Randi has announced the names of just some of the guest speakers who will be at The Amaz!ng Meeting 6 in June in Las Vegas. They include the usual (stellar) suspects: Penn & Teller, Michael Shermer, Richard Wiseman (a friend of mine seriously confused the two of us, thinking a picture of him on the cover of Skeptic magazine was me!), and Christopher Hitchens. I’ll be there too, of course.
The keynote speaker will be my old friend Neil Tyson, perhaps the most famous astronomer alive. He has his own PBS show, has written several books, and is a great and thoughtful speaker (and has a voice to match). If you’ve seen any astronomy show in the past, oh, three years at least, you’ve seen him.
Oh — PZ will be there too. If you missed our blogger meetup, well, here’s your chance.
There are others who have been invited, or so I hear told, and when I learn more, well, so will you!
February 1st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I wanted to say how much you look like Richard Wiseman, but thought you wouldn’t know who he was!
He is a strong piece of evidence for nominative determinism, which apparently isn’t as much woo as it sounds…
February 1st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Neil Tyson? Never heard of him. (Clicks link.) Oh, wait. Yes, I have.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I hope I can make it. The guests are great, but the highlight for me is seeing a lot of the people who go. I’ve missed you all greatly, and recovery and finances willing I’ll be there.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Richard Wiseman
Adam Savage
Chris Elliot
I think I might make a website called: “Men Who Look Like BA” in the vein of this site here: http://www.menwholooklikekennyrogers.com/
February 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Oh Mr. Tyson!
/swoon
February 1st, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Outstanding!
I’ve always enjoyed the repeat speakers, but now I’m really looking forward to attending this year. I have a lot respect for Neal Tyson and like the way he presents his information, a lot of enthusiasm there. I also think it’ll be fun to hear PZ.
Not to sound like a suck-up, but of the “regulars”, I enjoy hearing/seeing both you and Wiseman the most. And no, I don’t get you confused with Wiseman.
Now all we need is the reservation page to open up ………
February 1st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Phil, call me. Let’s talk about some new material for you this year. And I don’t mean the subject of your talk, but your jokes. I think you should work blue. Either that or smash some produce with a big sledge hammer.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Great line-up! I wish you’d all come over to the UK so I could attend! I’ve just bought three of Richard Wiseman’s books (but I’m in the middle of reading something else at the moment, so they’re on hold), and I could listen to Christopher Hitchens all day. As I mentioned in an earlier post here, if I’d heard of Neil Tyson while I was still in uni, I’d probably be a professional astronomer today - his enthusiasm for astronomy is incredibly infectious! I also noticed Arthur Benjamin’s name - I’ve always been fascinated by people who can do rapid mental arithmetic, and I enjoyed reading his “Secrets of Mental Math” book - it taught me a lot, and gets you calculating in a far easier way than they teach you in school!
February 1st, 2008 at 4:11 pm
“Men Who Look Like BA”?
How about Mr T?
February 1st, 2008 at 4:33 pm
The BA says: “The keynote speaker will be my old friend Neil Tyson, perhaps the most famous astronomer alive.”
Present company humbly excepted, of course.
- Jack
February 1st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
“How about Mr T?”"
Murdoch, FOOL!
February 1st, 2008 at 5:29 pm
and Christopher Hitchens
Ugh. That tool. Is he going to explain the amaz!ng trick where a formerly respectable leftist intellectual wets himself on 9-11 and becomes a neocon lickspittle? I’ve always wondered how that worked.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Do you and your friends ever get up to Canada? We feel so left out
February 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Someone should ask Penn Gillette why he goes on the Glenn Beck show, when the guy has the “psychic” John Edwards on the very next day. I saw this last autumn and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Penn Gillette happily chatting with Glenn Beck; A man who takes physic frauds seriously, and gives them a megaphone to spew their nonsense.
He also said on Bill Maher’s show one night that he didn’t mind creationism being taught in school because not everyone would end up being a scientist when they grew up…
He just doesn’t seem too skeptical about much these days.
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 am
Maybe it’s because he’s not as sharp as his name would lead you to believe, after all it is spelled “Jillette” and not “Gillette”
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:15 am
[…] Novakeo.com wrote an interesting post today on Comment on TAM 6 guests announced by BeelzebudHere’s a quick excerptSomeone should ask Penn Gillette why he goes on the Glenn Beck show, when the guy has the “psychic” John Edwards on the very next day. […]
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:45 am
I have other reasons for disliking Hitchens. See if you can guess what they are.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
I would enjoy a debate at TAM as to where rudeness and belligerence rank in the effort to encourage folks to think more clearly and eschew the yoke of superstition. It has been unsettling at times to see the levels of rudeness expressed by Penn and Hitchens which some of us feel that we will have to answer for as we are tarred with the brush of “all-atheists-are-inconsiderate-axeholes.” Sometimes it does seem appropriate to shout at an idiot, if just to jar him into realizing how outrageous his laziness and stupidity are, but if winning people over to a more logical position is the collective goal, then I think being combative and insulting, especially to people who agree with much of what you have to say, is counter-productive. Oh, I wouldn’t mind if someone slapped Penn just once. It wouldn’t be rude so much as it would be the disciplining of an unruly child.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:57 am
[…] Rose wrote an interesting post today on Comment on TAM 6 guests announced by Barton Paul LevensonHere’s a quick excerptI have other reasons for disliking Hitchens. See if you can guess what they are. […]
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Barton Paul Levenson - I can think of a lot of reasons for not liking Hitchens. Gross disrespect and rudeness towards the deeply held beliefs and experiences of others, neo-conservative cheerleader for mass murder,torturte, injustice and wars based on lies as Toast put it :
“Ugh. That tool. Is he going to explain the amaz!ng trick where a formerly respectable leftist intellectual wets himself on 9-11 and becomes a neocon lickspittle? I’ve always wondered how that worked.”
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
(Continued)
BA when you see Christopher Hitchens & Penn too could you ask them Toasts question? Plus please ask them mine too - why exactly they think they’re going to convince people by insulting and offending them in the striongest way possible?
Even when charactrrs like Hitchens,Penn and Dawkins are right their off-putting style and the rudeness of their exo\presionis such that I wish they weren’t.
Do they really think they’re helping their cause by this?
I suppose I can get carried away a bit myself on occassion and vent more than is polite (I freely acknowledge that nobody’s perfect least of all me) but really …
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
So Barton Paul Levenson of all the numerous possible reasons for objecting to Hitchens what _were_ yours if I can ask?
& did I see something on another blitzfeed thread (comments from you) about being tortured? Not sure whether that _was you or was even right (I was pretty tired at the time ..near 2 am Adelaide tiome) but ,please, if so, then would you mind telling us about it?
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I have a massive crush on Neil deGrasse Tyson. And I’m about 40 years too old for such things.
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Re Hitchens (and Dennis Miller for that matter)- seems to hit older men especially hard - Midlife Crisis II: the revenge. First they realize they’re no longer seen as virile, then they realize they’re mortal. That fear appears to do strange things, including pushing some bizarre drive for absolute certainty. Anything that might breed doubt about what comes after seems to be reviled and pushed away.
I’m not sure it’ll happen to me - I had my big fear of oblivion when I was in fourth grade, after I started doubting there was a deity watching over me. Now I realize I won’t be around to fret about not being around.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Stevo –
Yes, it was in a thread about the use of torture on prisoners. I was the only person posting who had actually been tortured.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I wish I could attend. I really think that Niel Tyson deserves fangirls with handmade signs and t-shirts with him on them, like a rock star at a concert.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
A fantastic lineup no doubt, but if only mere mortals with budgets could afford to attend… I’d love to go, but the $450 overhead leaves very little left for the gas/food/hotel bill… and this is Vegas we’re talking about!
Maybe I should print up a “Will drop pants for entrance fee” banner.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Christopher Hitchens is a far-left loony tune. He’s the left’s version of Ann Coulter - meaning even people on his side of the aisle are revulsed by him. Wasn’t he the one who was attacking Mother Theresa when she was still alive? Yes, I found an article:
http://www.slate.com/id/2090083
BA, when you see Mr. Hitchens please ask him what he was doing to help the poor of Calcutta all those years since he sees fit to castigate Mother Theresa.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Neil is the most famous living astronomer? Wait, did David Levy die? I know we’ve lost Sagan, and Gene Shoemaker, and some others, but I can sincerely say I’d never heard of Neil.
(I may be an unusual case, in that I don’t find out about astronomy - or indeed anything else - from the morning television news-talk shows…)