page_title: Barry Beyerstein
section_title: Influenced
hierarchical_section_title: Barry Beyerstein / Influenced
caption_attribution_description: English: Barry Beyerstein at CFI lecture
context_page_description: Barry L Beyerstein was a scientific skeptic and professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Beyerstein's research explored brain mechanisms of perception and consciousness, the effects of drugs on the brain and mind, sense of smell and its lesser-known contributions to human cognition and emotion. He was founder and chair of the BC Skeptics Society. A Fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Associate editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine Journal as well as a contributor to Skeptical Inquirer. Beyerstein was one of the original faculty of CSICOP's Skeptic's Toolbox.
  Beyerstein was a co-founder of the Canadians for Rational Health Policy and a member of the Advisory Board of the Drug Policy Foundation of Washington D.C. He was a founding board member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy and contributed to the International Journal of Drug Policy.
context_section_description: Illustrator, author, skeptic Daniel Loxton credits Beyerstein for his interest in skepticism, in several interviews Loxton talks about attending a science fiction conference in British Columbia in 1991 and hearing Beyerstein speak on behalf of the BC Skeptics Society.  "He calmly and kindly fielded questions from the audience—and I was shocked by almost everything he said. This wasn't the usual fluff: this guy really knew what he was talking about, in a way that I had never encountered before. Even his "I don't know"s were substantial in a way that I wasn't used to hearing."  William B. Davis, of X-Files fame, also credits Beyerstein for introducing him to the skeptical community.  After hearing an interview with Beyerstein, Davis, also a Canadian, became curious about the group and now lectures at skeptics' conferences himself.
caption: At CFI lecture
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