Humanist Community in Silicon Valley

 
 
 

We are meeting online via Zoom and in person at the Sunnyvale Public Library as a Hybrid Zoom meeting. If you wish to join us, please sign up for the meeting, and the zoom link will be available on the right panel.

NEW BOOK THIS WEEK
"The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations", by Ian Morris, 2014, 235 pages

Using a groundbreaking numerical index of social development that compares societies in different times and places, award-winning author Ian Morris sets forth a sweeping examination of Eastern and Western development across 15,000 years since the end of the last ice age. He offers surprising conclusions about when and why the West came to dominate the world and fresh perspectives for thinking about the twenty-first century.

Adapting the United Nations' approach for measuring human development, Morris's index breaks social development into four traits―energy capture per capita, organization, information technology, and war-making capacity―and he uses archaeological, historical, and current government data to quantify patterns.

Resolving some of the biggest debates in global history, The Measure of Civilization puts forth innovative tools for determining past, present, and future economic and social trends.

Readings this week:
3 May - Freethought Discussion, Bring topics you wish to discuss
17 May - Readings, finish Chapter 4., "Social Organizaton", last half of the Chapter

Learn more about our Group:
Webpage: humanists.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HumanistCommSV

 
 
 

Because of the Corona Virus "Shelter in Place" situation, we are meeting online via Zoom. If you wish to join us, please sign up for the meeting, and the zoom link will be available on the right panel.

CURRENT BOOK

Survive: Why We Do What We Do, by Jerry Pannone, 2022
Although the concept of survival is evident in a biological sense, it expands far beyond simple physical survival for the human being. The questions of psychological, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual survival, as well as the overriding question of identity all play a role. Who is the “me” that is fighting to survive? That is the existential question we struggle consciously or unconsciously to address.
We’re coming to understand that life on this world is that of an extended family, not just from a human perspective, but from all manner and form of sentient organisms. The purpose of Survive is not to enumerate the processes of every kind of life up the evolutionary tree, from bacteria to humans, but to look for the common denominators on that tree and to explore what motivators of all life forms share with greater emphasis placed on primates in general, but humans in particular throughout the journey of this book.

Readings this week:
24 May - Readings, Chapter 4., "Social Organization", about 28 pages over one week
5 Apr - Freethought Discussion, Bring topics you wish to discuss

Learn more about the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley here:
Website: http://www.humanists.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HumanistCommSV

 
 
 

Because of the Corona Virus "Shelter in Place" situation, we are meeting online via Zoom. If you wish to join us, please sign up for the meeting, and the zoom link will be available on the right panel.

This Week: These are videos that we watch and discuss:
These videos are part of classes on the economy taught by Robert Reich at the University of California, Berkeley. These are annotated and created with a live audience.

This week we will be watching and discussing:
18 May - Class 10: “Public Assistance for the Poor” by UC Berkeley Professor Reich (2022)

Join us in viewing videos and discussing them afterward.
For other information on the current video, please see:
http://www.humanists.org/blog/academic-videos/s/

Again, if you wish to join us, please sign up for the meeting, and the zoom link will be available on the right panel.

 
 
 

Description of Talk: Many of us feel that our democracy is in danger, but this is probably not the first time. What can we learn from history? What is different this time? And most importantly, what can we do, individually and collectively, to save and improve democracy?

Our speaker, Michael Abramson, will provide an overview of theories and models of political change. His slides are here: Political Dynamics and the Future of Democracy. It’s a work in progress; they will likely change before, during, and after our discussion. They already included comments from a recent discussion of this topic at humanists@UUCPA, and your discussion comments and ideas will be incorporated as well. As a result, it will be a summary of our collaborative deliberation, not just the presenter's point of view.
Feel free to review the slides by clicking the link above and explore the references that you find interesting. Such pre-meeting research will only enrich our discussion.

Speaker's bio: Michael's area of expertise is system modeling and simulation. Most of his work was related to technical and engineering applications, ranging from electromagnetics and radiation transfer to fluid and gas flows and air traffic control systems. He also had a few publications on modeling social and political dynamics closely related to the current topic.

Michael currently works as a contractor for NASA and lives in Mountain View with his wife and close to their children's families.

Attend in Person:
You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists in the Maple Room of the Mountain View Community Center at 201 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch. 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.