A decent crowd turned out and tested their mental mettle at The Wicklow Hotel last Wednesday night at the second of Armidale’s now monthly Skeptics In The Pub events.
Guest speaker was Dr Sandy Boucher, Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Science at UNE who spoke about fallacies and cognitive biases in human reasoning. He posed a series of tricky brain-twisters to an avid audience, most of whom, predictably, fell right into the logic trap he had set.
One hilarious example was the Fallacy of Equivocation: It is not true that “nothing is a goat”; if “nothing is a goat” is not true, then the opposite must be true; therefore “everything is a goat”!
Skeptics In The Pub attracted a wide audience, including a team of Sydney bowlers who finished competing at the Armidale tournament the day before but decided to stay an extra night so they could attend the event and several councillors also called in after the Armidale Regional Council meeting.
“This was only the second meeting of the newly-formed Skeptics In The Pub. With 73 people at the first and 76 at the second, it shows that having a drink and think is going down well in Armidale,” Convenor of the event, Amelia Willmer, said.
“Our next meeting on Tuesday June 25 is going to be a cracker. Guest speaker will be the eloquent and razor-sharp Rachael Parsons, Director of NERAM.”
“Racheal will make us take a good, hard look at Cancel Culture, not just in the arts, but as a powerful form of social ostracism either on-line or in the real world.”
“As skeptics, what tools of reasoning to do we need to recognise when Cancel Culture is justified censorship or when it is just cruel, Group-Think bullying?”
Skeptics In The Pub is a fun, friendly and free event, open to everyone, and there is no need to book, although you can reserve a table by ringing The Wicklow.
The next Skeptics in the Pub will be held on Tuesday June 25 at The Wicklow Hotel, starting from around 6pm.
Like what you’re reading? Support The New England Times by making a small contribution today and help us keep delivering local news paywall-free. Support now