DAY 5 IN SEOUL: Skeptics Guide to the Universe--Part 1

Our  final day in Seoul was immemorable.  Not much to say, so I have inserted comments on an issue of Skeptical Inquirer entitled The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe. 

• I'm hoping to finish reading a paperback I have brought on this trip, A History of Japan.  Only three of 18 chapters left.
• During long trips, I always bring along magazine subscriptions like Scientific American and Skeptical Inquirer, for they are both demanding of too much concentration, and keep piling up.
• The one I'm on is Volume 49, Number 4, July/August 2025.

This issue is especially interesting, pretty much summarizing their 50 years of publishing, with articles that swiftly summarize those topics of greatest interest to most.

• 
  The fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry include people like Richard Dawkins, Ann Druyan (wife of Carl Sagan), David Morrison (you don't know him, but I do, for I once was a colleague of his at the University of Hawaii--he specializes in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Bill Nye (that TV host), Marilyn von Savant (might well be the smartest person in the world, and has an IQ of 228) Seth Sostak (SETI Institute), Jill Tarter (also of SETI fame, and the person around which Jodi Foster's character was built for the film, Contact), Neil deGrasse Tyson, and many others.
• So far, must about 1000 published articles.  I'll comment on a few from this July/August 2025 issue.
• 
  Evolution and Eugenics.
• Charles Darwin has been revered and reviled.
• He was the one who traveled around the world on the HMS Beagle from 1831to 1836 and published On the Origin of Species in 1859.

• 
  His half-cousin, Francis Galton, coined the word eugenics in 1883 (after Darwin passed away), to improve the human race.
• Darwin's eighth child, Leonard, took over the British Eugenics Society in 1911, until 1928.
• The USA became deeply involved with this eugenics movement, promoting "improving' the human population through forced sterilization and immigration/marriage bans, and was supported by Theodore Roosevelt the Carnegie Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation.  Others in history include Plato, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill and Margaret Sanger.
• This led to the later atrocities in Nazi Germany.
• 
  EVP, AI and Proof of Ghosts.
• Yes, many people still believe in ghosts.
• A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that appears to be real.
• I still remember a skeptic telling me a long time ago when I was a child:  capture a ghost and you will become famous.
• Years of probing have led to something called the science of ghosts
• EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena, and used by paranormal advocates to prove that there are ghosts.
• No ghosts have ever been proven to exist, but here are 14 REAL ghost stories.
• LiveScience debunking 10 paranormal videos.

• 
  UFOs.
• Well, it was once UFO.  Now it is UAP for Unidentified Anamolous Phenomena.
• No physical evidence has been found of anything alien.
• What do exist are stories, anecdotes, retellings, secondhand accounts, thirdhand too, fakes, and arguments.
• 
  Our government was influenced enough to produce Project Blue Book and The Condon Report.
• The Art Bell Show is the classic 20h century radio show.  Drew 15 million listeners/night.  He passed away in 2018.
• In contrast, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast is more than 1000 episodes old and began in 2005.  Not as popular, but does draw hundreds of thousands/show.

• 
  Percentage of articles:
• Public sightings 40%
• BoGovernment  36%
• UFO proponents  12%
• Pop culture  8%
• Scientific/skeptical 4%
• While still without any proof, UAPs have become more a part of our political landscape and discourse.

• 
  Author Evan Bernstein says that there has been no difference between 2005 and 2025 in that UAPs continue to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
• Nearly half of Americans think government is hiding evidence of UFOs.    Republicans (48%) more than Democrats (39%).
• 
  Belief in Alien visitors has increased.
• 20% of UK citizens believe Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials.  7% believe they have seen a UFO.
• 20% of Americans in 1996 believed that UFO sightings offer proof of alien life.  34% in 2022.  24% say they've seen a UFO.
• Why so high belief rates, when there has been zero evidence.  
• Same can be said for Heaven, Hell and God.  Even more so, when it comes to religion.

• 
  The most prominent current political advocate of UFO document disclosure is Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer.
• History, a You Tube channel owned by Disney, is now in its 20th season about ancient aliens, and has 13.8 million subscribers.
• 
  Health scams and wellness trends.
• Cara Santa Maria writes about 20 years of these scams and trends.
• Touches on quack medicine, potions and the like.
• Says stay away from chelation therapy for autism, Gerson therapy and black salve for cancer, colonic hydrotherapy and drinking raw milk.
• Wellness fads and medical scams.

I'll cover cold fusion and climate denialism in a future posting.

The day was uneventful.  First, breakfast in Aria.

Had to walk outside to get to the Lotte Department store area.  Only a five-minute, but the temperature was below freezing.

Lunch at Nampa House on the 13th floor of the Lotte Department Store.

The fried chicken was outstanding.  Eventually it came time for our Executive Lounge visit.  Only had this plate, with a Korean shoju and glass of Sauvignon Blanc from France.

Walked 3501 steps today.

Tomorrow, off to Tokyo,

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