Larry Moran and David Colquhoun at Center For Inquiry - Ontario reception

David Colquhoun is by far the most modest and underrated man I have ever met. His talk on Saturday night at the University of Toronto (put on by the University of Toronto Secular Alliance) was really quite interesting. Also the reception before hand at the Center for Inquiry was great too. It was nice to see and talk to everyone again after having been engrossed by other far less important things back here in Guelph. (It was especially great to talk to Amanda Peet who always has a new toy to show off - this time it was an unlocked iPhone… I was a little jealous.)

Although homeopathy isn’t my particular area of interest when it comes to debunking, questioning and researching I am still captivated when other people speak about it. Colquhoun not only showed us all a break down of just how much “200C” really is (basically – nothing) he also showed us an enormous list of Universities offering courses and degrees in homeopathy as a science.

This is particularly frightening. I don’t mind homeopathy being available to people – if you’re prepared to spend a ton of money on a placebo that’s fine, you’re an idiot and that’s not my fault. But when it enters academia it is all kinds of scary. Colquhoun spoke about the complete lack of research and case studies that have been done surrounding homeopathy. The problem, it seems, is that those who support it don’t want to do the research because they know what the outcome will be – that it’s all bunk. But those who know that it’s all bunk and is poisoning our scientific community don’t want to put the millions of dollars into researching it because that money can be used for a much better cause.

The only part of the talk that I was discomforted with was when a member of the audience was “boo”ed for trying to start discussion – for disagreeing. … Grrr. I’d assume that the people who did this were not members of CFI or the UTSA since both groups highly encourage discussion and participation from all angles -  not just the speakers, or our own point of views. Luckily Colquhoun encouraged the debate and all was at ease.

For more on the talk check out The Sandwalk and The Unexamined Life. Also take a glance at the National Post article, it’s really good.

“People now seem to think universities will be better if they’re organized like Wal-Mart. The result is a removal of power over the management of science from the people who are involved in science. I think as soon as science is managed by non-scientists it becomes corrupt. They impose a kind of ubercompetitive regime on people, which actually encourages dishonesty.

“Scientists are not perfect, but they know something about science and consequently the best way to get good results is to leave it to scientists, not MBAs.”