On Sunday I went to a lecture by Jonathan Kirsch, author of the new book A History of the End of the World. His lecture focused on the book of Revelations, and on the many ill-fated attempts to use the book to predict a date for the apocalypse. The lecture was hosted by the CFI (Center For Inquiry) center in Hollywood, an organization that tries to inject a rational/skeptical voice in public affairs. They also host a popular podcast, which features a lot of big name guests.
Some of the most interesting guests I’ve heard have been the stage magicians. Magicians have a long tradition of being skeptics and debunkers (most famously Houdini). Magicians, who deceive people for a living, are particularly astute at seeing through the deceptions of others. (As an aside, one point the magicians make that I thought was interesting is that it’s often easier to fool smart people with magic tricks. One reason is that smart people may be too sure of themselves. The other is that smart people are better at seeing patterns and anticipating what’ll happen next. It’s exactly these sorts of expectations that magicians exploit, since people are likely to see whatever they’re expecting to see.)
I see some similarities here between magicians and fantasy & science fiction writers. Just as magicians are less likely to be taken in by magic tricks, I think fantasy & science fiction writers are less likely to be taken in by fanciful tales. I sometimes meet people who assume that since I’m interested in science fiction I must be obsessed with alien abductions and similar topics. I’m not. My modest expertise in stories about aliens and what it takes to write such stories makes me much less easily impressed when a second-rate imitation comes along. I mean come on, can you imagine if you went before Congress and asked for hundreds of billions of dollars to fund an interstellar expedition for the sole purpose of surreptitiously anal probing a few intelligent lifeforms? Where’s the logic?
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