Superstition and magic are still blowing in the October wind, and as a result, I continue pop up here and there. One of my most enjoyable recent experiences was appearing on The Guardian of London’s tech podcast “Chips with Everything” to talk about the peculiar superstitions spawned by technology. Why do some people believe they have to shake their phones to “wake up” the GPS? The episode is called “Magical thinking, superstitions, and technology.”

Just today I was quoted in a very good article on superstition in U.S.News & World Report. The piece, entitled “How Superstitions are Affecting Your Behavior,” also quotes Jane Risen of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, who has done some very interesting work on jinxes and on the conflict between our intuitive and rational selves. Our rational brain often tells us a superstition is silly, but our intuitive side forces us to be superstitious nonetheless.

Finally, for months I have been looking forward to attending the Committee on Skeptical Inquiry‘s convention, CSICon 2016, in Las Vegas this weekend, but now, due to a last minute scheduling change, it looks like I will also be speaking at the convention. Other speakers include Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Elizabeth Loftus, Paul Offit, James Randi, and many more luminaries of science and skepticism, so I am quite honored to be selected to pinch hit. You can learn more about CSICon at the conference website.

Given the short notice I will present an updated version of my July, 2015 Behavior & Belief column, “Neuro-Pseudoscience,” which is about the brain training industry.

That’s all for now.

SV

We are well into spooky October, and superstition is in the air. The baseball playoffs are a stressful time for fans, and this year I was interviewed by Dave Skretta, an Associated Press reporter writing a story pegged to the long suffering Chicago Cubs, who are in the playoffs and hoping to erase the 80-year-old Billy Goat Curse. When the article appeared, I was delighted to see that Skretta had included this passage about my father:

“It’s worth noting that Vyse grew up a Cubs fan, though he’s been rooting for the Red Sox since he moved east. And his father was a lifelong Cubs fan who never saw them win a World Series title.”

On October 7th, I appeared on Boston’s WCVB TV evening magazine program Chronicle. The subject was superstition, and the story reported a number of interesting Chinese superstitions and superstitions of the theater.

You can watch the first segment, which features me, by clicking here. I make only a brief cameo in the second segment, which you can watch here.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the delights of autumn.

SV