What Next for Humans in an Age of Machines?

Saturday 10^th February 12.00pm/2.00pm 
Bournemouth International Centre, Exeter Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5BH

With Artificial Intelligence Expert Dr Kate Devlin

Celebrate Darwin Day in style with a delicious three course buffet lunch in BIC’s Purbeck Lounge, followed by a thought-provoking talk from our special guest Dr Kate Devlin. We live in an age where automation of our everyday world is becoming increasingly achievable, and we barely notice artificial intelligence because it blends seamlessly into our lives. For as long as humans have existed, we’ve used technology - from sticks to smartphones - to improve our existence but will we reach a point where that technology usurps us? What happens if, or when, we become redundant, and where does life go next? Join us for an insider’s view of what it means to be human in an age of ever-advancing machines.

Kate Devlin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London. She works in the fields of Human Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence, and is known for her work on human sexuality and robotics.

	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 our meetings, or phone 01202 767323, or email lyn.glass@btinternet.com (Please book lunches by 30th January).

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. Please email Dave at DHweb2(at)live.co.uk for a PDF copy for you to print and display.

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

Hidden Knowledge

Saturday 13^th January 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Medical Sociologist Dr Sarah Goode

Is adult sexual attraction to children a psychological disorder, a sexual orientation, a genetic fault, or the result of trauma? The UK National Crime Agency states that around 750,000 men in Britain are sexually attracted to children. And with the NSPCC estimating that one in 20 children are sexually abused (over 36,000 annually), providing effective protection for our children is clearly a huge challenge. If we want to keep children safe from sexual harm, then gaining a better understanding of what we’re dealing with is surely the first step. Dr Sarah Goode has done ground-breaking research in this controversial field, and will be addressing the taboo subject of adult sexual attraction to children. She refrains from demonizing the people who feel this attraction whilst insisting that knowledge, rather than ignorance, is what we need in order to keep children safe.

“Join us for a pragmatic exploration of this emotionally-charged subject, and learn how we can minimise the risk to our children”

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. Please email Dave at DHweb2(at)live.co.uk for a PDF copy for you to print and display.

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

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.

Why Everyone Should be a Feminist

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

Bournemouth University lecturer Frances Hawkhead

Men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, yet women still earn less than men in Britain and are grossly underrepresented in our company boardrooms. Is this because women naturally prefer the roles which attract less pay, or does our social structure still privilege men? Should we support positive discrimination to increase the number of women in key business and civic roles, or is equal opportunity enough? Do existing cultural gender stereotypes harm men as well as women?

Via a brief history of feminism and an exploration of gender in society, Frances Hawkhead will provide some thought-provoking answers to these and other questions, and will invite us all to become feminists.

Frances Hawkhead  is a lecturer in English, Communication & Media at Bournemouth University.

“Join us for a thought-provoking evening as we discover why we should all be feminists”

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 Evolution of Religion

Saturday 12^th November 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

With Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Michael E. Price

‘Is it Adaptive to Believe in a Higher Power?’ The consensus among evolutionary psychologists is that religiosity is a non-adaptive by-product of psychological mechanisms that evolved for other purposes. However, a great deal of scientific evidence now suggests that religion offers survival benefits, and that being religious can actually increase your life expectancy. So, why is there a positive relationship between religiosity and survival, and does this relationship suggest that religiosity is in fact an adaptation? Addressing these issues can produce valuable insights for both the religious and non-religious alike. Dr Michael E. Price is Senior Lecturer in Psychology, and Director of the Centre for Culture and Evolution, at Brunel University London. His research focuses on the evolutionary psychology of human social behaviour, morality, and religiosity.

“Join us for a fascinating exploration of the evolution of, and evolutionary significance of, religious beliefs”

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.

The New Slavery: Human Trafficking

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

A presentation by sociologist Dr Mel Semple 

In 1807 parliament abolished the slave trade across the British Empire, but slavery in the UK is far from dead! The modern exploitation of human beings takes many forms, including prostitution, forced labour, child trafficking and domestic servitude. In Britain, the sexual exploitation of trafficked women is most visible but we also have labour exploitation including children working in cannabis farms or domestic slavery. Recently the most prevalent countries of origin were Romania, Poland, Nigeria, Vietnam and Hungary.

In this presentation, Mel Semple will be highlighting the scale of human trafficking, and outlining how we can help end this continuing abuse of human rights. Mel has undertaken academic research into this appalling crime and is well-placed to give us an authoritative account of the current situation in the UK and discuss whether the Draft Modern Slavery Bill (2013) will address the problems of trafficking.  Mel has taught sociology and social policy at Southampton University and previously worked with physically disabled young people.  She has written on Marxism, feminism, and human trafficking and is writing a book ‘The Foot Soldiers of Suffrage’, about the unsung heroes of ‘First Wave Feminism’.

“Join us to discover the disturbing truth about this continuing abuse of human rights, and learn how we can help bring it to an end”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed from Gervis Road, which is well 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.