Jan 2: Life, Death & The Future of Medical Technology
Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular & cellular level. Ralph Merkle, PhD is an authority in a new manufacturing technology often called nanotechnology, that should let us make a wide range of manufactured products with extraordinary precision and low cost. Surgical tools that are molecular both in their size and their precision should be feasible. This should have a revolutionary impact on medicine, permitting us to heal and cure in cases that would today be viewed as utterly beyond hope. The speaker suggests that one application would be cryonics: freezing people who cannot be saved today in the expectation that future medicine will be able to reverse their injuries.
Feb 4: The Seasons of Change
Carol McClelland, Ph.D. uses metaphors that are simple in form, yet profound in their impact on how we perceive and handle crises. She works with individuals in transition due to loss of jobs or relationships, helping them find inner resources to cope creatively with life changes.
Feb 11: Nanotechnology Revisited
The earliest Humanist Community exposure to nanotechnology was in 1988 through Peter Bishop, Ph.D. The followup was when he had Eric Drexler give the key note address at the 1989 National Conference of the American Humanist Association in San Jose. More recently, Peter participated in the Foresight Conference on nanotechnology in order to brief top executives at Cirrus Logic with latest developments. Building on Ralph Merkle's talk in the Forum on January 28, Peter Bishop will help us gain perspective on how we will be affected by nanotechnology.
Feb 18: Viruses on the Brain
Our Executive Director Bill Jacobsen will discuss this topic: Richard Dawkins defines a virus as a set of instructions written in a programming language that says, "Duplicate me". In biology the DNA codes stands ready to be exploited by this mindless imperative. Since all living cells on the planet work with this code, from the most primitive to the most conscious and purposeful, all are at risk. In a similar manner, a parasitic computer virus can infect your PC, taking over and destroying your purposeful work in its mindless urge to multiply. Granted that computer viruses and DNA viruses bear watching, there's one more place to watch: the human brain, a kind of program-obeying machinery that's especially vulnerable when it is forming in children. Nowadays, the power of the mass media exacerbates this epidemic.
Mar 17: Bernard Shaw's Strange Fight with Darwinism
One of the most intelligent dramatists of his era defends an anti-Darwinian biology! Was he just being perverse, or was there some logic to his madness? Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Mar 24: Cheri Huber on "Compassionate Parenting"
We parent, not only children, but also ourselves and other people. After 20 years of experience with Zen (5 years studying with a strict Soto Zen teacher), Cheri Huber was offered the title of "roshi," but declined, preferring that "people respond to me from their own experience rather than because I have a title." She is currently a teacher at A Center for the Practice of Zen Buddhist Meditation in Mountain View and the Zen Buddhist Monastery/Interfaith Retreat Center in the Sierra foothills. In her twenties she began a spiritual journey that took a significant turn when she encountered D. T. Suzuki's What is Zen? "All the lights came on for me. I didn't really understand what he was talking about, but I knew what I wanted to know. From that day, Zen practice has been the passion of my life." A gifted, humorous, and compassionate teacher, she is visiting retreat leader in North Carolina at Southern Dharma in Hot Springs and Nantahala Village in Bryson City. She also offers meditations, classes, and workshops throughout the nation. In collaboration with June Shiver, she has published 8 books, with the bestseller, The Depression Book, to be released this summer by Putnam/Berkeley as Being Present in Darkness. Cheri is a mother and grandmother -- titles she is happy to accept. She and her 11 year-old grandson, Brian, are learning golf, rollerblading, and downhill skiing. She comments, "I enjoy being a beginner. It keeps me mindful of how hard, frustrating, and exciting learning something new can be. In Zen practice I ask people to do things that are new and scary to them, things that I have been comfortable with. Being a beginner is perfect training in finding compassion in every moment for myself and those who are just beginning to study Zen."
Apr 7: Carl Sagan, Superstition & Pseudoscience
Some claim that Western materialist science must be discarded and replaced by something the New Agers are about to reveal. Sagan is a breath of fresh air as he exposes the hysteria and dishonesty of the anti-science movement. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
| "Eostre eggs": It is our custom to celebrate festivals of the changing seasons rather than religious holidays. Fortunately they are coincident! By stripping away the modern veneer we come to the true meaning of the holiday. Before the main Forum talk, Sena spoke briefly on the evolution of the Spring Fertility Festival of the Reawakening Earth, named after the Saxon goddess Eostre. We urge as many as possible to bring flowers, preferably in water. Everyone will receive a red egg, ancient symbol of life and fertility. Celebrate Easter the REALLY old fashioned way! |
Apr 14: For the Love of Science
Even though Nobel Laureate Arthur Kornberg has created a research atmosphere in biotech ventures that is envied by most universities and research facilities, his first love remains discovering how enzymes work. Shortly after the Crick-Watson prediction of a template structure for DNA, he demonstrated its reality by creating DNA in a test tube --using something now termed DNA polymerase I. The Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology followed in 1959. Currently he is studying an inorganic polymer that is found in every cell. He's still curious. His personality comes alive in For the Love of Enzymes: The Odyssey of a Biochemist and The Golden Helix: Inside Biotech Ventures.
Apr 21: Why Anti-Scientism Won't Go Away
Is the scientific mind-set an acquired taste for uncommon sense that doesn't come naturally? If it is common sense extended, why do we keep relapsing into superstition? A real puzzle! Bill Jacobsen speaks.
May 5: Anne Ehrlich on The Stork and the Plow
Anne Ehrlich, Sr Research Scientist, Biological Sciences, Stanford, recipient of the American Humanist Association's Humanist of the Year award, speaks about her latest book, co-authored with Paul Ehrlich and Gretchen Daily.
May 19: Compelling Vision
Naturalism may be a necessary condition for a vital Humanism, but it's not a sufficient condition. We can't deduce "shoulds" from facts. Therefore, we look to inspiring yet manageable causes that are larger than our individual life stories, compelling visions that allow us to see what could be, what must be if we are to live up to our potential as a species.
When a student at the recent Dawkins lecture brought the house down with his "So what?", I believe that's what he was getting at. And as Dawkins replied, you either catch that vision or you don't. We do.
May 26: Atlanta Revisited
Paula Rochelle and Jan Keilig are our guides as we visit useful workshops and stirring presentations given at the latest national convention of the American Humanist Association.
Jun 2: Information Retrieval in Your Libraries
Librarians Susan Fuller, Santa Clara County, Mary Jo Levy, Palo Alto, and Charlotte Doudell, computers, team up for this presentation.
Jun 30: Friendship Maintenance
One of the treasures of human culture dies unless it is consistently nourished. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Jul 7: Jews, Judaism, and Jewish Studies in the Humanities
Tikkun is a magazine that offers a Jewish critique of culture. One of the insightful articles it carried recently was authored by Arnold Eisen, Religion Department, Stanford. Quotas are undertaken from the best of motives, but something is amiss if the Jewish experience with quotas as an excluding device is ignored. In a multicultural curriculum is Judaism a dead white man's religion, or is it the story of an oppressed people?
Jul 14: Light at the End of the Tunnel
As Arthur Jackson sees it, the natural congruency that protohumans enjoyed with their environment was disrupted some 35,000 years ago when Homo sapiens sapiens developed a true language. Finally it looks as though humanity has acquired enough knowledge that a new congruency between humans and their environment, societal and natural, is now possible. Arthur is our 1996 Humanist of the Year and the author of A New Foundation for Civilization: A Framework for Meaning Towards a Science of Religion.
Jul 21: The Strange Career of Darwinism in America
Carl Degler, History Department, Stanford, traces connections between Darwinism and sociobiology. Does evolutionary psychology make sense or it there a basic flaw in the attempt to apply biology to the social sciences?
Jul 28: The Four Fundamentals
First,take care of your body; it's the only one you'll ever get. "If I'd known I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of my body." Second, take care of your mind. Your sense of reality can be destroyed by self-deception, paranoia, gullibility, greed, obsessiveness, undue ambition, and inappropriate guilt or fear. Clear up your mind to see what's so. Third, take care of your social environment. Invest in friendships, become involved in the Humanist Community, act as a concerned citizen, cultivate an intimate relationship. Finally, take care of your natural environment. Preserve the living space of the planet for your sake and for the sake of those not yet born. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Aug 4: Steven Bishop's Coming of Age Ceremony
A conversation with Steven before he takes off for Reed College.
Aug 18: The Crooked Timber of Humanity
Taking off on a phrase used by the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, Joe Peel lines up a series of amusing and poignant anecdotes that illustrate the foibles of the human species.
Aug 25: Religious Texts - Flat and Textured
We can't belittle all scriptures since Bibles vary greatly. Works with one author, Book of Mormon and the Koran are flat. Indeed, Joseph Smith and Mohammed are derivative authors. Further, the Hebrew Bible is a far richer resource of Humanist insights than the Christian Bible because the Christian version interprets away the rich diversity found in the Hebrew version. The Hebrew Bible simply has more richness, more texture. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Sep 1: Why the Penal System Fails
Hank Giarretto speaks out of a long professional career of offering an effective alternative to mindless retribution. Over $400 billion is lost annually due to a system that's based on an inaccurate view of human nature. Isn't it time to try something else?
Sep 8: Reasoning with Irrational People
Dixon Wragg has run the gamut of the irrational Mormon, Fundamentalist preacher, New Ager. He has given presentations at RIT (Resources for Independent Thinking), the International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform, and various Mensa events. His resume includes model, cabbie, teacher, street hippie, while his current interests include cartooning, obscure music, investigating paranormal claims, and finding ways to apply critical thought to making the world more free, just, and beautiful.
Sep 15: Sex, Shame, and Society
Dixon Wragg applies critical thought to THE taboo topic of our culture.
Sep 22: Prop 209: California Civil Wrongs Initiative?
A panel helps expose the dangers of a proposition that seems benign on the surface but threatens some of women's hard-earned progress.
Sep 29: Implications of Extra-Terrestrial Life
Life on Mars? This latest discovery is exciting detective work, not science fiction. Bill Jacobsen notes the implications of this possibility for worldviews, religious and nonreligious.
Oct 6: A Securities Lawyer makes the Case for Protecting Retirees through Prop 211
Newt Gingrich's Contract with America generated the Securities Reform Act of 1995, a measure that insulates accountants, lawyers, and investment bankers from liability for fraud. Why should the investments of small stockholders be raided to pay for the fraud committed by professionals in high places? Joseph Tobacco of Berman, DeValerio, Pease & Tobacco shows how frivolous lawsuits are discouraged by 211 and the local economy benefits as trust in corporate integrity is maintained.
Oct 13: How Prop 211 Sabotages Silicon Valley Growth
Do you want corporations to leave the area? Tired of settling cases out of court because they feel extorted by lawyers who mount cases whenever a stock falls, corporations may move on. Just as serious, talented persons may resign from boards where their expertise is needed to avoid putting their personal assets at risk. A spokesperson from Taxpayers Against Frivolous Lawsuits will make the case for stopping 211.
Oct 20: Update on Challenges to Church-State Separation
Molleen Matsumura returns from a regional conference to give us the latest developments.
Oct 27: Redwood Legacy in Jeopardy
Every day brings a new headline in the matter of the endangerment of our old growth forests. When Pacific Lumber was operated by the Murphy family, it was a model of employee care and selective cutting. Then it was bought out by Maxxam, a Texas conglomorate, and the rest is a story that reveals greed gone wild. Fortunatly, an investigative reporter with novelistic skills brings the situation to life in The Last Stand, 1995, a Times Book by Random House. Even more fortunate for us, the author, David Harris, gives the presentation.
Nov 3: A New Focus for Humanism in general
This is the first of a two-part series by Bill Jacobsen on the vitalization of the Humanist Community. Since people are generally tuned in to station WIIFM (What's in it for me?), they tend to discount the issue of correctness with regard to facts. Folks are looking for significance and meaning, much more than they are looking for truth. What follows? The Humanist overconcern about formulating a worldview that doesn't use the word "God" may turn out to be the Great Irrelevance. Who cares? Most people aren't as concerned about possessing an accurate picture of the cosmos, as they are consumed by the need to discover a hope that lifts them up when they're in despair, a vision that gives them direction when they're disoriented, a goal that gives them energy when they're apathetic, a story that gives them courage when they're frightened. We become a life-force in people's lives when we offer that hope, that vision, that goal, that story and do so honestly.
Nov 10: A New Strategy for our Humanist Community
Plan A: Put on Forums that are intellectually stimulating or ethically challenging. A person who comes for the topic notices that this is a vibrant community. "Perhaps it's worth coming back just to get to know these folks even if next week's topic isn't that attractive to me." Plan B: Put on a wide variety of social activities. A person who comes to some of them concludes that these are interesting folks. "These Humanists are a live bunch, and they seem to care for each other. Maybe I'll get involved and make this my primary group affiliation." These plans are working. But what is Plan C?
Nov 17: Deepening Dilemmas of Civic Education in a Liberal Society
(CSPAN will be taping this talk.) Nel Noddings, professor of Education at Stanford, raises a question about that fine line between what is public and what is private. Some families say that sex education belongs in the home; schools have no right to interfere in this intimate matter. Some families say that group rights, whether as a focus or a festival, should be on the agenda of the public school. You get the picture.
Nov 24: Peel's Surprise
Joe Peel is always interesting. He is open to hearing about topics you'd like him to discuss.
Dec 1: Are People Human?
Bill Fisher and Bill Jacobsen will puzzle about how aliens would describe the human species in general, as well as specific individuals who have embodied the best and worst behaviors recorded by historians and newspapers. Some dictionary definitions may help. Humane: marked by compassion, sympathy, and consideration for other humans or towards other animals. Human: susceptible to the sympathies and frailities of human nature. Humanism: stressing the individual's dignity and worth and a person's capacity for self-realization through the use of reason.
Dec 8: Evolution and Ethics:Was Huxley Right?
Carl Degler, History, Stanford, examines the lecture which Huxley delivered just two years before his death. To what extent did he repudiate some of Darwin's ideas and how have modern thinkers handled the topic?
Dec 15: Non-Rational Determinants of Thinking: The Real Reasons We Believe As We Do
Dixon Wragg offers many of his seminars on communication, gender issues, and rational thinking through the Oakland-based Resouces for Independent Thinking. His presentations are a healthy antidote to the pretensions that sometimes can suffocate honest self-exploration.
Dec 22: Sharing
Arthur Jackson has served as executive director of the Community in the past, laying down some of the principles that continue to inspire us. Fortunately, he continues as one of our most active members, giving us the benefit of his experience. Arthur has the knack of creating a warm context for discovering and sharing personal insights.
Dec 29: Unwrapping the New Year
As the new year begins, people often reflect on their expectations for a better future, for themselves and for society in general. Sonja Erikkson and Paul Abramson will bring out the irreverent and playful aspects of your being, drawing on the fragmentary insights you already possess so you can see new connections between seemingly different concepts. A liberating experience.