Down in the States, it’s National Day of Reason. That’s a holiday held in protest of their National Day of Prayer so not something that’s been a big deal up here in Canada as yet.
Considering though how Harper and Co. have been doing great work in the service of irrationality — what with their muzzling and defunding of scientists and general hostility towards any intellectual pursuit beyond producing specious justifications for Conservative policies — maybe a Day of Reason is exactly the kind of thing we need in the Great White North.
But that’s not why I bring it up. Really, these “Days” marking “Things” don’t do much for me (International Cocktail Day being a notable exception). National Day of Reason though has given me a perfect excuse to post a video by physicist Sean Caroll.
You can also consider this is a response to psychic Chip Coffey who’s left a couple angry comments on the piece I wrote in advance of his show here on Sunday. You’ll note that in his comments he accuses me of being a shabby journalist and he also accuses the other source I had for that story of trying to sneak into a Coffey Talk show with a forged ticket. That’s about the extent of his response, so far.
What Coffey doesn’t do is address what I would consider the substance of the article: that being that psychic powers don’t exist — you can’t read a persons future, you can’t contact spirits in the afterlife — and anyone who claims the contrary is either mistaken or lying.
But of course, it would be rather difficult to dispute those points seeing as you’d have to produce convincing proof of something that doesn’t exist.
As evidence of the non-existence of paranormal stuff, I offer that Sean Carroll video I promised at the outset. It’s titled “Sean Carroll Refutes Supernatural Beliefs” and in it he shows how there is no room within science for the kind of phenomena Chip Coffey trades in.
He also does a pretty good number the afterlife. And it only takes 10 minutes. Isn’t science something?
