Not sure I understand. Do you mean, "Where do we all think the misguided masses who dictate public policy will go next?"

Sean,

That's certainly one issue. The big picture issue may be as we push forward with technology and willingly surrender our autonomy to a collective intelligence are we, the enlightened, not on some parallel path as the "unenlightened"? What will be our answer to Insha'Allah - If the Internet wills? Which leads to the next question, who will be leveraging this power and how is it already affecting us?

Surrendering to an Internet-based collective intelligence makes you enlightened? Do tell. :)

Would love to talk about this sacred cow, and I suspect there's less agreement than you imagine on where it's going and what the barn is.

Lawrence,

I couldn't agree more on their being less agreement. I would really like to hear from a very diverse but passionate panel of where we are and where we are going.

Okay I'm intrigued beyond my usual level of dogma-dismissal. When you start talking enlightenment and species-merging collectivity, you are really touching on the Evolution of Human Consciousness. I recommend the organizers invite William Irwin Thompson back to town to spearhead this one.

I changed the location to Meetup HQ

I changed the date and time to Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 7:00 PM

ah, i really wish i could make it for this one!

Any chance you guys could change the date? We've been planning a meetup on the Future of Activism for that same date & already confirmed the venue at 92Y in Tribeca & several panelists, including Jacob Colker & Ben Rigby, Co-founders of the Extraordinaries/Sparked.com (a micro-volunteering network), Emily Jacobi Co-Founder/Director of Digital Democracy, and even a teen activist from Global Potential! could you switch the date so it doesn't conflict, as both meetups would be v interesting to have

As someone who maintains a private archive of papers about Judaism and the internet - who is speaking? And are we talking about sociological religious practices or the idea of belief (these can be very distinct)

And is this a panel? A discussion? A collaborative conversation?

I changed the date and time from Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 7:00 PM to Tuesday, March 08, 2011 at 7:00 PM

changed the date because it conflicted with y30's "future of activism" meetup. we'll make this meetup a group discussion (we'll go around for everyone to share a quick "Why You Came, Why You're Interested") -- with a couple 5minute conversation-starter talks (post here if you'd like to do one of those)

I have to bow out, prior engagement. That and I would have preferred a more structured environment.

Me: Consilientist|Futurist. I'll do one on the Neuroscience of Religiosity: how our brains create mythology to simultaneously (1) explain what we perceive but don't understand and (2) deal with our cognitive dissonance over personal mortality - with a quick quote by Seneca for a political bent. (Yep, I can do this in five overview-style minutes.)

I changed the date and time from Tuesday, March 08, 2011 at 7:00 PM to Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 7:00 PM

apologies for the date changes, we are now final & confirmed for tues 3/22 7pm!

For anyone who might be interested - this is a link to a very good article by Tamas Pataki, honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne. The article is THE VIRTUES OF ATHEISM AND THE VICES OF RELIGION and was posted here, <http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/03/01/315199... in early March. It's a great overview.

your assignment for this meetup:
fill in the blank: "i predict that in the year 2041, religion will be _____________."
this meetup will be about SPECIFIC PREDICTIONS for what religion will be in 30 years (2041). stand up and say it, take as little as 10 seconds, or as long as 3 minutes. crazy stupid predictions are welcome.

"extremely divisive"

-- really sorry to be missing this, it sounds great

obsolesced through accelerated evolution, synthetic and molecular biology, nanoepigenetcs, quantum neurobiology, and exocortical cognition

Awesome, Stuart, but religion isn't about determinism, and microscience doesn't seem to address the things which make people religious/spiritual in the first place. Exocortical cognition? You mean like when plants feel fear?

I'll be happy to discuss this with you once you do a modicum of research to understand the terms you're opining so incorrectly about.

PS. Microscience? That one's all yours, bubba.

I have not actually read the study but it seems certain countries like Canada, Finland, Ireland and a few others are on a faster track towards being without religion, at least according to census data.
http://bit.ly/hMTCse

a few notes for 7pm.....
1. prep your prediction! "i predict that in the year 2041, religion will be _____________." (tip: start with *any* prediction about 2041 (politics, technology, ?) and say how that will affect religion)
2. b.y.o.whatever (there'll be water, but nothing else)
3. if you'd like a tour of meetup hq, come to the 10th fl at 6:50pm

Scott - Thanks for MCing an excellent meeting. It was an interesting and wide ranging discussion. Very enjoyable.

Raymond - I don't think we were at the same meeting. My perceptions were wholly different.

Thanks for sharing everyone. Some mentioned books and I didn't write down the titles. If you could, please write here the titles of the books and why you enjoyed them. I look forward to learning from them. Thanks in advance