Connections Humanist Community

What do you believe in? What is most important to you? What do you hold onto in the core of your being? This week we will be discussing values, the beliefs, morals and ideas which form the basis of who we are. Can we find meaningful values to live by? Can anyone really live up to their values? Join us to talk about it.

This event is brought to you by the Free Thinker Institute (FTI), a not-for-profit looking to support and empower personal development for its members. The FTI focuses on transformational development for anyone interested, both personally and professionally, organizing a free event every Tuesday to discuss ways to transform wisdom into practical applications that benefit our lives, covering topics widely ranging from professional subjects to spiritual ones. (http://freethinkerinstitute.org)

When I was young, the idea that aliens existed was considered crazy. There were stories about people who had been abducted by aliens, but everyone figured they were just people crying for attention. I started thinking about this… And actually, with the vastness of the known universe, it seems highly unlikely to me that we’re the only life in the entire universe. That would be an oddity for us to be the single planet that has life out of over 100 Billion planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone, let alone the entire known universe. Add to that the release of US government footage of objects flying faster than anything we know that exists can fly, and it seems that not only do aliens exist, they could actually have contact with us here on earth. Don’t worry; I don’t think they’re going to take over. Anything that advanced that wanted to simply conquer us would have already done so.

Host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (PlateRate.com is his company). His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.

To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctdumvqD0pGdwrfItiS7nD_nDTjsYcjOz6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

By attending this event, I allow Free Thinker Institute (FTI) to use all Zoom recordings for educational and business purposes and in addition agree not to sue the FTI for any claims or liability.

This event is brought to you by the Free Thinker Institute (FTI), a not-for-profit looking to support and empower personal development for its members. The FTI focuses on transformational development for anyone interested, both personally and professionally, organizing a free event every Tuesday to discuss ways to transform wisdom into practical applications that benefit our lives, covering topics widely ranging from professional subjects to spiritual ones. (http://freethinkerinstitute.org)

ChatGPT has brought about a revolution in the way knowledge and even wisdom is acquired. It’s an extremely valuable tool. Will it create widespread unemployment as critics argue? Or will it help add significant economic value that helps everyone make more money and do less tedious tasks? What skills are needed for this new era that we’re entering? Let’s also talk about whether there’s a “going too far” in the direction of using AI - and discuss the possibility of Pseudo-sentient AI, which is an AI that sees itself as an actual being. You can read my essay on why I’m against building Pseudo-sentient AI here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mIFA_Faw6B1O60UGoXLSYVEYS5QiZWJzMxGYW4Fuc4Y/edit#heading=h.u3uw87wqvx32

Format: Lecture and discussion
Note: social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.

Host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (PlateRate.com is his company). His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.

To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctdumvqD0pGdwrfItiS7nD_nDTjsYcjOz6
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

By attending this event, I allow Free Thinker Institute (FTI) to use all Zoom recordings for educational and business purposes and in addition agree not to sue the FTI for any claims or liability.