What we’re about
This is a group for those in the Sacramento area who like to discuss politics and philosophy. We have all had different experiences in life, but we always find that political issues are very relevant to our lives and we want to discuss these issues with others. These days, political discussions are sometimes constructive, but unfortunately they often become hostile when people with differing views are in the same room. It is important for us all to hear views other than our own from time to time, and there has to be a way to have honest, thoughtful discussions on issues important to our lives while keeping the discussion calm and polite. In this discussion group, we try to avoid being overly biased when presenting opinions and we will also work to avoid use of fallacies in making points. We expect that there will be differences of opinion, but as long as we keep a philosophical mindset these discussions should not descend into hostility. Many of us also like to discuss philosophical topics and we will have time for this as well and we will probably find that most philosophical concepts have real-world applications, including political. So this discussion group will hover between these two subjects, and we might even at times focus on other subjects as well.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- What is Collective Intelligence?Old Soul at The Weatherstone, Sacramento, CA
Ideas and theories of collective intelligence have been around for sometime. These days, many are considering how AI and human collective intelligence can work together (some call this cooperative intelligence). In this session, we are going to leave the machines out of this, for now. Later in May, we may look at the role of AI and how it augments human intelligence which is a huge topic.
So, before we get excited about machines, we want to look more closely at how human collective intelligence works - or at least how we all imagine it works. As an example of a mechanism, we will look at Theory U developed by Otto Scharmer from MIT.
Here are some links that may help to explain collective intelligence and some of the mechanisms for evoking such intelligence and wisdom:
MIT Handbook of Collective Intelligence
An interesting summary of collective intelligence
Otto Scharmer on Levels of Listening (video)
Otto Scharmer - Example of Orchestra (video)
A good Medium article on Theory U
The Beauty of Collective Intelligence by Michael Levin (video)