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December 6th, 2025 |
Thanks, everyone, for making this year's event quite successful!
We are now looking for a missing coat. If you took the wrong one by accident, please contact us!
The SkeptiCamp NYC 2025 Schedule
The actual sequence of events at any SkeptiCamp is subject to change. The following is the schedule we will start with. But, be aware that it could move around a lot.
The opinions of SkeptiCamp presenters do not necessarily reflect those of its organizers.
You can also download The Official Program Guide! •
Get 'em while they're hot! You can't tell the difference between the truth and lies without yer program!
| 9:00 AM | 10:45 AM |
Pre-Con Meet and Greet |
| Schmooze with your fellow attendees, while we get things ready. |
| 10:45 AM | 11:00 AM |
Opening Ceremonies and Other Obligatory Stuff |
Category: Skepticism Now
| 11:00 AM | 11:30 AM |
Chris Everett |
Buying Buying the Dip |
| When the market dips, investment advisors encourage their clients to "Buy the Dip!" But should they? Is "Buying the Dip" really sound advice, or is it fraught with misconceptions about the nature of the market? |
| 11:30 AM | 12:00 PM |
Massimo Pigliucci |
What on Earth is Skepticism, Anyway? |
| Skepticism, these days, is a bad word. You say you are a skeptic and people think you don't believe in anything; plus, you may be confused with so-called climate change or vaccine "skeptics." Yet, skepticism has a long and fascinating history, going back to Pyrrho of Elis and the skeptical phase of Plato's Academy in the 4th-1st centuries BCE. In this talk I'd like to make a case for what skepticism actually is and for why we should not follow misguided folks who think we should "rebrand" ourselves. Skeptics of the world, unite! |
| 12:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
Lunch Break |
| 2:00 PM | 2:30 PM |
Spiro Condos |
Dentistry Under Attack: When Fear Trumps Reason in 2025 |
Robert Kennedy Jr. is advocating banning adding fluoride in our water supply, claiming it lowers IQ scores and generally framing it as a poison. Yet fluoride occurs naturally in many water supplies and CDC monitoring often requires lowering fluoride concentrations in community water.
Fluoride has been one of the cornerstones of modern Dentistry for over 70 years. What should we think? I will examine an influential meta-analysis claiming Fluoride lowers IQ and respond to this and other claims. |
| 2:30 PM | 3:00 PM |
Sammy Shuster |
Holistic Quantum Art Activation Expo Revisited |
| This year's Holistic Quantum Art Activation Expo was bigger and better with additional workshops on the tactics of fraudulent wellness peddlers and the impact of health mis/disinformation. With this year's experience, we ask ourselves is satire a valid form of education? |
| 3:00 PM | 3:15 PM |
Short Break #1 |
Category: Transforming Society
| 3:15 PM | 3:45 PM |
Bill Chapman |
How the Climate Movement Failed to Persuade Half of the American Public |
| We will be discussing the history of the environmental movement since the 1960's, the evolution of the climate movement from it, and how the climate movement inadvertently wound up grossly misleading the public, and losing credibility. |
| 3:45 PM | 4:15 PM |
Olga Ast / ArcheTime Project |
Between Worlds: Lived Observations Across Contrasting Social Systems |
| I will be presenting the results of a life-long observational study existing under two contrasting social systems: Soviet socialism in the first part of my life and American capitalism in the second. Across history, human civilization has conducted a number of social experiments with varying results. Now, in the age of technological advancements and AI algorithmic governance, we are still trying to understand the direction in which our society is moving -- especially in the wake of last year's presidential election and the recent NYC mayoral race. I'm going to describe my own on-the-ground experience -- not from the position of a judge or apologist, but as a neutral witness focusing on practical terms. My central question is: What are the causes, differences, and similarities when societies go through crises and instability? |
| 4:15 PM | 4:30 PM |
Short Break #2 |
| 4:30 PM | 5:00 PM |
Benny Pollak |
Artificial Intelligence "Skepticism" |
| I will lead a discussion on why people reject AI. We will cover topics like AI phobia, ad machinem attacks, and how to talk to AIddites. |
| 5:00 PM | 5:30 PM |
Mitchell Lampert |
The Critical Thinking Lesson Hidden in K-Pop Demon Hunters That No One is Talking About |
I SEEEEEEEEEE... An excuse to put something about Netflix's popular K-Pop Demon Hunters movie into SkeptiCamp, as a desperate attempt to get more people to attend!
But, actually: There really is something worth talking about, in that movie... and its name is Healer Han. (He is NOT a doctor!)
What can his scene tell us about the foibles of holistic "medicine", and more importantly: Will kids actually absorb those lessons? |
| 5:30 PM | 5:45 PM |
Bonus Content? |
| Depending on how much time we have left over, there might be room to squeeze in one more thing. |
| 5:45 PM | 6:00 PM |
Closing Ceremonies and Cleaning Up After Ourselves |
| 6:00 PM | Until Whenever |
After Party - We shall pick a nearby place for it |
Note: The category names don't really mean anything important.
Visit the Attendee Directory to see who else might be attending SkeptiCamp NYC this year. •
If you wish to run a session, see The Session Leader's Guide.