NECSS 2010

Yesterday, K. and I ventured out to NECSS, The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism. We got up early, puttered into town and got in line. This was our second year attending and were expecting a full day of having our brains turned to wonderful science-mush. We were not disappointed.

While waiting on line to get in, we struck up a conversation with the gentleman in front of us and chatted and traded stories as we slowly advanced toward the entrance. And as we spoke we realized that we are all regular commenters on Skepchick. We were talking to Halincoh himself! We found seats and the three of us hung out for the rest of the conference. We got advice on quitting smoking, choosing a doctor and he bought us lunch. Thanks for that Halincoh!

The M.C. for the day was magician Jamy Ian Swiss. He provided introductions and thought-provoking, illustrative illusions and sleight-of-hand throughout the day.

JREF President and host of the For Good Reason podcast, D.J. Grothe, gave the keynote address. I hesitate to go into too much detail about his speech as I have a lot of thoughts on it, which might be better as a separate post. However I will say that I was very happy with what he had to say. It was thought provoking and he touched on many of the ideas about Skepticism and skeptical activism that have been on my mind lately.

Next up was a live taping of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe. I always look forward to their live shows. Steve came out first and then introduced everyone; Bob, Rebecca, Jay and Evan. Wait. Rebecca? We were all under the impression that Rebecca had been stranded in England by an Icelandic volcano. Pretty much the best excuse of all time. But a woman came out onto the stage that looked not unlike Rebecca. Of course it wasn’t Rebecca but Liz from the Boston Skeptics in disguise. Steve referred to her as Faux-becca. James Randi also joined the Rogues for the duration of the show. Science-or-Fiction was a total ball-buster, with Liz the only one who got the answer right. I got it wrong too, as did the majority of the audience.

After lunch, George Hrab performed some music and a very funny sketch involving Sylvia Browne and her exasperated personal assistant, played by actress Caroline Gayle. (Yes, George played Sylvia)

The Science-Based Medicine panel came next. Unfortunately Dr. Val Jones was unable to attend so Dr. Steven Novella filled in as a panelist along-side doctors David Gorski and Kimball Atwood with Dr. John Snyder acting as moderator.
The topic of discussion was the infiltration of so-called ‘alternative medicine’ into major hospital systems and medical schools. Halincoh was intensely focused on this panel as he shares the profession of the panelists.

This panel split my brain in half. On the one hand it made me angry and somewhat sad that unscientific medical modalities, that are highly implausible, unproven or even harmful, can infiltrate the institutions that we all count on to keep us healthy. On the other hand, Dr. Novella’s story about battling this same infiltration at his own school, pretty much single-handedly, was inspiring. It really reinforces the idea that if just one person stands up to do the right thing, that people will listen. It may not always work, but the effort is worth it, in my opinion.

The next panel featured Julia Galef (journalist and Rationally Speaking podcast co-host) as moderator and panelists Steve Mirsky (from Scientific American), George Hrab, D.J. Grothe and James Randi. I really enjoyed this panel. I thought Julia’s questions were well tailored to the group and the panelists really ran with the premises, letting it flow almost like a conversation rather than a moderated panel. Also, everyone was really funny. I wish I had been able to record the panel, as I’d love to hear the discussion again. But I believe there will be a DVD of the event. So I wait.

The final event of the evening was a Q & A with James Randi. I’ve heard him on podcasts and have seen him in videos, but this event was the first time I have seen Randi in person. It ran for about an hour and Randi was funny, sincere and very quick witted with every question. There was also a woman on stage performing sign language for someone in the front row. It was fantastic to see how the signer was able to mimic Randi’s enthusiasm and humor with her facial expressions and gestures as she signed. Randi also coyly dropped a hint about a possible merger between CFI and JREF. Hmmm...

I’d love to see future NECSS events expand into a multi-day event like The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas. The format is full of potential for more socialization opportunities, more panels, workshops and maybe even some downtime where New York Skeptics can take out-of-towners around the city and show them the sights.