Rat Fest 2025

Conjecture Institute invites you to the fourth philosophy conference in Philadelphia for three days of workshops, talks, good food, new friends, old friends, philosophizing, and laughing.

People fly in from all across the world to discuss, debate, and learn about some of the deepest ideas philosophy heads of all stripes care about.

We expect about 60 attendees--dozens of people passionate about philosophy, all under one roof.

As always, we have meals and snacks completely covered.

This year, we're hosting Rat Fest at the Cambria Hotel in Philadelphia. We've reserved 50 bedrooms at the hotel, many of them family-sized.

HONORARY REMOTE GUEST SPEAKERS:

1. Podcaster and Conjecture Institute Advisor Brett Hall - "AI and the Philosophy of Science"
2. Author, Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, and Executive Director of The Skeptics Society Michael Shermer - "On Moral Progress"
3. Physicist and Author David Deutsch - Audience Q&A

IMPORTANT HOTEL ROOM INFORMATION: If you're looking to share a hotel room with one to three other people, only one person from your party needs to purchase a 'General Admission & Hotel Room - Two Beds' ticket, and the rest can purchase a 'General Admission' ticket. Please contact Logan to let him know about your arrangement so that he can book the right hotel room for you (contact details below). All of our hotel rooms include both Friday and Saturday night.

We thank the entire team at Sablier for sponsoring our event.

TICKET TYPES:

1 . 'General Admission & Hotel Room - One Bed': This ticket covers admission, meals and snacks, and a hotel room with one bed.

2 . 'General Admission & Hotel Room - Two Beds': This ticket covers admission, meals and snacks, and a hotel room with two beds.

2. 'General Admission': This ticket covers admission and meals and snacks.

WHERE

Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown Center City

219 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

WHEN

Friday, September 26th at 5 PM ET - Sunday, September 28th at 2 PM ET

WHAT

workshops, talks, prepared meals & snacks, nighttime activity, hanging out with X friends IRL

WHY

Philosophy people are a sprawling bunch. We're spread around the globe, so most of us don't get the chance to hang out in person too often. This event fixes that.

Plus, while online communities serve many purposes, there's nothing quite like meeting up in person to fortify a community.

To be clear, philosophy heads of all stripes are welcome to join!

WHO

Anyone's welcome to join! Many of the people coming are adherents of Karl Popper's philosophy known as critical rationalism, so many of the talks and workshops will be about related subjects. If the theory of knowledge and its applications is your thing, this event is for you.

Rat Fest is also family-friendly, so feel free to bring kids and partners!

If you have any questions at all, email us at logan@conjectureinstitute.org, or DM Logan on X @chipkinlogan.

Cheers,

Logan, David, & Aaron