Is Intelligent Life Easy? Human-Like Life Probably Evolves “Right on Time”

Daniel Mills

11 a.m., May 18, 2025

In this video, streamed live on Apr 24, 2025 SETI Live, Frank Marchis of the SETI Institute interviews Daniel Mills of the University of Munich about the likelihood of intelligent evolving on an Earth-like planet.

A recent study proposes a new model for the evolution of intelligent life, which challenges the long-standing “hard steps” theory that the emergence of intelligent life is an exceedingly rare event due to a series of improbable evolutionary milestones. A team led by postdoctoral researcher Dan Mills from the University of Munich suggests that the development of intelligent life is a natural outcome of planetary evolution. They argue that Earth’s environment underwent sequential “windows of habitability,” periods when conditions became favorable for complex life to emerge. (Past Drake Award winner Jason Wright is a co-author on the study.)

The study emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between astrophysics and geobiology to understand the evolution of life. Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis in an in-depth discussion with Dr. Mills about why intelligent life may be common and how this could affect our search for life beyond Earth.

SETI Live is a weekly production of the SETI Institute and is recorded live it streams with viewers on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Twitch. Guests include astronomers, planetary scientists, cosmologists, and more, working on current scientific research.

Franck Marchis is Senior Planetary Astronomer with SETI specializing in Planetary Sciences, Astronomy, Instrumentation, Education and Public Outreach, Exoplanet Detection. He has a Ph.D., Astrophysics, 1996, Université Paul Sabatier, France

Daniel Mills is a geobiologist and postdoctoral researcher associated with the University of Munich. He is currently working with Professor Bill Martin at the University of Düsseldorf to study the origin of life, although he plans to continue his research into windows of habitability at the University of Munich.

You can view this 30-minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQJfyW5yt4

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as March 2nd, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

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Democracy doesn’t exist in the United States: Chris Hedges

Rev. Chris Hedges

11 a.m., May 11, 2025

Donald Trump’s return to the White House raises many concerns about the possible decline of liberal democracy. What does a second Trump term mean for the next four years for the United States? And what impact will the president’s foreign policy have on the Middle East?

In this January 31 UpFront interview, Marc Lamont Hill discussed these issues with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and former war correspondent Chris Hedges.

Marc Lamont Hill is an American academic, author, activist, and television personality. He is a professor of urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, and the host of UpFront on Al Jazeera English.

Christopher Lynn Hedges an American journalist, author, commentator and Presbyterian minister. Hedges worked as a freelance war correspondent in Central America for The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, and Dallas Morning News. Hedges reported for The New York Times from 1990 to 2005, and served as the Times Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. In 2001, Hedges contributed to The New York Times staff entry that received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism.

You can view this 36-minute video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EDKRGkgLsI

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as March 2nd, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.

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Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
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Find an international number to call: https://zoom.us/u/afYkAuvE6

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How do you talk to someone who doesn’t believe in climate change?

Katharine Hayhoe

11 a.m., May 4, 2025

Each humanist is responsible for the collective welfare of humanity and the resources of our shared planet. Each of us needs to speak out on climate change.

Well, who talks about it?
How can we motivate ourselves and others to talk about it?
How can we speak in a way that will be heard?

Let’s watch and discuss videos of one committed person, presenting the same message, to very different audiences — one secular, and the other evangelical.

How do you talk to someone who doesn’t believe in climate change?
Preview this 17-minute TED Talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it

Preview how Prof. Hayhoe translates the same message to a Fundamentalist Christian audience in this 19-minute video: https://ww.youtube.com/watch?v=i-kCGmx0b7U

Canadian atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe is a Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor, and an Endowed Chair in Public Policy and Public Law, at Texas Tech University. In 2021, Hayhoe joined the Nature Conservancy as Chief Scientist.

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as March 2nd, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.

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Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
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Just What is Academic Freedom? How Does It Relate to Free Speech?

Nicholas A. Christakis

11 a.m., April 27, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either online or in person, as we watch three short videos on the concept of academic freedom. Each one has a slightly different take on the concept of free speech, academic freedom and truth as it relates to academic freedom. They discuss many people’s confusion about this critical subject at this time.

Let’s watch and discuss:

1. “Why academic freedom is not the same as free speech”
Michael Bérubé is an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts? Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education.
Preview this 16-minute video from May, 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4msRgJmMp4

2. “Academic freedom: What it is, what it isn’t and why there’s confusion”

In 2012, the Scholars at Risk Network, of which Robert Quinn is the founding Executive Director, received the University of Oslo’s human rights award for “relentless work to protect the human rights of academics and for having inspired and engaged others to stress the importance of academic freedom.”
This 7-minute video is from 2005:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGGqS2aVAzg

3. “Without academic freedom, we might never see the truth. Here’s why.”

Nicholas A. Christakis is a physician, sociologist, and director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science. His most recent book is Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.
Preview this 6-minute video from 2005:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G1nk-iCHEA

Join us to view watch videos and discuss our thoughts about what we heard. Do these videos clarify our thoughts on this timely subject?

Facilitator: Alex Havasy is a long-time active member of the Humanist Community who has a wide interest in subjects related to Humanism.

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in Milpitas Library Group Study Room B, 160 N Main St, Milpitas, CA 95035.
Often after our meeting, we find a nearby inexpensive eatery for a luncheon.
If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.

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Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
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Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call: here.

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Can there be World Peace?

Jody Williams

11 a.m., April 20, 2025

Join our Forum this Easter Sunday, either in person or online, as we delve into the theme of World Peace. Let’s watch these two videos, then discuss the practicality of either of these visions being effective in the real world. One of the videos is ten years old, the other is two years old. The subject is an ancient one.

You can review these videos at:

How to make world peace? Troy Davis at TEDxStrasbourgUniversité. 19 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y7XWpe0Zyc

Jody Williams: A realistic vision for world peace. 11 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD6CqD1kV8s

This Sunday’s facilitators will be Alex Havasy and Carl Angotti, both long-time Humanist Community members.

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as March 2nd, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.

———-

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 number to call: https://zoom.us/u/afYkAuvE6

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