Category: Future

This page lists scheduled future forums in reverse chronological order. Scroll down to the bottom of the list for details about our next forum.

Is Intelligent Life Easy? Human-Like Life Probably Evolves “Right on Time”

Daniel Mills

11 a.m., May 18, 2025

In this video, streamed live on Apr 24, 2025 SETI Live, Frank Marchis of the SETI Institute interviews Daniel Mills of the University of Munich about the likelihood of intelligent evolving on an Earth-like planet.

A recent study proposes a new model for the evolution of intelligent life, which challenges the long-standing “hard steps” theory that the emergence of intelligent life is an exceedingly rare event due to a series of improbable evolutionary milestones. A team led by postdoctoral researcher Dan Mills from the University of Munich suggests that the development of intelligent life is a natural outcome of planetary evolution. They argue that Earth’s environment underwent sequential “windows of habitability,” periods when conditions became favorable for complex life to emerge. (Past Drake Award winner Jason Wright is a co-author on the study.)

The study emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between astrophysics and geobiology to understand the evolution of life. Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis in an in-depth discussion with Dr. Mills about why intelligent life may be common and how this could affect our search for life beyond Earth.

SETI Live is a weekly production of the SETI Institute and is recorded live it streams with viewers on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Twitch. Guests include astronomers, planetary scientists, cosmologists, and more, working on current scientific research.

Franck Marchis is Senior Planetary Astronomer with SETI specializing in Planetary Sciences, Astronomy, Instrumentation, Education and Public Outreach, Exoplanet Detection. He has a Ph.D., Astrophysics, 1996, Université Paul Sabatier, France

Daniel Mills is a geobiologist and postdoctoral researcher associated with the University of Munich. He is currently working with Professor Bill Martin at the University of Düsseldorf to study the origin of life, although he plans to continue his research into windows of habitability at the University of Munich.

You can view this 30-minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQJfyW5yt4

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Democracy doesn’t exist in the United States: Chris Hedges

Rev. Chris Hedges

11 a.m., May 11, 2025

Donald Trump’s return to the White House raises many concerns about the possible decline of liberal democracy. What does a second Trump term mean for the next four years for the United States? And what impact will the president’s foreign policy have on the Middle East?

In this January 31 UpFront interview, Marc Lamont Hill discussed these issues with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and former war correspondent Chris Hedges.

Marc Lamont Hill is an American academic, author, activist, and television personality. He is a professor of urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, and the host of UpFront on Al Jazeera English.

Christopher Lynn Hedges an American journalist, author, commentator and Presbyterian minister. Hedges worked as a freelance war correspondent in Central America for The Christian Science Monitor, NPR, and Dallas Morning News. Hedges reported for The New York Times from 1990 to 2005, and served as the Times Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. In 2001, Hedges contributed to The New York Times staff entry that received the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism.

You can view this 36-minute video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EDKRGkgLsI

Attend in Person:
On the first and third Sunday of the month, such as March 2nd, 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.

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.

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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

Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)

Find an international number to call: https://zoom.us/u/afYkAuvE6

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