Category: Forums

Category for all Forum posts.

Saving Free Discourse and Our Universities

Tim Rosenberger Jr.

Tim Rosenberger Jr.

11 a.m., April 23, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

Tim Rosenberger Jr. of the Federalist Society will join us in person at the Mountain View Community Center to answer questions and discuss “Saving Free Discourse and Our Universities.”

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.

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If you attend in person, full Covid vaccination and boosters strongly recommended, and mask wearing should be considered by those in higher risk groups. If you have symptoms that may be Covid, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

4/23/2023 Tim Rosenberger from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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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 smart phone, 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.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
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The Choreography of Attention

Apollo Robbins

Two videos of talks by Apollo Robbins

11 a.m., April 16, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

Today we will watch two short videos of Apollo Robbins, a pickpocket and entertainer. In the first video, he will demonstrate his amazing talent. In the second, he will show and explain how he accomplishes his feats.

Apollo Robbins is a peculiar variety-arts hybrid, known in the trade as a theatrical pickpocket. Among his peers, he is widely considered the best in the world at what he does, which is taking things from people’s jackets, pants, purses, wrists, fingers, and necks, then returning them in amusing and mind-boggling ways. Robbins works smoothly and invisibly, with a charm that belies his talent for larceny. One senses that he would prosper on either side of the law.

“My goal isn’t to hurt them or to bewilder them with a puzzle,” he says “but to challenge their maps of reality.”

Recently, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and the military have studied his methods for what they reveal about the nature of human attention.
You can watch these videos at
www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirection
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoUSO_Mj1TQ.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

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 smart phone, 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.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

Putting People in Solitary is Torture, So Let’s Stop

(Portrait by Neil Grabowsky / Montclair Film Festival, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53339001)

A video of a talk by John Oliver

11 a.m., April 09, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we will discuss a 20-minute video from a recent broadcast of John Oliver’s TV show, Last Week Tonight, on solitary confinement in prison.
In 2011, the UN declared solitary confinement to be a form of torture due to its physical toll and mental anguish, and called on all countries to abolish indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days. Yet the practice still continues in the U.S. today on a large scale.
John goes into the practice and the harmful effects of solitary confinement on the victims and on the detriment effects on prison order.
WARNING: John Oliver uses ridicule and crude language to emphasize what he says. Be prepared for frequent “F-bombs”.
John Oliver is a British-American comedian, writer, political commentator, actor, and TV host. He has won fourteen Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and was included in the 2015 Time 100. He tackles important issues thoughtfully, without fear or apology.
You can preview this video here.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

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 smart phone, 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.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

AI Chatbots: Promise and Problems

Richard Duda

11 a.m., April 02, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we are happy to have Richard Duda, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at San Jose State University, with us on Zoom to discuss “AI Chatbots: Promise and Problems”.

An AI chatbot with the strange name ChatGPT burst into public attention in November of last year. Ever since then, hardly a day goes by without a new article about ChatGPT or one of its competitors appearing in the news. In this presentation, you will learn what these chatbots are, what they can do, a little bit about how they do it, and what changes they might bring — both good and bad.

Richard Duda is a retired electrical engineer. He was a pioneer in pattern recognition research in the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International, where he worked for 18 years. He keeps aware of the amazing progress that AI has made in the last 20 years, and will share that amazement with us.

(The presentation will work much better if people have had some kind of experience with ChatGPT, even if it is vicarious.)

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

4/2/2023 Richard Duda 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 smart phone, 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.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google CalendarLinkedin event.

Pseudoscience and the Law: Why Doesn’t the Government Stop the Charlatans?

Nicholas Little

11 a.m., March 26, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we are happy to have Nicholas Little, the vice president, general counsel, and legal director of the Center for Inquiry, with us on Zoom to discuss “Pseudoscience and the Law: Why Doesn’t the Government Stop the Charlatans?”

23/03/26 Nicholas Little from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

———-

You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.
If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

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 smart phone, 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.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar