Abnormal Interests

The first extreme question was from a person sitting in the next to last row near the middle, he began something like this, "I have a unified field theory that I would like to tell you about." Now you say, "This is not a question." And it wasn't. It was an attempt to use that open forum to propound a personal theory without the usual peer reviews that save us amateurs from unevaluated opinion. And he would not give up. Kaku tried to dismiss him, claiming that the only game was string theory. Rather than taking the hint, the "questioner" expressed some dismay that his theory was being dismisses without a hearing and proceeded to expound on white dwarfs or was it red giants, I'm not sure. Kaku, stopped him mid-sentence with a rehearsal of all the things a unified field theory had to take into account and called for the next question. Even if we thought Kaku had handled the questioner a bit little cavalier, we were all relieved (except for the questioner). It least we didn't have to sit through another lecture, this one without humor or, perhaps, learning. One or two individuals often think that the question session is a good place to dump their pet theories and don't even try to put their opinions in the form of a question.

The second extreme question came near the end of the question session. I am not quoting directly, but words to this effect, "Dr. Kaku, do you think that the psychedelic experiences that people have while using LSD is caused by contact with other universes?" Kaku had the good sense to spare the questioner and the rest of us embarrassment by answering a different and, frankly, unrelated question. Remember, I told you that this was a monthly meeting of the Skeptics Society! This kind of question comes up all too often. There must be some new age theme here but I fail to understand it. Perhaps the questioner was seeking to understand one area of personal ignorance by drawing on another. There are just too many errors underlying the question to begin to list them. No one laughed but there was a kind of collective gasp the moved though the about 250 people at the meeting.

The strange questions that come up aside, these meeting are great fun and often very educational. If you are in the Southern California, try these monthly Sunday afternoon meetings. The next one on March 6 will have Elizabeth Wayland Barber discussing her new book, How the Human Mind Shapes Myth. April 24 will feature Bill Nye the Science Guy. Learn more information at the Skeptics Society web site.