See here for
essential background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/05/last-ever-qed.html.
My prediction has come true. It seems that the vacuum left by the demise of QED has indeed been filled by another conference. In this case it is the European Skeptics Congress 2026. This is not technically a replacement for QED because this conference has been running annually since 1989 and is not always in the same location. Its current organizing body, the European Council of Skeptic Organizations, was founded in 1994 at its sixth congress. It is held in different countries across the continent. I'm surprised I've never heard of it before. This year it is in theUK Liverpool to be precise, and the organizers have
teamed up with the Merseyside Skeptics. I'm not surprised to see that "Marsh"
is a big part of it. Despite this not being a new QED per se, it has many of
the features of the lost conference. It begins on the Friday with "SkeptiCamp"
and "the Mixer" in the evening. The MC is Siân Docksey again and they
are having the Ockham Awards. Marsh is now editor of The Skeptic magazine and he'll be handing out the Award for Skeptical
Activism to the annual hero of skepticism; and the Rusty Razor Award for the
most despicable disseminator of woo... although I have not been nominated again
unfortunately. Well, I am up against fierce competition. Previous laureates
include Reform UK and Elon Musk, the winner when I went there in 2024, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2024/10/qed-conference-2024.html.
This is similar to the Snuffed Candle Award given out every year at The Amazing
Meeting to such luminaries as Art Bell. The list of speakers also sounds familiar
to anybody with an interest in the Skeptisphere. Source: https://escliverpool.org. The original QED
website still exists; it now consists of a single page which is a memorial to
the annual event that ran from 2011 to 2025. "14 years, 12 events (a break
for Covid of course), 144 talks, 6000 attendees... Here's to the future." The
final line implies the QED story is not yet over. There is a link to the
YouTube channel with recordings of the talks, see: https://qedcon.org.
The ESC 2026 is this weekend and so I won't be going this year. I hope
everybody who attends has a good time. I might go to future events; and I have
a feeling there will be another one next year. I don't know what it will be
called, but it will probably be a genuine permanent QED redux. I might go along
to that when it emerges.
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.
My prediction has come true. It seems that the vacuum left by the demise of QED has indeed been filled by another conference. In this case it is the European Skeptics Congress 2026. This is not technically a replacement for QED because this conference has been running annually since 1989 and is not always in the same location. Its current organizing body, the European Council of Skeptic Organizations, was founded in 1994 at its sixth congress. It is held in different countries across the continent. I'm surprised I've never heard of it before. This year it is in the
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.
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