CSICon 2026
May 1st of this year marked the 50th anniversary of the modern skeptical movement, born near Buffalo, New York, on the second day of the American Humanist Association’s 35th annual conference. The theme for that day’s talks was, “The New Irrationalisms: Antiscience and Pseudoscience.” (Read more about this in James Alcock’s Skeptical Inquirer article, “Fifty Years of the Modern Skeptical Movement.”)
To commemorate this auspicious milestone, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry held its annual conference (CSICon) in Buffalo this June. For those who were unable to attend, there are brief video recordings already available. (Based on previous CSICons’ talks eventually showing up online, there may be more to come later.) For example, on Friday morning, Kenny Biddle strolled through the venue, including the auditorium where Stuart Vyse was presenting “Welcome to the Burned-Over District!” Susan Gerbic’s snippet of Thursday morning’s “CFI History & Mystery Tour” features Kenny, and she also posted video of Sunday morning’s CSICon Singers with Anthony Trecek-King.
In lieu of more videos becoming available, NCAS presents the following descriptions and commentary from several of its members who attended CSICon 2026. (Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Capital Area Skeptics organization.)
--Scott Snell
CSICon First-Timer Impressions
Tom Bridgman
The recent 50th CSICon, held in Buffalo, New York, was the first CSI conference that I had ever attended. I have been retired for a year and am hoping to get back into my hobby project of dealing with pseudoscience issues in astronomy, so when I first heard of the conference being (relatively) nearby in Buffalo, NY, I felt that I had to check it out. It turned out the location and timing were fortuitous for some other visits, including a visit to the Star Trek set reconstruction in Ticonderoga, NY, but that is another story.
It was kind of weird as I had followed many science and critical thinking audio podcasts, but not so much video, so I'd be walking around hearing all these familiar voices, but visually recognized very few. I met some while waiting for the hotel elevator, such as Richard Wiseman and Banachek. There were a number of other familiar faces from various public talks and other media appearances, such as Bill Nye, Leighann Lord, Eugenie Scott, Michael Mann, Brian Brushwood, Susan Gerbic, and the group from Skeptics Guide to the Universe. Of course, other NCAS members were there, such as Chip and Grace Denman, Scott Snell, and Rob Evon.
I didn't attend all the presentations. CSI has more focus on medical and psychological pseudoscience issues rather than the physical sciences, where more of my concern and interest reside. Some I ended up sitting in on because I wanted to be there for the talk afterwards.
Here are some brief summaries of some of the more memorable talks I did attend:
I missed the opening of Andrea Love's "Sanitizing Snake Oil Harms Public Health" presentation but still managed to see some useful reminders on the so-called 'wellness' industry and how it rakes in hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Frankly, I'm still not clear where the boundary is between taking good care of your health with diet and exercise vs 'wellness,' which seems to promote taking odd concoctions. The really fascinating part of this talk for me was the details on pesticides that can be used on foods labeled 'organic,' which can be used in larger quantities and may be more hazardous than regulated pesticides. Many of the details from this talk appear to be available in the Newsletter section of Dr. Love's website, immunologic.org.
There was a fascinating presentation on the history of pseudoscience in America by Rina Raphael and Nick Tiller, "The United States of Pseudoscience," mostly focused on Spiritualism. A surprising number of non-skeptical movements started in the western part of New York state, which was described in Stuart Vyse's talk, "Welcome to the Burned-Over District."
Several presentations on the growth of the modern skeptical movement talked specifically about the contributions of Carl Sagan and James Randi. But it wasn't until Eugenie Scott's presentation on her role in exposing a faith healer that I heard Johnny Carson mentioned. Carson's Tonight Show played an important role in introducing Sagan and Randi to a wider audience, especially those like myself who grew up in rural farm towns.
Perry Carpenter gave an interesting presentation, “Myth-Direction,” on the ease of generating AI movies interactively from real imagery using Sora 2. With his laptop camera focused on him, he could present a different character to the audience, and that character would duplicate his motions with impressive reliability. He also directed the audience to an impressive AI-generated movie preview at “AI or Die,” titled “Pi-Hard,” using an interesting cast of celebrities.
The trailer was interesting enough that...well, I would want to see that movie! ;^)
I've been a fan of Brian Brushwood since his Scam School vodcast days. With “WolfMasking,” Brian presents an interesting way to protect workplaces from phishing attacks by teaching the psychology of HOW those attacks work in a 'learn-by-doing' approach for a class of student nurses at Clemson University (caught my attention as I went to grad school there). It was done as a game with scoring based on fooling others vs being fooled. There are several online sources describing this approach in more detail.
I had several other enjoyable times with unscheduled opportunities for chatting with organizers and other attendees at the conference.
I was sitting at a ballroom lobby table awaiting a talk and ended up in a lively discussion with author Mark MacLean on his coming book The Greatest Gift of All (https://thegreatestgiftofall.com/ ) outlining a methodology of discussing topics from religion to secularism. Mark's previous book was How to Talk to Religious People.
Also, while waiting in the lobby outside the ballroom, I overheard some organizers discussing that this CSICon had the largest number of new attendees, so I spoke to that person at the registration desk. She speculated that lots of East Coasters don't want to go to Vegas, where it was previously held (perhaps that location was easier access to many magicians who attend?). Alternatively, were the current political conditions with science an incentive for more to attend?
I had several lively discussions in the hotel lobby with attendees. One in particular was with an attendee flamboyantly dressed as an official of the Pastafarians, another attendee who clearly had lots of computing experience, and my wife. We discussed the origins of the FSM (Flying Spaghetti Monster) with the Kansas Board of Education creationism case from 2004, critical thinking in general, recent updates on the reliability of AI, and the joys of distributing various editions of 1984 from the trunk of your car.
There were a few things that surprised me compared with other conferences I've attended.
For Mary Roach's presentation, people could submit questions in advance (the responses to which also became the source of many 'in-jokes' throughout the conference). But I was disappointed there were no Questions & Answers segments for the regular speakers at the conclusion of their talks, though there were some additional sessions that had a live Q&A, such as the Project Alpha interview by Brian Brushwood. Was this due to time constraints or concern about questioners that take a long time to get to their actual question? It can be difficult to track down some of the speakers post-presentation for questions. There should be a way to address this: Time limits for questioners? Submitting questions in writing during or post-presentation?
One thing I would have liked to see is more on 'best practices' in confronting pseudoscience, either done as a general discussion or even some type of workshop. We know the 'just the facts' approach is limited at best. I pulled back from some of my efforts back when the 'backfire' effect suggested such approaches help pseudoscience advocates dig-in on their views. Some debunkers resort to name-calling and abusive attitudes, which also reinforce attitudes. There has been much discussion about appropriate storytelling and social bonding, such as described in Lee McIntyre's "How to Talk to a Science Denier," but it might be good to see how that might be implemented.
All in all, it was a good first experience. I'm already checking my calendar for the 2027 CSICon in Philadelphia next July 15-18. https://csiconference.org/
Cold Winters = Hot Bed of Philosophical Exploration?
Grace Denman
CSICon 2026, in Buffalo, New York, was a joyful gathering of like-minded individuals, famous (and not yet famous) skeptics, and a very full agenda. The highlight of the conference for me was reconnecting with friends I have known for years and meeting new faces. The conference drew a large number of “first-timers,” each greeted at registration with a cheer from the CSI staff and volunteers.
I attended my first skeptics conference in Chicago in 1988, shortly after NCAS was formed. I met many of my skeptical heroes. This being the 50th anniversary of CSI, many founding stories were told and departed heroes remembered: James Randi, Carl Sagan, Kendrick Frazier, Paul Kurtz, and our own Phil Klass. James Randi became a close and beloved friend over the years.
My favorite talk of the conference was in the first hours by Stuart Vyse. His "Welcome to the Burned-Over District!" presented the long history of extraordinary claims and beliefs that began where the winters are particularly cold.
Upstate New York spawned active political movements supporting women’s suffrage (Seneca Falls Convention) and the abolition of slavery (Frederick Douglass published The North Star in Rochester, NY). Robert Green Ingersoll, nicknamed "the Great Agnostic," was a lawyer, writer, and orator who campaigned in defense of agnosticism and was from Dresden, NY.
Other well-known movements that started in the region include:
- Mormonism, officially The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, began in a grove near Palmyra, New York.
- Oneida Community, a radical utopian society that shared all property, practiced free love, and raised children collectively; by 1881, the movement reorganized and became one of the largest manufacturers of tableware and flatware!
- Millerism, based on William Miller’s end-of-the-world prophecies; when the prophecies failed, the Seventh-day Adventist Church emerged from remnants.
- Spiritualism (see Chip’s story “Crazy Like a Fox” below).
It is only fitting that the start of the modern skeptical movement was also right there in upstate New York, although about a century later.
Crazy Like a Fox
Chip Denman
CSICon 2026 was a celebration of 50 years of organized scientific skepticism. I have been to more conferences for skeptics than I can remember: multiple CSICOPs, The Amaz!ng Meetings (TAM), NorthEast Conferences on Science & Skepticism (NECSS), and CSICons. My first was in 1987, mere months after NCAS began, where I first hung out with Randi, Penn & Teller, and other friends and heroes-to-be. Once again this year, so many friends to catch up with and new ones to make!
Thirty years previously, Grace Denman and I attended the 20th anniversary CSICOP conference, also in Buffalo, New York. At the close of that conference, we went on a little quest to find the location where the young Fox sisters pranked their mother and inadvertently started the religion of Spiritualism. (Long-time NCAS members may remember talks I have given on the history of mediumship and seances, nicely covered in Stuart Vyse’s CSICon talk; even longer-time members might recall the theatrical seance that we created for NCAS.) The history of Spiritualism is a thing for me. So our quest back in 1996 ultimately led us to an overgrown field at a crossroads that had formerly been the small town of Hydesville. Thanks to the help of a local librarian, we finally found the site where the Fox farmhouse had once stood. The house had been moved long before to the Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, southwest of Buffalo, and later burned to the ground. Nothing but a stone marker on a cinderblock base remained at the time.
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| (yes, that was me in 1996) |
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| (Me again, with Grace in the reflection) |
After leaving CSICon 2026, we decided to revisit our quest from 1996. It was much easier this time – even Google Maps knew exactly where to go. This time, we found that the stone marker had been incorporated into the foundation of a rough building, protecting the original foundation of the Fox house. No one else was around, but it appeared that talks were given inside from time to time.
I am glad that this historical event is still acknowledged. Sure, I wish that we didn’t have the spiritual descendants of the Foxes – John Edward, Tyler Henry, Teresa Caputo, and more – still preying on the grief of those who have lost loved ones. But it is good to remember that we are subject to the same feelings and weaknesses as believers from 178 years ago.
