About us
(Update: This group is transitioning to a new location. In the meantime check out the Toronto Philosophy Meetup for daily events, both online and in person!)
This group is being rebooted! Here we facilitate casual, good-natured conversations on anything under the sun that's of interest to members, including social and political issues, current events, local culture, international culture, ideas, books, music, art, movies, television, hobbies, sports, and more.
Our members come from around the world.
We meet in person and online!
Anyone is welcomed to start a conversation here, big or small, light or serious! Collaborations with other groups are also welcome.
Why "Reboot"?
Many years ago this was a reading and conversation group (Read Out Loud Toronto) that was improperly converted to a real estate group by someone who took over. This was against Meetup rules.
Since that individual has left, I want to restore this group to something like its original purpose. If you have any further ideas for the group please send them my way or leave a comment below!
In the meantime check out the Toronto Philosophy Meetup for daily events, both online and in person! - https://www.meetup.com/The-Toronto-Philosophy-Meetup/
Featured event
Movie Discussion – On the Waterfront (1954) by Elia Kazan
With his unparalleled sensitivity to actors, Elia Kazan, America’s leading theater director at the time, brought a new level of realism to American film in this study of working-class life. A raggedly emotional tale of individual failure and social corruption, Marlon Brando gives the performance of his career as the tough prizefighter-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy. The film follows his deepening moral crisis as he must decide whether to remain loyal to the mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly and Johnny’s right-hand man, Terry’s brother Charley, as the authorities close in on them. Driven by the vivid, naturalistic direction of Kazan and savory, streetwise dialogue by Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront was an instant sensation, winning eight Oscars, including for best picture, director, actor, supporting actress, and screenplay.
"Indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished. Even more today than half a century ago, it demands to be seen." (Los Angeles Times)
"A masterpiece of urban poetry." (Criterion)
"Everything that we know about the power of great screen acting relates back to [Brando]: when you watch his work in On the Waterfront, you're watching the purest poetry imaginable, in dynamic motion." (Martin Scorcese)
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Join the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to discuss the American classic On the Waterfront (1954) directed by the great theater director Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando in a famed groundbreaking performance. The film was recently voted the 290th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of filmmakers and ranked the 204th greatest movie of all time according to a meta-analysis by TheyShootPictures.
Please watch the movie in advance (108 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream it with a viewing link to be posted on the main event listing here.
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We'll be joined by many other participants from the Toronto Philosophy Meetup at this meeting — https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/events/314468755/
Check out other movie discussions in the group, currently happening about 2 or 3 times a month.
This link here is a spreadsheet of the 150+ movies we've watched in this group and my ratings for each. You're invited to share your ratings too if you've watched a bunch of these movies with us. (I can add your list here if you send me a link. You can make your own list on sites like Letterboxd or by copying my spreadsheet and filling in your own values. Note that my list doesn't include every movie that Yorgo hosted on cause I didn't watch all of them.)
Upcoming events
33
Movie Discussion – On the Waterfront (1954) by Elia Kazan
·OnlineOnlineWith his unparalleled sensitivity to actors, Elia Kazan, America’s leading theater director at the time, brought a new level of realism to American film in this study of working-class life. A raggedly emotional tale of individual failure and social corruption, Marlon Brando gives the performance of his career as the tough prizefighter-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy. The film follows his deepening moral crisis as he must decide whether to remain loyal to the mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly and Johnny’s right-hand man, Terry’s brother Charley, as the authorities close in on them. Driven by the vivid, naturalistic direction of Kazan and savory, streetwise dialogue by Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront was an instant sensation, winning eight Oscars, including for best picture, director, actor, supporting actress, and screenplay.
"Indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished. Even more today than half a century ago, it demands to be seen." (Los Angeles Times)
"A masterpiece of urban poetry." (Criterion)
"Everything that we know about the power of great screen acting relates back to [Brando]: when you watch his work in On the Waterfront, you're watching the purest poetry imaginable, in dynamic motion." (Martin Scorcese)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to discuss the American classic On the Waterfront (1954) directed by the great theater director Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando in a famed groundbreaking performance. The film was recently voted the 290th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of filmmakers and ranked the 204th greatest movie of all time according to a meta-analysis by TheyShootPictures.
Please watch the movie in advance (108 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream it with a viewing link to be posted on the main event listing here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We'll be joined by many other participants from the Toronto Philosophy Meetup at this meeting — https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/events/314468755/
Check out other movie discussions in the group, currently happening about 2 or 3 times a month.
This link here is a spreadsheet of the 150+ movies we've watched in this group and my ratings for each. You're invited to share your ratings too if you've watched a bunch of these movies with us. (I can add your list here if you send me a link. You can make your own list on sites like Letterboxd or by copying my spreadsheet and filling in your own values. Note that my list doesn't include every movie that Yorgo hosted on cause I didn't watch all of them.)
2 attendees
FTI: Can government-funded childcare actually pay for itself?
·OnlineOnlineThis event explores a question that cuts across politics:
Can government-funded childcare actually pay for itself?
Recent data from places like Quebec suggests that large-scale childcare programs may not just reduce poverty—they may generate enough economic activity to offset their costs. Similar conversations are now emerging in parts of the United States.
But interpretations of these results vary widely depending on political perspective.In this discussion, we’ll bring together different viewpoints (including Trump-aligned and non-Trump perspectives) to explore:
- Does subsidized childcare create real economic return, or hidden costs?
- What assumptions are built into the “it pays for itself” argument?
- How should we think about government’s role in family support?
- What trade-offs are we not talking about?
This is not a debate for soundbites. The goal is a thoughtful, fact-based conversation where people engage with the data—and each other—honestly.
Come prepared to listen, challenge ideas, and think critically.A little about our 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 (FreeThinkerInstitute.org), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.Format:
Lecture and discussionNote:
Social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.
To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg
After registering via zoom, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.We publish our event recordings on our Youtube channel to offer our help to anyone who would like to but can’t attend the meeting, so we need to give this clause. If you don’t want to be recorded, just remain on mute and keep your video off.
Here’s our legal notice:
For valuable consideration received, by joining this event I hereby grant Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns, the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish any and all Zoom recordings for trade, advertising and any other commercial purpose, and to alter the same without any restriction. I hereby release Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability related to said video recordings.1 attendee
Whalefall - Daniel Kraus
·OnlineOnlineThis meetup is hosted by Wisdom and Woe. For more details and to sign up for this event, go to: https://www.meetup.com/wisdom-and-woe/events/297615218
Jay Gardiner is a 17-year-old scuba diver on a mission: to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. His dive begins well enough, until the sudden appearance of a giant squid and a sperm whale intent on devouring it. Jay becomes entangled in the chase, gets drawn into the whale's mouth, and swallowed into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out--one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.
Whalefall (Daniel Kraus, 2023) is a story of family, grief, and self-discovery. The book opens with a quote from Herman Melville, and the first reference to a whale's fluke, like "a comma in a sentence so large only gods can read it," reinforces the tone. This is a story that takes you somewhere unexpected and much deeper than any ocean depth. It is part Biblical allegory, the Old Testament theme retold in a contemporary setting.
A movie adaptation of Whalefall is currently in production and set to be released in October, 2026. Daniel Kraus is also co-author (with Guillermo del Toro) of the novelization of another ocean-based adventure, The Shape of Water.
Wisdom and Woe is a philosophy and literature discussion group dedicated to exploring the world, work, life, and times of Herman Melville and the 19th century Romantic movement. The group is free and open to anybody with an interest in learning and growing by "diving deeper" into "time and eternity, things of this world and of the next, and books, and publishers, and all possible and impossible matters."
1 attendee
Past events
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