Café Inquiry Muskegon – Where Are the Aliens? and Bad Science Reporting

Lake Effect Bistro 730 Terrace Point Dr, Muskegon, MI 49440

They must be out there. Right? Right??? There are an estimated couple of sextillion stars in the observable universe, most or all with planets, so we can’t be the only ones, right? Even within our own galaxy there are about a hundred billion stars. That’s a lot of opportunities for intelligent life to arise. But here’s a link to a video that says that we indeed might be unique in the galaxy, if not the universe. The video is 25 minutes and full of very interesting arguments worthy of interest on their own.

Bad science reporting is another topic for discussion. We’ve all seen discoveries hyped as the next great thing that will save humanity only to find out that the hype was just that. Sometimes this can have some very negative consequences in the real world, with the overly credulous reporting on Theranos’s magical blood test being a relatively recent example. Here is a link to a post-mortem of the Theranos scandal that gives a good overview of how we should approach exciting new scientific claims. And here is a link to a Science Friday segment about how even professional scientific journals can be susceptible to excessive exuberance about new discoveries. Please bring a topic of your own, if you wish. Join us at Café Inquiry Muskegon and enjoy the company and the discussion!

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 (Muskegon) meets each month on the second Thursday.

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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.