Category: Video+discussion

How AI Could Save Education

Sal Kahn

A video of Sal Kahn

11 a.m., June 4, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we will watch a 15-minute TED talk of Sal Khan, of Kahn Academy, on How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Education. It’s a demonstration of how AI can be used, different from the end-of-the-world warnings we’ve been hearing.

Artificial intelligence could spark the greatest positive transformation education has ever seen. This video shows the opportunities for students and educators to collaborate with AI tools — including the potential of a personal AI tutor for every student and an AI teaching assistant for every teacher.

You can view this video here.

Salman “Sal” Amin Khan is an American educator and the founder of Khan Academy, a free online non-profit educational platform with which he has produced over 6,500 video lessons teaching a wide spectrum of academic subjects, originally focusing on mathematics and science.

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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 smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
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You can find international phone numbers to call here.

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America’s Great Divide: Megyn Kelly Interview

Megyn Kelly

A video of an interview of Megyn Kelly

11 a.m., May 28, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we will watch a 43-minute video interview with conservative news commentator Megyn Kelly conducted by Frontline’s Michael Kirk on October 3 2019.

In it Kelly gives a surprisingly candid and nonjudgmental review of what divides America and the appeal and judgment of both Barak Obama and Donald Trump. Preview the 43-minute recording here.

Kelly earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Albany Law School in 1995 and became an associate attorney in the Chicago office of law firm Bickel & Brewer LLP. In 2003, Kelly moved to Washington, D.C., where she was hired by the ABC affiliate WJLA TV as a general assignment reporter and in 2004 moved to FOX News where she hosted or appeared on several news commentary shows. In 2017 she moved to NBC with her own show. After leaving NBC, Kelly launched a media production company with her podcast The Megyn Kelly Show.

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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 smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
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Forrest Valkai

A video of a talk by Forrest Valkai

11 a.m., May 21, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we will watch an entertaining 30-minute video in which renegade science teacher, Forrest Valkai discusses what defines sex in the plant and animal kingdoms and in individual members of a species. He covers the genetic and physical variations and how difficult it can be to define the sex of anyone.

Forrest holds degrees in education and integrative biology, teaches science to over 800,000 followers on the internet, and is an incredibly bad dancer.

Forrest can be found on YouTube and TikTok and is a regular host on shows such as SkepTalk and The Atheist Experience. He is proud to have built a career teaching people to love science and themselves and encouraging everyone to never stop learning!

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

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 smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

The Choreography of Attention

Apollo Robbins

Two videos of talks by Apollo Robbins

11 a.m., April 16, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

Today we will watch two short videos of Apollo Robbins, a pickpocket and entertainer. In the first video, he will demonstrate his amazing talent. In the second, he will show and explain how he accomplishes his feats.

Apollo Robbins is a peculiar variety-arts hybrid, known in the trade as a theatrical pickpocket. Among his peers, he is widely considered the best in the world at what he does, which is taking things from people’s jackets, pants, purses, wrists, fingers, and necks, then returning them in amusing and mind-boggling ways. Robbins works smoothly and invisibly, with a charm that belies his talent for larceny. One senses that he would prosper on either side of the law.

“My goal isn’t to hurt them or to bewilder them with a puzzle,” he says “but to challenge their maps of reality.”

Recently, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and the military have studied his methods for what they reveal about the nature of human attention.
You can watch these videos at
www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirection
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoUSO_Mj1TQ.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

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 smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
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Putting People in Solitary is Torture, So Let’s Stop

(Portrait by Neil Grabowsky / Montclair Film Festival, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53339001)

A video of a talk by John Oliver

11 a.m., April 09, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we will discuss a 20-minute video from a recent broadcast of John Oliver’s TV show, Last Week Tonight, on solitary confinement in prison.
In 2011, the UN declared solitary confinement to be a form of torture due to its physical toll and mental anguish, and called on all countries to abolish indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days. Yet the practice still continues in the U.S. today on a large scale.
John goes into the practice and the harmful effects of solitary confinement on the victims and on the detriment effects on prison order.
WARNING: John Oliver uses ridicule and crude language to emphasize what he says. Be prepared for frequent “F-bombs”.
John Oliver is a British-American comedian, writer, political commentator, actor, and TV host. He has won fourteen Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and was included in the 2015 Time 100. He tackles important issues thoughtfully, without fear or apology.
You can preview this video here.

If you attend in person, COVID protocols will be followed. Vaccinations and masks will be required. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom (see below).

———-

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 smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our Twitter announcement here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar