Category: Forums

Rafa Escandon

11 a.m., November 19, 2023

Hear Rafa Escandon in Mountain View, where he will discuss and answer questions online, OR join us on Zoom yourself.

Bioethics (or Medical Ethics) has emerged and developed rapidly as an independent (but interdependent) discipline from standard ethics since WWII. While the Nazi doctors trial and atrocities brought to light many previously unthinkable transgressions, a developing discipline actually pre-dated the Nazi regime with respect to protections of human subjects in research. The late 20th and 21st centuries have brought rapid and significant development in the understanding of biology, genetic engineering and therapeutics. Each of these areas (and many others) if not carefully considered, can impact our functioning as a civil society. Some examples of past, present and potential future cases will be presented for a (hopefully) robust and interactive discussion.

Rafael (Rafa) Escandon is currently a consultant for research ethics and clinical research and development to the biotechnology industry. Most recently he was the senior vice president of medical affairs, policy, and patient engagement at BridgeBio Gene Therapy and has worked in global clinical research and development and patient advocacy for nearly 30 years. Rafa’s approach is to be highly considerate of the ethical implications of conducting and participating in clinical research, especially in rare diseases and in vulnerable and developing-world populations. He serves as adjunct faculty in the Department of Medical Ethics at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, as well as at the Children’s Mercy Kansas City/UMKC School of Medicine Pediatric Bioethics Center. He was also previously adjunct faculty at the University of California Berkeley’s Clinical Research Management Program and as an educator in human rights and justice.

11/19/23 Rafa Escandon from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center at 266 Escuela Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

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.

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RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Share to your Linkedin account here.
Check out the Humanist Community web site here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
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Peter Fiekowsky

11 a.m., November 12, 2023

Meet Peter Fiekowsky at the Humanist Forum in the Mountain View Senior Center, where he will discuss and answer questions in person, OR join us on Zoom.

You remember learning about ice ages, right? Did you ever wonder why we can’t do the same thing that causes ice ages to cool our planet back to how it was?

In fact we can do that, but historical reasons took climate restoration off the table in 1992. It’s coming back on the table this year. Learn how it happens and how you can make it happen faster.

Peter Fiekowsky, author of Climate Restoration: The Only Future That Will Sustain the Human Race (2022), is an MIT-educated physicist and Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist with 27 patents. He has 30 years’ experience as a citizen lobbyist for poverty and climate issues, and recently has been working to build the organizations required to ensure the survival and flourishing of humanity. His mission is to leave a world we’re proud of to our children. To that end, he founded the Foundation for Climate Restoration, Methane Action, Stable Planet Alliance, the Climate Restoration Safety & Governance Board, and the Humanity Day organization.

11/12/23 Peter Fiekowsky from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center at 266 Escuela Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch. Help us make sure we have room for you. If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to let us know.

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.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Share to your Linkedin account here.
Check out the Humanist Community web site here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar
Add this event to other calendars:Add to Calendar

Brad Onishi

11 a.m., November 5, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum at the Mountain View Senior Center, where Brad Onishi will present to us, OR join us on Zoom.

This Sunday Brad Onishi will join us in person to discuss and answer questions about white Christian nationalism. This is a joint event with the Atheist Community of San Jose.

Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, writer, teacher, coach, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. Brad seeks to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange by providing insight into life’s most fundamental questions. His show, SWAJ, ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple’s podcast charts – ahead of programs from NPR, the NYT, and other national outlets.

After growing up in a non-religious home in Southern California, Brad converted to evangelicalism at a local megachurch at age fourteen. By twenty, he was in charge of a two-hundred-student youth group. After seven years in ministry, he decided to pursue a master’s in theology at Oxford. Soon after arriving in Oxford, he deconstructed his faith and began to study religion historically and philosophically.

In 2018 he started the Straight White American Jesus podcast with his former Oxford colleague Dan Miller. SWAJ is a religion and politics podcast that focuses on Christian nationalism in the United States. Both Dan and Brad are former insiders within the movement. As scholars of religion, they have the training and tools to add layers to these experiences and to interview scholars and journalists who provide a critical lens to some of the most pressing issues of our day.

Brad’s most recent book is Preparing for War: the Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next (Broadleaf Books 2023).

Brad is an adjunct professor in the University of San Francisco College of Arts and Sciences. He is co-chair of the Secularism and Secularity Group of the American Academy of Religion, a faculty research associate of UC Berkeley Committee on the Study of Religion, and on the editorial board of Oxford Religion Encyclopedia.

11/5/23 Brad Onishi from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

———-

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center at 266 Escuela Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.

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.

———-

The slides Brad shared with us are here.
RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Share to your Linkedin account here.
Check out the Humanist Community web site here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

Ben Wade

11 a.m., October 29, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum at the Mountain View Senior Center, where Ben Wade will present to us, OR join us on Zoom.

Ben will briefly overview the definition of critical thinking and some of its skills, attitudes, and dispositions. He will examine, in some detail, the disposition of flexibility, especially concerning older persons. Finally, Ben will suggest actions that Humanists can take to support and encourage critical thinking in the general populace.

Ben Wade has been a student and practitioner of critical thinking for many years. He holds a Masters Degree in Critical Thinking from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

10/29/2023 Ben Wade from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

———-

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.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Share to your Linkedin account here.
Check out the Humanist Community web site here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar