2023 Skeptics Conference
We've been going to the annual Skeptic conferences since the 1980's and also attended the conferences at Los Vegas.
So what's Skepticism all about ?
According to HandWiki, the “movement has the goal of investigating claims made on fringe topics and determining whether they are supported by empirical research and are reproducible, as part of a methodological norm pursuing ‘the extension of certified knowledge’. The process followed is sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry”.
Rational Wiki describes a skeptic as “one who prefers beliefs and conclusions that are reliable and valid to ones that are comforting or convenient, and therefore rigorously and openly applies the methods of science and reason to all empirical claims, especially their own.”
Roots of the skeptic movement can be traced to the 19th century when people started to publicly question the acceptance of claims about spiritism, a number of superstitions and general pseudoscience.
Roots of the skeptic movement can be traced to the 19th century when people started to publicly question the acceptance of claims about spiritism, a number of superstitions and general pseudoscience.
Wikipedia offers a comprehensive examination of scientific skepticism. In addition to the points above, the page offers an excellent overview, which itself widens to encompass relevant and historical aspects of the skeptic movement as we know it today.
Americans Paul Kurtz and Marcello Truzzi, used the Belgian organisation Comité Para (founded in 1949), as a template for the foundation of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), in New York, in 1979. This is today known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and has inspired other groups to form worldwide.