It's astonishing how much the skeptic movement has changed for the better over the last ten years. QED Con 2013 featured Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins on a panel together. Now, between Krauss' sexual harassment and subsequent move to the Intellectual Dark Web, and Dawkins' embrace of right wing xenophobia and transphobia, neither would be allowed in the doors.
Not too long ago, the consensus among atheist/skeptical activists was that our focus should be on the clash between religion and science, and that social and political issues would only unnecessarily divide the movement. Now, the organizers at QED 2022 have put on a conference that is so aggressively queer friendly that, for the first time since moving to England last year, I felt perfectly comfortable using the restroom as a trans person.
And while the movement still definitely has demographic issues, the speakers and attendees at this year's QED demonstrated a shift in the right direction. The crowds were more diverse by far than the online perception of atheists would lead you to believe, and the speakers addressed topics such as the faulty foundations of race science, the near future of ableist eugenics, and the goal of building a world that is more accommodating to neurodivergence.
As the final panel of the weekend said, it's hard to say skepticism is winning in the fight against pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and superstition when embracing those ideas is still such a direct path to wealth and power. But we haven't lost yet, and every year we become better equipped by improving our own movement, making it hostile to right wing extremism and attracting new allies on the left. As long as lies still hold power, we'll be there to fight them.
