On the other hand, Ronald A. Lindsay and Eddie Tabash defended the decision of a joint conference, and Susan Gerbic wrote afterwards she was "completely impressed" by how well the two camps overlapped (citing the creation–evolution controversy as the most important common ground), and "have to work together".
(meta data) TITLE: CFI Summit: Highlights - CSI 22 captures 12 Jul 2014 - 07 Apr 2022 About this capture COLLECTED BY Organization: Internet Archive The Internet Archive discovers and captures web pages through many different web crawls. At any given time several distinct crawls are running, some for months, and some every day or longer. View the web archive through the Wayback Machine. Collection: Hackernews crawl number 0 Hacker News Crawl of their links. The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20161003142116/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/cfi_summit_highlights More Options ## ### Search CSI: #### Latest Issue The January/February 2016 Skeptical Inquirer #### Archive Past Skeptical Inquirer articles now available online #### Skeptical Briefs Selected articles from CSI's quarterly newsletter #### Special Articles CSI's web-only exclusives #### Guide for Authors A guide to submitting content for Skeptical Inquirer Tweets by @SkeptInquiry ### News & Announcements Skeptical Inquirer Is Now Available Digitally February 18, 2016 Skeptical Inquirer is now available digitally on Apple Newsstand and on all other major platforms through the Pocketmags app. Deniers are not Skeptics December 5, 2014 Public discussion of scientific topics such as global warming is confused by misuse of the term "skeptic." Skeptic Authors Steven Salzberg and Joe Nickell to Receive Balles Prize in Critical Thinking June 14, 2013 Forbes columnist Steven Salzberg and author-investigator Joe Nickell will each be awarded the 2012 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, to be presented by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the CFI Summit in October. # CFI Summit: Highlights ### Conference Report ### Kendrick Frazier #### Skeptical Inquirer Volume 38.2, March/April 2014 ### Skeptics, Humanists Come Together in Tacoma in First Joint ConferenceSkepticism, Humanism, or Both? It was billed as the CFI Summit—An International Congress in the Pacific Northwest, and it was a kind of experiment. "The time has come: humanists, skeptics, and other critical thinkers coming together to work together for a more rational world." That was the meeting's call to action, as the first joint conference of the Center for Inquiry and its affiliate organizations, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI, publisher of the Skeptical Inquirer) and the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH, publisher of Free Inquiry), convened in a stylish, modernist hotel in Tacoma, Washington, October 24–27, 2013. The conference thus included/subsumed what otherwise CSI would have called CSICon 3, following the first CSICon in New Orleans in 2011 and CSICon 2 in Nashville in 2012. The weather outside was foggy, though the talk inside was anything but, as skeptic and humanist speakers explored all the areas in which their interests and passions overlap, and a few that some may (and others may not) wish to keep separate. We offer two reports. SI Editor Kendrick Frazier highlights several representative sessions1 that may be of particular interest to SI readers, and skeptic Susan Gerbic offers a more personal, impressionistic account of the conference. The opening plenary session, "Humanism, Skepticism, and Inquiry," was a theme of much of the conference and the point of continuing discussion throughout. Is it about time the two major arms of the Center for Inquiry—skeptics with their love of science and evidence-based inquiry and humanists with their naturalistic philosophy and distrust of religious intrusions in public life—come together, at least once a year, in a conference like this? Or are there still good reasons that the two groups keep their own separate conferences? If you drew two circles representing the interests and values of members of the two groups, they'd probably overlap by about two-thirds or three-fourths. But the overlap isn't total. Philosopher Paul Kurtz, who founded CSI and CSH, considered both organizations and their missions equally important. Yet while he himself embraced all their values and goals in one over-arching personal philosophy, he, for various practical reasons, including the wishes of many members, kept the two organizations and their conferences separate, with the later-created Center for Inquiry as mainly a logistical and administrative connective Panelists in the opening session on "Humanism, Skepticism, and Inquiry" take questions. (Photo: Brian Engler) Ronald A. Lindsay, now the CEO and president of all three organizations, opened the plenary session with an explication of what they all have in common: a commitment to critical thinking and a conviction that beliefs should not outstrip the evidence. He suggested that there are no irreconcilable differences between skepticism and humanism "They are compatible. . . .We need to examine all things carefully and go where the evidence takes us. That unifies us." Ray Hyman and Daniel Loxton took a contrary view. Hyman, a founding Fellow of CSICOP (now CSI), said, "The real problem is the perception." He referred to a sometimes "uneasy tension" between the skeptics and humanists and an early concern in the organizations' histories in which skeptics became upset at what they considered "religion bashing" by some humanists and some humanists became upset at what they considered skeptics' bashing of parapsychology. In Hyman's recollection this led to Kurtz's determination to keep the two groups' conferences separate. Hyman also noted that in the skeptic movement a lot of people can be at least somewhat religious and still good scientific skeptics. "Skeptics are more inclusive by nature," he said. "It's probably not a good idea to mix these two groups." Lindsay quickly emphasized—as did CFI Board Chairman Edward Tabash later in the conference—that CFI doesn't "bash" religion but examines it. It emphasizes that religion should not have a privileged place in society exempt from critical scrutiny. Loxton, though, echoed Hyman's theme. Loxton, editor of the Skeptic Society's Junior Skeptic and author of several books (including some on evolution), has become a kind of informal historian of the skeptic movement. He says he feels intimately connected to both traditions, skeptic and humanist (he is both). Nevertheless, said Loxton, "I am a CSICOP-style skeptic" and noted that the creation of CSICOP filled a large gap in scholarship. "I care about keeping scientific skepticism unencumbered and independent," he said. "It doesn't matter what we believe. The question is what we can demonstrate to be so. Skepticism matters." Barry Kosmin, founding member of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College (and a board member of all three organizations) described what he calls "The Rising Secular-Skeptic Generation," based on his national surveys of college students (the latest this summer carried out in collaboration with CFI) The 2013 survey found that only 32 percent of college students self-describe themselves as religious. Twenty-eight percent refer to themselves as secular (males more prominent in this group) and 32 percent as spiritual (females more prominent). His point is that "a large constituency of millions of young people is emerging" favorable to the viewpoints of CFI. Michael De Dora, director of CFI's Office of Public Policy in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Brian Engler) Michael De Dora, director of CFI's Office of Public Policy in Washington, DC, said he thinks skeptics and humanists can work best together. They have complementary values on many issues, he said. He agreed that CFI presents a bit of a challenge because it is a "mish-mash" of many things, but that can be overcome. Some other panelists, like Ophelia Benson (an author and Free Inquiry columnist) and Mark Hatcher (CFO of Black Atheists of America) expressed impatience with the whole debate. Instead of emphasizing this internal issue, Hatcher urged focusing on a far bigger, external problem, endemic to both groups: "We are terrible at communication." He said both humanists and skeptics need to take a lesson from the churches. "Churches do things correctly as far as communications They have found the beat. They have found the rhythm and how the heart works. If you want people engaged, you've got to get your finger on the beat. If we do, we have the advantage of actually having facts." Bill Cooke, director of CFI's transnational programs, also spoke out with some impatience. In Kenya and Uganda, where he has worked on behalf of CFI, "there are serious issues of life and death" that involve both parts of the organization, including the skeptic side, such as belief in witchcraft that often leads to murders. "There this issue is irrelevant." The discussions continued a while longer in this way, all polite and civil. If any fireworks were expected, none were set off. By conference-end, it seemed most everyone, skeptic or humanist, had learned a little bit about the other's concerns, and in fact found that their issues tended to blend one in to another in a more or less seamless way. ### Zack Koplin, Young Education Activist Zack Koplin is the amazingly dedicated and self-possessed college student from Rice University who as a high school student in Louisiana fought vigorously against efforts to introduce creationist teachings into the schools He gave an inspiring lecture about his fight for science in Louisiana, Texas, and across the country. "Louisiana has an addiction to creationism," he said. The state's Science Education Act "is so open-ended you can bring anything into it. . . . It's not about critical thinking It's really a creationism law." Even Governor Bobby Jindal has said it's about creationism, Koplin said. "It's crystal clear this is only about teaching creationism." In Texas, official reviewers of science textbooks include fellows of the creationist Discovery Institute and the Institute for Creation Research. "The publishers have resisted so far," said Koplin, but he wasn't sure whether their resistance would continue to succeed. The problem in both states is "backwards, antiscience legislators." Louisiana passed a voucher system that takes money from the public schools and gives it to creationist schools He said $4 million of public money was taken away that way the first year. "I want scientists who have been educated well," Koplin concluded. As for the sometimes nasty attacks he has encountered from creationists, he has endured them, " but sometimes you want to just go to sleep for a week." ### Bill Nye, "The Science Guy" Bill Nye delivers the summit's keynote talk. (Photo: Brian Engler) At the evening banquet, conference attendees filled the round dinner tables. Looming at the back were four empty rows of folding chairs spanning the entire width of the ballroom A bad sign? No, as it turned out. As dinner ended and the time neared for Bill Nye's keynote talk, suddenly the doors at the back opened and in rushed an exuberant crowd of mostly local people, including a fair number of youngsters. The talk had been advertised on the sides of city buses, and outside the banquet hall CFI sold tickets for just his talk. (He was still in a leg brace from his Dancing with the Stars appearances, and it was now just a few days before his November 7 appearance on a typically witty episode of the CBS television comedy The Big Bang Theory pitting Bill Nye "The Science Guy" against Bob Newhart as "Dr. Proton.") Nye's was a rousing talk, roaming over how we determined the age of the Earth at 4.6 billion years ("Why then try to pretend the Earth is 10,000 years old? Amazing!"), the makeup of the universe ("90 percent hydrogen, 8 percent helium, 2 percent 'everything- elsium'"), the fragility of the atmosphere, our spacecraft now soaring on beyond the edge of the solar system, and some of our external views of Earth from distant space All this led to a passionate advocacy for interest in science and science education. And that led in turn to Nye's frequently repeated mantra: "We can change the world!" By midway through his talk the audience was thoroughly with him. Their chants "We can change the world" reverberated along with his. Example: "If we can harness the energy of young people and get them passionate about science, it is reasonable to think that we can . . . change the world!" "It is with great joy and reverence and passion that I talk about the impact of science education." He ended by showing the Cassini spacecraft's new view of Earth from beyond Saturn as a tiny dot barely visible in the distance far past Saturn's rings, an outside-in view of the solar system that provides sobering cosmic perspective. "We are a speck on a speck, orbiting a speck." But by our experiencing "the passion and joy and beauty of science . . . we can change the world!" There followed an especially lively Q&A period. Most all the questions came from the newly arrived audience members, and two nearly moved Bill Nye to tears by their stories of how he has inspired them to pursue a lifetime interest in science Said one person: "You have been a major influence to me personally Thank you for being who you are." "I have tried to influence young people," Nye said. "The scientific method is the best idea humans ever had." It should be easy to draw people in, he added, because science deals with some of humanity's most profound questions. Among them: "Where did we come from?" and "Are we alone?" "We are made of stars," he concluded. "If that doesn't fill you with some sort of joy . . . I don't believe it!" ### Leonard Mlodinow and New Point of Inquiry Hosts Josh Zepps interviews Leonard Mlodinow on a live edition of Point of Inquiry. (Photo: Brian Engler) Physicist and writer Leonard Mlodinow (author of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, winner of CSI's 2008 Balles Prize for critical thinking) gave a lecture presentation on the topic of his new book, Subliminal: How Your Mind Rules Your Behavior. He presented recent research from cognitive psychology and the new field of social neuroscience about the automatic aspects of our consciousness, which happen without our awareness or intention. "Our perceptions, memories, and social judgments are all constructed by our unconscious, from limited data," said Mlodinow. Even with just perception, it is a process of construction. "Your retina sees things fuzzily and incomplete"—he showed examples from experiments. "Your brain sharpens and fills in. Your unconscious mind does this for you, and it's a great gift." This happens with hearing as well. He played the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven" backward. You seem to hear "Satan" three times and also "666"—if that is suggested to you. Similar things happen with all our other senses (experiments show how a light touch can create a sense of trust and even lead to higher tips to waitresses). Memory is of course a reconstructive process as well. "Just like vision, your brain takes the gist of memory and reconstructs it." He described how we all do what psychologists call motivated reasoning. "We look for data that supports what we want to believe." This explains why people can come to vastly different judgments even when the factual evidence before them is the same. "They've generally sincerely judged the evidence differently—it's unconscious." The new Point of Inquiry team: Lindsay Beyerstein, producer Joshua Billingsley, and Josh Zepps. (Photo: Brian Engler) Laboratory tests show these processes in various ways. Experiments, for example, show that in elections, seventy percent of the candidates judged to be "more competent looking" won. At the end of that afternoon, Mlodinow was back on stage. The occasion this time was the first interview (and before a large live audience) with the new cohosts of CFI's weekly Point of Inquiry podcast, Josh Zepps and Lindsay Beyerstein. An Australian, Zepps joins the CFI podcast as a founding host and producer at online talk network HuffPost Live, after hosting stints with Bloomberg TV, the Discovery Channel, and as anchor for CBS's Peabody Award–winning Channel One News. Zepps conducted the interview with Mlodinow, who got the chance to expand some about the fact that most of our thinking comes from the unconscious and about motivated reasoning ("thinking like a lawyer, not a scientist.") The other cohost, Lindsay Beyerstein, is an investigative journalist and staff writer for In These Times. Longtime SI readers will remember her late father, psychologist and CSI Fellow and Executive Council member Barry Beyerstein. She interviewed conference lunch speaker Katherine Stewart (author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children) on religious extremism and how the Christian right has managed to gain so much influence actually operating in public schools. These two interviews are online at www.pointofinquiry.org. ### Note 1. Noteworthy skeptic-related sessions I've not reported on here include Eugenie C. Scott's lecture presentation on science education, "Keeping the Good Stuff In"; Scott Lilienfeld's lecture presentation on the subject of his book Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience (topic of our November/December 2013 cover article); the pre-conference Skeptics Mini-Toolbox workshop (Ray Hyman, Harriet Hall, and Loren Pankratz); and a Skeptical Breakout session I moderated on "Skeptical Investigation and Activism" (Joe Nickell, Benjamin Radford, James Underdown, and Susan Gerbic). ### Kendrick Frazier Kendrick Frazier is editor of the Skeptical Inquirer and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is editor of several anthologies, including Science Under Siege: Defending Science, Exposing Pseudoscience. (meta data) TITLE: CFI Summit: Impressions - CSI 27 captures 13 Jul 2014 - 25 Sep 2022 About this capture COLLECTED BY Organization: Internet Archive The Internet Archive discovers and captures web pages through many different web crawls. At any given time several distinct crawls are running, some for months, and some every day or longer. View the web archive through the Wayback Machine. Collection: Wide Crawl Number 15: Started Oct 1st, 2016 - Ended May 8th, 2017 Web wide crawl. The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20161108034407/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/cfi_summit_impressions More Options ## ### Search CSI: #### Latest Issue The July/August 2016 Skeptical Inquirer #### Archive Past Skeptical Inquirer articles now available online #### Skeptical Briefs Selected articles from CSI's quarterly newsletter #### Special Articles CSI's web-only exclusives #### Guide for Authors A guide to submitting content for Skeptical Inquirer Tweets by @SkeptInquiry ### News & Announcements Skeptical Inquirer Is Now Available Digitally February 18, 2016 Skeptical Inquirer is now available digitally on Apple Newsstand and on all other major platforms through the Pocketmags app. Deniers are not Skeptics December 5, 2014 Public discussion of scientific topics such as global warming is confused by misuse of the term "skeptic." Skeptic Authors Steven Salzberg and Joe Nickell to Receive Balles Prize in Critical Thinking June 14, 2013 Forbes columnist Steven Salzberg and author-investigator Joe Nickell will each be awarded the 2012 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, to be presented by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the CFI Summit in October. # CFI Summit: Impressions ### Conference Report ### Susan Gerbic #### Skeptical Inquirer Volume 38.2, March/April 2014 Back from the CFI Summit, I am completely impressed. Not only was there no obvious twerking, but there was no drama, and in our tight little community of scientific skeptics that is a wonderful thing. I will say very little here about the lectures, as I didn't really attend them. My agenda was not passive; I went to network and recruit people to join my Skeptic Action and GSoW projects (Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia, see SI Interview, March/April 2012). The Summit was the same week as Halloween. For years now I have been saying I will dress up "next year," and when that year arrives it doesn't seem to happen Now I'm bald from the chemo killing my breast cancer and felt that finally "next year" was "this year." So I went all out: I changed costumes twice a day Cleopatra, Medusa, Che Guevara, and many, many odd hats. For the costume party I was a phrenology dummy. Susi Beyerstein, Jeanine DeNorma, and Herb Masters had the honor of drawing the wonders of the brain all over my head in eyeliner. I took second prize (best skeptical costume, though). The cleverness from our community to come up with great skeptical costumes was really delightful. Susan Gerbic gives activism instruction to Jeff and Jon Taylor-Kantz, Suzi Beyerstein, and Ray Hyman. (Photo by James Underdown) I wasn't sure what my reception would be; since I was a speaker, should I reflect a more professional attitude? Well, it isn't every day you get a pass to blame everything on the chemo, so I just went with it, and no one cared. In fact it was extra wonderful. CFI was more than helpful—Wi-Fi, food, electricity at a free table The general attendees loved the outfits and hats. All day, every day people came over to talk about what I was wearing. The mood was great; so many people were attending their first skeptic/humanist conference, and they were excited to be able to see fun like-minded people who wanted to meet them also. Not only was this happening in their backyard (the Pacific Northwest), but the quality of the speakers, great food, Wi-Fi, and tables in the lecture room really spoiled them. The Hotel Murano was a lovely place, glass art everywhere, just like staying in an art museum. My goal was to hang out with attendees, network, photograph, and recruit. I was also able to spend quality time with many people teaching them how to use Web of Trust and Rbutr and to edit Wikipedia for skeptical activism, which is my specialty. Because of my unique position, I was able to listen, observe, and talk about the event with lots of people. Now, after some reflection, I would like to share my opinion on the big question organizations like CFI want an answer to. In many quarters there seems to be an attitude that humanism and skepticism should be kept separate. We are too different and don't understand why "they" would be interested in what they are doing, when what "we" are doing is so much more important. The general opinions are that skeptics are naysayers and "Bigfoot skeptics." All that nonsense has been long ago debunked so why should anyone care anymore? And humanists (also called atheists) are too focused on social issues, don't follow the scientific method, and believe all kinds of antiscience things (Bill Maher is an example). The theme of the CFI Summit this year was to open this debate and hope to come up with some kind of answer. After all, times are tough, we have to watch our dollars , and if thousands were attending these conferences and all seats were filled, then I'm sure the separate conferences would happen. We could even throw conferences focused on specific topics like UFOs, atheism, medical quacks, and so on, but at the moment we don't have that luxury. So how do we best spend our conference dollars? Jeanine DeNorma and Suzi Beyerstein turn Susan into a phrenology dummy for the Halloween costume contest. (Photo by Herb Masters) Clearly, I did hear lots of people (usually first time conference attendees) state that they were attending an atheist conference. Some people said they were telling their families that they were attending a science conference, because I suppose they wanted to avoid backlash. For two hours on Thursday there were competing workshops, one on "Atheism and Naturalism" and the other on a "Skeptic's Toolbox." On Friday I was part of a panel that discussed investigation and activism, while in a different area the humanists discussed measuring unbelief The rest of the conference we all met together in one big room with various topics, scientific as well as humanist. Here is what I discovered. The initial opinion from the skeptics, that the humanists were not interested in scientific skepticism and that they held antiscience opinions, was unfounded. I never once heard a humanist with this opinion. They seemed just as interested in psychics and medical quackery as any skeptic. And while the skeptics might have felt a bit hurt that there were more antireligion type lectures at the conference, they were happy to join in the conversations once they attended, the exception being when the lecture seemed angry or ranting about religion. Some of the lectures were difficult to decide what camp they fell into. Eugenie Scott and Zack Kopplin's lectures about creationism in the classroom and legislature were common ground. Katherine Stewart's research into the Good News Clubs in America was also gripping for both groups. There were also lectures discussing legislation as well as psychology of belief, important topics to understanding what we are up against. Topics like creationism in the schools and antiscience medical claims hit home to both camps. Many good points were made, one of which is that on college campuses today, atheism is hot, and we should be emphasizing this while they are interested. Another point made was that sometimes more doors will open when we are focused on science and not religion. Schools are more likely to allow in a skeptic group than an antireligion one Debbie Goddard stated the obvious when we were discussing leaving CFI magazines in public places for people to find. She said she suspects that more people are likely to pick up a magazine on ghosts or vampires to browse through, than an issue devoted to humanism. Possibly it is just easier to use science and skepticism to start the discussion with people. And that is what we are trying to do after all: start a discussion. Learn to edit Wikipedia with Medusa. (Photo by Brian Engler) I've learned that some churches are using cryptozoology as real to disprove evolution. What happens to that theory when the child looks up Nessie on Wikipedia and discovers that Mom and Dad have that all wrong, and find that "Evidence of its existence is anecdotal"? Followed with plenty of citations that child can follow to the investigations and evidence our skeptic community has left there for them to find? This is why people start questioning their religion, small questions that start a snowball of questions. This is what happened to me. But didn't I say earlier that people aren't interested in Bigfoot skepticism? Someone should tell the 87,841 people who visited the Loch Ness page last month that no one cares about that stuff anymore. I totally understand that religion is hot news right now. (When has it not been lately?) It seems like you can almost draw a line from most social problems back to people's unquestioning belief in something that has no scientific basis to it. They cling and fight to hold tight those tenets. We have to find lots of ways to have these conversations. Brian Dunning from the Skeptoid podcast tells us that maybe the best way to have these uncomfortable discussions is to find a topic you both can agree on and work your way to the hot topic when you are ready. Talk about what evidence means, how to question something correctly, just keep talking and listening to each other. On the thirty-minute van ride back to the airport I think the point was much clearer. Joe Nickell, Leonard Tramiel, and I totally engaged the four strangers also traveling with us. We had great conversations about Bigfoot and UFOs and what evidence means. They were thrilled to hear stories about Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson. We were the cool kids in that van, and when the city bus rolled by with Bill Nye and the CFI Summit advertisement on it we were beyond the cool club. One woman said, "I wanna hang out with you guys." I suspect we would not have had the same reception if we were talking about religion Yet, if we had the time, the conversation might have gone in that direction. And they would have been more receptive to it if done in that order. So back to CFI's theme this year. Can we find common ground in our community? Should we combine conferences at least until the time we have grown so large we are holding them in mega-church halls? My opinion is that we have to work together. We overlap so much and we are such a small community in comparison to others We need to find a way to respect each other's passions, and talk to each other, not tweet at each other when we have a complaint. Face-to-face contact at these conferences is very important. The networking, training, and bouncing of ideas off each other is what is needed. Yes, we have to continue to grow and grow and grow. But first we need to start thinking of ways to stay together and find the common ground. Then maybe we can start making more efficient progress Yes, conferences might lose money. It's difficult to find the right formula in the right location at the right time of the year. And what works this year might not the next I doubt we are clever enough to figure it out. What I do know is that the one-on-one contact recharges our batteries. People like Harriet Hall (Skepdoc), Lindsay Beyerstein (cohost of Point of Inquiry), and myself came from CSI's Skeptic's Toolbox. We weren't primarily authors or lecturers, just people with a passion for the skeptical movement who decided it was our turn to step up. You can't buy that fire, but sometimes you might have to kick the embers to keep us (and others) out there fighting what seems to be an insurmountable world of woo. Conferences are essential. Oh yeah, a couple more things, at the end of every lecture the same question came up. What can I do to help? The main answer we heard was "give money." Very little happens without money; apparently it is pretty powerful. Besides that, pay attention to your local elections, especially school boards where your vote can make a big difference. And the most obvious activism advice was to follow Skeptic Action on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ and join the GSoW team. ### Susan Gerbic Affectionately called the Wikipediatrician, Susan Gerbic is the cofounder of Monterey County Skeptics and a self-proclaimed skeptical junkie. Susan is also founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project. You can contact her at SusanGerbic.com.
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History.:2011–present: CSICon.
This is certainly no exception. You have my sincere gratitude. I suspect, however that a couple of those beards were fake. But I’m in a forgiving mood at the moment. I’m frankly very touched. I’ll see you at the next CSICon. Thank you all." 
 In October 2013, CSICon 3 was held as part of a larger CFI conference, including the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH), called the CFI Summit in Tacoma, Washington. This combined congress was an experiment, as some people like Ray Hyman and Daniel Loxton feared or argued the goals and focus of skepticism and humanism differed too much from each other to be discussed at a single conference.