A Visit to CSICon 2024

If you’re anything like me, the current political situation (and the election results from last week) may have made you think about the future of our world’s scientific values. We’re in a time when funding environmental and conservation research should be heavily considered in government priorities. But now, that may not be the case. The election results foreshadow that the funding of scientific ideals may quickly and drastically drop. If the election has brought forth these thoughts in your mind, and if scientific values are something you hold dear, then you should be following the Center for Inquiry and their annual conference, CSICon.

All photos by Michael Maldonado

What is the Center for Inquiry?

The Center for Inquiry is a nonprofit that was formed to defend science and critical thinking, specifically in examining religion and belief systems. The Center for Inquiry prioritizes evidence, science, and compassion over pseudoscience and prejudice and believes that to move forward, humanity must discard old superstitions to embrace the change that comes with facts and new findings. Their mission states, “The Center for Inquiry strives to foster a society based on reason, science, freedom, inquiry, and humanist values.” They regularly work to question paranormal topics such as aliens, psychics, and ghosts, walking the line of debunking paranormal claims with scientific backing.

What is CSICon?

CSICon is an annual conference hosted by the Center for Inquiry. It highlights scientific skepticism and critical thinking by bringing in famous names from the scientific community as speakers, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Dawkins, Penn & Teller, Michael Mann, Bill Nye, and more. Attending CSICon means you get to attend a weekend of lectures and events as you mingle with some of the greatest names in the skeptic community. It also features a bookstore complete with book signings from some of your favorite skeptic authors.

Let’s talk about CSICon 2024

This year was my first CSICon, and I was happy to get to write about that experience for the Skeptical Inquirer (coming soon). While I am very new to the skeptical science community, my partner Michael has been involved and following it since 2007, so we had a plan for who we wanted to see speak and who we wanted to get books signed by at the conference. We arrived at the Horseshoe Hotel (previously Bally’s) in Las Vegas after a week of filming Weird World Adventures in California. Our journey brought us into the convention at the lunch-time break on Friday. The check-in process was a breeze, and we had just enough time to check out the bookstore and purchase some new skeptical titles before taking our seats for the afternoon lectures. I have to say, I found my first time here at CSICon fascinating. While not everything spoken about was in my repertoire, I still found the evidence and stories presented completely fascinating.

It was on Friday night when we got to sit up front to take photos as Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke about the release of his newly updated book. It was fascinating. He is an exceptionally engaging speaker, and he spoke primarily on perspective and perspective shifts in society, and it was one of the most intriguing talks I’ve ever heard. Not only do I live for breaking down and analyzing perspective, but I love that he had me thinking about and questioning some of my own belief systems. He provided clever talking points that allowed people to come up with their own thoughts on a subject, thoughts that sometimes challenged the audience’s belief systems. In my opinion, that’s the true mark of an exceptional speaker. And that’s what made it a night I’ll never forget.

Lucky for me, the Horseshoe Hotel (where the convention was held) is home to some truly bizarre experiences, so around the convention activities that day, we also found ourselves looking at dead bodies at the Real Bodies exhibit, playing some Twilight Zone Mini Golf, and having a drink at the cabinet of curiosities. Talk about a great day!

When Saturday rolled around, we had a plan in place throughout the day to accomplish everything we wanted. We showed up with a mission, and I’m happy to say that the day couldn’t have gone better. Not only did it go better than planned, but we got to check everything off of our CSICon bucket lists. The highlights of Saturday were definitely getting to sit up front to watch a podcast taping of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe and watching Banachek perform his show ‘Mind Games’. Despite him telling us many times that he is tricking us and that it’s all fake, I can’t even begin to fathom how he did the amazing tricks that he did. I wouldn’t expect any less from someone who was originally a part of Project Alpha (be sure to read about that here)! My mind was blown… and then I was brought up on stage… something I’ll be laughing about for years to come. Yes, Banachek brought me up on stage to bend spoons, and despite being the person holding the spoons, I can’t even begin to tell you how he did it.

We ended Saturday night feeling so thrilled that we did, in fact, find our people. Everyone we met was so welcoming and excited to pick our brains on scientific topics and hear about all the things we were working on. We got to sit around and have drinks and snacks with some of our skeptical heroes, and they treated us like colleagues, like we belonged there with them. And that was truly special for me. I’ve come from many different worlds, especially in the convention scene, where people don’t treat you like an equal. You can be treated a lot like a ‘fan’ if you don’t have the credentials these people see fit. However, in this community, we were all equals working toward the same causes, and it was the perfect ending for a magical weekend. We had such a wonderful time, and we can’t wait to return to the next CSICon.