The Island of Doubt

Who is this guy?

The sole living inhabitant of the Island of Doubt is James Hrynyshyn, a science journalist based in the southeast corner of western North Carolina (the "sea of certainty"). He has no evidence to support the tales that the island is also haunted by the spirits of Charles Darwin and Isaac Asimov, among others.

He is an independent-minded journalist specializing in science, ecology and, whenever possible, marine issues. He has a degree in marine biology, another in journalism, and experience working on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts.

He began his career at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., where he served as a public information officer and science writer alongside some of the top people in the field. A variety of positions with community and daily newspapers in Canada and the United States, beginning the tri-weekly Enterprise in Falmouth, Mass., fostered a fascination with politics and democracy, culminating in four years of membership in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa. The lure of the Arctic wilderness drew him to Yellowknife, and Inuvik, N.W.T., where he spent five years honing his skills as an editor with Northern News Services.

For much of the past 15 years he has pursued a freelance career, filing for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including New Scientist, Canadian Geographic and Up Here. He has the (unfortunate) distinction of writing the cover story for the final issue of Equinox magazine. A sampling of selected works is available at this site.

He recently spent two years as communications coordinator for Project Seahorse, a marine conservation and research organization based at the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Center, with which he keep close ties.

More information, and much of his professional output since the advent of the web, is available at cyamid.net

Why the Island of Doubt?

There are those who place a premium on blind faith and absolute certainty. In their world, our actions are either right or wrong. There are no shades of grey, only black and white. Tolerance of diversity is a sign of weakness. They prefer the simple to the complex, ignorance to education, revealed wisdom to the scientific method.

Those who embrace this betrayal of the Enlightenment, and those who exploit it for their own ends, constitute a grave threat to the principles of freedom and equality on which democratic society was founded. No less at risk are a livable planet and the tentative peace, where it exists, that so many have died to preserve.

This site represents a humble attempt to contribute to the campaign against the growing forces of irrationality. Subjects tackled will range from the intrusion of religion in the public sphere to the presentation of research by the media and the social implications of recent discoveries. I will not pretend to be an expert in everything, merely an attentive observer who appreciates the value of informed skepticism in both journalism and science.

The phrase "Island of Doubt" comes from a Talking Heads song, "Crosseyed and Painless" (found on the 1980 Sire Records recording Remain in Light). While David Byrne's lyrics are intriguing, catchy and occasionally intellectually provocative, they are not my primary inspiration. For that, I have drawn on the writings of Richard Dawkins, Stephen J. Gould, and Carl Sagan, among others. In 1995, Sagan wrote:

I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us -- then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.

I think it safe to say recent events have proven his fears well-founded.