Astounding Science and Our Genetic Legacy

Wednesday 25^th October 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

With scientist Graham Marshall

The ancestor we share with chimpanzees lived around six million years ago, and we have lived as ‘modern’ humans for only a few hundred thousand years. For just a miniscule fraction of that latter time we have learned to use the scientific method to gain a better understanding of our history and the world around us, and it is easily forgotten that we were fashioned by evolution in small groups on the plains of Africa, and that our inner natures have not changed. Our improved evidence-based knowledge of who we are gives us the power to rise above our basic survival instincts of greed and fear, and the selfish programming of our genes, but can our predicted future population of around 10 billion humans, who have all evolved to be hunter gatherers, adapt quickly enough? Graham Marshall will be reviewing some of the most amazing scientific advances of the last 70 years and will consider how well our species is adapting to modern life in light of our genetic legacy.

Graham Marshall studied physics at Birmingham and Nottingham universities, and his career has included developing electronic devices at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern, and a scientific post at the British Embassy in Japan.

“Join us for a stimulating review of the most important recent scientific advances and a thoughtful examination of the impact of our genetic legacy”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

The Magic and Sorcery of Alternative Medicine

Wednesday 28^th June 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

Featuring Magician and Illusionist (and former surgeon) Dr. Richard Rawlins as the ‘Esteemed Quackademic’ Professor Riccardo

Having previously revealed the ‘Real Secrets of Alternative Medicine’ to us, Richard Rawlins will step aside and allow his alter-ego Professor Riccardo, ‘a master of illusion and a mind-reading marvel from the Department of Quackademic Medicine’, to demonstrate his skills in magic and illusion in this reality-defying performance that the multi-billion dollar complementary medicine industry would rather you didn’t see!

As a psychological illusionist and a member of The Magic Circle, retired surgeon Dr. Richard Rawlins does not deny that he sets out to take advantage of his “medical experience of non-verbal means of communication, body paralanguage, chronemics and advanced telepathy”(sic) to entertain and entrance, but what is reality and what is deception? As Richard says, “You must be the judge.”

“Join us for an entertaining evening of magic and illusion in this thought-provoking magical exposé of alternative medicine”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Dr. Richard Rawlins is a former lecturer in Anatomy, King’s College, London, Clinical Director of Surgery and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Bedford Hospital and Chairman of the UK Consultants Conference. He is also an illusionist and a member of the Magic Circle.

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Science Without Pedestals

Saturday 11^th February 12.00pm/2.00pm 
Bournemouth International Centre, Exeter Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5BH

A Darwin Day Celebration with Philosopher Julian Baggini

Celebrate Darwin Day in style with a delicious three course buffet lunch in Bournemouth International Centre’s (BIC) Purbeck Lounge, followed by a fascinating talk from our special guest Julian Baggini.

Humanists and free-thinkers rightly celebrate the many achievements of science, however some go too far in their admiration, and make science the model for all reason. Julian will argue that the scientific method cannot provide the template for reason, partly because there is no such thing as the scientific method, and most importantly, science cannot be the source of ethics nor can it debunk it. By challenging the pretensions of those who elevate science too high, we can better appreciate it for what it really is and more fully understand what it means to value reason and rationality.

Please note that entry to this event requires you to have a ticket. For booking information, see below.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher, journalist, author, and editor and co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine. His books include: The Edge of Reason, Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten.

	Booking Information Italian buffet lunch and presentation (12:00pm start): £25 per person Presentation only (2:00pm start): £3 per person (inc tea/coffee) For tickets, please see Lyn Glass at one of our meetings, or phone 01202 767323, or email lyn.glass@btinternet.com (Please book lunches by 30th January at the latest).

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Beyond the Syringe: the Secrets of Alternative Medicine Exposed

Saturday 14^th November 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Dr Richard Rawlins

Since time immemorial humans have been concerned about our health and well-being. For early civilisations it seemed obvious that the gods, spirits and stars were the cause of illness and disease. The Age of Enlightenment ushered in more critical analysis and we now expect medicine and healthcare to be evidence-based. Despite this progress, a third of the UK population indulges in alternatives to evidence-based medicine, and at least £500 million is spent every year on implausible treatments. There is no satisfactory way of differentiating between a sincere practitioner of complementary or alternative medicine, a dissembling quack, and an out and out fraudster. In this presentation Richard Rawlins reviews how conventional, orthodox, mainstream medicine has evolved from esoteric, hermetic, and arcane origins and now provides the best possible care in the light of current knowledge and understanding.

Dr. Richard Rawlins is a former lecturer in Anatomy, King’s College, London, Clinical Director of Surgery and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Bedford Hospital and Chairman of the UK Consultants Conference.

Join us for an entertaining exposé of the secrets of alternative medicine.

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Science and Religion in the Classroom

Saturday 09^th May 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Alom Shaha - author of The Young Atheist’s Handbook

How can children brought up in religious families reconcile the different ‘truths’ they are told about the world? And to what extent should we discuss these issues in schools? What exactly should science teachers say when asked about the ‘truth’ of science by religious students? In this talk, Alom Shaha will describe his personal experiences of growing up in a Bangladeshi Muslim community in London, what role his science education played in his journey towards atheism and how, as a physics teacher in a London comprehensive, he responds to the apparent conflict between science and religious ideas in the classroom.

Alom Shaha was born in Bangladesh but grew up in London. As a teacher, science writer, and filmmaker, he has spent most of his professional life sharing his passion for science and education with the public, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (NESTA) and the Nuffield Foundation. He has also represented his community as an elected politician, and currently produces the children’s science video series ‘ExpeRimental’ for the Royal Institution (Ri).

“A great opportunity to discover what happens when science meets conflicting religious beliefs in the classroom”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Science and Religion: Complementary or Contradictory

Wednesday 24^th April 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

A presentation by government scientist, David Nunn

Since the enlightenment, science has relentlessly marched into territories formerly occupied by religion.

Particle physicist, outspoken atheist, and author, Victor Stenger states, “Scientists have practical reasons for wishing that religion and science be kept separate”. In this interactive session, David will investigate whether these apparently conflicting worldviews can be reconciled. He will consider the origins and evolution of both worldviews, and offer some fun approaches to resolving this problem. We hope this will produce interesting results, and perhaps even provide an answer to this age old dilemma!

Join us for “a great opportunity to open our minds to different ways of approaching this often controversial subject”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed from Gervis Road, which is better lit and has roadside parking).

Please help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Without testing, reason is akin to superstition says Stephen Fry.

BHA Distinguished
Supporter - Stephen Fry

BHA Distinguished supporter Stephen Fry put it well  in February 2011 at Harvard @ 7’30” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HiaePLocUw&feature=player_embedded

when he said that ‘humanism is not interested in convincing anybody else how to live, it can show, not tell”.. and “humanists, as citizens of the world, have no interest in owning the minds of others.. you can tickle the minds of others or play with the minds of others or be graceful with the minds of others, but don’t try to own the minds of others’.

The whole of his talk is worth listening to especially this comment (with my Chair of Humanists4Science hat on)…

'Reason is almost akin to superstition ... reason must be tested" @ 8'35”

http://humanists4science.blogspot.com/2011/04/stephen-fry-why-reason-is-almost-akin.html

This is empiricism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism

BHA Distinguished
Supporter - Peter Atkins

BHA Distinguished
Supporter - Stephen Law

Peter Atkins tried to persuade Stephen Law to think always both philosophically AND empirically at a debate I attended in Oxford in February:-

http://humanists4science.blogspot.com/2011/04/peter-atkins-debates-stephen-law.html. 

All fascinating stuff, to me at least! ... but then I'm not trying to own your mind, just tickle it!

Scientific Method and Pseudoscience - Openmindedness

source: Steve Ollington

A message from Richard Dawkins about Science & Reason

A message from Richard Dawkins, Vice President, British Humanist Association. Dorset Humanists are affiliated to BHA.


Dear friends,
One of the wonderful things about www.richarddawkins.net is the enormous variety amongst its regular contributors. Old, young, in-between, highly educated, less educated, affluent, less affluent, male, female, straight, gay, serious, fun-loving, angry, mild-mannered, confident, timid, open about their atheism, unable to be open about their atheism, previously religious, never religious ... it is this depth and breadth of life experience and personality that keeps comments fresh and lively, and ensures that we all learn more about the world each time we visit the site. 

And yet, for all the contrasts, the vast majority of contributors here are totally united in one key area: a commitment to reason, a sense of awe and excitement at the knowledge that has already been achieved through science, and a passionate desire to see reason and evidence-based thinking at the heart of our societies. We listen to the music of the spheres. We gaze into the Hubble Deep Field and intoxicate ourselves with images of distant galaxies in the act of formation, close to the dawn of time itself. We dive through the tube of a microscope and immerse ourselves in a wonderland of the intricately small. Reality is where we are. It is very large; and also very small, where it matters. It is mysterious; but the mystery is yielding to the methods of reason. Reality is comprehensible. And it is the mission of RDFRS to assist others to that comprehension. Read More

Live in Dorset but only express your Humanist views in internet forums? For £1 a month support our vital work and join Dorset Humanists for one year of monthly meetings in Bournemouth.

1 Adult £12.60 2 Adults at same address £18.90