Speaker – Page 24

Impeaching a President

Leland Chan

11 a.m., February 9, 2020

You’ve heard the testimony and the evidence. You’ve heard the pundits. But what does the Constitution say? The answer is “not much”.

The framers subjected the President (and the VP and “all civil officers”) to impeachment, but they were short on details. Over the years the Supreme Court has filled in some gaps, as has Congress. What are “high crimes and misdemeanors”? Is it necessary as a condition of impeachment that the President has violated an existing law? Is the impeachment process intended to be “political”?

Most would say yes, but does that mean it should be “about politics”? Doesn’t impeachment undermine elections?

We will tackle these questions and more and, by the end of the presentation, we will get a better sense about how to answer them in a way that is consistent with our cherished traditions.

Our presenter Leland Chan is an attorney living in San Francisco and a professor of law.

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After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

Impeaching a President – Leland Chan from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Conference (CSICon) Report

Matt Courtney

11 a.m., February 2, 2020

What is CSICon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSICon)? Where is CSICon? Why is CSICon? These questions and more will be answered by our very own Matt Courtney. He attended the 2019 CSICon in Las Vegas, and will report on what it was like to attend in person. He will also cover some of the history of CSICon, some of the fun things you can do in Las Vegas while not attending talks, and what to expect next year.

Matt Courtney is a HCSV member and volunteer.

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After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Conference (CSICon) Report – Matt Courtney from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Climate Change: Science, Technology, Policy, and Politics

Dr. Sandeep Agarwal

11 a.m., January 26, 2020

Global greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to increase despite clear indications that the Earth may warm well beyond 2 deg C. In order to avoid extreme climate consequences, the present energy, industrial, and food production systems need to be decarbonized. Rapid growth of solar and wind, as well as falling prices of electric vehicles, shows that a world without fossil fuels is possible. This talk will focus on policies and technologies needed to achieve a net zero emissions world by 2050.

Our speaker, Dr. Sandeep Agarwal, works as a CTO of a solar startup. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children. He moved to the US from India around two decades back.

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After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

2020-01-26 Sandeep Agarwal from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Seeing the Invisible: Music, Art, and an Evolutionary Step

Claudio Pellegrini

11 a.m., January 19, 2020

In a 1954 paper “Galileo as a critic of the arts”, Erwin Panofsky wrote that the Florentine’s culture in which Galileo lived, his participation in the visual arts, literature and music communities that at the time made Florence a leading European intellectual center, nurtured his pioneering scientific work, an important step toward modern science and the exploration of the universe. Working with his father Vincenzio, part of the movement that revolutionized music and created opera at the end of the XVI century, the young Galileo was introduced to experimental studies of how the sound from a vibrating string depends on length, tension and mass. Following Panofsky we look at the similarity between Galileo’s scientific approach and his analysis and appreciation of art and literature and discuss how his knowledge of visual arts had a large impact on his observations of the Moon and Venus and the beginning of modern astronomy.

Our speaker, Claudio Pellegrini (born in Rome on May 9, 1935), is an Italian physicist known for his pioneering work on X-ray free electron lasers and collective effects in relativistic particle beams. In 1999, he received the International Free-Electron Laser (FEL) Prize for his work on X-ray free-electron lasers. In 2001, he received the Robert R. Wilson Prize of the American Physical Society. In 2014, he was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award by U.S. President Barack Obama with the citation “For pioneering research advancing understanding of relativistic electron beams and free-electron lasers, and for transformative discoveries profoundly impacting the successful development of the first hard x-ray free-electron laser, heralding a new era for science.” In 2017 he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.

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After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

Seeing the Invisible: Music, Art, and an Evolutionary Step – Dr. Claudio Pellegrini from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Successful Skepticism: Creating Lasting Community

Tucker Phelps

11 a.m., January 12, 2020

We often look at youth as a source of hope for the future: we want them to be less prejudiced, more equitable, able to tell right from wrong and better equipped to build a better world. As Skeptics, we often tell ourselves that critical thinking and analytical reasoning are key tools for building this better future.

Yet surveys show that while the newest generation of young adults supports science and scientific literacy, they are increasingly disconnected from the broader skeptical inquiry. Surveys find that US Adults 18-33 are the most likely to identify Astrology as “sort of scientific,” the most likely to fall prey to pyramid schemes and twice as likely to express skepticism in a round-earth than their older peers.

One element which may explain this trend is that social pressure to engage the world rationally is lacking. Research has shown that on its own, analytical reasoning is insufficient to prevent belief in unfounded ideas. The true test is whether or not the individual personally values critical thinking as a means of engaging with their world.

At Camp Quest, we provide children 8-17 the tools necessary to be critical thinkers and engaged members of their community. Between your traditional summer camp activities, campers are taught to engage with everyday science and given the freedom to put to practice what they learn among their peers. Campers are encouraged to ask questions and rewarded for inquiry. In this way they learn more than the bare facts of some scientific experiment, but rather how to value that process and bring it into their everyday worlds at home, school or elsewhere.

What they learn at their sleep-away summer camp they take home for the rest of the year and return again smarter and wiser. Come learn how a volunteer organization is teaching children to think critically while building a supportive community.

For 7 years Tucker Phelps has been serving as Leadership Track Director, board member, and curriculum developer for Camp Quest West, a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) educational non-profit who envisions a world in which children grow up exploring, thinking for themselves, connecting with their communities, and acting to make the most of life for themselves and others. This marks his first year as Director of Operations for Camp Quest West. In his spare time, he works as an analyst in the financial sector.

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After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

Successful Skepticism: Creating Lasting Community – Tucker Phelps from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.