Café Inquiry Grand Rapids – Believe It…Or Not! (In Person!!)

The world is full of misinformation, disinformation, bad science, and also some actual useful information! How do we decide what to believe? At the next Café Inquiry we will discuss techniques for evaluating the information bombarding us. Topics will include fact checking, evaluating research, science reporting, and the use and misuse of statistics. See this Wikipedia page for a list of cognitive biases that can mislead us in evaluating information. Duke Reporters’ Lab has a report about fact checking and the UC Berkeley library has a list of fact checking sites. The World Editors Forum has information about how to report science news accurately. This article from the American Council on Science and Health discusses the difference between “Evidence-Based Medicine” and “Science-Based Medicine”. Finally, here is a link to an introductory textbook on statistics for those of you who want to bone up a bit or take a deep dive before we meet.   We’ll see you in person on September 10 at the Institute for Global Education office on Wealthy Street (or will we?).

Café Inquiry starts with a short introduction of the day’s topic, followed by casual discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations appreciated, but not expected.

Attendees are able to future propose topics which would align with Michigan Humanist’s purpose: from atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, and freethinking to broader subjects in science and humanities, such as religion, philosophy, social issues, politics, evolution, morality, ethics, and psychology.

Café Inquiry (Grand Rapids) meets each month on the second and fourth Sunday.

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Michigan Humanists values the participation of all guests — requests for reasonable accommodation may be made by contacting the event host at least three days prior to the event.

Michigan Humanists expects all guests to engage in respectful discussion. Critiques on views and claims based on merit are allowed, but not attacks on individuals who hold other perspectives.

Any person engaging in disruptive behavior or harassment will be asked to leave, and may be banned from future events pending the severity of the action. Please speak to the event host or contact info@michiganhumanists.org if you feel these expectations are being violated.