Nathaniel Barr’s Ig Nobel lecture on Pseudo-Profound Bullshit

Nathaniel Barr did a five-minute-long talk about pseudo-profound bullshit, and then answered questions, two days after receiving the 2016 Ig Nobel Peace Prize. That prize was awarded to Gordon Pennycook, James Allan Cheyne, Nathaniel Barr, Derek Koehler, and Jonathan Fugelsang for their scholarly study called “On the Reception and Detection of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit”. (The study […]

Lacan meets Austin Powers (comedic skin eruptions)

If you’re interested in Lacanian ‘drives’, the philosophical aspects of skin, and Austin Powers, then you can do no better than consult chapter two of  ‘Skin, Culture and Psychoanalysis’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) which explores connections between all three. The chapter, entitled ‘Comedic skin eruptions: A Psychoanalytic reading of Austin Powers’ is authored by Sheila Kunkle, who […]

Ig Nobel winner Chopra issues quantum complaint about TED talks

Deepak Chopra — winner of the 1998 Ig Nobel physics prize “for his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness” — wrote an open letter complaining about the TED Talks. Dr. Chopra complains that the TED talks “practice semi-censorship” on people who are as tremendously inventive as […]