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Science or Psuedoscience: The Sheldrake Controversy

Albert Nekimken will lead a forum on the Sheldrake Controversy.

In January 2013, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, a Cambridge University-educated biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books, presented a controversial TED talk (which we will view) at Whitechapel, England, titled, “The Science Delusion,” in which he challenged what he described as the dominant materialist worldview of contemporary scientists and ten “dogmas” associated with it. In the next few months, the video of his talk was removed from the main TED website and relegated to a less-accessible blog site. Soon afterward, a controversy erupted over how and why this was done, including charges that the incident had compromised the integrity and credibility of TED talks in general. Attendees of the forum will be challenged to decide where the line really is between science and pseudoscience; decide if Sheldrake was treated unfairly; and decide whether the controversy really did damage the credibility of the TED talks overall.

After completing his BA in French and English, Albert Nekimken went to Turkey as a Peace Corps Volunteer. After returning, he completed a PhD in Comparative Literature with a specialization in Turkish theater. Jobs in teaching, corporate training, investment banking and consulting took him around the country from West to East and abroad to Istanbul.

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This forum is part of the Science, Reason & Religion Forum of the Unitarian Uniiversalist Congregation of Fairfax.  It will be held in the large meeting room of UUCF's Program Building.   All are welcome. 

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