that brought more of a feeling of “reality” to the series.
People that love the original, and I know a few that do, may also miss the music. What they have for the new series is not as “interesting” as the music by Vangelis.
I final thought is that the episodes appear to be a bit shorter than in the original, I don't know if that implies more episodes but I guess the reason is that they need to get the commercials to fit in.

What is wrong with this picture?

Well it is not a regular screenshot but that is not the point. This was close to the top (very close) at the web page for Svenska Dagbladet (Svd), one of Sweden's largest newspapers.

Basically it is all about the effects that the Russian occupation of Crimea will have on the Swedish economy. On the left hand you have the Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed at the Red Square and to the right you have a determined person outside a Swedish bank. Underneath you have two headlines the top promise you information about the effect on the interest rates in Sweden and the lower is a declaration from chief economists ”We are prepared if it escalates”, it is unclear which chief economists but a guess is the top bank's.

I am usually not fond of opinion pieces in the press or on blogs, I prefer some information. But here is my opinion about having the economic angle at the top when reporting about this.

IT IS WRONG! When the Russian military is invading a neighbouring nation I don't want to know that the Swedish economists are prepared and are following the situation carefully. I want to know that the Swedish diplomats are working around the clock, I want to know that the Swedish military is on top of the situation, and that our politicians are informed about what is happening.
After that I want detailed analysis from academics that are studying Russia and/or Ukraine. People that know something about the history of the nations and the mentality of the people involved. I want in-depth reporting by journalist who know the region as the back of their hands. Maybe even someone who talks about democracy and sovereignty. Not this!

When did a culture that used to care about liberty, freedom and brotherhood, a culture that had values, ideals and visions become so focused on exceeding the profit plan for the next quarter that Putin can safely invade Crimea as long as he promise not to touch our money? Because that is the bottom line here. As long as Putin promises business as usual he will get away with this. Standing up to bullies is just too costly for the economists.

My response to Marcus Svensson

There was recently an article in Smålandsposten about the medium Terry Evans conducting a seance in a public building he had rented. I was interviewed. An opinion piece was written by Marcus Svensson criticising the critique that I and some other people had of the decision to let Mr Evans rent an auditorium in a school building. This is my response, after Mr Svensson's critique:

Rätt att hyra ut till Terry Evans

Det spiritistiska mediet Terry Evans höll nyligen en storseans i Katedralskolans aula. Det har fått föreningen Vetenskap och Folkbildnings ordförande Martin Rundkvist att...

(This is my translation of the above text into English, it should give the general idea although I am sure it contains errors.)

Correct to rent to Terry Evans
The spiritist medium Terry Evans recently held a seance in the auditorium of Katedralskolan. This have lead the president of Vetenskap och Folkbildning, Martin Rundkvist to react: ”A school is a building where young students are taught how the world works”, he says to Smålandsposten and insinuate that Evans activities are now legitimized by the Municipality of Växjö
Vetenskap och Folkbildning has as it purpose to promote scientific methods to deal with myths, spiritual, or religious believes about how the world works. Therefore it is surprising that Rundkvist argues as if school buildings are sacred, in the sense of reserved for the profane. As if the building it self has a specific essence.
Not using a school building after the students gone home after the day should be considered capital destruction and mismanagement of taxpayers' money. To this must be added that a municipality always should base their decisions on freedom of assembly and equal treatment in matters of renting out property, not base it on the notion that it hovers some kind of magic over auditoriums in high schools.
History have taught us that there are limits to how intolerant a state can be toward religious movements. Therefore we don't need a modernised konventikelplakat at a municipality level, that forbids spiritual gatherings under a layman's management. Note that it is religious practices that are protected by the Constitution , since it is not possible to legislate precisely what is religion and what is not. This issue also have a bearing on how municipalities relate to established churches
Now, admittedly Vetenskap och Folkbildning is a small organisation , member wise about half as large as the smallest denomination Seventh Day Adventists , and therefore without much influence. But this example shows that even in an enlightened society there are pressure groups who challenge the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly. That we should be vigilant about.

My response to Marcus Svensson

Although Marcus Svensson's defence of Terry Evans right to use a public school building for his business is aimed at Martin Rundkvist and the Swedish sceptics (Vetenskap och Folkbildning) I feel myself entitled to respond since I am very much present in the article printed in Smålandsposten leading up to Mr Svensson's opinion piece.

In his opinion piece Mr Svensson argues from a complete misunderstanding of what a municipality can do, what kind of event was held at the school building, and what I, and I guess Dr. Rundkvist, think of religious freedom.

There are among some people a misunderstanding of what freedom of religion, speech and assembly actually means. But I am sure Mr Svensson don't believe that just because every individual has the right to speak their mind that implies that Smålandsposten has to print it. It should be equally clear that a municipality doesn't have to rent out their property to everyone that can pay them. What is discussed is where the municipality should draw the line.

(In case I am wrong and Mr Svensson is arguing for the indiscriminate use of school buildings I am sure we can start a strip club after school hours or maybe let HA rent it for working on their bikes.)

I believe that the essence of Mr Svensson's critique is that spiritism is a religion and should be given the same right of assembly as any other denomination, also the right to conduct services. It happens that I have visited a number of services for other denominations than spiritism, and I have never had to buy a ticket. According to Mr Svensson it is impossible to legislate what is religion and that is why it is the religious activity that is protected. So to what kind of event do you buy tickets? The critique from Mr Svensson seems to be based on the idea that what transpired at the seance was a religious practice. But if one see it as a business that line of arguing falls flat.

So what kind of businesses would Mr Svensson have the municipality make a profit from, renting out the public buildings? If any business at all, why not a multilevel marketing event or perhaps someone selling tree bark with a claim that it cures HIV? I think that the municipality actually has to make a judgement call concerning the scientific validity and the ethical merit before renting out their school buildings. It is not easy, and mistakes will be made, but that is no reason to give up on making judgements.

I believe that Mr Evans is running a business where he claims to deliver a service that he has no evidence for providing, except that people trust him, and it was wrong to let him rent the school building just based on that fact. Mr Svensson is unfortunately confused by the fact that Mr Evans business model is based on spiritism.

Now I happen to agree with Mr Svensson that spiritism is a religion. That doesn't imply that it can't be criticised, one thing that history has taught us is that exempting religion from criticism is very, very bad.
There are two different kinds of critique that you can direct at a religion, scientific and philosophical (theological). Many religions today avoid overt scientific statements and are of limited concern for Vetenskap och Folkbildning. Spiritism claim to be able to connect people with ”the other side”. That is a bold claim that can be tested and has been tested, so far the spiritist have not been able to conclusively show that they can do what they say they can.
This is what concerns me, and I believe Dr. Rundkvist, that unfounded claims are made that can be scientifically tested. It doesn't matter if it is made in the name of religion or not. A municipality should not be obliged to aid a religion, political party, business or other organisation that does that.
(I could expand on this point but it is probably best if I don't since this post is already long enough.)

Finally, it is true that Vetenskap och Folkbildning is a small organisation, that doesn't imply that they are wrong. If it did it would go without saying that Mr Svensson is wrong criticising Vetenskap och Folkbildning since he is only one individual.

What was printed

Unfortunately yesterdays interview is not online and not in English. But someone was nice enough to send me a picture of the article.

What I think I said

Today I got a call from a journalist at Smålandsposten regarding the appearance of the proclaimed medium Terry Evans in a public school. There is no need for undue alarm since he is not ”performing” for the school children. The reason for the interview is that the municipality (not sure which one since there are a few in that region) rented out a public school for Evans to conduct his séance. Apparently some people objected, and I was asked to comment. This is what I remember that I said, not necessary what will be printed.

I am not in favour of schools being rented out to activities like a séance since I would put it in the same category as renting out a school to a dubious political party or a multi-level marketing event. In my mind schools as institutions of learning should be reserved for educational activities even after hours.

It is true that a séance is a bit like a piece of theatre. The only difference being that after the play is over the actor playing Hamlet doesn't claim to be the prince of Denmark. That is quite a fundamental difference and that is why a lot of mentalists and magicians do not approve of mediums.

Can we really be sure that it is theatre? No of course you can't prove that a person is not talking to the dead and that they talk back. What we do know is that a lot of people have the skill to do the same things as a medium does and without claiming any supernatural powers. The skill set is called cold reading. The burden of proof lies on the people claiming to have a connection with the other side and they have so far failed to do so.

No, I don't think it should be forbidden to have séances. The freedom of speech is much more important than that. But I think that the public deserve to be informed about the fact that there is no evidence supporting the claims of the mediums. And I don't think that a municipality should let organisers of séances rent schools for their shows. Even if something is not forbidden to say it doesn't imply that you have to aid in the distribution of the message.

I might come with an update to this story if I find out where and when the news story is printed and/or online.

Myths and Legends of Prague

There are so many stories about Prague that you might be persuaded to think that some of them must be at least partly true, but I cannot promise anything of that sort. What I can promise is surprising and interesting tales that you are unlikely to have heard before.
This Wednesday (19th of February) at 18.30 I will be giving a lecture on the Myths and Legends of Prague at the office of Euro Resor (Kungsgatan 47, Uppsala).
This lecture is a part of the promotion of the trips I am arranging to The Magical Prague together with Euro Resor. Incidentally the 19th of February is actually the next to last day to register for the trip and there are not many places left. More about the trip here.

What can you expect from the lecture?
This is a sample:

The Founding Myth
The War of the Maidens
The Murdered Saint
At the Bridge
A Man of Clay
The Astronomical Clock
The Teleportation at Loretta
The Death of an Astronomer

For anyone interested to learn more about the myths and legends of Prague including about all the astrologers, alchemists and scoundrels in general, on location, the trips to Prague are planned for the 20th and 27th of March and are 6589:- all inclusive. We will also see a lot of the historical, romantic, and cultural side of Prague. In fact you will see all the things regular tourists sees, we just add a bit of magic to your trip. Visit Euro Resor to book your trip today and come to the lecture, or just come to the lecture.
More about the event here.

A matter of conflict

About two, three days ago it became clear that there are some deep conflicts within the university. A number of very senior people at the university declared that they had no confidence for the rectrix magnifica and asked for her resignation.
For a lot of people this came as a shock, it even made it to the tabloids, which is not usual for anything that has to do with academia. A lot of people speculate about what lies at the heart of this conflict. Because unfortunately the people that has asked for the resignation of the rectrix magnifica have not detailed their critique.
I know some people who stand by the rectrix magnifica and I know some people among the ”mutineers” and it is very difficult to decide who to support if any. But I have some thoughts about this conflict based on in my view, rational analysis of the data.
One theory is that there is a ”conspiracy” behind this protest against the rectrix magnifica and that it is based on the fact that she is not originally from Uppsala University, or that she is a woman. A second theory is that there are personal differences behind the protest. A third theory is that rectrix magnifica just isn't doing a good job.
Concerning the second theory I would say that it is unlikely that personal differences can result in such a broad opposition. Generally personal differences are between a small number of individuals. The personal differences between the different individuals can be problematic but most of the people are not concerned. If the reason of the conflict is personal differences the rectrix magnifica has been able to rub a lot of people the wrong way and it is unlikely that it is not her fault. We have a saying in Sweden: that it is not one persons fault if two people argue. But if twenty people are arguing with one person, it is actually likely to be the fault of that one individual. Even if it is only personal differences behind all of this it is bad enough to make me think that the rectrix magnifica is the wrong person for the job.
The first theory that there is some sort of conspiracy behind the opposition is interesting from a sceptical point of view. As a skeptic I have heard quite a lot of conspiracy theories and they are always interesting. The question that we have to ask ourselves is if it is likely that so many senior officials at the university would be involved in a conspiracy to remove the rectrix magnifica, because she is a woman or because she is not from Uppsala. I can't help but find it unlikely. So if it is not a conspiracy perhaps it is a structure? Maybe it is just the culture at Uppsala University that a female rectrix magnifica or an outsider is not accepted. It is true that culture form ideas and shape behaviour but it is hard to believe that this is the case here. I was not prepared to believe that she got the position because she is a woman and I am not prepared to think that people now ask for her resignation because she is a woman. Of course I would change my belief if some sort of evidence is presented for such a structural bias among the ”mutineers”.
The third theory, that rectrix magnifica is not doing a good job is difficult to consider without a presentation of the critique against her. The only thing that I can say is that it is not unheard of that the wrong person get a job. I have heard stories about all kind of bosses that have done a bad job just to be promoted or move on to a new better job, just so that people can get rid of them. I have the feeling that sometimes in Sweden incompetent people are not fired but moved about. That is if they reached a certain position in society. It probably also depend on the social skills of the individual. This is only an observation; some people that are not good at their job manages to move up all the same. You also have the theory that all bosses get promoted to their level of incompetence since as long as they do a good job they get promoted so once they stop moving up they are actually on a level where they are not doing a good job.
I am not yet prepared to say that she isn't doing a good job but it would be an easy solution.
A fourth theory is that she has a very different view on what is the purpose of the university and the politics of the role of the university. There has been a lot of discussions about making the universities independent of the state moving the universities toward private enterprises or foundations. This could indeed be a question worthy of a mutiny

First time Around the World

Last year I was the head organiser of the 15th European Skeptiks Congress in Stockholm and I thought that it was reward enough. It turned out that the city of Stockholm thought differently. The Stockholm Visitors Board was kind enough to invite me and other organisers of international conferences in Stockholm during the past year to a dinner at Millesgården.
We had a wonderful guided tour before the dinner and as a special treat I had a short performance before the dessert. I did a brand new effect that I have given the name ”Around the World”. Given a number of different cities in the world, some random shuffling and free choices the person involved in the effect ends up in Stockholm as is to be expected for an effect performed for the Stockholm Visitors Board.

Det magiska Prag

Prag är en av världens vackraste och mest romantiska städer, mitt i Europa med en historia fylld av legender och mystik. Nu finns möjligheten att uppleva astrologernas och alkemisternas Prag med mig.

Tillsammans med Euroresor har jag satt ihop en långhelg i Prag som presenterar denna kulturstad från ett lite annorlunda perspektiv. En exklusiv inblick i den mystik och magi som ännu lever bland de vindlande gränderna och de höga gotiska valven.
Samtidigt missar vi inget av det alla turister ser när de besöker staden, den fantastiska arkitekturen, kulturen, alla historiska platser, det tjeckiska köket och tjeckiskt öl.
Den första resan blir den 20:e mars och den andra och sista för i vår, blir den 27:e mars. För att fira att det är premiär så sparar ni 1200:- mot det ordinarie priset om ni åker på någon av de två första resorna. I priset ingår flyg till Prag, hotell, alla entréavgifter och lokala resor. Dessutom ingår det mesta utav maten; jag låter er få lite tid för er själva så på fredagen har vi ingen gemensam middag.
Vad som också ingår är illustrationer av de övernaturliga berättelser som förknippas med Prag, effekter som går utöver vad ni sett på tv eller på en stor scen. Jag har lagt ned mycket tid på att göra hela resan till en unik upplevelseresa som ger minnen för livet.
Vill ni följa med mig och se Prag som få människor har sett staden, så gå till Euroresors hemsida och anmäl er. Erbjudandet gäller oavsett var ni bor i landet. Gruppens storlek är begränsad till 16 personer så det är först till kvarn som gäller.

Ordinarie pris: 7798:- Premiärpris: 6598:-

Varför får man för sig att skapa en temaresa till Prag som handlar om legender och mystik?
Det finns två anledningar: dels är Prag en stad om vilken det finns många legender och som förknippas med magi, astrologi och alkemi. Och dels är det något som jag kan mycket om. Som mentalist är det mitt jobb att på olika sätt skapa övernaturliga upplevelser för min publik. Vad kan vara bättre än att kombinera de två sakerna?

Vad kommer man att uppleva på resan?
Först och främst kommer man att uppleva Prag. En av världens vackraste städer som inte bara är fylld av historia utan som också är en levande dynamisk stad. Jag har själv bott där i två år och känner till många av stadens olika ansikten. Vi kommer att besöka en del ställen som ”vanliga” turister inte ser och sedan kommer vi att ha experiment som utmanar föreställningarna vi har om hur världen fungerar. Mer säger jag inte.

Är det dyrt i Prag?
Nej, Prag är en med svenska mått mätt billig stad att besöka. Dessutom ingår redan hotell och det mesta av maten i priset för resan. Det som tillkommer är shopping och där är priserna lägre än hemma i Sverige. (Fördelen att resa med incheckat bagage är att man kan ta med sig en del saker hem som man av säkerhetsskäl inte kan ha i handbagaget, det kan vara värt att tänka på.)

Alla som har frågor om resan får gärna höra av sig till mig direkt eller till Euroresor.

Booking is open

Now it is actually possible to sign up for the trips to Prague. Four days in Prague, well perhaps more like three considering the travel from Sweden and back. But definitely three nights at a very suitable hotel for experiencing the magical and mysterious side of Prague.
We leave Sweden on Thursday and return back on Sunday with plenty of time for people that don't live close to an airport to get there and back. In Prague we will see all the historical sights: Charles bridge, the astronomical clock, and much, much more but unlike any ordinary tour we will also learn about the mysterious history of the city. Alchemists, astrologers, and the Golem are all part of the magical Prague (it is even in the tourist brochures). But we will see more, learn more, and experience more, that I can promise.

The special introduction price is 6589 SEK and that include the airfare, hotel, and all the meals except the dinner on Friday evening.

http://euroresor.se/det-magiska-prag/
http://euroresor.se/listtyp/ovriga-destinationer/

The Magical Prague

Or as it is known in Swedish ”Det magiska Prag”. That is what I will be doing for a part of this spring. If you are interested in what it is, more information can be found at this page:

http://euroresor.se/det-magiska-prag/