Dr. Sean Rafferty is an archaeologist at the University at Albany. His office is right next door to Cara’s. He was one of Chris’ professors in grad school. Sean’s focus has moved from strictly cognitive and Northeastern U.S. archaeology to the philosophy of skepticism. While Chris fondly remembers Sean as skeptical by nature, he has delved deeper into the discipline, theory, and literature of skepticism and teaches several courses and sections on it to UAlbany students.
Cara hosts Science on Tap lectures at a local pub in Albany, and Sean gave a lecture for her on skepticism. Episode 2 is the audio of that lecture. We interviewed Sean as a way to set up the episode, and we all have so many words, we decided to split it into two parts.
Learn more about Sean’s research and teaching at his department webpage: http://www.albany.edu/anthro/rafferty.php
Sean got into skepticism by listening to podcasts (fancy that!), so we asked him what some of his favorite podcasts are and promised to provide links to them here:
- Skeptics Guide to the Universe – http://www.theskepticsguide.org/
- Center for Scientific Inquiry – http://www.pointofinquiry.org/
- Skepticality – https://www.skepticality.com/
- Skeptic Magazine – http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/
- Monster Talk – http://monstertalk.skeptic.com/
- Skeptoid – https://skeptoid.com/
- Society for Science Based Medicine – http://sfsbm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=163&Itemid=786
- Sisyphus Speaks – http://sfsbm.org/sysiphusspeaks.com/
- Penn Jillette – http://pennsundayschool.com/
- The Cracked – http://www.cracked.com/podcast/
- Buzzfeed – https://www.buzzfeed.com/podcasts
Classroom Materials
Calling Bullshit Syllabus: http://callingbullshit.org/
Recommended Books:
The Demon Haunted World – Carl Sagan
You are not so smart – David McRaney
Nonsense on Stilts – Massimo Piglucci
The Believing Brain – Michael Shermer
Abominable Science – Donald Prothero
Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten our Future – Donald Prothero
Contact Sean Rafferty:
Journal of Northeast Anthropology http://www.albany.edu/northeast_anthropology/, neanthro@albany.edu
Contact Us:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation
https://twitter.com/HumBioAssoc
Cara Ocobock
http://www.albany.edu/anthro/72074.php
https://twitter.com/CaraOcobock
Chris Lynn
The song in the soundbed is “Broke 4U Baby” by the Morning Shakes, Chris’ band from the 1990s.