by Michael Dorian

Massimo Pigliucci shoots straight, pulls no punches, and isn't afraid to take on weighty issues. That was made delightfully obvious during not only Pigliucci's informative and highly entertaining slide-show presentation but also at the afternoon brunch following the engaging talk by the SUNY Stonybrook Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Philosophy.

Professor Pigliucci entertains and enlightens.

A near-capacity crowd was in attendance Saturday April 5th at the University Settlement on Eldridge Street for Pigliucci's new lecture, "Of Paradigm Shifts and Objectivity in Science." In elucidating some of the less auspicious moments in Science's colorful history, Pigliucci brought a thoughtful, easy style punctuated by insightful and humorous observations. Complete with PowerPoint accompaniment, Massimo regaled the audience with the story of the spat between Charles Darwin and Lord Kelvin over the Earth's age, Science's unfortunate foray into eugenics, and "The Sokol Affair," which was a brilliant hoax on Postmodernism perpetrated by Alan Sokol in the publication Social Text.

Willing "guinea pigs."

Being on the side of rationality and good science, Pigliucci made sure to point out that Science is not always correct. He explained that good science relies significantly upon proving new theories (though that often means disproving older and accepted ones), stringent and honest peer review, and upon a methodology that strives for objectivity.

It was Massimo's first time giving this particular lecture, so he made sure to inform us at the outset that we were his "guinea pigs." It was a thoroughly painless experiment carried out on willing subjects. After the talk, a group of at least 20 sidled over to a nearby French bistro for some drinks and light fare. Massimo joined us and we found ourselves in truly stimulating conversation about all manner of topics from the morality of drawing qualitative distinctions between human and non-human animals to how Massimo declared his atheism as a 12-year-old to his Italian Roman-Catholic mother, who even to this day is not thrilled with her son's decision.

All in all, it was a splendid afternoon of smart and scintillating ideas hosted by the ever-thoughtful, ever-logical, and ever-hospitable NYC Skeptics.

NYC Skeptics president Michael Feldman enjoys the presentation.

Photos: Dale Langdon