Psi Wars | Craig Weiler

Show Notes

Today’s guest is Craig Weiler. Craig is a San Francisco Bay Area based author. He covers controversies in parapsychology, such as the Wikipedia controversy and the TED controversy of 2013, which we discuss today. He’s an associate member of the Parapsychological Association and author of Psi Wars: TED, Wikipedia and the battle for the Internet. He pays the bills with his small construction business on the peninsula in northern California, where he lives with his wife and just enough cats.

Today we discuss some key campaigns of organised skepticism in the last decade. In the interview we make clear that there is a distinction between the kind of skepticism we might called informed critique and what sociologist Thomas Gieryn calls boundary work. Informed critiques in parapsychology might point to flaws in experiments, or important weaknesses in eyewitness testimony. They’re very important and part of the scientific process. Boundary work in this context means dismissing parapsychology as pseudoscience or ‘woo-woo,’ and trying to shut down debate. This second often problematic strategy is the main focus of this fascinating talk.

Resources

Craig’s book:

Weiler, C. (2020). PSI WARS: TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet (2nd ed). White Crow.

Craig’s page at the Parapsychological Association:

https://www.parapsych.org/users/cweiler/profile.aspx

Craig at the Paranormal Daily News:

https://paranormaldailynews.com/author/craig-weiler/

On Linked In:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-weiler-5288b616/

Link to Graham Hancock’s banned TED talk.

Link to Rupert Sheldrake’s banned TED talk.

Rupert Sheldrake’s website.

Graham Hancock’s website.

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