A State of Belief is a State of Being

For several years I have conducted a rather unusual activity in my classroom at Penn State. I ask my class—approximately 45 students representing a broad cross-section of the student body—to bring in a story that "doesn't fit into scientific reality." I tell them it could be anything—a ghost story, something with alternative medicine, a UFO sighting, a dream that came true, an experience with a fortune teller or ouija board. . . anything. "If you've never had such an experience," I say, "ask your friends and relatives." The justification I give them beforehand is that by considering what our culture categorizes as "unscientific", we will shed light on what the adjective "scientific" means as well.

When they begin sharing their stories in turn, I unleash a little surprise. I debunk their stories as best as I possibly can, using all the weapons in the Skeptical arsenal. I explain their stories away as confabulation, hallucination, and selective memory. I appeal to coincidence. I contrive mechanistic explanations. I impugn their integrity or the integrity of their friends. I accuse them of attention-seeking. I question their sanity. I imply they were on drugs, drinking too much, emotionally distraught, mentally unstable.

To give the reader a flavor for this exercise, I will share a few samples. [click to read more...]