Category: Forums

Category for all Forum posts.

Erasing History: How Fascism Works

Prof. Jason Stanley

11 a.m., April 13, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss a video of Jason Stanley, as he gives proper context to what fascism means and how the Trump administration’s second term could really mean the completion of the American fascist state.

Host Chris Hedges spoke with him on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, recorded on March 26.

Jason Stanley is an American philosopher who is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He has accepted an appointment at the University of Toronto based on what he describes as the deteriorating political situation in the United States.

You can preview this 59-minute talk at:
https://youtu.be/cw2Kgz_2cBk

Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in Milpitas Library Group Study Room A, 160 N Main St, Milpitas, CA 95035.
Often after our meeting, we find a nearby inexpensive eatery for a luncheon.
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 phone number to call: here.

———-

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Curing All Diseases, Again! Trampling Scientific Boundaries for Fun and Profit

David Weinberg, MD

11 a.m., April 6, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we welcome a guest speaker over Zoom.

What can medical frauds in history teach us about their parallels in the modern day? What were the Violet Ray Device of the 1920s, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, and the Microbe Killer by William Radam in 1886? Let’s also examine a recent case, a US Stem Cell Clinic in Florida.

The answer to the dangers of pseudoscience in medicine are critical thinking, scientific rigor, and effective regulation to protect public health.

David Weinberg is a full-time academic vitreoretinal surgeon, and professor of ophthalmology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. His interest in the less-than-science-based aspects of medicine was sparked by inquiries from his patients. Investigating their questions led to his discovery of numerous grandiose claims for implausible, unproven treatments of potentially blinding eye diseases. (All opinions expressed by Dr. Weinberg are his alone, and do not represent those of his employer or any other organization with which he is affiliated.)

04/06/2025 Curing All Diseases, Again! Trampling Scientific Boundaries for Fun and Profit – David Weinberg, MD
 from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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.

———-

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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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
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Assurances and the Nuclear Arsenal in Ukraine

U.S. President Clinton, Russian President Yeltsin, and Ukrainian President Kravchuk

11 a.m., March 30, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we discuss whether Ukraine should have given up the nuclear weapons on its soil thirty years ago. Was this a wise decision? Given the war in Ukraine today, would things be different if they had not done so?

First, we’ll watch a Voice of America report, Ukraine looks back with regret at 1994 deal requiring it to give up nukes, covering details of the Budapest Agreement and events after its signing.

In the second video, Should Ukraine have kept its nuclear weapons?, the Kyiv Independent’s reporter Oleg Sukhov sat down with Robert Kelley, an engineer with 35 years of experience in the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex, to discuss whether the weapons Ukraine gave up would be of much use now, and if the country still has the capacity to produce a nuclear device.

Join us to discuss this currently relevant topic on the history of Ukraine.

You can watch the first, four-minute video at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms5xaBH2arY,
and the second, eleven-minute video at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eb9E1anaGY.

Attend in Person:
Attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Neutra House Conference Center, 181 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. 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.

———-

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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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-03-30/

RSVP on Meetup:
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Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250330/573b5b28-b21b-421a-8dac-3c7e78001bfd/assurances-and-the-nuclear-arsenal-in-ukraine

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

Using Humor in Interpersonal Conflict Resolution

Steve Carell in The Office

11 a.m., March 23, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we delve into how to resolve conflict by looking at several short videos and discussing them. Our facilitator has found that humor can diffuse conflict situations, especially in “hot topics” areas such as politics, religion, and other areas of disagreement among friends, co-workers, family, and elsewhere.

Come this Sunday to explore this topic in depth from several possible angles to see if we might better use the positive aspects of humor when discussing challenging subjects with others. Humor can also have adverse effects, which we will look into.

Bio: The facilitator of this Sunday’s meeting is Carl Angotti. He is a semi-retired engineering consultant, and very long time member of our community. He likes to look at complex subjects from a subjective and neutral point of view. He has previously facilitated several of our meetings.

Attend in Person:
Attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Neutra House Conference Center, 181 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. 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.

———-

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

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
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Like us on Facebook:
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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-03-23/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/305732153/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250323/723cb196-7719-41a8-ac1e-1cb4b97609da/using-humor-in-interpersonal-conflict-resolution

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
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Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

Conversational Strategies to Avoid Being Fooled

Carolyn Dougherty

11 a.m., March 16, 2025

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we welcome a guest speaker from the Central Valley.

Disinformation is a huge problem in our society. What can we do to help friends who fall for it? We will discuss why using conversational strategies, based on research, may be more effective than debunking alone to help our friends – and ourselves – from being fooled.

Carolyn Dougherty is a retired teacher. She is a volunteer and instructor at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of the Pacific, a member of the planning committee for the SkeptiCal Conference, and the founder and facilitator of Rational Roundtable, a group that promotes science and critical thinking in the Central Valley of California.

03/16/2025 Conversational Strategies to Avoid Being Fooled – Carolyn Dougherty from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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.

———-

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

———-

Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:
webcal://p162-caldav.icloud.com/published/2/Mjk3Nzk1MTgyMjk3Nzk1MRBa7aU6zKSIJMfDjhqBP8r3muvKK3GLLCRnZoCneHpXv08CyGJAJRVI5yyh-SVWxGJE9xHfdUs72pmiBNlOBpY

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Like us on Facebook:
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Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2025-03-16/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/305732153/

Click the Interested button or share on Patch:
https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250316/24785a0e-a07c-4c02-8525-9c73b56de2cd/conversational-strategies-to-avoid-being-fooled

Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:
https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1898968216703217970

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