A Modern Skeptic Podcast Host

by Brian Dunning
August 20, 2024

People don't want to get bad news, unless it's happening to someone else. People want to get good news, or exciting news, or juicy news. When it comes to the kinds of topics we cover on Skeptoid, fewer people are interested in the skeptical perspective than they would be in the credulous version. It would be much more exciting for me to say the Moon landing was fake, and the government covers it up, and here's how we managed to get this secret knowledge. That turns heads, including the heads of normally fact-based people who may not have heard this story before. But the skeptical version, where we basically say that no juicy coverup happened? Whose curiosity is piqued by that, and gets excited to hear more?

Download the song here: "A Modern Skeptic Podcast Host"
	Performed by Anthony Trecek-King https://www.trecekking.com
	Music by Gilbert & Sullivan
	Lyrics by Brian Dunning http://about.me/briandunning

The answer is you! And much of the reason is that you know we do much more than offer "the boring perspective" here on Skeptoid. If it's the Moon landing, we talk about the history of the mythology and why it happened. If it's why the latest supplement won't make you skinny and longer-lived, we look at how we know that, and how we can use those same tools to find the truth about other claims we might come across. The skeptical perspective is the useful one, and it's the one where all the real fun is. You just have to get past that initial "boring old skeptic" barrier to entry.

So I'd like to say a little bit about how I personally view that conundrum, and at the same time color that perspective with one of the most popular of recent listener topic requests, AI, or Artificial Intelligence. Generative AI is able to do things like create or expand a piece of artwork, or even create or change a human voice. With all of that in mind, here's the way I feel I can best articulate how and why I do what I do:

I am the very model of a modern skeptic podcast host
Who ruins all your fantasies and takes away your favorite ghost
I tell you nothing's true and all your life 'til now has been a lie
And then the crowning moment's when I challenge you to falsify

All around us, pseudoscience, deepfakes, and conspiracies
Combine to leave our intellects impaired with deep deficiencies
The modern skeptic podcast is your friend as these intensify
To keep your brain from falling out when else it might just liquify

They warn if Bigfoot doesn't get you then it will be Meg'lodon
If Nessie doesn't eat what's left, a Civil War pteranodon
Will carry your remains and feed them to a scary alien
Or a Mormon or a Scientologist or Raelian

Doctor Oz and Alex Jones and Deepak Chopra supplicate
For you to buy their supplements and magic'ly self-medicate
The skeptic podcast warns you not to do your own lobotomy
With reiki, homeopathy, and rhino horn and CBD

They say that 9/11 was a globalist conspiracy
Even though the notion lacks both logic and consistency
Covid Truthers, JFK, and QAnon are standing by
With MK Ultra, Men in Black, the reptoids and their battle cry

Separating what is real from what is not is what we do
For list'ners everywhere deceived by gibberish and ballyhoo
And so for every aspect of your life and those you love the most:
I am the very model of a modern skeptic podcast host.

By Brian Dunning
Follow @BrianDunning