I support skeptical groups, of course, and one of the best is the Center for Inquiry, a globally-based institution to promote critical thinking and rationalism. One of the first talks I gave after moving to California was at the CfI West center in Los Angeles, where I had a fantastic time and met lots of folks I still consider good friends.
CfI has a podcast called Point of Inquiry, and I did an interview with them last week which is now online. We talked about the Moon hoax and the usual stuff, but also why it’s important to be skeptical in today’s society, and why knowledge of science is so critical to our everyday lives.
I had fun on the interview (the interviewer, DJ Grothe, likes to play a gentle devil’s advocate to encourage the interviewee to make their points clearly). Right at the end I had an unusually lucid moment when discussing religion versus science:
Science is all about investigating what’s real and what isn’t… there is no knowledge forbidden to Man, there’s nothing we shouldn’t try to investigate at least, because we’ve got these big brains, and we’re very curious, and there’s a whole Universe out there for us to investigate. And I think that’s just tremendously exciting. I wake up every day and that breathes life into me; just to think that there’s so much out there we just don’t know, but that we may yet understand.
If you have never heard Point of Inquiry, go check it out. They have a long list of fantastic guests, and you’ll be happy you gave it a listen. Believe me. 
April 17th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Sweet! Thanks, BA; now I have more things to distract me at work.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
lol! exactly Bruce. Well, more like school work in my case, but still.
That was a very good podcast.
especially considering that you know, it was on a Friday 13th
April 17th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I listened to this on my way to see Bob Dylan last night. Great stuff. Have you ever considered doing a podcast yourself, Phil? Maybe with Sean over at Cosmic Variance?
April 17th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I would say that some knowledge should not be sought.
While I’m against religion saying ‘we shouldn’t take path A since its against my belief’, i’m wish someone in WWII had said ‘I really don’t think we need to uncover a quicker way to kill the jews’. Sure the gas worked, but did we really need to know, and then use, the knowledge ?
And I really hope we don’t have seeking knowledge to our genes so they can launch an airborne attack to wipe out all people with specific genes (like dark skin).
April 18th, 2007 at 1:27 am
din: knowing’s not the problem, it’s the “and then use” bit that can be somewhat tactless.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:40 am
Woohoo! I’m one of those ‘fantastic guests’!
Can’t wait to hear it.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Excellent, BA!
Your quote from the show now hangs prominently on my office door.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Wow, thanks folks! And Ginger, I do my own podcast– Q and BA, but it’s on hold until me schedule clears up a little.