2025 began with a bang. The pseudoscience of the enormously popular podcast The Telepathy Tapes inspired me to write my first column of the year for Skeptical Inquirer on the topic. The premise of the podcast is that many severely disabled people with autism have psychic abilities. The hitch is that their telepathy is revealed through the discredited communication technique known as spelling to communicate. The quality of investigation presented in the show is quite poor, but the podcast is likely to promote false and potentially dangerous methods of communication. Not a good beginning to the year.

Back in December, I wrote on a lighter topic, “Fear of Flying and the Search for Gate 13.” Of course, we know that many buildings skip the thirteenth floor due to superstition, but it is less well known that many airports also avoid Gate 13. Some people are nervous about flying, and it appears that the designers of many—though not all—airports have sought to reduce the fear of flying by skipping Gate 13. In the article, I interviewed a man who took it upon himself to identify all the airports in the United States that do and do not have a Gate 13. I also take the opportunity to make an enthusiastic airport hotdog recommendation.

Finally, if the horrendous fires allow, next month I will be coming to the western offices of the Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles to give a talk on, “The Latest in Autism Claptrap.” The event will be on Sunday, February 16 at 11:00 am PT. For anyone who is in the area and would like to attend, the details can be found here.

That’s all for now. Stay safe.

SV

It is decidedly autumn now. Here in New England, there is no avoiding the fact that summer is over. The leaves are not yet at their peak of fiery exuberance, but it won’t be long. I have managed to keep swimming in the ocean for now, but it is unclear how long that will last. Brrrr.

This will be a brief missive. I am back from my trip to England, where I gave two talks, both in pubs. I managed to see three plays—one by Tom Stoppard and two by Shakespeare (not too shabby!)—and visit several museums. I also shared a few meals with friends while there. The weather and accommodations were all quite good. It was generally a very successful trip, and one of the results was my most recent “Behavior & Belief” column for Skeptical Inquirer, entitled “Science and Pseudoscience in London: A Skeptic’s Tour.” I have a particular interest in the history of 19th-century spiritualism, and, although the movement began in the United States, two important spiritualist organizations were established in England, both of which remain in operation today. I visited both of them—as well as a spiritualist archive at the Cambridge University library—and came across some interesting artifacts.

The November/December issue of the print edition of Skeptical Inquirer—with an election-themed cover—will be on newsstands soon, and it will include both a “Behavior & Belief” column and a feature story from me. The column is a reprint of my recent online article “How Does the Ouija Board Work?” and the feature story is a reprint of an article on the Netflix documentary, “Tell Them You Love Me,” that covers the shocking sexual abuse case of former Rutgers University philosophy professor, Anna Stubblefield. The article originally appeared on Colin Wright’s substack Reality’s Last Stand and can be found online here.

That’s it for now. Happy autumn to those who celebrate.

SV

As I write this, summer still has a month to go here in southern New England, but we are well into August, the month most people think of as the last month of summer. I cannot speak for you, but it seems to me the time has zipped by too quickly.

I will be going on a long-anticipated vacation in England in a couple of weeks, and although I will be touristing most of the time, I will also be giving a couple of talks: both in pubs. On Tuesday, September 10, I will be hosted by the Cambridge Skeptics at The Maypole in Cambridge. See below.

Then, the following night, I will be hosted by the Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub at the Star of Greenwich. These are in-person talks, and as far as I know, they will not be recorded or live-streamed. But if any friends within the sound of my voice plan to be in the area of Cambridge or London on those nights, I would love to see you. Both events are free.

Since I last communicated with you, I have written two online columns for Skeptical Inquirer magazine on related themes. In several previous columns, I have written about the discredited communication method facilitated communication, which is often used with nonspeaking people with severe autism. The technique involves a “facilitator” “steadying” the hand of the nonspeaking person as they type on a keyboard, but research shows that the facilitator is unconsciously controlling the typing, not the nonspeaking person. To explain how this works, I have frequently described it as similar to a Ouija board. After giving this somewhat unsatisfying explanation a few times, I decided to devote a column to the question “How does the Ouija board work?” I managed to include mention of a local hero in my town, the poet James Merrill, a Pulitzer Prize winner and Ouija board devotee.

Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover County, Virginia where Kevin Plantan spent ten months.

My most recent column, “A Life Shattered by Pseudoscience,” is probably the most important thing I have written for Skeptical Inquirer. Kevin Plantan was jailed for ten months because of false accusations that he sexually abused his nonspeaking autistic daughter. The accusations were made in facilitated communication sessions with home health aides and with the girl’s mother, Kevin’s ex-wife. Kevin has been reluctant to come forward to tell his story, but he agreed to let me write about his case and gave me extraordinary access to people, court documents, and other materials. His story is a human tragedy that could have been averted if investigators had been informed about facilitated communication. The article runs to over 4,000 words and is based on several hours of interviews and extensive research into the case. Kevin’s story and others like his are an important contrast to the typical fluff pieces written about this pseudoscientific communication technique.

That’s it for now. Chances are I will not clutter your inbox again until after my trip to England in early September. Until then, make the best of these waning days of summer.

SV

It is officially summer now. Despite being someone who wrote an essay called, “Why I Hate the Beach,” I have begun swimming on a regular basis when the weather is warm, and I love it. I am fortunate to live half a mile from a beach, and I have friends who accompany me into the waves. Getting in the briny water each day, even briefly, has become a great summer pleasure. I hope you are enjoying some time outside, too.

Netflix recently released the documentary, “Tell Them You Love Me,” about the Anna Stubblefield episode, a famous case of sexual abuse that involved facilitated communication, the discredited method of communication that I have written about in the past. Colin Wright asked me to write about the documentary on his site Reality’s Last Stand, and I took the opportunity to give some of the history of this pseudoscientific technique and its variants. The Stubblefield story is complicated by issues of race and power, but at its core is Stubblefield’s delusional belief in facilitated communication. My article can be found here, but it is paywalled for the first two weeks of publication. Email me if you would like a copy now, and I will send it along.

A scene from “Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle” (1987).

My latest column in Skeptical Inquirer is about some interesting perceptual phenomena that happen when the sun or moon is near the horizon. The article, “Magic at the Horizon,” was inspired by two classic films by the French director Eric Rohmer, “The Green Ray” and “Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle,” both of which involve characters who give special significance to rare events involving the horizon. In the process, I also discuss the moon illusion, mirages, and the three phases of twilight.

Finally, I was recently interviewed by two Brazilian friends, Guilherme Brambatti Guzzo and Gabriel Dall’Alba on their YouTube channel “Nas Trilhas da Razão” (On the Trails of Reason). We had a delightful free-ranging conversation about irrationality, superstition, the beauty of science, and how to be a better person through uncertainty. You can watch the video here.

I will leave you with a picture of the local beach, where I swim. Happy summer!

SV

DuBois Beach, Stonington Borough, CT.

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days.

—from June by James Russell Lowell (1819 – 1891)

Happy June to all!

My latest “Behavior & Belief” column for Skeptical Inquirer, “Scientists on Trial: Follow the Money” is about the shocking development of Harvard professor Francesca Gino suing three other professors for $25 million. The trio operate a blog called Data Colada where they exposed what they viewed as evidence of fabricated data in four of Gino’s published studies. The free exchange of ideas—including the ability to criticize each other’s work—is an essential feature of the scientific enterprise, and the introduction of expensive lawsuits into the field will undoubtedly have a chilling effect. In the column, I speculate about how things have come to this.

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia at the annual convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. Some time ago, I retired from attending professional conferences, but in this case, I was there to receive an award for the “Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media.” This recognition was given for my writing about behavior analysis in books, such as Going Broke: Why Americans (Still) Can’t Hold on to Their Money, in my monthly column for Skeptical Inquirer, and in various other places. I am enormously grateful to have received this award, and it was nice to see many old—and some new—friends while in the city of brotherly love.

I am enclosing both a shot of me receiving the award from Ruth Anne Rehfeldt, president of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, on stage at the conference and a closer view of the very large (it weighs 10 lbs!) glass sculpture award. It was quite a project getting it safely home on the train.

That’s about all I have for you. Last week I went to New York City to see Manhattanhenge, but cloud cover prevented us from witnessing this pagan festival. By way of compensation, I’m including my latest sunset photo of Stonington Harbor taken from the end of the Town Docks. All for now.

SV

A quick post on what is one of the first really warm spring days of the year here in Connecticut. A very welcome development.

My latest column for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, “Skip the Doctor, Just Diagnose Yourself,” is about the growing trend of self-diagnosis in autism and other psychiatric conditions. One of the features of the neurodiversity movement is the rising popularity of self-diagnosis, a new do-it-yourself movement that dismisses the need for professional opinion. As a very famous example, Elon Musk makes the claim that he has Asperger’s syndrome (now part of autism spectrum disorder), but his biographer reported that he was never formally diagnosed. I outline the extent of self-diagnosis, the role of social media in spreading it, and several potential drawbacks.

As mentioned in my last message, in April I gave a talk entitled “Identity, Advocacy, and  Autism Pseudoscience” at the annual convention of the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis in Houston. The talk was livestreamed and recorded, however, the video is not publicly accessible. I hope it does become public at some future point, and I will let you know if that happens. In the meantime, here is a screen shot of me at TxABA in Houston. 

Also mentioned last time, I will be speaking at the annual convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) in Philadelphia at the end of May. It happens to be the 50th anniversary of ABAI. I will be participating in a panel discussion entitled “Strategies for Effective Public Engagement and Outreach” and I will make brief remarks at another session at the convention. I will have more to say about this in a future message. It has been years since I attened the ABAI convention, so I am looking forward to connecting with some old friends.

That’s it! More news as it develops. In the meantime, I hope the weather is as wonderful where you are as it is here. Happy spring!

SV

This is my first post of 2024, so it would be hard to accuse me of spamming your inboxes. Happy Spring!

In the intervening months, I have written three “Behavior & Belief” columns. In January I wrote about the possible psychological consequences of lying to our children. In it, I confessed that I promoted belief in Santa Claus in both of my children. The lie was later revealed, and both children—now adults—seem to be doing fine. Nonetheless, there is evidence that other kinds of lying has adverse effects.

My February column was about new research out of Israel that suggests that almost everyone is superstitious. This somewhat shocking result appears to have been created by a more sensitive measure of superstition. We will need more research to clarify this provocative finding, but the investigators seem to be onto something.

My latest column, inspired by the recent film Anatomy of a Fall, is “Savoring Uncertainty: A Skeptic Goes to the Movies.” In it, I sing the praises of “puzzle films,” Film Noir, and other movies that fail to provide closure or happy endings. Research suggests that people who like these kinds of films have many of the personality characteristics that encourage critical thinking.

In the coming months, I have a few speaking engagements. On April 12, I will be giving a talk entitled “Identity, Advocacy, & Autism Pseudoscience” at the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis in Houston. From May 24 to 26 I will be at the Association for Behavior Analysis International conference in Philadelphia. I will have more to say about that event in a future message.

I will be traveling to England in September, where I will give a talk for the Cambridge Skeptics on Tuesday, September 10, and another for the Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub (London) on Wednesday, September 11. I will have more details about these talks as the time approaches. The last time I planned a speaking trip to England, the pandemic prevented me from going, so, now that I’ve planned a similar trip, I’m hoping we can avoid another plague.

Finally, I should remind you that on April 8 in the United States, there will be a solar eclipse. Here in Connecticut, the sun will reach a maximum occlusion of 89.9 percent at 3:28 pm. As luck would have it, on that day I will be in Cleveland, Ohio visiting friends, and Cleveland is in the path of totality. If you want to see how the eclipse will progress where you are, check out this NASA website. I leave you with a picture I took during a partial eclipse in August of 2017. I will be setting up a similar viewing contraption in Ohio.

That’s all for now.

SV

Stonington’s Lobster Trap Christmas Tree

Where did 2023 go? My last post here was entitled “Late August,” and now it’s early December. The holidays are upon us, and once again, Stonington, Connecticut’s huge lobster trap Christmas tree, is in my front yard. (Slight exaggeration. It’s a block away.)

Having finished my stint as interim editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, I hope to return to producing my “Behavior & Belief” column on a more regular basis. I have written two columns since I last posted here. The first is entitled “The Mozart Effect Lives On,” and indeed it does but not in its original form. There is something magical about names associated with genius—Mozart, Einstein, etc—that seems to encourage the expression of unsubstantiated claims, and some of these claims live on like zombies.

My most recent column is “Rhinos and Radium: A Skeptic’s Tour of Paris, Part II.” In 2021, I made a trip to Paris, and when I returned home I wrote a column called “French Science & Pseudoscience: A Skeptic’s Tour of Paris.” This October, I went back to Paris and continued the tour.

Marie Curie

The resulting column includes a short biography of Marie Curie and the rest of her scientifically brilliant family. In addition, there are stories about trepanning, an unclaimed $1,000,000 mathematics prize, and not one but two famous rhinoceroses. I had no idea rhinos were so historical.

Other miscellanies: The Chinese edition of my book The Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Rational to Be Rational has been released by a publisher in Taiwan. I can’t read it, but perhaps someone out there can.

Finally, in October at the CSICon Skeptics conference in Las Vegas, I gave a Talking Heads-inspired speech, “Start Making Sense,” and somehow I worked in mentions of the US Supreme Court, my own love life, facilitated communication, and Henrik Ibsen’s 1884 play The Wild Duck. The most nervous part of the talk was knowing that Richard Dawkins, Dr. Paul Offit, and Bill Nye the Science Guy were all in the audience. Somehow, I managed to get through it. A video of my talk may appear later, and if it does, I will post it here.

That’s all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2024!

SV

Sailboats in the harbor, Stonington, CT.

Where did the summer go? It is August in this little tourist village, and the swimmers and sailors are in peak form.

It has been quite some time since I last visited your inbox because until quite recently, I have been busy finishing up as interim editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine in time for the new editor, Stephen Hupp, to take over. The last two issues produced under my editorship are now in the can. The July/August issue featured a wonderful cover story “The Ideological Subversion of Biology” by Jerry Coyne and Luana Maroja. Since its appearance, the article has been translated into four languages and has drawn worldwide attention.

The September/October issue, which will be out soon, features a cover story on pervasive bullshitters by psychologist John V. Petrocelli. Coincidently, the issue was just being finalized when we received word of the death of philosopher Harry Frankfurt, whose bestselling book, On Bullshit, was the inspiration for Petrocellli’s research on the subject. Frankfurt was a towering figure whose influence on philosophy will be felt for a long time

Norwich (CT) State Hospital

Now that I am back to just being a columnist at Skeptical Inquirer magazine, I will be writing my “Behavior & Belief” column on a more regular basis. My most recent article, “Mental Illness and the Tragedy of Good Intentions” came out on August 17th. It gives a brief history of deinstitutionalization and a review of the remarkable new book by Jonathan Rosen, The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions. Rosen tells the very moving story of a childhood friend stricken with schizophrenia, and in the process, he offers a clear-eyed view of the glaring problems faced by people with severe mental disorders and those who care about them.

I have been on quite a few podcasts and YouTube shows over the last few years, but few have been more enjoyable than an episode of the Eurotrash podcast with host Zaza earlier this month. We covered many topics and laughed a lot.

That’s all for now. I hope you have a few more sunny days of summer to enjoy before the realities of the fall set in.

SV

It has been five months since I last posted here, which is an indication of how busy I have

been editing Skeptical Inquirer magazine. At this point, I have edited two issues of the magazine, the  March/April issue, which featured memorials to our late editor, Kendrick Frazier, and the May/June issue devoted to medical pseudoscience from all over the world. The July/August issue is underway now. It has been gratifying to work on the magazine, but I have decided not to put my hat in the ring to be the continuing editor. The search for a new editor is underway now.

On April 25th Joe Biden announced his re-election campaign—exactly four years after announcing his successful run for the 2020 nomination. That bit of superstition was the topic of an op-ed I wrote for the CNN Opinion page entitled “Biden picks a lucky day to launch his campaign. Is it OK that he’s superstitious?” Writing this piece gave me the opportunity to review the colorful history of presidential superstitions—some of which were worse than others.

Although I am busy editing Skeptical Inquirer, I have not entirely given up writing my Behavior & Belief column for the magazine. My most recent column was “Can We Trust Peer Review Journals?” I describe a number of problems associated with open-access journals. I also recount an embarrassing episode involving Frontiers journals, an open-access publisher that has been associated with a number of shoddy practices.

That’s all for now. Happy Spring!

SV