Video+discussion

Climate Change: Why Facts Don’t Matter

A video by WISECRACK about Climate Change

11 a.m., September 10, 2023

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This Sunday we will discuss a “Climate Change: Why Facts Don’t Matter,” a video that examines why climate change denialism survives in the face of overwhelming evidence. It covers many of the attempts to falsify data about the greenhouse effect and global warming, and create the illusion that there is doubt among those who have studied it.
This video is produced by WISECRACK, sponsored by Curiosity Stream, and hosted by Helen Floersh .
WISECRACK is a collective of academics, filmmakers, artists and pop-culture junkies who are curious about the world and explore big ideas like philosophy and critical thinking.
Curiosity Stream is an American media company and subscription video streaming service that offers documentary programming including films, series, and TV shows.

You can preview this 22-minute video at https://youtu.be/MMCL_ooDWJ0?si=XRD6Q0GO2aJn44hU

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Hot or Not: Steven Koonin Questions Conventional Climate Science and Methodology

A video about Hot or Not: Steven Koonin Questions Conventional Climate Science and Methodology

11 a.m., September 3, 2023

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This Sunday we will watch and discuss a video from Uncommon Knowledge from the Hoover Institution about “Hot or Not: Steven Koonin Questions Conventional Climate Science and Methodology.”

“In this wide-ranging discussion, based in part on his 2021 book,Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters, Koonin gives a more refined look at the science behind the climate issue than the media typically offers, guiding us through the evidence and its implications. As Koonin explains in this interview, he was “shaken by the realization that climate science was far less mature than I had supposed” and that the “overwhelming evidence” of catastrophic implications of anthropogenic global warming wasn’t so overwhelming after all.”

You can preview this 55-minute video at https://www.hoover.org/research/hot-or-not-steven-koonin-questions-conventional-climate-science-and-methodology

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Critical Race Theory

Four videos about Critical Race Theory

11 a.m., August 27, 2023

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Critical Race Theory, CRT, has become a big issue in the culture war we keep hearing about. This Sunday we will look at what is CRT, what is taught and what should be taught in schools.

We start with a 6-minute video, “Critical race theory: Experts break down what it actually means” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svj_6w0EUz4).

In a 3-minute piece “What is critical Race Theory” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gdxrkwpPKc), Berkeley sociology professor Prudence Carter is interviewed on PBS NewsHour.

A 2-minute piece, ‘Critical Race Theory in Public Schools” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBzt6vhseww), by News2JAX, presents conflicting views on new rules proposed by Florida’s Board of Education.

Finally, “Should Critical Race Theory Be Taught in Schools?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwbK0qVjBsA) is a short, 17-minute segment from an introductory class on race and culture taught by Professor Sam Richards at Penn State University. “Dr. Richards reshaped a class on race relations, taking it from one of the least popular in the Liberal Arts College to one of the most popular courses campus-wide.” (Portrait by Ddiptee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=108961142)

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The Blind Spots of the Green Energy Transition

A video of Olivia Lazard

11 a.m., August 20, 2023

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The world needs clean energy, but de-carbonization calls for a massive increase in the mining and extraction of minerals like lithium, graphite and cobalt. Olivia Lazard, a fellow at Carnegie Europe, sheds light on the scramble for these mineral resources – and how the countries that control their supply chains could find themselves at the center of a new global stage. Lazard thinks planetary security depends on our ability to de-escalate resource competition.

Lazard’s research at Carnegie Europe focuses on the geopolitics of climate, the transition ushered in, and the risks of conflict and fragility associated with climate change and environment collapse. She has twelve years of experience in the peacemaking sector at field and policy levels.

She has worked for various NCOs, the UN, the EU, and states in the Middle East, Latin America, Sub-Saharan and North Africa, and parts of Asia. Her focus was to understand how globalization and the international political economy shaped patterns of violence and vulnerability patterns as well as formed new types of conflict systems that our international governance architecture has difficulty tackling.

You can preview this 18-minute video at https://www.ted.com/talks/olivia_lazard_the_blind_spots_of_the_green_energy_transition

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How Your Brain Invents Your “Self”

A video of Anil Seth

11 a.m., August 13, 2023

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Who are you, really? Neuroscientist Anil Seth lays out his fascinating new theory of consciousness and self, centered on the notion that we “predict” the world into existence. From sleep to memory and everything in between, Seth explores the reality we experience in our brains — versus the world as it objectively might be. (This talk and conversation, hosted by TED science curator David Biello, was part of a TED Membership event.

Seth is a professor at the University of Sussex, and co-director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Program on Brain, Mind, and Consciousness. Follow him on Twitter at @anilkseth, on Instagram at @profanilseth and visit his website at anilseth.com.

You can preview this video at https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_how_your_brain_invents_your_self

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