Category: Speaker

Category to indicate a forum is a single speaker.

“God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction” with Dan Barker

Dan Barker

2:30-4:40 p.m., January 17, 2026

Join our friend Dan Barker in San Francisco, either in person or online.

What words come to mind when we think of God? Merciful? Just? Compassionate? In fact, the Bible clearly lays out God’s primary qualities: jealous, petty, unforgiving, bloodthirsty, vindictive, and worse.

Come join this tour through the Bible, guided by Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president (and former minister) Dan Barker, as laid out in his book, God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction.

After meeting God — as portrayed in His own words, some would say — you might well run the other way. Dan did.

THIS IS THE SECOND of five stops on Dan Barker’s Western Tour in January, with events in Olympia WA, San Francisco CA, Palo Alto CA, Sacramento CA, and Salt Lake CIty UT. On January 18 in Palo Alto, enjoy an unusual opportunity for casual conversation with Dan and a recital of his secular songs.

HOSTED BY the San Francisco Bay Chapter, Freedom From Religion Foundation. Dedicated to the preservation of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, FFRF is the nation’s largest freethought organization, with over 40,000 members and 25 chapters nationwide. SF Bay FFRF supports the national organization, does outreach tabling, sponsors speaking events and hosts a monthly social lunch. See www.sfbayffrf.org.

01/17/2026 God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person
Join fellow Atheists, Freethinkers, and Humanists in the Latino/Hispanic Community Room on the lower level of the Main Library of the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102-4705.

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.

Attend Online
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 phone number 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: Google Calendar

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

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-01-17/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/312648892/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20260117/70355367-1477-41e9-bf95-c5e358a9ab2c/god-the-most-unpleasant-character-in-all-fiction-with-dan-barker

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/2006245369940959697

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

Meet Dan Barker: Music and Casual Conversation with FFRF’s Co-President

© A Better Life/Christopher Johnson theatheistbook.com

2:30-4:30 p.m., January 18, 2026

Enjoy this special opportunity, either in person or online, to relax, converse with and enjoy the secular music of Dan Barker, leading church-state separation advocate, author, composer, and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. You can look forward to an energizing mix of thoughtful discussion, live music, and engaging freethought conversation.

THIS EVENT is the third of five stops on Dan Barker’s Western Tour in January, with events in Olympia, WA, San Francisco, CA, Palo Alto, CA, Sacramento, CA, and Salt Lake City, UT. The day before this event, January 17, in San Francisco, Dan will speak about his book, God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

Your hosts will set out a buffet after our conversation, and welcome additional dishes and snacks. The Fireside Room has a microwave oven.

All events are open to the public, and everyone, members, friends, newcomers, and strangers alike, are warmly invited to attend.

HOSTED BY the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Atheist Community of San Jose, Humanists at Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, and the Bay Area Humanists and Humanist Community.

01/18/2026 Music and Casual Conversation with Dan Barker from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:

Join fellow members of the community in the Fireside Room of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, 505 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94306.

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 phone number 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: Google Calendar

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

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-01-18/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/312555561/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20260118/2737f9e7-08eb-43d5-825f-df783b6b3553/meet-dan-barker-music-and-casual-conversation-with-ffrfs-co-president

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/2003609290867900491

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

AI Beyond ChatGPT

Michael Abramson

11 a.m., January 4, 2026

(No meeting Sunday, December 28. Merry Yuletide!)

Join our friend Michael Abramson next week, either in person or online.

The focus of this discussion will be on General Artificial Super-Intelligence (GASI) coming next after Generative AI (GenAI, such as ChatGPT) based on Large Language Models (LLMs). We’ll try to look behind the facade of sensationalist claims, fancy images, and videos to understand what is technically possible, what to expect, what the risks are, and what we could/should do about all this.

Here is a link to the slides: AI beyond ChatGPT. It’s perfectly fine if you review them before our discussion. These slides will likely become obsolete in a few months if not sooner, but they could provide initial pointers for your own research.

Bio: Michael Abramson is a professional software engineer with a lifelong interest and career in modeling the dynamics of complex systems. He is currently working as a contractor developing simulation software for the NASA Aviation Systems Division. He lives in Mountain View.

01/04/2026 AI Beyond ChatGPT from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person
Join fellow Humanists in the Neutra House Conference Center, 181 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022-3742. (We had earlier said the Manzanita Room of the Los Altos Community Center. That was a mistake.) Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

Attend Online
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 phone number 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: Google Calendar

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

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-01-04/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/312586487/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20260104/cf5d5361-93f4-43b0-aaee-3e3366356d2b/ai-beyond-chatgpt

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/2004629889425760302

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

Objective Morality

Keith Swenson

11 a.m., December 21, 2025

Join our friend Keith Swenson next week, either in person or online.

Ancient philosophers debated ethics and morality, which is the topic of how to live the right life (also called the good life or eudaimonia). Many of my non-religious friends struggle to understand what should be considered the source of morality. These are fine, upstanding moral people. They understand what it means to be fair, good, and kind. They would not live their lives any other way. But they are not really sure where morals come from.

This talk will take the point of view that moral truths are real, and they come neither from God nor are they random. Moral behavior is as it is because of the form of human interaction with each other and with the world. Humans have learned how to behave morally through a self-reinforcing natural process that can be readily seen in the world once we know how to look for it. Moral guidelines are not an accident, nor are they commandments from the supernatural. Instead, we can say succinctly: we discovered the best way to live because it is the best way to live.

Bio:
Keith is a local resident of the Silicon Valley area and a long-time member of the Bay Area Humanists and Humanist Community. After a career in software engineering, he focuses mainly on philosophy topics and runs a couple of websites on topics of philosophical interest. He has a degree in physics and in computer science from the University of California. In his spare time, he likes to hike in the wilderness and plays in a classic rock band.

12/21/25 Objective Morality from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in the Apricot Room of the Los Altos Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

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 phone number 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: Google Calendar

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

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-12-21/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/312423350/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251221/a74c6f82-07cb-42b5-97dc-251276f6878b/objective-morality

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1999941155908415612

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

My Life Journey to Discover Meditation

Carl Angotti

11 a.m., November 30, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we welcome Humanist Community member Carl Angotti to tell us about “My Life Journey to Discover Meditation”.

Carl writes: I am giving this talk to introduce fellow humanists to meditation, not as some super solution to life’s problems and concerns, and not because I discovered something that suddenly changed my life forever, but something that has been part of a lifelong process.

As I see it, most Humanists are thinkers, and many of us are “doers”, but learning to “un think” and “un do” is foreign to many of us. Only a few of us have discovered Meditation as another way to enhance their understanding of their world. My talk will literally start from childhood, through adulthood, to my first real experience of Meditation, and later experiences. I have been meditating, off and on, for 24 years. Perhaps you might want not take so long as I did to experiment with this different state of being, and learn to use it in your life.

Come join us to hear my thoughts, and answer questions about what meditation is, and what it is not, in my experience.

Bio

Carl Angotti was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and after graduating from college in 1962 he came to Southern CA, and then to the SF Bay Area of CA in 1965. He is a long time humanist and member of the Humanist Community. He started his journey from agnostic to unbeliever over 62 years, starting as a Unitarian, then shifting later to becoming a Humanist over this same period. He has long been interested in learning about philosophy, psychology and of course engineering. He as been a technical engineering consultant in the Bay Area for more then 35 years.

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in the Old Mill Clubhouse, 49 Showers Dr, Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.

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 phone number 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: Google Calendar

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

Visit the Bay Area Humanists and Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-11-23/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/312147371/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251130/fddb3930-f625-4a55-8b82-60768f290ce9/my-life-journey-to-discover-mediation

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1992799035581972907

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