Author:

The Side of Terrorism that Doesn’t Make Headlines

A video plus audience discussion

11 a.m., January 24, 2021

At this Sunday’s Humanist Forum, the video of a TED Talk by Karima Bennoune entitled “The side of terrorism that doesn’t make headlines” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK74vhqzeeQ) will be shown. Then the audience will engage in general discussion of the issues that the video raised.

Here is the summary of the TED Talk:

Karima Bennoune shares four powerful stories of real people fighting against fundamentalism in their own communities — refusing to allow the faith they love to become a tool for crime, attacks and murder. These personal stories humanize one of the most overlooked human-rights struggles in the world.

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

The Hard Problem of Consciousness: Why Do We Feel What We Feel?

Michael Abramson

11 a.m., January 17, 2021

Here is the speaker’s description of his talk:

“My area of expertise is system modeling and simulation. The folks like me are usually interested in systems’ behavior and not in their feelings. We can say sometimes that a particle “feels” the force, but only metaphorically.

Yet we know that at least some systems, such as humans and animals, really feel something, and for us this subjective experience seems very real. How to reconcile this reality with the reality of physical and chemical processes in our brains?

This seems so difficult to do that this is known as “The Hard Problem of Consciousness.” It looks like physics just doesn’t have a place for something like subjective experience. Or does it?

In this talk I’m going to discuss a radical idea that can make the hard problem of consciousness almost trivial, but may also have profound implications for how we see the world and ourselves, how we trust science and other people, and what kind of moral choices we have. You can decide how this worldview, which I’d call “subjective materialism,” can be consistent with humanism.”

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

The Hard Problem of Consciousness: Why Do We Feel What We Feel? – Michael Abramson from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Introduction to the Rural – Urban Election Differences in the U.S.

Facilitated by Carl Angotti and Alex Havasy

11 a.m., January 10, 2021

This “video/audience discussion” Forum will be about the persons who violated the Capitol this week, and some of the roots of their anger and frustration with “the system” (including a discussion of new “vote splitting” in the U.S.).

We will view one video from a “right” perspective, discuss it, and then view a second longer and more educational video about a shift in U.S. politics over the last several years.

Hopefully, we can add to the perspective that we learned from “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt.

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

The War on Christmas: Is it over, who won?

A discussion facilitator

11 a.m., December 27, 2020

At this Sunday’s Humanist Forum, a short video “The War on Christmas: Is it over, who won?” will be shown, followed by an open audience discussion of the topic.

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Brief History of California K-12 Education

Jerry Pannone

11 a.m., December 13, 2020

At this Sunday’s Humanist Forum, Jerry Pannone will discuss “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Brief History of California K-12 Education”.

Jerry Pannone is a professional musician and retired music and humanities teacher who taught elementary through high school in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Mateo. He retired from the San Francisco School of the Arts High School.

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Brief History of California K-12 Education – Jerry Pannone from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.