Stuart Vyse

Yes, Cognitive Dissonance Is Still Actually a Thing | Skeptical Inquirer Psychological science—particularly social psychology—is suffering an ongoing crisis of confidence. The field has endured a replication crisis stemming from ...

My latest column for @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social is a defense of cognitive dissonance theory. skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/ye...

Speaker Johnson denies request for Jesse Jackson to lie in honor at the Capitol The Republican-led House said Jesse Jackson cannot lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol. The NAACP criticized the decision.

House Speaker Mike Johnson denied a request for the late Jesse Jackson to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol.

“Mike Johnson will defend a president who wants to unlawfully nationalize elections but won’t authorize a civil rights legend to lie in honor,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

RFK Jr. Puts Facilitated Communication Users on the HHS Autism Panel | Skeptical Inquirer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can now add support for discredited methods of communication to his list of anti-science accomplishments as Secretary of Health and Hu ...

The latest in government-sponsored pseudoscience."RFK Jr. Puts Facilitated Communication Users on the HHS Autism Panel" @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social
skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/rf...

This made me weepy

Final speech from "A Stranger in Town" (1943) Frank Morgan. YouTube video by Stuart Vyse

This film was released over 80 years ago, during World War II. The final speech by Frank Morgan is eerily relevant to what is going on in our streets today. youtu.be/Y2eGU2nL9QA?...

Science vs. Pseudo-science - Philosophy Talk Astronomy is science; Astrology is pseudo-science. Evolutionary Biology is science; Creationism is pseudo-science. How about cultural anthropology, abstract economics, string-theory, and evolutionary ...

Great news! Now the entire archive of Philosophy Talk radio is available for free, including an episode I recorded many years ago on Science vs. Pseudo-science. @philtalkradio.bsky.social philosophytalk.org/shows/scienc...

This was genius. 1973.

This is a quincuncial projection of the world created by the philosopher and polymath, Charles Sanders Peirce. Check out how small Greenland appears. H/t @wikipedia.org

And despite it all, this is Tehran 🇮🇷

Am I right that anything west of 128 is "western Massachusetts" and anything north of Westchester is "upstate New York"?

One takeaway from Marty Supreme: if Gwyneth Paltrow would just stick to acting, we could love her unambiguously. #NoGoop

Thanks, John. Happy New Year to you.

Will Narrative Defeat Reason? | Skeptical Inquirer A few years ago, I noticed something new in American politics. Throughout all of my adult life, at election time people would put out yard signs for their c ...

At the end of the year, I got a bit philosophical about democracy and writing. The result is my latest column for @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social, "Will Narrative Defeat Reason?" skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/wi...

Regina Spektor - "New Year" | Special Piano Performance YouTube video by KCRW

youtu.be/tJwQ-3lDn_8?...

‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’

Sad to see the network of Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace collapse so quickly. "'60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

Autismo profundo y terapia electroconvulsiva: un recurso desatendido | Pensar Es propio de películas de terror. El tratamiento de electroshock, o lo que hoy se conoce como terapia electroconvulsiva (TEC), se representó por primera vez ...

My latest column for @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social, "Profound Autism and Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Neglected Resource," is now available in Spanish in Pensar magazine: "Autismo profundo y terapia electroconvulsiva: un recurso desatendido" pensar.org/2025/12/auti...

UC Berkeley PhD student facing felony charges over $46K in intentional damage The 26-year-old student was arrested on Nov. 12 at Cory Hall on campus, police said.

Grad school is stressful. www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...

Live Updates: Supreme Court Appears Poised to Expand Presidential Power

Least surprising headline of the day. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12...

MAHA Isn’t Denying Science: It’s Doing Something Much Worse | Skeptical Inquirer A broken clock is right twice a day. MAHA’s record on health policy is far less prolific. Still, the movement’s scattergun approach to wellness occasionally ...

More straight talk from @nbtiller.bsky.social "MAHA Isn’t Denying Science: It’s Doing Something Much Worse" skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/ma...

Profound Autism and Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Neglected Resource | Skeptical Inquirer It is the stuff of horror movies. Electroshock treatment, or what is now known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), was first portrayed on screen in the 1948 ...

My latest column for @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social is up: "Profound Autism and Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Neglected Resource" skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/pr...

Opinion | The People Holding Everyone Together Are Coming Apart

A moving, personal, and searingly honest piece by Michelle Cottle about the challenges of eldercare in Trump's America. "It is often compared to parenting, but ... With a frail parent, there is no sense of guiding someone toward a bright future." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...

Peor que un asesinato en la Quinta Avenida – Círculo Escéptico

My Skeptical Inquirer article "Worse Than Murder on Fifth Avenue" has been translated into Spanish. "Peor que un asesinato en la Quinta Avenida" circuloesceptico.org/articulos/pe...

The @center4inquiry.bsky.social condemns the anti-vaxx revision of the CDC website, calling it a "shameful dereliction." centerforinquiry.org/news/cfi-con...

She Has Taken 30 Years to Write a 7-Part Novel About 1 Day. It’s a Sensation.

My copy of The Calculation of Volume III arrived as promised on November 18. I can't wait to see what Tara Selter is up to now. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...

C.D.C. Changes Website to Reflect Kennedy’s Vaccine Skepticism

This is not skepticism. It is medical malpractice. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/h...

Debunking “When Prophecy Fails” In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....

Oh, my. Another classic study we've been teaching for years may have been fabricated. The author asserts that the central claims of the book, When Prophecy Fails, "are false, and that the authors knew they were false." h/t @retractionwatch.com onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Ten years ago today.

RIP
March 1, 1793-November 12, 2025

Watching the great Lesley Manville in "Phantom Thread" tonight. This appears on her Wikipedia page: "Manville's sister Brenda, nine years her senior, died of a brain tumour. Her sister's husband and two daughters died of Huntington's disease." Life can be an engine for art and art a balm for life.

I guess we've given up on the Nobel Peace Prize bid.