GMO Skepti-Forum: Reasoned, evidence-based Discourse
February 24, 2014 11:29 AM   Subscribe

GMO Skepti-Forum: Reasoned, evidence-based Discourse
GMO SF is an independent, volunteer-run project built for encouraging rational dialogue amongst the global community on issues surrounding genetic-modification in society. Our bottom-up community discourse aims to advance scientific reasoning and skepticism while challenging misinformation and public manipulation.

The GMO Skepti-Forum project has forums on multiple social media; however, currently our Facebook community has the highest traffic. In our community, we collaborate on trying to sift through science and media to find the best supported arguments and claims. You can see our current collection of threads covering common (and uncommon) GMO issues.

One of our current projects is gathering 500 word stories of people's perspectives on GMO issues. With this project, we want to show people the depth of the conversation.

More from our About page:

The GMO SF community seeks to foster reasoned discussion of genetically-modified organisms and topics related to biotechnology in society. Our forums on various social networks are set up to answer questions, provide information, evaluate sources, and practice skepticism. Discussion should focus on facts, credible sources, and scientific literature. For a productive discussion, each person should adopt the principle of charity and help create an open atmosphere encouraging a mutual exchange of ideas. The forums are a collective puzzle solving activity rather than an arena of gladiators vying to defeat opponents. Some puzzle pieces might not fit so well, but flipping the table isn’t going to help anyone see the bigger picture.

GMO SF is a community project open to everyone interested in a mutual exchange of ideas and information. While some ideas may dominate discussion, nothing is beyond reasoned, evidence-based criticism (not even our rules and principles). At its core, GMO SF is neither pro-GMO, nor anti-GMO. We are suspicious of polarization and false balance, focusing instead on thorough discussion of nuances. The foundation of GMO SF is based on scientific skepticism, meaning that our most basic premise is reasoned inquiry into issues. As the weight of evidence grows in favour of certain claims, those claims will likely become more accepted on our forums. Any member, at any time, may challenge claims on our forum, no matter how many people believe those ideas. One of our core rules is that if someone makes a claim, they must be willing to back up their claim with supporting evidence. All members have the right to request evidence from someone making a claim. On GMO SF, evidence and reason trump conjecture and speculation. Further, when it comes to claims regarding the natural world, we give scientific evidence extra weight in evaluating claims. As skeptics, we need other people to help point out our blind spots; therefore, if someone believes that a member is negatively prejudiced towards an idea, the best thing to do would be to point out that prejudice. If anyone has made an error in reasoning, we want to show them, not just tell them. While some people may feel that our forum is biased, we do our best to make sure that we are biased towards fact, reason, and science.
Role: Administrator, Creator
posted by Knigel (1 comment total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

The logo in the upper left on the wiki is borked, FYI.
posted by inigo2 at 11:59 AM on March 4, 2014


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