PHILOSOPHY FORUM - APRIL 5th 2020, Sunday 12.30pm

[atheist7agnostic]

PHILOSOPHY FORUM (Ex-Critical Thinkers)

Sunday 5th April 2020 - 12.30pm to 2pm.

"Open and Closed Source Software."

Discussion leader: Rohan McLeod.

AGNOSTICS GROUP

Sunday 5th April 2020 - 2.30pm to 5pm.

"The Evidence for God."

Discussion leader: Keith Foster (Logos - Jordan Peterson Group).

We received the following message from Rohan MacLeod, 4 March 2020: 

Regarding the old  Unitarian 'Critical Thinkers Group'.

 Peter Abrehart and Hans Baer have effectively closed this group as of Sun 1st March 2020, so:

1/ I have proposed myself as the facilitator of a new group with the name reverting to Philosophy Forum.

     This has no democratic basis whatsoever, but simply because no-one else has volunteered !

    - So I will continue in this role until someone else wants it, at which time they will have my full and enthusiastic support to take it over.

2/ The group will meet in the conference room of the Unitarian Church at 12:30am until 2.00pm  on the first Sunday of each month

     as an "independent interest group". Thus a gold coin donation from participants will be very welcome.

3/ The group will as before continue as a lecture-discussion group; 

     but will encourages speakers to limit talks to 30 minutes  to allow the remaining hour to be available for discussion.

4/ The word philosophy will have the widest possible usage as:

    -values, ideology, world-view and metaphysical standpoint.

    -epistemology: as theories of  knowledge.

    - ontology: as the nature of things and the definition of the words that represent them.

5/ For the April meeting (unless an external speaker becomes available -preferred!)

   -I will talk on the 'philosophies' of Open and Closed source software.

    I will check and see if Lev Lafayette (who is vastly more knowledgeable) is interested.

6/ For the May meeting (unless an external speaker becomes available -preferred!)

   -I will talk on "Science, Non-science and Non-sense".

[Atheist Society]

The Agnostics Group's meeting has been cancelled due to the pandemic.

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[Graeme Lindenmayer]

Hello David

This is likely to go on for at least a few months. It would be a pity to waste everything that the speakers have prepared.

I can see 4 possibilities, which would apply to more than just the Agnostics Group:

    reschedule all the lectures to some future time when we expect covid-19 to be under control;

    have the speakers email their texts to everyone on the list;

    find a venue where everyone can be 2 metres away from their nearest person;

   or do nothing until the situation allows us to go on as usual, which might be the end of all the groups.

Have you any suggestions?

Regards

Graeme

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-philosophy-forum/CAGqKG5S6BACZcJLbOJ-N%2BmmqZvMKjo4SZoysbm76vjev_78WiA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Lev Lafayette]

On Tue, March 17, 2020 11:02 pm, 'Graeme Lindenmayer' via The Philosophy

Forum wrote:
>
>     reschedule all the lectures to some future time when we expect
> covid-19 to be under control;     have the speakers email their texts to
> everyone on the list;     find a venue where everyone can be 2 metres away
> from their nearest person;    or do nothing until the situation allows us
> to go on as usual, which might be the end of all the groups. Have you any
> suggestions? Regards

All good suggestions.

Also allow for video presentations (e.g., using Zoom, YouTube live) for
those who want a virtual meeting.

All the best,



--
Lev Lafayette, BA (Hons), GradCertTerAdEd (Murdoch), GradCertPM, MBA (Tech
Mngmnt) (Chifley)
mobile: 0432 255 208
RFC 1855 Netiquette Guidelines
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt
For liberty and commonwealth http://isocracy.org

[Atheist Society]

Yes, it seems that the effects of the pandemic might go on for months. So I have begun to cancel the meetings.

It appears that the Unitarian Hall is 'shutting shop' from this Sunday onward (22 March).

Although all of Graeme and Lev's suggestions are good ones, and I wish everyone luck in achieving them, I personally will "do nothing until the situation allows us to go on as usual".

Regards,

David

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[William P Hall]

All,

As an evolutionary biologist with a considerable background in population biology (read epidemics) and molecular biology/molecular genetics (read virology), I have to agree that suspending the physical meetings until Covid-19 is under control is very sensible. I'm certainly isolating myself. However, in the circumstances I think the idea that video meetings will help to minimize cabin fever and going stir-crazy while we are all avoiding groups.

The only reason you haven't seen more of me at physical meetings is my arthritically impaired mobility, so for this reason alone I find the idea of video meetings attractive. Given that we all now have to minimize our mobilities, I think the demand/opportunities for videoconferencing will boom.

The Zoom teleconferencing application can be downloaded for free, which allows unlimited usage for one-on-one chats, and up to 40 minutes for small group meetings. The Zoom 'Pro' license fee for a meeting host to conduct group meetings of up to 100 participants is only $20/month. In aid of this I have upgraded my Zoom license to 'Pro', which allows me to host meetings of up to 100 participants. I also have several talks I would be happy to deliver using this medium, given that I am still a long way from being particularly comfortable with the medium.

People can watch and discuss (as long as they have a microphone) without needing their own video camera - in fact it is probably better that they do it that way to avoid overloading the bandwidth.

My own contributions are likely to be of more interest to the Philosophy Forum rather than the Agnostics. However, once the 'meeting' is set up, anyone can present or speak and people can continue using the connections until I shut it down, so there is noting to prevent Agnostics from also conducting their meeting via Zoom once it has been set up.

Re offering my own presentation(s) - There are three I can give without new preparation and minimal updating:

• Who can be trusted on an Internet full of fake news, alternative facts, tweets, sound bites,and trolls?
• Homo habilis to Homo destructor ― How the rise of tool-making apes can destroy the world.
• We’re told we are facing climate and ecological emergencies: Is it so? What do we do about them?

If people think the proposal is a good one, it might be good to set the 5th aside for a trial run of the system to see if it is actually practical, and work at learning how to use it.

What does everyone think? Do enough of us want to go down this path to make it viable? Please let me know.

Regards,

Bill

William P. (Bill) Hall, PhD
Documentation and Knowledge Management Systems Analyst (Ret.)
View some of my research publications on my Google Citations Page

Evolutionary Biology of Species and Organizations
PO Box 94 Riddells Creek, Vic. 3431
Home: +61 3 5428 6246.
Mobile: 0413 740 126 (new number !).
Email: willia...@bigpond.com
http://www.orgs-evolution-knowledge.net/

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President
Kororoit Institute Proponents and Supporters Association, Inc.
http://kororoit.org

Convenor

CVAF- Central Victorian Atheists and Freethinkers Gathering

https://www.meetup.com/CVAF_Gathering/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralVicAtheistsFreethinkers/

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[Atheist Society]

Hi Graeme,

Re your suggestions about future meetings of the Philosophy Forum and Agnostics Group.

Today (Sunday 22 March) Les Allan conducted a session of his Ex-Religious Support Group at 10am outside the Boatshed Cafe at Albert Park Lake.

If you would like to do something similar, then let us know the date, time, place and speaker/s, 

and I will include them in the next Agnostics Group Newsletter, which I intend to send out towards the end of March.

Regards,

David

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-philosophy-forum/16046338.4099397.1584446568387%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Graeme Lindenmayer]

Hello David et al.

I am already in virtual self-isolation.

I have no symptoms and am in fairly good health, but I am now 90 years old, which makes me vulnerable, as I am constantly being told by family members, several of whom are in health professions.

So, unfortunately, all I could do is send the text for someone else to conduct the session, and hope to be able to read other speakers' texts.

Regards 

Graeme

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-philosophy-forum/CAGqKG5T7-3gjP%3DANHr_dx-8NjV4jeDnaAyPxaZP4bC0EbnAkrw%40mail.gmail.com.

[William P Hall]

All,

Given that Covid-19 in Melbourne is now in the high exponential growth phase (we even had two cases in the last two days in the Macedon Ranges), there are probably substantially more people in the early stages of incubation or shedding virus while they are still asymptomatic. Now is the time to practice maximum social isolation to avoid catching the virus if you don't already have it. Any gathering of people in a close area or inside is dangerous - and most especially so if you use public transport to get around -- so don't do it!

I suggest that you read (https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56), and understand the numbers. You can even follow the link in the document to epidemiology modeling system and experiment with the numbers until you truly understand them.

Now is NOT the time to think about organizing face-to-face gatherings. That is why I recommended video conferencing in an earlier post on this thread.

Do please keep safe, Covid-19 is definitely no joke or even the flu if you are old and grey or have health problems. It can and will kill some of us if we are not careful....

Regards,

William P. (Bill) Hall, PhD
Documentation and Knowledge Management Systems Analyst (Ret.)
View some of my research publications on my Google Citations Page

Evolutionary Biology of Species and Organizations
PO Box 94 Riddells Creek, Vic. 3431
Home: +61 3 5428 6246.
Mobile: 0413 740 126 (new number !).
Email: willia...@bigpond.com
http://www.orgs-evolution-knowledge.net/

LinkedIn; Facebook

President
Kororoit Institute Proponents and Supporters Association, Inc.
http://kororoit.org

Convenor

CVAF- Central Victorian Atheists and Freethinkers Gathering

https://www.meetup.com/CVAF_Gathering/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CentralVicAtheistsFreethinkers/

.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-philosophy-forum/CAGqKG5T7-3gjP%3DANHr_dx-8NjV4jeDnaAyPxaZP4bC0EbnAkrw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Atheist Society]

Hi Graeme,

Yes, you are being very sensible about your health situation.

I remember, in the distant past on this Googlegroup, reading the texts of Philosophy Forum talks.

Regards,

David

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-philosophy-forum/58191459.71448.1584879899289%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Lev Lafayette]

On Sun, March 22, 2020 11:44 pm, William P Hall wrote:
>
> I suggest that you read (
> https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337
> 092b56),
> and understand the numbers. You can even follow the link in the document
> to epidemiology modeling system and experiment with the numbers until you
> truly understand them.

This was my quick 'n' dirty elaboration of the numbers on very current
trends.

I think I'll update this daily, based on the previous day's increase.

To increase statistical validity, I should use a rolling average.


Change from March 21 to March 22
$ bc -l <<< 1353/1072
1.26212686567164179104
$ bc -l <<< 1353*1.262
1707.486 by March 23
$ bc -l <<< 1707*1.262
2154.234 by March 24
$ bc -l <<< 2154*1.262
2718.348 by March 25
$ bc -l <<< 2718*1.262
3430.116 by March 26
$ bc -l <<< 3430*1.262
4328.660 by March 27
$ bc -l <<< 4328*1.262
5461.936 by March 28
$ bc -l <<< 5461*1.262
6891.782 by March 29
$ bc -l <<< 6891*1.262
8696.442 by March 30
$ bc -l <<< 8696*1.262
10974.352 by March 31

It was inspired by the open letter from doctors that said

"On current growth rates, the 300 cases in Australia today will be …
10,000 by the 4th of April"

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/australia-doctors-coronavirus-letter-pleading-government-action/12062368

I believe they were optimistic.