Category: Forums

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Streamer Culture Is A Time Bomb

American psychiatrist Dr. Alok Kanojia, co-founder of Healthy Gamer

11 a.m., November 9, 2025

Join us this Sunday online as we watch and discuss a video of Dr. Alok Kanojia, talking about the various psychological traps we fall into, and emphasizing the lack of and need for dialogue, which is so difficult to establish on the web.

Dr. Kanojia uses the example of “collargate,” the charge that Twitch streamer Hasan Piker cruelly shocked his dog with an electric collar. The case demonstrates how, if there are both favorable and unfavorable interpretations of an event, streaming magnifies this polarization.

Dr. Alok Kanojia is an American psychiatrist and the co-founder of Healthy Gamer, a mental health platform focused on supporting the gaming community. He is the president and co-founder of the Healthy Gamer Foundation and the HG Institute, where he discusses mental health with popular streamers and viewers, often addressing topics like addiction, depression, and emotional regulation. He also collaborates with organizations such as the United Nations and the White House on youth mental health initiatives.

He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas at Austin and earned his medical degree and Master of Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program, affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Kanojia has a personal history with video game addiction, which he overcame through spiritual training in India. This, combined with his medical training informs his unique approach to mental health, blending Western psychiatry with Eastern philosophies. He is a former instructor at Harvard Medical School and has worked as a private psychiatrist for esports professionals.

He is the author of the bestselling book How to Raise a Healthy Gamer: End Power Struggles, Break Bad Screen Habits, and Transform Your Relationship with Your Kids.

You can preview Dr. Kanojia’s talk at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t0jCsU_5v4

Join us online:
For the first time since the onset of Covid-19, the Humanist Forum will only convene online on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251109/35576457-106e-40d3-bf27-9b0d457fea1f/streamer-culture-is-a-time-bomb

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The Internet Can Make the World a Better Place

Jennifer Pahlka, founder, Code for America

11 a.m., November 2, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss a couple of videos highlighting some of the simple, but perhaps overlooked, benefits of the internet. The talks don’t address political, environmental, or existential problems but show how the internet can make life better.

In the first video, How web video powers global innovation, Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation — a self-fueling cycle of learning that could be as significant as the invention of print. But to tap into its power, organizations will need to embrace radical openness.

After a long career in journalism and publishing, Chris Anderson became the curator of the TED Conference in 2002 and positioned TED as a global media initiative devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading.’
In the second video, Coding a better government, coder and activist, Jennifer Pahlka, shows that that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments — and their neighbors.

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America, which matches software geniuses with US cities to reboot local services.

You can preview these videos at:
https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_anderson_how_web_video_powers_global_innovation (18 minutes), and
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_pahlka_coding_a_better_government (12 minutes).

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in the Milpitas Library Group Study Room B, 160 N Main St, Milpitas, CA 95035-4323. Often after our meeting, we find a nearby inexpensive eatery for a luncheon.

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
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Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
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Exposing The Dark Side of America’s AI Data Center Explosion

Future Microsoft data center, north of State Route 237

11 a.m., October 26, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss a 31-minute video from September 2025.

The explosion of AI, artificial intelligence, across every industry has seen hundreds of water- and power-hungry server farms sprout up across the US. Already, one-third of the world’s internet traffic flows through data centers in just one US state: Virginia.

However, until now, there has been no official record of the number of data centers in America, who owns them, or how much electricity they consume.

In an exclusive deep dive into the industry, Business Insider reporters cracked the code and, for the first time, revealed the true cost of the data warehouses feeding our growing appetite for cloud computing and AI. We travelled to Virginia to meet people living in the shadow of 80-foot-high boxes that emit a constant drone, and to the drought-ridden state of Arizona, where some data centers are using as much as a million gallons of water a day to help cool their computer servers.

Business Insider also discovered that the power needs of data centers have forced some states to withdraw from their carbon emissions targets. Power companies are even looking to extend the life of coal and gas plants to help meet the unprecedented demand.

BUSINESS INSIDER is a New York-based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. It publishes original reporting and aggregates material from other outlets. The outlet has been nominated for several awards, but has also been criticized for using factually incorrect clickbate headlines to attract viewership.

Ironically, In 2023, Business Insider shifted its organizational model, adding multiple AI products in 2024, and reducing its staff by nearly 40% between April 2023 and May 2025.

The image illustrates the future Microsoft data center, north of State Route 237, between Zanker Road and Coyote Creek. https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/08/05/pge-microsoft-san-jose-tech-economy-power-energy-electric-build-ai-jobs/

You can watch this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-8TDOFqkQA

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in the Sequoia Room of the Los Altos Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call: here.

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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251026/28ee4c08-31d8-43f1-9404-fea83e8626d1/exposing-the-dark-side-of-americas-ai-data-center-explosion

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Confronting Population Denial Amid Unraveling Crises

Nandita Bajaj

11 a.m., October 19, 2025

Join us, either in person or online, as Nandita Bajaj also joins us over Zoom.

Human population has doubled in the last 50 years, growing from approximately four billion in 1970 to eight billion currently. There is rising public awareness that overpopulation and rampant overconsumption are driving climate change, resource scarcity, and biodiversity collapse, yet it is a challenging issue to discuss. In this talk, Ms. Bajaj will discuss the pervasive influence of growthism, pronatalism, and human supremacy as drivers of population growth, as well as reproductive and ecological injustice, and the implications of the silencing of this discourse on the most vulnerable – nature, people, and animals.

Nandita Bajaj is executive director of the nongovernmental organization Population Balance, senior lecturer at Antioch University, and producer and host of the podcasts OVERSHOOT and Beyond Pronatalism. Her research and advocacy work focuses on the combined impacts of pronatalism and human expansionism on reproductive, ecological and intergenerational justice.

10/19/25 Confronting Population Denial Amid Unraveling Crises from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in the Old Mill Clubhouse, 49 Showers Dr, Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call: here.

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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251019/29c59022-8619-45c7-89b6-9cf152045b33/confronting-population-denial-amid-unraveling-crises

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What You Need to Know about California Proposition 50

Virtual Town Hall on California’s Proposition 50

6 p.m., October 8, 2025

Learn why Proposition 50 will have a huge impact on separation of church and state, and many other aspects of fair and equitable government.
That’s why FFRF Action Fund and Equality California invite you to this special online town hall, “What You Need to Know about California Proposition 50.” (More info here. Register to attend here.)
Hear from a distinguished panel:

  • Rep. Jared Huffman (CA), chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, on why Proposition 50 is critical to secular voters.
  • Oklahoma state Rep. Mickey Dollens, FFRF regional governmental affairs manager, on how Proposition 50 impacts communities across the country.
  • Tom Temprano, managing director, Equality California, on what is happening on the ground in California.

This educational forum will focus on why Proposition 50 matters for fair representation and the protection of the separation of state and church, LGBTQ+ rights, and what voters need to know.
There will be ample opportunity for questions and answers, so bring your toughest and most thought-provoking questions. The virtual town hall is open to all FFRF Action Fund and Equality California advocates, reflecting the national importance of this measure.
See more about this important conversation by clicking here.
Register to attend by clicking here.

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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251008/b0f6ddb0-3be6-4eb0-8cb2-1290e0c8877d/what-you-need-to-know-about-california-proposition-50

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