What we’re about
Meet other local Humanists, people who believe in the basic goodness of the human spirit without supernaturalism.
The Washington Area Secular Humanists (WASH) was incorporated in 1989 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization in Maryland. Our purpose is to promote scientific literacy and critical thinking, to provide a forum for humanists and others to explore humanist principles and how they relate to all aspects of human experience, and to study the significance of humanism throughout history. Secular humanists are distinguished by an emphasis on scientific methods of knowing, separation of church and state, and a commitment to the pursuit of humanist goals outside religious frameworks.
WASH has several active Chapters from Roanoke, VA to Baltimore, MD.
WASH is a Cooperating Local Group of the Council for Secular Humanism, a Chapter of the American Humanist Association, and an affiliate of American Atheists and an endorsing group of The Secular Coalition of America.
While being a member of the WASH meetup group is free please consider joining as a member of WASH to help support our activities.
http://www.wash.org/join
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http://www.facebook.com/wash89
Upcoming events (2)
See all- Secular Zoom CommunityLink visible for attendees
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Our meetings have become a target for organized zoom bombing. Our major topic of discussion has been Christian nationalism and its hideous impacts across America. They have good reason to try to force us to stop our meetings. This requires us to work to preclude militant religious extremists from wrecking our meetings. A zoom waiting room may be required with only previously vetted members and regular attendees admitted.We will only post the zoom link to this meetup event, if we have not delivered it directly with email or direct personal meetup messaging to enough trusted attendees.
I use the email: don1wharton (at) outlook (dot) com for social media. Please email the following:
Name:
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Specify that you are RSVPing for this meeting only
if you do not want to receive future zoom invites.
--People can UNSUBSCRIBE by replying to a future zoom invite with UNSUB in the subject line.If you are a first time attendee, please share prior secular activities or cite your prior secular meetup attendance (making sure it is visible for us to confirm it) or arrange for a brief phone or zoom interview at a time of your convenience. This should insure enjoyable meetings.
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There are a lot of Supreme Court cases of secular interest that have been determined or will be determined this session. We can briefly review that list of cases and discuss their implications. Samual Alito’s homes have been documented as flying flags symbolically supporting the January 6, 2020 insurrection. There are a number of cases that should have his recusal given that possible bias. Many of these cases could bind our nation into rules consistent with Christian nationalism. A recent finding can be interpreted as explicit instructions on how to justify racist gerrymandering.24 states have now outlawed transition medical services for trans minors. An AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) report gives much detail about the havoc these laws create. Read it here. Quote, “transgender youth who received puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones were 73% less likely to consider suicide than those who did not.”
Louisiana recently made it a felony, with a five year prison penalty, to possess the two most used abortion drugs while not having a prescription for them. These are among the safest drugs ever certified by the FDA. However, this law will deem them to be dangerous and controlled substances. This will mandate that these drugs be locked up and an audit trail of all use could be available to prosecute any legal misuse. This will make it much more cumbersome to use these drugs for routine, non-abortion related problems. This is only one of a great many legal efforts to preclude women’s bodily autonomy.
AI, artificial intelligence, will transform everything in human society. Our efforts to talk on this last month was aborted by the zoom bombing. We hope to have much time to review the technology and its implication with our June meeting.
- From Bacteria to Bach and Back - Part 113 Atwell Ct, Potomac, MD
For our Summer book club we will read and talk about the first half of From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds by Daniel C. Dennett. The meeting is in-person and will be at the host's house in Potomac MD. Light snacks will be served.
In many ways, this is a summary of then Dennett's life work and explores the deep interactions of evolution, brains,cognition and human culture. It includes discussion of:
What is human consciousness and how is it possible?
To do this he buids a perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, "Part philosophical whodunit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett's legendary career at the forefront of philosophical thought."
We see no only Dennett's style, but his wit and insighful thought experiments.
" Dennett shows how culture enables reflection by installing a bounty of thinking tools, or memes, in our brains. Language, itself composed of memes, turbocharged this interplay. The result, a mind that can comprehend the questions it poses, emerges from a process of cultural evolution. "
The part one discussion will be lead by Cogntive Psychologist and WASH chapter leader Gary Berg-Cross.People may get a sense of the material from this video.
Chater 1 https://youtu.be/SwVGEg-kKKwMore of the range of thought in a talk at Google:
https://youtu.be/IZefk4gzQt4Topics in this discussion will include:
- What he mans by turning our world upside down.
- Introduction ; Before bacteria and Bach ;
- On the origin of reasons (in Biology and Philosophy) ;
- Two strange inversions of reasoning ;
- The evolution of understanding
- From evolution to intelligent design.
- What is information? ;
- Darwinian spaces: an interlude ;
- Brains made of brains
For people reading the book we would hope to cover up to about page 200.
Part I
TURNING OUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
1. Introduction
Welcome to the jungle 3
A bird's-eye view of the journey 6
The Cartesian wound 13
Cartesian gravity 16
2. Before Bacteria and Bach
Why Bach? 23
How investigating the prebiotic world is like playing chess 26
3. On the Origin of Reasons
The death or rebirth of teleology? 33
Different senses of "why" 38
The evolution of "why": from how come to what for 40
Go forth and multiply 434. Two Strange Inversions of Reasoning
How Darwin and Turing broke a spell S3
Ontology and the manifest image 60
Automating the elevator 63
The intelligent designers of Oak Ridge and GOFAI 70
5. The Evolution of Understanding
Animals designed to deal with affordances 76
Higher animals as intentional systems: the emergence
of comprehension 84
Comprehension comes in degrees 94
Pa rt II
FROM EVOLUTION TO
INTELLIGENT DESIGN
6. What Is Information?
Welcome to the Information Age 105
How can we characterize semantic information? 113
Trade secrets, patents, copyright. and Bird's influence
on bebop 128
7. Darwinian Spaces: An Interlude
A new tool for thinking about evolution 137
Cultural evolution: inverting a Darwinian Space 146
8. Brains Made of Brains
Top-down computers and bottom-up brains 150
Competition and coalition in the brain 154
Neurons, mules, and termites 160
How do brains pick up affordances? 165
Feral neurons? 171
9. The Role of Words in Cultural Evolution
The evolution of words 176
Looking more closely at words 182
How do words reproduce? 190 to about 200