2024 Ockham Awards: The Best & Worst of Skepticism

This year has highlighted the political aspect of skeptical activism as such unscientific ideologies as Islamophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism, misogyny and anti-immigrant extremism featured heavily in shockingly tight election campaigns in the UK, France and the US. Hopefully, however, less populist rhetoric will be in play as we cast our votes for this year's Ockham Award nominees for The Award for Skeptical Activism and its ever-popular antithesis The Rusty Razor. Here, for your consideration, are my choices...

The Award for Skeptical Activism is presented to an individual or organisation who has done outstanding work to promote critical thinking within the last 12 months. Winners are chosen based on the impact that they have had, the reach that they have achieved and their relevance this year. Last year the award went to the Knowledge Fight podcast for helping bring Alex Jones to justice, and in previous years it has gone to Michael Marshall (2018), Dr Natália Pasternak (2020), Dr Elizabeth Bik (2021) and the BBC’s Disinformation Unit (2022).

This year, Prof Chris French, my 2024 nominee, published his magnum opus The Science of Weird Shit detailing a twenty-year career during which, with a little help from the likes of Prof Richard Wiseman and Prof Susan Blackmore, he has explored why our minds conjure the paranormal and advanced the discipline of anomalistic psychology. He has also continued to serve as convenor of the Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub and after a mysterious 14-year absence has finally returned to Cambridge Skeptics as a guest speaker and will present our upcoming Halloween talk on ghosts.

Honourable mentions go to archaeologist Dr Flint Dibble for venturing into the lion’s den and facing off against Graham Hancock in the far from neutral arena of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast; NY Post reporter Steven Greenstreet for exposing the spooky UFO hustle going all the way up to the US Senate; and, Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab stalwarts Dr Jon Roozenbeek and Prof Sander van der Linden for publishing the book versions of the talks they’ve given us on the psychology of  misinformation and propaganda in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Rusty Razor is presented to an individual or organisation who has been the most prominent promoter of unscientific ideas in the last 12 months. Recipients are chosen based on level of pseudoscience, the reach they’ve achieved, the harm they’ve done and their relevance this year. Last year the award went to pandemic pseudoscience promoter Dr Aseem Malhotra, and in previous years has gone Gwyneth Paltrow (2017), Andrew Wakefield (2018), Dr Didier Raoult (2020), Dr Mike Yeadon (2021) and the Global Warming Policy Foundation (2022).

This year, Elon Musk, my 2024 nominee, hit what one can only hope is his absolute nadir by denying the existence of his trans daughter, to no less a figure than Jordan Peterson, and instead maintaining that his son died of the woke mind virus. His stewardship of Twitter (to engage in a little light deadnaming) has seen it degenerate into a complete cesspool of misinformation, disinformation and outright hate as he himself has joined in on transphobic hate campaigns and fanned the flames of race riot. So, why not #blockelonmusk.

Dishonourable mentions go former longshot independent presidential candidate turned Trump stooge Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for continuing his anti-science crusade whilst revealing he has brain worms, beheaded a whale and dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park; podcaster Joe Rogan for endorsing RFK Jr. and platforming such cranks as Graham Hancock and Terrence Howard; Richard Dawkins, JK Rowling et al for joining Musk in taking their transphobia to such extremes it turns against cis women; and, Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson, Andrew Tate et al for joining Musk in initiating race riots on the street of England.

Make your official nominations by completing the official nomination form before official nominations close on October 2nd. Winners, chosen by the editorial board of The Skeptic, will be announced on October 19th at the 2024 QED conference in Manchester.