TheESP – Ep. #390 – No need for Nessie Nonsense

…and the deep fakes grows deeper
 
We start with listener feedback regarding burning the Quran and the best ways to boil a frog… We also announce our newly created merch store and there is still time to get your ESP t-shirt before QED. 15% off if you hurry!. In TWISH we hear about Sea Org day celebrated by scientologists and the pope gets poked for his “excluded but-not-excluded policy” towards women and the LGBTQ+ community.
Then, it’s time for the news:

• INTERNATIONAL: Happy birthday, Retraction Watch
• UK: Humans unable to detect over a quarter of deepfake speech samples
• INTERNATIONAL: How the World Federation of Chiropractic introduces new guidelines, but fails to make sense of it
• FRANCE: Link between belief in alternative medicine and vaccine hesitancy
• SCOTLAND: Plan to find Nessie using drones
• UK: Government shits on their own climate goals

The Really Wrong Award goes to Irish conspiracy nut Gemma O’Doherty.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes
 
0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• Listener feedback: Burning the Quran
• Listener feedback: Boiling frogs
  • ABC Australia: https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/12/07/3085614.htm
• We have a web shop for merch!
  • The ESP: https://theesp.eu/the-esp-shop

0:12:58 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 12 August 1967: Sea Org Day of the Church of Scientology
  • The Scandal of Scientology: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/cooper/sos-07.html

0:16:01 PONTUS POKES THE POPE

• Frankie says women and LGBTQ+ persons can never be equal
  • Crux: https://cruxnow.com/world-youth-day-lisbon/2023/08/pope-says-ban-on-women-priests-gay-marriage-doesnt-mean-church-is-closed

0:18:04 NEWS

• INTERNATIONAL: Happy birthday, Retraction Watch
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2023/08/03/happy-13th-birthday-retraction-watch-another-eventful-year/
• UK: Humans unable to detect over a quarter of deepfake speech samples
  • Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230802162437.htm
• INTERNATIONAL: How the World Federation of Chiropractic introduces new guidelines, but fails to make sense of it
  • Edzaed Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2023/08/the-global-patient-safety-task-force-of-the-world-federation-of-chiropractic/
• FRANCE: Link between belief in alternative medicine and vaccine hesitancy
  • Skeptic UK: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2023/08/so-called-alternative-medicine-and-vaccine-hesitancy/
• SCOTLAND: Plan to find Nessie using drones
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-66393902.amp
• UK: Government shits on their own climate goals
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/science-shows-the-severe-climate-consequences-of-new-fossil-fuel-extraction-210846

0:40:33 REALLY WRONG

• Really Wrong: Irish Conspiracy theorist Gemma O’Doherty
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66424582
  • the Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ireland-mixed-race-family-lidl-advert-racist-abuse-threat-leave-a9145186.html

0:44:18 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

You’ll often hear the phrase ‘science doesn’t know everything.’ Well, of course it doesn’t know everything. But just because science doesn’t know everything doesn’t mean that it knows nothing. Science knows enough for us to be watched by a few million people now on television, for these light to be working, for quite extraordinary miracles to have taken place in terms of the harnessing of the physical world and our dim approach towards understanding it.
/ Stephen Fry (24 August 1957 – ), English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, audiobook narrator and writer. /

0:46:28 OUTRO

0:47:43 OUT-TAKES