Most of us weren’t born reasonable. We were born into a superstitious culture with only our ramshackle primate brains to try and figure out what’s going on. Reason, an appreciation for evidence and critical thinking skills are virtues that most of us had to fight for and that we have to work hard to keep up in difficult situations.

Rebecca is no exception, she grew up believing many strange things and has had to train herself to think critically. Instead of being embarrassed by our former beliefs Rebecca thinks it is important to have compassion for and interest in what we used to believe and why we believed it. Instead of feeling shame for having been wrong, we should be proud that we had the courage to overturn beliefs that proved to be wrong.

In this talk Rebecca will discuss who she was before, and after she ‘became reasonable’ and overturn the myth that there is such a thing as ‘perfectly reasonable’ we are all, after all, a work in progress.

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Rebecca is passionate about skeptical education because she has found the tools of skepticism to be profoundly empowering. Learning to think clearly has made her safer, more confident and happier. Drawing on her experience as a skeptical educator and comic book artist she will present some ideas that will help you improve your critical thinking skills and the way you think about how you think.

Stuart Newman gets irate when people “who should know better” perpetuate incorrect descriptions of how things work. One topic in which this happens frequently is banking and, more generally, money.

In this talk he is hoping to bust any myths you might have about how banks work and why it matters. He’ll explain how we’ve tried to make banks safer since the financial crisis and the downsides to the approach we’ve taken. And he might throw in a bad joke or two.

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Stuart is an economist who has had a varied career working in statistics, journalism, financial services and, before he grew up, as an English teacher in far-flung lands. He is overly enthusiastic about most things, speaks too loudly (often without thinking) and, according to his wife, is somewhat clever (although she may well have said “seldom”). He likes people so come say hello, even if you have no interest in banks.

Ronald Green, philosopher, linguist and author, will take a skeptical look into what we have been told about time, while delving into the philosophical and scientific ramifications and the centrality of our place within it all. Challenging what is naturally taken for granted, he will forge a link between philosophy and science, blowing away the cobwebs that obscure both. With time as the core of existence, Ronald’s contention that ‘now’ does not exist opens up questions as to the ‘reality’ of the past, the potential reality of the future, and leads us to central issues of Reality, Truth, Knowledge, Objectivity, the Self and Consciousness. In brief, a journey that goes to the heart of what it means to be human.

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Ronald Green is the author of “Time To Tell: a look at how we tick” (iff Books, 2018) and “Nothing Matters: a book about nothing” (iff Books, 2011). Philosopher, linguist, university lecturer, with 13 ESL books published, Ronald has lectured and given workshops in Europe, North and South America and the Middle East on linguistics, ESL and the use of Internet in education. His short stories have been published widely.

‘Cherry picking’ is the accusation of selecting data to suit a theory. Dr Chris Bore leads us from a classic school science experiment through accusations of scientific fraud, the inconstancy of physical constants, the challenges facing climate science,  and the progress of science through funerals – to question the myth of scientific method.

A twisted tale of alleged scientific fraud, error and inconstancy that questions the basis of the modern belief that science is the key to truth.

No scientific or mathematical background necessary, but prepare to be shocked at the depths of scientific skulduggery to which scientists can stoop without even thinking about it.

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Dr Chris Bore is a consultant and trainer in DSP (Digital Signal Processing). Chris is a popular and entertaining speaker at informal science and technology events such as TEDx and Café Scientific, and is local organiser of his home town of Woking’s Café Scientific. Chris is fascinated by the questions that don’t get asked, and firmly believes that real experts know that they don’t know some things. He is deeply interested in learning how to explain complex and subtle things more clearly, and in testing by experiment what may seem obvious from theory.

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up! Gather ye round the traveling caravan, as Snake Oil Salesman Ash Pryce demonstrates the miraculous curative abilities of psychic surgery, taught to your humble trickster by a wise man in the Philippines (or a magicians tool book, whichever sounds more wondrous). See with amazement the telekinetic forces at work as you learn how to move objects with your mind, psychically manipulate your finest silverware and read the minds of your peers. Or maybe, it’s all just a trick?

The show will involve demonstrations and explanations of telekinesis tricks, metal bending, psychic surgery and remote viewing as well as look at government funded research into psychic phenomena, and the shoddy protocols that allowed “psychics” to beat the legendary Zener card experiments in the 1930s.

And if that wasn’t enough, interspersed throughout the show will be numerous on stage demonstrations of mentalism to add an extra layer of entertainment to the proceedings.

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Stagetime Promotions Magician of the Year 2017, and Edinburgh Horror Festival Sell out performer 2016 and 2017, Ash Pryce brings his crowd pleasing mix of paranormal illusions, comedy and entertainment to the UK as part of a summer tour of 2018. Described as “ a naturally funny guy [who] won’t allow his audience to be bored” (edfringereview.com) and “A great showman” (NottinghamLive), Ash presents a mix of entertainment, scepticism and magical treats.

Find Ash on most social media as “Psychic Conman” and check out his website at www.psychicconman.co.uk

Warning to those on the front row… there will be blood!

How old is the Earth? At the end of the nineteenth century, geologists, biologists, physicists and astronomers were all looking for a clock that would provide an answer to this, the greatest Time question of all. The Dating Game tells the story of one man’s vision of developing a geological timescale that would finally lead to an accurate date for the Age of the Earth. Despite scientific opposition, financial hardship and personal tragedy, Arthur Holmes, the greatest geologist of the twentieth century, fought for fifty years to convince the establishment of an Earth of great antiquity: a fight which eventually transformed the moribund ‘art’ of geology into a dynamic science.

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Cherry Lewis’ engaging talk brings Holmes back to life and skilfully weaves his adventures, loves and losses, around the early history and science of dating the Earth, and the discovery of radioactivity – the clock that tells geological time.

This talk will consider conventional ideas about objectors alongside an exploration of who these men (and women) were, what they did and why, what happened to them and how they were viewed. A complex picture emerges which takes us a long way from stereotypical images of objectors as, for example, despised, rejected, unmanly, lacking courage and/or devotedly religious.  

DOORS: 19:00
START: 19:30
Admission is FREE and there will be a collection during the interval (suggested donation £3-5).
Venue: Smoke and Mirrors

Lois S. Bibbings is Professor of Law, Gender and History at the University of Bristol. She is one of the curators of the ‘Refusing to Kill: Bristol’s World War 1 Conscientious Objectors’ exhibition (which moves to Bristol Records Office in the summer) and a member of Remembering the Real WW1 (https://network23.org/realww1/about/). She is also helping to put together a national WW1 festival in 2019.