Then I could attend, in person, this offering from the University of Washington. From the syllabus:
We will be astonished if these skills do not turn out to be among the most useful and most broadly applicable of those that you acquire during the course of your college education.
What’s the name of the course? “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data.” Just one of their goals – but perhaps the most important:
Provide your crystals-and-homeopathy aunt or casually racist uncle with an accessible and persuasive explanation of why a claim is bullshit.
In today’s world of fake news, this may in fact be one of the most important courses available. But it has more applicability than just detecting a fake news article designed to influence your political views. As my occasional references to Skeptical Inquirer should make evident, I have a long standing interesting in how false, outrè claims are accepted by large segments of American society, and how it damages us, from casual belief in homeopathy to the rabid trust in Creationism, and the concomitant disbelief in evolutionary science – as if science were a buffet table. I don’t know if this course treats the psychological underpinnings of disbelief in the study of reality, but it does sound fascinating.
In all seriousness, and especially if recent politics has appalled you as a member of the left, right, or middle, I do suggest investigating this course, and proctoring it if it seems to have any applicability to your outrage. Even though I haven’t, yet. Maybe you can let me know how it goes.
