Here’s the much anticipated Mythbusters Q&A. There’s a 12 minute chunk in the middle where they are playing the “bloopers” reel (which consists largely of Adam hurting himself, natch), which you probably won’t get much out of in audio land. I didn’t want to just edit it out, because there is some pretty funny stuff in there, so I apologize if you feel at all lost.

UPDATE: I accidentally exported a stereo mp3 with only the left channel intact rather than a mono one, I’ve since reuploaded it. Sorry about that.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Defined tags for this entry: TAM4

Whoops. I uploaded and created the blog post for Daniel Dennett, but I apparently forgot to click submit. His talk was actually right before Carolyn Porco’s.

Daniel Dennett’s research centers on philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.

BREAKING THE SPELL

What is the future of religion, and why should we all care? Like weather forecasting, religion forecasting depends on knowing the phenomenon, and seeing where it came from. Religions are biological phenomena that have evolved to coexist with human beings just the way pigeons and squirrels—and language and music—have evolved. Philosopher/evolutionist Daniel Dennett peeks under the hood and shows that when we reverse engineer religions, we find they have evolved some surprising adaptations in their competition for our allegiance. Should we try to tame religion, improve it, ban it or wait for it to go extinct on its own? The answer depends on learning more about why religions are so potent.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Defined tags for this entry: TAM4

Greetings everyone coming in from BoingBoing. I’m still going through all the talks, about 2/3rds of which are currently online now, with more to post as I edit them down. Don’t miss Penn Jillette’s Q&A, the Mythbusters Q&A (which hasn’t been posted yet) and Dr. Richard Wiseman’s talk.

The ideal way to hear these is via the podcast feed, as they will be downloaded in the proper order, preserving some sense of what the Amazing Meeting was like.

The volume is pretty low on these, but I couldn’t jack them up much more without distortion. You’ll just have to turn it up yourself. Some of the talks are worse than others in the audio department, so don’t give up on it if the first one you hear is too crappy for you.

Defined tags for this entry: TAM4

Up next was Carolyn Porco:

Dr. Carolyn Porco is a leader in the exploration of the solar system. She wrote her thesis on Voyager, has worked on the Mars Observer, the Lunar Explorer, and Cassini. Her company produces space imagery in an artistic and educational manner.

PLANETS, PIETY & POLITICS

As a veteran Imaging Scientist on the Voyager mission to the outer planets in the 1980s, and as the current leader of the Imaging Science team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, Dr. Porco has traveled the length and breadth of the solar system. As a former member of many NASA advisory committees, she has also observed first hand the changing political winds blowing through the hallways of NASA. Her presentation will take us to the spectacular realm of Saturn and alert us to what the President’s `Vision’ for the future of space exploration could mean for the scientific enterprise at NASA, while telling us why the exploration of our cosmic environment matters for the intellectual and spiritual health of our species.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Defined tags for this entry: TAM4

This talk was a crowd favorite, and certainly my favorite of all the speakers. Unfortunately, some of the things he did involve visual things, particularly his experiments in backwards masking. I really wish I had some way of capturing these elements as well, because they were really great. There’s one point where Richard is talking about an experiment done where they switched interviewers and the majority of participants didn’t notice the swtich. He plays a video clip of the experiment and walks off the stage, only to walk back on after the clip — only it isn’t him, it’s Phil Plait (whose talk I sadly didn’t get to record) dressed just like him.

Award-winning magician, psychologist and author, the aptly name Dr. Wiseman is frequently seen on British television and has given lectures in many different countries. He pays particular attention to the psychology behind belief in psychics and most recently, alleged hauntings.

MIND MAGIC

Professor Wiseman presents his latest research into magic, psychology, and belief. A unique opportunity to discover the hidden science used by magicians to perform the impossible, witness jaw dropping optical illusions, participate in the world’s largest scientific experiment, and find out how to sell science to an increasingly disillusioned public.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Defined tags for this entry: TAM4

Here’s the first panel from TAM4, featuring: Nadine Strossen, Randi, Carolyn Porco, Murray Gell-Mann, Lawrence O’Donnell, Penn Jillette, Michael Shermer, Leon Jarroff

During this panel, the sound system at the Stardust crapped out. Penn annoucned that he is loud enough to serve as amplification for everyone, and after alittle prompting began telling a joke. That man is incredibly loud; the crowd of 800+ people could hear him perfectly well (in contrast to a few of the people with mics on the panel that you can barely hear.) After this, there was a 5 minute break while they sawed the audio engineers in half. I’ve edited things back together, but wanted to leave in Penn’s antics, so if it seems confusing, that’s why.

OFFLINE due to cease and desist.

Here’s an rss/podcast feed for you to subscribe to.

Defined tags for this entry: TAM4