Category: Speaker

Marc Perkel

August 2, 2015

Longtime Humanist Community member, and Board member, Marc Perkel will discuss his following beliefs and questions: If humanity ever invents Artificial Intelligence that is smarter than we are, it will be the last thing we’ll ever invent. That’s because the AI will do the inventing far faster than we ever could. This raises a lot of philosophical questions. When will AI be smarter than us? Sooner than you think!

What will it be like to not be the smartest species on the planet? Will the robots kill us off? What values will we teach AI to get it started? Why should humanity continue to exist once we create a superior species. Will we be able to pull the plug on it – or will it be able to pull the plug on us? Is Humanism limited to just humans? Do we need Religion for Robots? Shouldn’t we answer these questions BEFORE we create the AI?

Humanist Community Forum (2015-08-02): What Happens when Computers are Smarter than Humans? (Marc Perkel) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

Dan Pemberton

July 26, 2015

When Dan Pemberton began his work with secular student groups, he expected to see a battle for science literacy with clean lines of science advocates vs. religious fundamentalists. He quickly learned that there were far more powerful forces at work that subvert education and devalue science. What’s more, he learned that the reasons for the rejection of science are largely unknown by advocates of scientific literacy.

Dan Pemberton is the Secular Student Alliance (www.secularstudents.org) Southwest Regional Campus Organizer. He was President of the SSA at Sacramento State University, and loves all things technology, grilled cheese, Legos, podcasts, and hammocks.

Dan’s passion is for everyone to become a better critical thinker, no matter their religion.

Humanist Community Forum (2015-07-26): Herding Cats and Teaching Science (Dan Pemberton) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

Gail Nyhan and Dr. Meghan Fraley

July 19, 2015

Gail Nyhan and Dr. Meghan Fraley, activists with the Raise the Wage Coalition and Politically Inspired Action, will discuss the progress and next steps of raising the wage here in the heart of innovation and wealth — Silicon Valley.

Humanist Community Forum (2015-07-19): The Raise the Wage Movement in Silicon Valley from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

Fred Colgan (Co-founder of InStove)

July 12, 2015

InStove (www.instove.org) implements safe, clean, and highly efficient institutional cookstoves and allied technologies in an integrated approach to serving the world’s poorest communities. InStove technologies are now in service in 27 countries, including 17 in sub-Saharan Africa where they mitigate environmental harm, protect and feed women, children and displaced people, and help communities to be self-sustaining and economically independent. Fred Colgan, co-founder of InStove, will discuss InStove’s progress and current projects in this update to his April 21, 2013 Forum presentation.

Humanist Community Forum (2015-07-12): InStove Update – Cookstoves for the World’s Poorest Communities (Fred Colgan) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

 

John Montgomery

June 28, 2015

The “B” Economy has continued to spread since John Montgomery’s last presentation to the Humanist Community on June 1, 2014. 27 US jurisdictions (26 states and DC) have adopted benefit corporation legislation with 14 others currently considering it. A benefit corporation is a for profit corporation that must balance the interests of stockholders, society and the environment. A California benefit corporation, for example, must provide a material positive impact on society and the environment.

Since the first benefit corporation law was passed in Maryland in 2010, over 2000 benefit corporations have been formed in the US. In addition, there are now more than 1,300 Certified B Corporations, businesses that have passed B Lab’s Certified B Corporation assessment, in about 40 countries. And there are now two publicly listed Certified B Corporations, Rally Software and Etsy, both of which must convert into Delaware benefit corporations by 2017 in order to maintain their Certified B Corporation certification. It’s just a matter of time before we have our first publicly traded benefit corporation in the US.

Soon, we will have a clear choice between doing business with and in corporations that are legally committed to doing the right thing by stockholders, society and the environment and those that are legally committed to maximizing profit for stockholders and externalizing as many of the negative costs of corporate behavior on society and the environment as possible. Please join us for an update on recent developments in the rapidly emerging B Economy.

Humanist Community Forum (2015-06-28): The Benefit Corporation Revisited (John Montgomery) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.