Category: Forums

11 a.m., May 25, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we explore some of the political humor out there. A skit that one person might think is the best, doesn’t seem funny to someone else. Isn’t that funny?

“The Final Days” White House Correspondents’ Dinner Skit, 6 minutes long, from 2012. A president laughing at himself.
https://youtu.be/PbbUYhyoWz8

Some old Mark Russell routines seem quite recent.
https://youtu.be/lSApwyHrsJE

A Canadian Explains Why Trump Can’t Invade Canada. Everyone on the Program Committee thought this quite funny. 5 minutes.
https://youtu.be/pdLaAyZ0waI

“Republican or Not”, a 5-minute Saturday Night Live skit from 2022, is not anti-Republican.
https://youtu.be/8h_N80qKYOM

“President Obama’s Anger Translator”, as seen on C-SPAN. Another president having fun at his own expense. 5 minutes.
https://youtu.be/HkAK9QRe4ds

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Attend in Person:
Attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Neutra House Conference Center, 181 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. 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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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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https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-05-25/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1925792645734859001

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250525/5e3713f5-8a48-410d-8a4e-60aeac35b80b/how-about-a-little-humor-around-politics

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1925792645734859001

How about a little humor around politics https://t.co/qbv42hNcnE #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/WR6rFdjAgH

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) May 23, 2025

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

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

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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

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
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Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-05-18

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/307834522/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250504/4988bcfa-6d8c-4d47-bc2d-1adc3821feca/how-to-speak-to-someone-about-climate-change

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1922855234184818987

Is Intelligent Life Easy? Human-Like Life Probably Evolves “Right on Time” https://t.co/7YxGECwLB7 #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/O58yoJUC0h

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) May 15, 2025

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

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

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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

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
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Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-05-11

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/307729884/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250511/be08edb1-a3f9-4a73-a43a-34940e4fa94a/democracy-doesn-t-exist-in-the-united-states-chris-hedges

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1920688072326271398

Democracy doesn’t exist in the United States: Chris Hedges https://t.co/p4Lb9M4G3f #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/3eYPF1h4Ak

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) May 9, 2025

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

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.

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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

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
webcal://p162-caldav.icloud.com/published/2/Mjk3Nzk1MTgyMjk3Nzk1MRBa7aU6zKSIJMfDjhqBP8r3muvKK3GLLCRnZoCneHpXv08CyGJAJRVI5yyh-SVWxGJE9xHfdUs72pmiBNlOBpY

Add this event to your Google calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-05-04

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/307349322/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250504/4988bcfa-6d8c-4d47-bc2d-1adc3821feca/how-to-speak-to-someone-about-climate-change

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1917444185516564725

How to speak to someone about climate change https://t.co/V77LAH2OBh #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/7l7Gf1njtF

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) April 30, 2025

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508