Leonard Sym – It’s Never That Old! Science Denial and Radiocarbon Dating

We take radiocarbon dating so much for granted, but many of us may be unaware of how it revolutionised archaeology in the late 1950s and ‘60s. It offered a tool that gave objectivity where an item had been dated subjectively or where it was dated relative to another archaeological artefact or historical event.

Radiocarbon dating also happens to be the radiometric method that most obviously challenges Bishop Ussher’s biblical dating of the creation of the earth at 4004BC, October 22nd, at nightfall. We have, for example, a German wooden well where the trees were felled about 7,000 years ago, circa 5200BCE. That is a very tangible challenge the concept of a young earth. As such, radiocarbon dating attracts a considerable amount of religious attention, most of which involves inaccuracy, disingenuous creation of doubt, or plain falsehood.

In this talk, Leonard Sym will take this denial of science head on, and dispel it by looking at how the dating system works, how it is calibrated, and how its limits of measurement have been pushed back to 50,000 years BP.

Leonard teaches management, both commercially and in higher education. Current work includes management education at middle and senior management level within the oil industry, as well as the design and delivery of management training for a range of organisations throughout the world. He briefly studied Archaeology at Glasgow University as part of his first degree and has kept up an interest in the subject ever since. Over the last few years he has become increasingly aware of how our knowledge of the past has been increasingly attacked for religious reasons. This has inspired him to revisit the topic and defend the educated viewpoint.

Skeptics on the Fringe is proud to be part of PBH’s Free Fringe. Our talks are free and unticketed, so come early to the Free Fringe’s spoken word hub at the Banshee Labyrinth to be sure of a seat.

We have a different topic every day, bringing science, reason and critical thinking to the largest arts festival in the world.

Our website for the entire run is:

http://www.edinburghskeptics.co.uk/fringe (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edinburghskeptics.co.uk%2Ffringe&h=yAQFvUR9F)

*** RSVPing does NOT GUARANTEE you a seat for these events ***

This is because they are part of PBH's Free Fringe and are Free and un-ticketed. Come early, seating is limited and we have to turn people away most nights.

Details are here on Meetup and on our main website. If there are any changes to our published speakers, we will try to send an email to anyone whose said they're be attending, but please check online for changes.

All events start at 7.50 pm prompt and last for 1 hour (with discussions in the bar afterwards). We will try to include a couple of questions in the hour long talk but this may not be possible.

Please note that these restrictions, the timeslot, and the venue are out-with our realistic control, and we apologise for any inconvenience.

The queue for our talks runs from the front door of the Banshee up Niddry Street towards the High Street. Come early to avoid disappointment, we have to turn people away most nights.

We ask for donations at the end of each talk to cover our speakers' expenses and our publicity and other costs throughout the Fringe and the rest of the year. Edinburgh Skeptics is funded entirely by the generosity of the people who come to the talks and is only made possible by the speakers and volunteers who freely give up their time.

Our "Respect People, Challenge Ideas" manifesto will apply to all events and can be read here:

http://www.edinburghskeptics.co.uk/about/respect (http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edinburghskeptics.co.uk%2Fabout%2Frespect&h=AAQEFVtQZ)