Category: Forums

Category for all Forum posts.

Discussion of the 11 California State Propositions

Photo by Juliana Yamada for CalMatters, https://calmatters.org/.

10:30 a.m., October 13, 2024

There are eleven propositions on the California ballot for this election. Sometimes deciding how to vote on one or more of these issues is a challenge.

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we discuss the pros and cons of each of these propositions. Some are fairly straightforward and understandable, while others are less so. We can learn more about the propositions using online information regarding what is available from relatively neutral sources, as well as from their proponents.

Together, we’ll discuss and learn more about these propositions and perhaps find out more about who is supporting them, and what is available online about them.

The meeting will be presented and facilitated by Carl Angotti and Alex Havasy, both longtime voters and members of the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley. (Notice that we’re starting at 10:30 AM.)

10/13/2024 California Propositions from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists to consider the propositions 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.

———-

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

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

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/2024-10-13/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/303946070/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1844496428053430377

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

Meet the Executive Director of The American Humanist Association, Fish Stark

Fish Stark

6 p.m., October 7, 2024

Join us Monday evening to meet Fish Stark, the new Executive Director of The American Humanist Association, as he discusses his vision of the future of the organization.

Fish Stark is an organizer, educator, social entrepreneur, and lifelong humanist. Fish has spent his career turning big ideas into bold action in service of belonging, flourishing, and social justice for all people.

Prior to joining the AHA as Executive Director, Fish was the Head of Program + Curriculum at Legends, an educational technology startup, where he led research and implementation teams to create products that helped children build self-confidence, positive mental health, and critical thinking skills.

Previously, Fish served as the Director of Programs at Peace First, a global nonprofit that provides training and funding to youth social justice activists, where he led a global team of organizers who empowered thousands of youth grantees in 140+ countries to make lasting change in their communities, and worked with organizations such as the Red Cross and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation to develop youth leadership programs.

10/7/2024 Fish Stark from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
We will convene for Mr. Stark’s presentation in the Cupertino Library Room 201B (changed from ThinkTank meeting room), 10800 Torre Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014. Following his talk, we’ll reserve a table at the reasonably-priced Holder’s Country Inn – Cupertino, 10088 N Wolfe Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014.

Directions to Holder’s:
Exit the Library to the North on De Anza Blvd, turn right onto Stevens Creek Blvd. and the travel to a left turn onto Wolfe Road. The restaurant is the next right onto Vallco Parkway at the “T” intersection on Wolfe Road. Park by turning right into the garage just a short way down from the Wolfe intersection. By turning right again, there is a parking lot right behind the restaurant. If it is full there there is parking inside the garage for the retail establishments. There is also Handicapped parking just behind the restaurant.

———-

Also, we will share Mr. Stark’s talk 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

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

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/2024-10-07/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/303816501/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1841999125870752218

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

 

Being Consciousness, Exploring my Brain, and Discovering My World

Being Consciousness, Exploring my Brain, and Discovering My World

Martin Squibbs

11 a.m., October 6, 2024

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as Martin Squibbs joins us. Here is a summary.

By considering my own experiences, thoughts and memories, together with studying neuroscience, I have concluded that I am a physically real human consciousness, here in my physically real brain, surrounded by a world, my world, of memories, all growing in duration.

At their foundation are the memories of the events of my life, that is what I know “about” as a fact, being growing durations of memories of my perceptions, and being virtual in nature.

By recognizing and studying these facts of my past I come to imagine, understand and realize as best I can the truth and nature “of” physical reality beyond my brain.

Given then this region of space occupied by my brain contains my whole world and is the only place within the entire universe that I can actually physically explore, in this talk I will explore this space and this place, and the nature of my world within it.

I’ll also share how realizing the nature of my world in this way has changed and deepened my understanding of the nature of physical reality, and the nature of knowledge, of facts, of values and of information.

I’ll consider my knowledge of neuroscience, physics and philosophy, and how, in my mind, understanding reality in this way integrates idealism and materialism, unifies physics and resolves many of the current problems within the theories of physics.

Finally, I’ll consider how understanding reality in this way has changed my relationship with and attitude towards life, nature and the artificial.

Bio
Martin was born in England and graduated with a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and Management from Imperial College, London.
His career has been in the semiconductor industry, mostly based in San Jose, California.

10/6/2024 Martin Squibbs from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as this Sunday, 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 for lunch.

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

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

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/2024-10-06/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/303721106/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1840993636680413353

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

Screen Struggles and Screen Delight: Is Social Media Sabotaging or Saving Adolescent Mental Health?

Patti Valkenburg

11 a.m., September 29, 2024

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss Screen Struggles and Screen Delight: Is Social Media Sabotaging or Saving Adolescent Mental Health?

Social media can be a source of joy and happiness for some adolescents but a trigger for sadness and depression in others. Why is that?

In 2018, Patti Valkenburg and her team launched Project AWeSome–Adolescents, Well-being & Social Media–to explore the complex relationship between social media use and mental health. Pioneering a person-specific (or N=1) media effects approach, they combined qualitative in-depth interviews with large-scale longitudinal data analysis to understand how social media’s impact on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent.

Both their qualitative and quantitative findings challenge common hypotheses about the impact of social media on well-being. In this seminar, Prof. Valkenburg will delve into these findings, discussing whose mental health is most likely affected by social media use and why.
Prof. Valkenburg is the Distinguished Professor of Communication at the University of Amsterdam, and founder and director of the Center for research on Children, Adolescents, and the Media.

You can preview this 59-minute video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GUwKCNPueQ

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists to watch it together 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.

———-

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

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

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/2024-09-29/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/303625317/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1838662578106671484

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

Whose religious freedom?

Sammi Lawrence

11 a.m., September 22, 2024

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss a conversation on “religious freedom” and how the phrase has been co-opted and weaponized by the religious right. There have been several recent egregious examples of how this hyper-religious minority is acting to force American society into its image — to the detriment of the rest of us.

Sammi Lawrence joined the Freedom From Religion Foundation as the Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow in 2022, and is now a Staff Attorney. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, baking, and painting.

Christopher Line began working full-time for FFRF as a Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow and is now a Staff Attorney. He is an accomplished photographer whose work has appeared in The Humanist magazine, the Progressive, and FFRF’s own Freethought Today.

You can preview this 40-minute video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNwHzDIBc_g

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists to watch it together 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.

———-

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

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

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/2024-09-22/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/303533408/

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1836901273758511461

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