Category: Speaker

Category to indicate a forum is a single speaker.

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

Confronting Population Denial Amid Unraveling Crises

Nandita Bajaj

11 a.m., October 19, 2025

Join us, either in person or online, as Nandita Bajaj also joins us over Zoom.

Human population has doubled in the last 50 years, growing from approximately four billion in 1970 to eight billion currently. There is rising public awareness that overpopulation and rampant overconsumption are driving climate change, resource scarcity, and biodiversity collapse, yet it is a challenging issue to discuss. In this talk, Ms. Bajaj will discuss the pervasive influence of growthism, pronatalism, and human supremacy as drivers of population growth, as well as reproductive and ecological injustice, and the implications of the silencing of this discourse on the most vulnerable – nature, people, and animals.

Nandita Bajaj is executive director of the nongovernmental organization Population Balance, senior lecturer at Antioch University, and producer and host of the podcasts OVERSHOOT and Beyond Pronatalism. Her research and advocacy work focuses on the combined impacts of pronatalism and human expansionism on reproductive, ecological and intergenerational justice.

10/19/25 Confronting Population Denial Amid Unraveling Crises from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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 Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-10-19/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/311484352/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251019/29c59022-8619-45c7-89b6-9cf152045b33/confronting-population-denial-amid-unraveling-crises

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1976828407167230226

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

From Bridge Building to Ballot Box: A Plan to Save Our Democracy

Nick Fish

7 p.m., October 7, 2025

Join us, either in person or online, as the Atheist Community of San Jose (ACSJ) and the Humanist Community welcome Nick Fish, President of American Atheists.

To confront the rising tide of religious nationalism threatening American democracy, Nick will challenge us to engage in a multi-faceted approach to defend liberty, equality, and the separation of church and state. Drawing on lessons from the Civil Rights Movement and the nation’s founding, this moment demands bold action from all of us who believe in a pluralistic, inclusive future.

As president of American Atheists, Nick leads efforts to defend the separation of religion and government and advance equality for atheists and nonreligious Americans.

Since joining the organization in 2012, he has directed advocacy, grassroots organizing, and public policy initiatives, and was appointed president in 2018. A frequent commentator in national media, Nick speaks on issues of secularism, religious nationalism, and the rights of nonreligious people.

Learn more about American Atheists at atheists.org, on Instagram (@AmericanAtheists), and on Bluesky (@atheists.org). You can also follow Nick on Bluesky (@nickfish.me).

10/07/25 From Bridge Building to Ballot Box: A Plan to Save Our Democracy from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Atheists and Humanists in the Mary Campbell Room of the Campbell Community Center, 1 W Campbell Ave, Campbell, CA 95008.

Also, we will host this event 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/2025-10-07/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/311145855/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20251007/0dfeb989-9017-45f7-9da2-ee9d5958a99c/from-bridge-building-to-ballot-box-a-plan-to-save-our-democracy

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1969618795565367562

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

Share our event on Patch: https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250914/65517ab3-814e-4434-9d14-6bdb9641c4b1/the-tipping-points-of-climate-change-and-where-we-stand