Skeptics Guide #1075

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1075 February 12th 2026 Guest Rogue Parrish Knight Segment #1. Quickie with Evan Erich von Däniken dies at 90 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/obituaries/erich-von-daniken-dead.html Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Review of ADHD Treatment https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260208233825.htm https://ebiadhd-database.org News Item #2 – Religious Nones https://phys.org/news/2026-02-god-believing-nones-align-religious.html News Item #3 – EPA Ends Endangerment Finding https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/climate/trump-epa-greenhouse-gases-climate-change.html News Item #4 – The Physics of the Quintuple Jump https://www.reuters.com/sports/figure-skating-american-skater-malinin-teases-quintuple-jump-milano-games-2026-02-03/ News Item #5 – Crotchgate https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/article/crotch-gate-the-biggest-controversy-heading-into-the-winter-olympics-involves--ski-jumping-003557536.html Segment 3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Corrections More yellow sun Question #2: Turkey Illusion Ran across this 'cognitive bias' while exploring impacts and trends in AI: "Turkey Illusion was first introduced by Bertrand Russell to illustrate a problem with inductive reasoning." - Never heard of this cognitive bias before; wondered if you guys had any thoughts... "Turkey illusion is a cognitive bias describing the surprise resulting from a break in a trend, if one does not know the causes or the framework conditions for this trend/" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_illusion "Interpretation: The slaughter comes as a complete surprise to the turkey, who - in anthropomorphic formulation - "only extrapolates a trend" and "does not recognize the impending trend break". To recognize this trend break, the turkey would have had to find out the causes of the trend. By doing so, it would have known about the motivational state of the human who feeds it every day. In order to "think outside the box" and leave known or familiar thought patterns, creativity and the ability to change perspectives are necessary. This was not possible for the turkey due to insufficient information. Here's the 'AI Singularity' post quantifying a timeline and impacts of AI and society: https://campedersen.com/singularity Interesting, and self-aware enough to make it fun... - Jeffrey, Columbus, Ohio. LOOooong time listener and supporter! Keep it up! Love you guys! Segment #5. Science or Fiction Each week our host will come up with three science news items or facts, two genuine, one fictitious. He will challenge our panel of skeptics to sniff out the fake – and you can play along. Theme: Astronomy Item 1: Astronomers have confirmed for the first time the presence of a lava tube on Venus. Item 2: Astronomers have observed the quiet collapse of a supergiant star into a blackhole, without first going supernova. Item 3: Exoplanet hunters have described a rare “inside out” stellar system, with four gas giants close to their parent star and four rocky worlds further out. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week "The most difficult time to be skeptical is when we want, or don’t want, to believe. It all comes down to how willing we are to be honest with ourselves." Melanie Trecek-King


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