This is another one of the SkepTech talks from a newish speaker. Ben Sweatervest Blanchard is another one of those secualr students everyone knows but hasn’t seen performing much (except in this ad).
This one would have benefitted from being a little bit longer. It wanted more specific examples and discussion of the borders of certain kinds of behavior. It did, however, manage via the Twitter wall to give everyone present a great example of how not to use social media.
I do realize that the sound quality isn’t great for these talks. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to pull the sound directly from the room’s audio system.
Stephanie Zvan is one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She serves on the board of Secular Woman. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions.
Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird.
Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
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2 thoughts on “Navigating the Skeptic Social Sphere”
I haven’t had a chance to watch the video yet.
But to respond to smhll directly, I agree. I don’t think clarity is all that easy. There can be different understandings of words, difficulty thinking of the right terms, and so on. But there’s also social pressure to be careful about naming examples, or about saying something known to be socially frowned on. So many things that can obscure a message.
I disagree with “incredibly easy to be clear”. (Just before the 18 minute mark.) Clarity IS great, but it isn’t always easy.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the video yet.
But to respond to smhll directly, I agree. I don’t think clarity is all that easy. There can be different understandings of words, difficulty thinking of the right terms, and so on. But there’s also social pressure to be careful about naming examples, or about saying something known to be socially frowned on. So many things that can obscure a message.