Victoria Secular Humanist Association

2017 VSHA Winter Solstice Party Wednesday, December 20, 4:30 pm 8:30 pm James Bay New Horizons,... 234 Menzies, James Bay This will be a pot luck dinner : please bring your favourite dish (hot or cold) main course or dessert. Beverages : please bring your own; we will have a liquor licence for BYOB Dishes and cutlery : please bring your own to minimize cleanup. The kitchen on site will be available to warm items up but not to prepare them from scratch. Please come early and socialize. Dinner will begin shortly after 5:00 o'clock.

The Humanist Café Wednesday, December 6, 7:00 to 8:30 pm James Bay New Horizons 234 Menzies Street James Bay... Topic: Futurology: Identifying The Trends - Expanding The Imagination Moderator: John Pope The solstice season is that time of year we use for reflection, but also a time when we have hopes for the future. Let's all take an imaginative look at that future, the hopes as well as the fears, and share our thoughts about what is to come. Future studies or Futurology is the study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. Here is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_studies Also: The World Futures Studies Federation - https://www.wfsf.org/ **************** Questions: What kind of a world will your great-grandchildren be living in? How often do you think about the long-term future of civilization? What are you personally doing now to improve the lives of you great-grandchildren? What are nations around the world doing now to improve the lives of our great-grandchildren? If we do not expect to ever have grandchildren, should we care about the long-term future at all? Why or why not? ******************** Some interesting links to twig the imagination: Artists' rendering of future worlds - https://www.google.ca/search "Having machines carry out cognitive functions on our behalf raises the fatalistic and depressing prospect that we simply won’t need to think anymore. Machines will know our needs and wants better than ourselves." - http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/enough-of-the-s//2641397 Human brains to connect to cloud storage! Mini human brains implanted in rodents! Psychologists study moral intuition https://philosophynow.org//123/News_December_2017_January_ Accelerationism: "Accelerationists argue that technology, particularly computer technology, and capitalism, particularly the most aggressive, global variety, should be massively sped up and intensified either because this is the best way forward for humanity, or because there is no alternative. Accelerationists favour automation. They favour the further merging of the digital and the human. They often favour the deregulation of business, and drastically scaled-back government. They believe that people should stop deluding themselves that economic and technological progress can be controlled. They often believe that social and political upheaval has a value in itself." https://www.theguardian.com//accelerationism-how-a-fringe- "...robot automation will "take 800 million jobs by 2030." "In about 60 percent of occupations, at least one-third of work activities could be automated. https://www.opposingviews.com//robot-automation-will-take- See you there! Bring a new friend www.vsha.ca

VSHA Sunday Morning Talk Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 10:00 AM Cedar Hill Rec Centre, Finlayson & Cedar Hill Road... Topic: The History of Freethought in BC Dr. Lynne Marks, History, UVic From the 1850s to just before World War I, freethought became increasingly popular in BC, in part as a reaction to the power of the religious establishment.

VSHA Sunday Morning Talk Sunday, November 19, at 10:00 AM Cedar Hill Rec Centre, Finlayson & Cedar Hill Road... Topic: Bertrand Russell and the Development of Respect for Humanism Speaker: Robert Light, MFA, VP VSHA During the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th Century, Bertrand Russell had a major impact in creating respect for principled non-religious thinking.

The Humanist Café Wednesday, November 15, 7:00 to 8:30 pm James Bay New Horizons 234 Menzies Street James Bay...Continue reading