Skeptics Guide #1110

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1110 October 15th 2026 Segment #1. Flu Season Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Future Forests https://www.science.org/content/article/forests-burn-can-we-replant-trees-ready-warmer-world News Item #2 – Carbon Nanotube Product https://theness.com/neurologicablog/finally-a-carbon-nanotube-application/ News Item #3 – Rethinking Normal https://theconversation.com/i-teach-doctors-how-to-interpret-test-results-and-the-labels-normal-and-abnormal-often-hide-what-matters-most-291125 News Item #4 – Smart Clothing https://newatlas.com/wearables/smart-clothing-cools-detects-movement-generates-electricity/ Segment 3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Name That Logical Fallacy To be clear, I'm not actually certain if I am the one falling for this fallacy, or if you are. I -am- pretty confident you get a lot of feedback that's a lot worse than where I'm going with this though, so hopefully I can alleviate that concern, alternatively If you'd like to dip out here, yes this is about AI, I get it. Also, I'll just refer to the whole cast collectively, since I don't want to seem to be singling anyone out. To define terms: the 'Goomba Fallacy' is an informal logical fallacy where one conflates two opinions stated by one's opposition, usually online, dismissing them because they contradict, even though they are said by different people. Everyone on the SGU seem to mostly have converged at this point, so I feel safe saying it feels very odd that the opinion now seems to be that it is -both- an incredible tool that everyone should use whenever they like, and the underlying grumbling that this obviously threatens the entire enterprise of getting people to build up their own critical thinking skills. I have a hundred times more arguments against this seeming-contradiction than will fit in this text box, unfortunately, so I'll leave that as an open 'is that contradictory? To advocate for a threat to your own goals?'. Secondly, and this may be -me- being a Goomba. When it's time to end the discussion the line comes out that 'it's not going away', it gets under my skin. Because I feel I'm being made a straw-man, you're conflating all possible arguments against AI with a very simple 'well you can't turn back time'. In a pretty recent episode the panel was discussing the problems with climate change deniers, and that exact idea is one of their very common refrains about why we don't need to do anything about global warming. And like it or not, that's how it comes across when you use the same line, to talk about AI. To deny all possible negative outcomes, and do nothing at all because the genie is out of the bottle. Tirion California Segment #5. Your Questions and E-mails Dr Novella, if interested: https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2026/10/08/why_covid-19_may_have_started_at_the_university_of_north_carolina_1210178.html I respect that you favor natural origins, but the same virologists are creating self-spreading Ebola vaccines for fruit bats, which are the SARS2 reservoir host: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247%2820%2930089-6/fulltext Thanks, Jim Haslam, Houston, TX, 713-775-9747 Segment #6. 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. Item 1: A 75,000 year old Neanderthal fossil shows the first evidence of death by wooden spear. Item 2: A new study finds that if 50% of available marginal agricultural land in the US were dedicated to growing bamboo for feedstock, the resulting biofuel could replace up to half of the current demand for transportation fuel. Item 3: A new analysis finds that 27% of the Earth’s land is under some type of conservation. Segment #7. Skeptical Quote of the Week “The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.” ― Carl Sagan