Skepticism in Turkey: Promoting Critical Thinking in an Ancient Land

Promoting critical thinking is challenging everywhere. But it is even harder when there are deeply rooted superstitions, widespread denial of science, and political pressures on freedom of speech. Tonight, we will hear about some interesting superstitions and pseudoscience from Turkey. We will also explore the growing skeptical movement and challenges of being a Turkish skeptic.

Speaker Isil Arican, MD, graduated from Ege University School of Medicine in Turkey and has an MS degree in Healthcare Administration from the California State University. She has been working as a Healthcare IT consultant since arriving in the Bay Area in 2008. She is the founder and the author of Yalansavar, a well known Turkish skeptical website. As science advocate, she also contributes to an online popular science magazine Acik Bilim as an author and editor.

This FREE SkepTalk is presented as a public service by the Bay Area Skeptics.