Speaker

Roe v. Wade v. Dobbs v. Jackson: Adventures in Constitutional Theory

11 a.m., March 17, 2024

Join Zem Laski as he presents to us in person this Sunday in Mountain View.

With a gridlocked and dysfunctional legislative branch, it falls to the U.S. Supreme Court to de facto formulate policy. Some of SCOTUS’ decisions have a profound impact on American society, with abortion being the prime example. But the reversal of Roe demonstrates that any rights and privileges previously affirmed by the Court are, in fact, hanging by a thread.

So how was it possible for SCOTUS to reach one conclusion in Roe and then an opposing one in Dobbs? We’ll explore some differing legal philosophies – textualism, originalism, liberalism – which may guide Constitutional interpretation and which, in turn, can produce starkly different outcomes. It is also worth pointing out that the U.S. does not affirmatively guarantee some of the rights that we think it does.

MINI-BIO: Zem Laski is a passionate and aspiring software engineer who used to earn money from practicing the trade. He immigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1981, and has a checkered legacy of employment and educational attainment in both countries. He wound up with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford, and a master’s degree in Information and Computer Science from UC Irvine. At present, Zem enjoys a quiet and sedentary life in south San Jose, courtesy of the Social Security Administration. He takes pleasure in intellectual banter, especially on subjects in which he is ill-informed.

3/17/2024 Zev Laski from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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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 attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. 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.

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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

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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Roe v. Wade v. Dobbs v. Jackson: Adventures in Constitutional Theory https://t.co/t6pOROlfpZ #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/Gk3oPfku0i

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) March 15, 2024

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

The Unique Model of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action

11 a.m., March 10, 2024

This Sunday, Rohan Pandit of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action will join us over Zoom. He will provide details into what SVYCA does, its unique model, its accomplishments, and its initiatives for the upcoming year.

Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action empowers teens and young adults to combat climate change immediately through impactful education and policy initiatives. SVYCA youth work in focused climate action teams to ensure important climate policies and measures receive support at every level, including local, regional, and statewide. Youth at SVYCA gain in-depth knowledge about climate policy, build relationships with key climate stakeholders such as elected officials and climate tech leaders, and gain exposure to climate career pathways across multiple industries and disciplines.

Mr. Pandit is the Executive Director of SVYCA. Before joining SVYCA, he served as a top aide for California State Senator Josh Becker, and worked as a Field Organizer for the Biden Campaign. He is a passionate advocate for innovative climate policy and empowering youth to take action in the fight against climate change by providing them with opportunities for engagement and green career pathways.

3/10/2024 Rohan Pandit from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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This week, join us online. (We had planned to offer our forum in person with fellow humanists at Maker Nexus, 1330 Orleans Drive, Sunnyvale CA, 94089, but we have had to cancel that. On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can continue to attend our forum at the Mountain View Senior Center.) We may visit a nearby restaurant for lunch after the forum. If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom. 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.

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Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
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Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
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The Unique Model of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action https://t.co/0ege1QSBLv #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/lteIghzjlI

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) March 6, 2024

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

Explaining Time, Unifying Physics, and Exploring our World in only Three Dimensions of Space

Martin Squibbs will join us at this Sunday’s Forum to present to us and answer questions.

What if movements did not occur in time, but instead only in space, three-dimensional physical space. And here within this space of our mind, we are observing our growing memories of our perceptions of these movements (our past) and imagining memories of movements yet to happen (our possible futures). And what if time is not a measure of space, but instead a measure of the property of these memories we call duration. And what if these growing memories we observe create our world in mind, a metaphysical world within the physical reality of our mind; the only world we our self are and can be aware of.

I believe this is the nature of reality and our existence. Please allow me to share with you its properties and their measures, and see how viewing reality from this perspective may both explain many of the mysteries and problems facing Physics today, and also open our mind, which is our only real home, to a much deeper understanding of its reality.
Bio
Martin was born in England in 1964 and graduated with a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and Management from Imperial College, London in 1987. He moved to the US in 1994. His career has been in the semiconductor industry, holding positions in applications, design, sales, marketing and business development.

Here are the slides Martin presented:
Explaining Time, Unifying Physics And Exploring our World in only Three Dimensions of Space

11 a.m., February 18, 2024

2/18/2024 Martin Squibbs from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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On the first and third Sunday of the month, 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.

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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:
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RSVP on Meetup:
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Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
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Explaining Time, Unifying Physics&Exploring our World in only3Dimensions of Spac https://t.co/4KQHpCqbWH #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/ok0an3oCwl

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) February 14, 2024

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

Fusion of South Asian Folk Art and Western Modern Art

Masuma Ahmed

11 a.m., January 21, 2024

At this Sunday’s Forum we will watch a video by artist and writer Masuma Ahmed, who will be present to answer any questions and explain her work.

Masuma, an internationally acclaimed artist hailing from New York City, captures the essence of women, diasporas, social issues, and science through her award-winning artwork. Her pieces intertwine Western, digital, and South Asian arts, portraying vibrant narratives in both traditional and digital mediums.

Combining her expertise in traditional and digital art, Masuma crafts diverse works, ranging from abstract to folk, street, and mural art. Her creations encapsulate the unspoken voices of women and diasporas—often overlooked by mainstream media—vibrantly representing their influence on US economic and cultural landscapes.

A self-taught artist and writer, Masuma honed her craft at Stanford University, Yale University, and Bangladesh National Arts College. She shared her artistic knowledge with students at the Stanford University International Center, complemented by taking creative writing courses at Yale and Stanford.

While holding a Ph.D. in Physics from Yale, Masuma shifted from a career in physics and high-tech to pursue her passion for art and writing in 2015. Her remarkable artistic journey has been recognized by various international galleries (Light, Space & Time Art Gallery in the US, Artist of the Four Seasons Gallery in Germany, Kolkata Art Group in India, and All Art Gallery in Brazil) and her exhibitions have graced numerous esteemed venues across the United States, from the City of Palo Alto to New York City.

Notable among her achievements is being selected by the City of Palo Alto for the prestigious Palo Alto BLM Mural in 2020. She has also been a chalk art muralist in Redwood City for several consecutive years, alongside her mural projects in New York City and the Bay Area.

Masuma is not just an artist but a multifaceted writer, delving into poetry, short stories, and vignettes reflecting societal and feminist issues, scientific endeavors, aging, and cultural traditions. Her poetry has found a place in prominent publications such as the NYC Poetry Table Anthology and the Bay Area Waverly Writers Collection.

Embracing the digital realm, Masuma’s platform, “New York City Rainbow Faces”, https://www.facebook.com/nycrainbowfaces,
encapsulates the unspoken narratives of women and diasporas while celebrating the intrinsic beauty of science.

To explore more of Masuma’s incredible body of work, visit her website. For inquiries or collaborations, she can be reached at masumaa@yahoo.com.

You can watch her video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSWiId8npWs

1/21/2024 Masuma Ahmed from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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On the first and third Sunday of the month, you can attend our forum 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.

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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/2024-01-21/
RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/298602012/
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1747495265433792742.

Fusion of South Asian Folk Art and Western Modern Art https://t.co/hUqNshsv4A #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/hQAGOP1nV3

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) January 17, 2024

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

Let’s teach religion — all religion — in schools

A video of Daniel Dennett

11 a.m., January 14, 2023

This Sunday, we will meet online to watch and discuss a 2006 TED talk by Daniel Dennett, Let’s teach religion – all religion– in schools.

In this talk, Dennett calls for teaching religion, all religion, in schools, so we can understand its nature as a natural phenomenon. Then he takes on “The Purpose Driven Life”, a 2002 bible-study book written by Christian pastor Rick Warren, disputing its claim that, to be moral, one must deny evolution.

Daniel Dennett is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is one of the “Four Horsemen of New Atheism” with Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens.

You can watch this video at:
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_let_s_teach_religion_all_religion_in_schools

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The Forum meets this week only online via Zoom. On the first and third Sundays of the month, you can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center at 266 Escuela Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040.

Thus, this week, we present our forum 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

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Add this event to your calendar:

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2024-01-07/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/298343746/
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.

Let’s teach religion — all religion — in schools https://t.co/knA6tMa2l6 #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/Pktad3v4Tr

— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) January 13, 2024

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