Speaker – Page 18

How we know what we know, part 5: The Age of the Earth

Ron Garret

11 a.m., November 8, 2020

At this Sunday’s Humanist Forum, Ron Garret will discuss “How we know what we know, part 5: The Age of the Earth”.

This is the fifth installment of the “how we know what we know” series. In this chapter we will look at how we know that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, and contrast this evidence with creationist claims that the earth is only 6000 years old. The talk will cover a variety of lines of evidence, including geology, radiometric dating, and how you can convince yourself that the earth is old using Google maps.

Ron Garret is a software engineer by trade. He is currently working on easy-to-use-cryptography software. He was a co-founder and CTO of Virgin Charter, and an early hire at Google. He was previously a rocket scientist. He also made a feature-length documentary about homelessness (graceofgodmovie.com). His blog can be found at blog.rongarret.info.

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Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

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How we know what we know, part 5: The Age of the Earth – Ron Garret from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

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Facing the Upcoming Elections

Paulo Chang

11 a.m., October 18, 2020

Paulo Chang is the Manager of the Precinct Operations Outreach/Training Division of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. He will discuss changes in the electoral process and what special concerns he has and steps are being taken for this November election.

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Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

Note: If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter 314247393 as the “meeting number” that you want to “join”.

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Facing the Upcoming Elections – Paulo Chang 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.

Review of the November 2020 California State Propositions

Alex Havasy

11 a.m., October 11, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

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At this Sunday’s Humanist (Online) Forum, Humanist Community member Alex Havasy will present summaries of the 2020 California State Propositions that will be on the November ballot.

This will be a short (1 hour) Forum so that people can take part in the California Freethought Day 2020 online Meetup event at noon.

Due to the short schedule we may not have time to cover all the propositions in detail. But bring your questions and concerns about specific propositions so that we can discuss them.

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Review of the November 2020 California State Propositions – Alex Havasy 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.

Why Kitzmiller v Dover should be remembered 15 years later

Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.

11 a.m., October 4, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

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Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D., will be presenting this online Forum on the topic of:

“Why Kitzmiller v Dover should be remembered 15 years later”

Kitzmiller vs Dover was a federal district court trial in 2005 over the legality of a small Pennsylvania town’s requirement of the teaching of “intelligent design theory” (ID). The judge ruled that ID was a form of creationism, violated the First Amendment, and was therefore illegal to advocate in the public school classroom. Had the decision gone the other way, the consequences would have been profound. That creationism lost in Dover means that many battles over legislation, state science standards, and local and state educational policies were very different during the last 15 years. Unfortunately, the politicization of science education continues.

Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.

Dr. Eugenie C. Scott is the former Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc., a not for profit membership organization of scientists, teachers, and others that works to improve the teaching of science as a way of knowing, the teaching of evolution, and the teaching of climate change. A former college professor, Dr. Scott is an internationally-known expert on the creationism and evolution controversy and science denialism, and is called upon by the press and other media to explain science to the general public. The author of Evolution vs Creationism: An Introduction and co-editor with Glenn Branch of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for our Schools, she is the recipient of numerous awards from scientists and educators, and has been awarded ten honorary degrees. Asteroid 249540 Eugeniescott was named for her in 2014.

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Why Kitzmiller v Dover Should Be Remembered 15 Years Later – Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D. 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.

Race, Police, and Prisons: The American Gulag

Dr. Sharat G. Lin

11 a.m., September 13, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

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This online Forum will be on the topic of:

“Race, Police, and Prisons: The American Gulag”

The mass protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd are the culmination of years of police killings of unarmed black and brown people caught on video progressively etching new levels of consciousness about the problems of institutionalized racism, militarized policing, punitive incarceration, and the immigration detention system. This is the U.S. norm, but it is not normal around the world. Dr. Sharat G. Lin discusses other models of criminal justice, how we got here, what needs to change, and his own arrest.

Dr. Lin is with the San José Peace and Justice Center, Human Agenda, Initiative for Equality, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Committee. He writes and lectures on global political economy, labor migration, social movements, and public health. He was responsible for successfully pressuring the San José Police Department to abolish its arbitrary checkpoints solely during Cinco de Mayo. He has observed different police practices around the world.

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Race, Police, and Prisons: The American Gulag – Dr. Sharat G. Lin 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.