Indicate in the comments whether you'd like to sign this letter as a supporter of the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticismat the Center for Inquiry (Canada). Include your name, title, and affiliation. Email me if you'd rather not post a comment. (My name is "l.moran" and my domain is "utoronto.ca")
See Shame on the Royal Ontario Museum for more information about the event.
William Thorsell
Director, the Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6
Mr. Thorsell,
We at the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS) at the Centre for Inquiry (Canada) and its supporters were dismayed to learn that the Royal Ontario Museum will be sponsoring a talk by Deepak Chopra at the University of Toronto in connection with the Director's Signature Series: The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army.
While we fully support the concept of academic freedom, we are baffled by this invitation and wonder how it fits into the mandate of the museum to "serve as an advocate for science in the study of nature," as stated in your message on the ROM website. Mr. Chopra's new age psycho-babble may be attractive to the general public, but by inviting him to speak at the ROM, you lend undeserved scientific credibility to his pseudo-scientific claims about quantum physics, psychology, chemistry and medicine. These claims are rightly rejected as absurd by the scientific community and by promoting them you tarnish the otherwise excellent scientific reputation of the Royal Ontario Museum.
CASS will be publishing the standard rebuttals of Deepak Chopra's fanciful quackery in order to help the public understand where he goes off the rails. Our hope is to turn this otherwise embarrassing event into a learning opportunity. We are also contacting the sponsors of the event and the ROM's other private donors in order to voice our concern about Mr. Chopra's presentation. We would like the ROM to clarify how Mr. Chopra's visit fits into this lecture series, as it seems this is just another opportunity for him to promote his new book.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
The Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS) at the Centre for Inquiry Canada
599 comments :
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 599 of 599I'll sign:
Charles Banks B.Sc
PhD student - Biochemistry
Kansas City MO, USA
Please count me in. Thanks for your efforts.
Vinoy Vijayan
Phd Student - Genetics
Dartmouth College
I'll sign this too.
Algirdas Velyvis, PhD
University of Toronto
Please add me to the list
Stefan Andrei Anghel
Undergraduate student
Harvard University
I am saddened by the ROM's decision. Let's hope they reverse it.
Scott Campbell
Toronto, ON
Stan Flouride
artist, science geek
San Francisco
There are still so many Chopras around us! Some of them call themselves chiropractors, homeo-practors, etc.
I will sign:
Mark Branecki, M.Sc.
Professor of Radiation Safety
Algonquin College
Pembroke ON
R. Benjamin Dexter
Honors Statistics Student
Dalhousie University
Please include me too.
Premee Mohamed, B.Sc. (Hon)
Environmental Advisor
I'd be proud to add my name to the list.
Tony Burns
Toronto, ON
I would be glad to sign it.
Adel Amodwala
BSc Student- Statistics
University of Toronto
Jason Hatherly, B.A., L.L.B.
Winnipeg, MB
I'm in
Guillermo Barron, PhD
Philosophy
Red Deer College
Yes, let's not be silly.
Adrian Johnson
Where do I sign?
John Dalton
Good sir, I would also like to sign this petition. It is truly a shame on Canadian scientific standards - nay, scientific standards period.
David Gass
MA Student - Experimental Psychology
Laurentian University
I'm in.
Louis R. Lapierre, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Sandford-Burnham Research Institute
La Jolla, CA
I'll sign to keep the pseudo-scientist quacks from official recognition,
Steeve McCauley
Montreal, QC
Chemistry, Physics and a smattering of Geology
Count me in
Brian Burgess
Rodney, Ontario
I'm in.
Dan Augusta
B.A. Student
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Fern Yates
Boston, MA
I'll sign as well.
Richard Robichau
Peabody, MA
Count me as well.
theo nelson
Calgary, AB
I would like my name included in your letter.
Mims H. Carter
Pass Christian, Mississippi
Plant Biologist and member of the Great Southern Humanist Society
Please add my name to the letter to the Royal Ontario Museum and its engagement of Deepak Chopra as a speaker.
John Donaldson
Sounds good to me.
Alex Hammel
Undergraduate [BSc. (Hons.) Evolutionary Biology]
University of Alberta
add my sig.
Count me in as well..
Mark Tupling
London, Ontario
We need to expect more from an institution such as the ROM. Shame.
John Underhay MSc, Bsc
Michael Gillard
Medical Physicist
Eastern Health
I sign...
Brandon Frederick
Environmental Science Major and
Lab Tech
Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska
Ron Brown
University of Toronto Hon.B.Sc graduate
Masters of Occupational Therapy student, University of Western Ontario
Resident of London, Ontario.
I'll sign that.
Mark Fagan, B.Sc., M.A.
Helter Investments Ltd.
alumnus of University of Toronto
I will definitely sign this. Keep up the good fight.
Carmen Finnigan
Saskatchewan Skeptics
Saskatoon, SK
I will sign,
Rob Sutherland
Director, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience
The University of Lethbridge
Lethbridge & District Skeptics
Lethbridge, AB
I am in full support. I will sign the letter.
Definitely supported.
Lars Martin
Friend of CFI
PhD student Physics
Vancouver, BC
Sign me up.
John Coady, PhD,
Qualicum Beach,
BC.
Gary Jones,
Belfast/Toronto
Layman Physics Enthusiast and vitriolic opponent of Quantum Mysticism and Pseudoscientific Woo
I'll sign on
Natasha Yar-Routh
Network Engineer
Los Anegeles, CA
I'm in.
Joshua Johnson, PhD.
Lecturer in Molecular Biology
Victoria University
Melbourne, Australia.
Count me in. Why would the ROM support this drivel?
Alison Streight
(not a scientist, but interested)
Montreal, Quebec
Jeremie Choquette
Undergraduate Student-Physics
McMaster University
I'll sign that!
Diana MacPherson
Freethinker and Canadian
I am horrifed that any institution dedicated to the understanding of science would give Deepak Chopra a platfrom from which to spout his pseudo-scientific drivel.
Julia D Atkinson
Contributor to UK-Sceptics and investigator of paranormal claims
I can think of no more serious danger to the advancement of science than the encouragement of this sort of garbage.
Count me in.
Michael Reid B.Sc, M.Sc
Raleigh, North Carolina
I'll gladly sign
Jack McLean PhD
Vancouver Island B.C.
Retired Res Scientist
You don't have to twist my arm - I'll sign! :)
Neil Erickson,BSc.
Victoria, BC
Signed
Keith Drader
Calgary AB
I'm in.
D Dorn
Rochester, MN USA
Rob Paton
MEng Student - Computer Science
Bristol University
I'll sign that, I love the ROM.
Nathan
Milton Ontario
I'll sign. The only legitimate reason for Chopra to speak would have been if he had expert knowledge of the topic and kept strictly to the topic.
Leon Stander, D. Phil
Blogger @ Occam's Donkey
I suggest not only signing the petition, but contacting the ROM thru their website: http://www.rom.on.ca/about/contact.php
I identified myself as a concerned scientist, which I am, and expressed my concern that the ROM has damaged its credibility by providing a pulpit for pseudo-scientific garbage.
Most definitely would sign this! I'm a resident of Toronto and patron of the ROM. The last speaker I saw there was Christopher Hitchens on the 10 Commandments. We don't need our museums to start showcasing Deepak Chopra's woo-ful, embarrassing display and butchery of quantum physics into happy sounding assertions.
Sign me up:
Michael Fraser, Ph.D.
Terry Fox Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow
Ontario Cancer Institute
Toronto, ON
Signed.
Robert Teszka
Cognitive Psychologist
UBC, Vancouver, Canada
Add me please.
Jason Cassels
Lead Designer
www.thecitylab.net
Add my endorsement:
Dr Chris Newell, MIET
I will gladly sign that.
Michael Brazeau
Toronto, Ontario
Devin Trudeau
PhD Student, Bioengineering
California Institute of Technology
(HBSc in Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto)
signed,
Dr. Randall J. Scalise
Southern Methodist University
Department of Physics
Yes please.
David Tweddell, MASc, P.Eng.
London, ON
I will sign.
Christopher Murray
Kingston, Ontario
I'll sign.
Andre D. King P.Eng
Burlington, Ontario
Put my name down
Gary Bohn B.Sc, B.A.
Computer Science
Regina, SK.
My signature:
Jack Brzezinski B.Sc. MD
Toronto, ON
Andrew Delong
PhD candidate (Computer Science)
London, Ontario.
William Hyde, PhD. Retired.
Add me too, please.
Anna Yeung, MPH
University of Melbourne
(and forever Torontonian)
I'll gladly sign.
Daniel Bourque
B.A. Student - Philosophy (Philosophy of Science)
Mount Allison University
I'm signing that:
Antoine Vekris
Research fellow, Neurobiology of myelin disorders
University Victor Segalen
Bordeaux, France
Count me in.
Faizal Ali MD, FRCPC
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
University of Toronto
Deepak Chopra indeed....
There is no room for this tripe @ the ROM.
Please add my signature to this letter.
David Fader
Brantford, Ontario
/s/
William Leddy
CA, USA
I'll sign too. Toby North - UK - No-one special
An evening with Deepak at The Learning Annex, maybe, but not the ROM. Embarrassing for the city of Toronto.
Sign me up,
M.Karasz
Toronto, Ontario
Rick Pikul, BSc
University of Waterloo
In addition to this being "another opportunity for him to promote his new book", more importantly this is Choprak being keen on making financial gain (well beyond the meagre honoraria of academic speakers).
Feel free to add me to the petition:
Ingo Brigandt, PhD
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Alberta
I'll certainly sign that. Chopra is the perfect example of a pseudoscientist.
Great letter! Please add my name
Bridget Holmes
Toronto, On.
please add my name to the list
Mike Q Jackson, BASc
North Vancouver, BC
Kim Madden
BSc Candidate - Health Studies
University of Waterloo
Signed.
Tyson Bodin
Victoria , BC
Carolyn Pearce-Lipari
Colonia, NJ
I'll sign too: I am a long term ROM donor, and think this is a very annoying way to spend good money.
E R Harvey
Professor emeritus, U of Toronto
I too, would like this fraud to have a much harder time finding his credulous audiences, and hate the fact that we're giving them a forum.
Rob Bos,
Vancouver, British Columbia.
I would support that.
Do-Ming Lum
President and Principal Consultant
Ursa Major Systems Integration Group Inc.
do.ming.lum@ursamajorsystems.com
Thank you for organizing this and writing this excellent letter. I fully support the statement.
Brett Simms
Toronto, ON
I will gladly sign that letter.
James Logan
signing
Ms. Stefanie Kischak
University of Toronto - Industrial Engineering student
In
Include me please
Julie Stahlbaum
Dundas, Ontario
Carolyn MacLeod
PhD Student, University of Toronto
Count me in too!
Jason Wilkes
Ph.D student - Mathematical Physics
University of Alberta
Canada
Natasha Bockus
Montreal, Quebec
Jason Karp
Toronto, Ontario
Gaëtan Landry
Master's Student in Physics
Université de Moncton
Moncton, NB
We're embarrassed in the UK too...
Stephen Tapply BA, MEd
Retired Teacher
UK
I have no title, but I'll gladly sign.
Frank Wall
Dayton, OH, USA
Argir Argirov
Engineering Student
Ryerson University
I will sign this letter.
Kristine Danowski, M.Ed., M.S.
Bioanalytical Chemistry
Better late than never: please add my name to the list.
Michael MacKay
Mississauga, Ontario
michaelmackay-at-sympatico.ca
Please add me too, thanks.
Peter Newton, MD FRCPC
Associate professor, Anesthesia.
University of Western Ontario
I'll sign as well--
Bryson Brown
Professor of Philosophy,
President of the Canadian Philosophy Association
University of Lethbridge,
Lethbridge, AB
T1K3M4
brown@uleth.ca
403 329-2506
This definitely stinks. The ROM should be preserving its mandate as an institution of proper scientific research and study, not lending credence to bad science (or sophistry masquerading as science), however well intentioned. The ROM should be deeply embarrassed at sullying its heretofore well-deserved reputation like this.
James Munroe
Sydney, NS (but of Toronto, ON from 1981-2003)
Please add my name:
Doug Stewart, M.Sc.
Mandeville, Louisiana.
Yes, that’s right. I live in Louisiana! Home of the Science Education Act that legally allows bullshit creationism to be taught to public school students. But still, Chopra’s bullshit exceeds even that. It’s nice to know that the Royal Ontario Museum is “catching up” with Louisiana in its scientific “achievement”.
Matt Russo
MSc. Student Astrophysics
University of Toronto
Pass the pen please.
Glen Hopping
High School drop out
Signed:
Denis Robert
Syntach Solutions
Toronto ON
Let Chopra peddle his universal consciousness claptrap to the same people who bought into "The Secret", but not in a public museum.
Neil Schipper, B.Sc.
Winnipeg, MB
I would like to sign as well.
Kristjan Wager, BSc
Copenhagen, Denamrk
Raymond Chiang
Vancouver, BC
Trevor Padgett B.Sc. B.Ed.
Peterborough, Ontario
Its not that he cant pronounce his woo, its that it will go unquestioned and this venue is one of science, reality and advancement of knowledge. This will not help the public understand anything.
Count me in!
Horacio Cazarin Ruiz
Mexico City, MEX
Deeply offended by Choprah´s quantum quackery. That idiot can´t add, much less understand the beautiful subtleties of the mathematics of quantum physics.
Count me in!
Horacio Cazarin Ruiz
Mexico City, MEX
Deeply offended by Choprah´s quantum quackery. That idiot can´t add, much less understand the beautiful subtleties of the mathematics of quantum physics.
Please add my signature to the letter.
Mr. Chopra's appropriates words used in science to lend credibility to his unintelligible "philosophy". The R.O.M might as well invite a young earth creationist to speak.
Geoffrey Craig, J.D.
122 Leighton Rd.
London NW5 2RG
UK
Count me in:
Brad Wisler
BS, MEd, JD
Sandusky, OH
count me in:
Brad Wisler
BS, MEd, JD
Sandusky, OH
Signed,
Richard Healy, BA, MA, PGCE and now BTEC Applied Science.
Chesterfield, Derbyshire,
UK.
I remember seeing an ad for this somewhere and it boggled my mind. So I'll sign that
Sara Mallory
Ottawa, Ontario
Shame on the ROM.
Michael Parker
Kitchener, Ontario
Count me in.
M. FitzGibbon, B.A., B.Ed.
Edmonton, Alberta
Add me to your list.
Craig Coady
Labrador
count me in
Bruno Ferreira
Ungerdraduate Student with an integrational scholarship in Ecology
Minho University
Portugal
Re-evaluating my decision to support the ROM.
Richard Murray
ROM "Curatorial Circle" Member
Simply as a thinking person, I have to disagree with quacks and pseudoscientists peddling their nonsense in legitimate institutions.
-John Snodgrass
Larry, I´ll sing also.
Miguel Solera
Madrid
Spain
D Tash
Simon Fraser University
Jenelle Power
Ph.D. Student -- Forensic Psychology
Carleton University
I agree with the petition.
Physics graduate student,
University of Toronto
I'm on board
Colm Carraher
Scientist
New Zealand
I'd love to sign:
Bandon Decker, BS
Kirksville, MO, USA
I will sign that...
Kurt Zecman
President
Pennsylvania Steel Corporation
no quacks in respectable museums please...
Jelle Praagmaan,
Utrecht, the Netherlands
Count me in, too.
Matthew Browning
ROM Member (for now...)
I cannot believe this! Has the universe just imploded? We seem to be traveling back in time.
Please sign my name to this letter.
Robert Hicks,
drug dealer, Toronto
Larry, here is my signature--
John Ward, MD
Saint Paul, Minnesota
I'm in (if its OK i'm not in the USA)
George Cunningham
BSc (Hons), BA, Dip Ed.
Melbourne, Australia
Signed
Happy to sign
Martin Anderson
PhD - King's College London
I will sign that.
Shadi Youssef
PhD Student - Electronics Engineering
University of Twente
Netherlands
Meade Pimsler
Ph.D., Microbiology
Larry: Please add my signature -
Stu Hillman. Retired US Govt. MS Applied Physics, University of Seattle 83.
Please cancel Mr. "Aging is ... a choice...” who seems to be aging along with the rest of us.
Michael Mugridge
BComm (Concordia University_
resident of Beaconsfield,QC
I love ROM!
You are better than this!
Benjamin Neuenschwander
Undergrad Student of Mathematics
Bowling Green State University
I support this!!!
Peter Trzeciak
M.A. Computer Science
Add my signature to this. No place for loonies at the ROM.
- Andres
Christina Thomsen
Undergraduate (BSc)
University of Toronto
Christina Thomsen
Undergraduate (BSc)
University of Toronto
Sign me on please:
Chris Carroll
Senior Aerodynamic Engineer
Middletown Connecticut.
I'll sign it.
Despite Deepak's powers to cause earthquakes in Southern California, I don't fear him! Sign me up,
Jeff Glover
Toronto, ON
Sign me up!!!!
Jim McCusker
Biology Teacher
Ridley High School
Pennsylvania
I'll sign it.
DS Martin
Algeron Waterschoot
Freethinker
Belgium
I wholeheartedly agree with your objections, and I wish to emphasise that by signing your petition.
Y. Raczynski Henk MA
Prehistoric Archaeologist,
Leiden, the Netherlands
William W. Crook
Father, Husband, Rational Human Being
Longmont, CO
I'll sign that!
Joshua Brooks-Budhoo - Toronto, ON
BA, Trent University
I'll sign this.
Ian D'Souza, Ph.D. (physics)
Waterloo, ON
I sign this letter.
Roel Winters
Member of SKEPP
Belgium
I'll sign this as well.
Ian Selleck
Student - BSc. Chemical Engineering
University of Alberta
Add me to the list.
Allison Kwok
Honors B.Sc. (Biology)
Toronto
I hope I'm not to late to sign ...
Karly Larson
Photographer
Menlo Park, California
Please add my name.
John F. Dehls, PhD, P.Geol.
Geological Survey of Norway
Trondheim, Norway
Count me in
PLease add me as well.
Amanda Scott, BSc BIT (biologist-in-training)
Edmonton, Alberta
I will sign that - I'm a Torontonian, an Engineer, a magician, and a skeptic.
Andy Blau - Toronto Magician
BASc, Engineering
no!! count me in as well
Brianne Burnell
Ryerson University
Toronto ON
Lynne Rutledge
ROM Member
Toronto, Ontario
I wish to sign the letter.
Thom Ford
Office Services Clerk
Ministry of the Attorney General
Government of Ontario
Paul Bowser
Ph.D. Zoology (Cell & Systems Biology) - University of Toronto
ROM Member
Thad Harroun, PhD
Assistant Professor, Physics
Brock University
St. Catharines, ON
Add another.
Steve Denheyer
Toronto, Ontario
I'll sign it:
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Directeur de Recherche Emerite
CNRS, France
My name is David Jordan, I would totally sign that, and I'm frankly offended that any museum would waste their time and money to bring in a damn quack.
I'll sign that for sure.
Zebulon Pike
Andy Turko
MSc Student - Environmental Physiology
University of Guelph
Though not a scientist, I would happily sign.
Brendon Cameron, MA, CGA
Edmonton, Alberta
(former resident of Ontario and student at McMaster University)
Please add my name.
Greg Smith
M.A.Sc, Elec Eng
University of Toronto
(and member of ROM).
I'll sign:
Martin Brummell
PhD student (Soil Science), University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Supporting.
David Cook, P.E.
Kabul, Afghanistan
Nathan Pozderac
Long Term Care Administrator
Ohio, USA
I'll sign.
Jere Koskela
Bsc Statistics Student
University of Warwick, UK
I'll sign that.
William Breen, B.Sc.
Consulting Geologist
Flyboy Exploration
Robb Buston
Hamilton Ontario
I was dismayed to hear that he was speaking.
Robert Wilson, B.A.
Manager
London, Ontario
i'm into it. i know the ROM is hard up for cash, but it shouldn't resort to this nonsense.
j. landau, ottawa ontario.
Add me to the list. I've loved the ROM since the first time I went at the age of five, but this is just appalling.
Melissa McCarthy
Fredericton, NB
Yeah, this sounds about right. Add my name, if you wish.
Chris Pitts
General skeptic.
Is the ROM that hard up for money that they invite Chopra? Sort of like a lost leader at the supermarket of reality. Draw the people in with something they don't need and hopefully they will buy other stuff. Oh is that " Primordial Sound Meditation, the most powerful tool we have for direct contact with Spirit and rediscovering our unique essential nature" (copy directly from DC website) on offer? I'll pick up a carton of that and while I'm here better take a look at the South African dinasaur eggs and babies. I saw Chopra on The Colbert Report recently and my skin crawled.
Kevin L. MacCorquodale
Scarborough, Ontario
Please include me in your petition.
Scott Legatski, Computer Scientist in Colorado.
please include me
Chris Cuzner
Ottawa
At the moment, I live in the UK, but I'll always be a Torontonian at heart.
Steve Dylag
Primary Teacher
Buckinghamshire, UK
No thank you.
Solveig Sundstrom
Student - Life Sciences
University of Toronto
"While we fully support the concept of academic freedom" - except when you don't. Where is your evidence to refute Deepak's statements, based on direct experience. Let's hear your explanation of what you are doing right now, being conscious (or at least semi-conscious). How does matter become conscious Dr. Moron? Let's hear your explanation. Oh, you never question that. You are a pseudo-skeptic.
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