PhACT - Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking

PhACT - Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking Website http://www.phact.org We are the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking (PhACT). Our difference? We are not afraid to admit we don't know.

We love tough questions, but we maintain that there is only one way to find trustworthy answers: to use reason and to experiment. We reject wishful thinking, anecdotes, revelation, unsupported authority, and "everybody knows." We ask only, "What are the facts and what can we deduce from them?"

Of course, we don't know all the answers; nobody does, whatever they may claim. There are many questions which cannot be answered now and some which may never be answered. Critical thinkers don't invent answers when there are none. We would rather suspend judgment than mislead ourselves and others. PhACT encourages people to think critically about their beliefs and about the validity of the information presented to them. PhACT does not presume to tell people what to think but it does give guidance in how to think. Like Josh Billings, we believe that what hurts you more is not what you don't know but what you know that isn't so. We do not arbitrarily reject anything unexamined. Instead, we encourage the responsible scientific investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims. Our aim is to promote scientific inquiry, media responsibility, critical thinking, and science education. PhACT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt organization. All deductions and membership dues contributed to PhACT are tax deductible as per IRS regulations. Please consult a tax advisor for information regarding tax deductions. To join as a member, or donate to PhACT, please see our website: www.phact.org .

10/10/2026

Welcome to the Morning Heresy, CFI’s thrice-weekly roundup of news and headlines for the reality-based community. On Monday, we posted an interview with CFI ...

A thought for a Wednesday evening from the PhACT - Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking . Beware of Nigerian P...
10/07/2026

A thought for a Wednesday evening from the PhACT - Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking . Beware of Nigerian Price scams! Wikipedia refers to them as "Advance Fee scams". You are promised a large amount of money for helping someone, often a Nigerian prince (supposedly, but not really!) transfer money.

Once you agree, there is some fee you have to pay, or a bribe. If you pay, that, they'll come up with something else. I heard of one case where they required the victim to open an account in their name and deposit a large sum in it, supposedly just as collateral. Of course, as soon as you do, it's gone!

The picture is mislabeled. It's actually the amount of money the scammers have collected from all the people foolish enough as to fall for this scam! :-)

Unfortunately, many do (it only takes 1 in 10,000 to respond to cheap mass emails to generate a lot of income for the scammers).

10/06/2026

Some people have no problem questioning scientific consensus, but they won’t question the internet grifter’s TikTok telling them that vaccines are bad.

10/03/2026
A thought for a Wednesday evening from PhACT -- check out the cool hoax about all birds being wiped out and replaced wit...
09/30/2026

A thought for a Wednesday evening from PhACT -- check out the cool hoax about all birds being wiped out and replaced with bird drone spies. Here is their website: https://birdsarentreal.com/

Then check out the Wikipedia page that explains the background. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_Aren%27t_Real

You can even buy one of their T Shirts (see image). If they are actually selling them...

09/28/2026

We all see it: an AI-driven scampocalypse is coming … and it looks ...

09/26/2026

Welcome to the Morning Heresy, CFI’s regular roundup of news and headlines for the reality-based community. Historian Joseph Kelly breaks down “The Biggest ...

A thought for a Wednesday evening from PhACT - Check out our video collection on YouTube!We have talks ranging from arch...
09/23/2026

A thought for a Wednesday evening from PhACT - Check out our video collection on YouTube!

We have talks ranging from archeology and other science content to many on skeptical topics.

I hope to have a Wednesday evening thought every Wednesday (unless I run out of ideas -- is that possible in this area???)

09/19/2026

Why have so many Americans seen ghosts?

One in 5 Americans say they’ve seen a ghost. America, the UK, and Ireland are as the countries with the most haunted locations. However Japan, Mexico, and India have the most ghost sightings of all other countries.

https://wnyc.org/npr/wburwp-1115101

09/19/2026

Science has advanced enormously in the past 500 years, guided by experimental tests of theory and practice. In that same time, science teaching and education—guided primarily by tradition and dogma—has remained largely medieval. Carl Wieman will discuss research from university classrooms that r...

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