Category: News

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

NOTE: This week is the daylight savings time change for Toronto. (one hour shift forward)

For our featured presentation this Sunday, we will be watching some interesting YouTube videos, selected and introduced by Dan Cooperstock, about domesticating animals. Dan was inspired to put together this selection when he was reminded of an article he read a while ago about a decades-long experiment in Russia, breeding wild foxes to be tame, over many generations. The experiment ended up with them being friendly and with “domesticated” dog-like features. So fascinating!

Dan Cooperstock is a Toronto Oasis organizer.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydcfbrb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

We will watch and then discuss a YouTube video: Jamie Oliver’s War on Nuggets by YouTuber Folding Ideas. The video will be introduced by Ryan Zhang, who thinks it presents an interesting perspective on how society thinks about healthy eating. Ryan Zhang is a Toronto Oasis participant and volunteer.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydcfbjb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

Did you have a teacher that you’ll never forget? Someone who positively influenced you in grade school, high school, college or beyond? Someone who taught in an unorthodox and creative way? Or perhaps a teacher who helped you experience positive achievement in a subject you ‘were no good at’? Have you ever wished you could go back and thank them?

This Sunday we will have a community moment presented by a Toronto Oasis member on their own memories of a special teacher, and we’ll also watch a few short videos, selected & introduced by Kristen Gane, that address the topic from different angles.

While it’s a rich and complex topic, it can be easy to romanticize the role of teaching. In reality it is an incredibly challenging job, particularly now as the pandemic has cast light on the paucity of adequate support and resources for teachers and the education system in general.

Join us this Sunday February 27th to share your thoughts as we explore the universal topic of teachers.

‘The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.’ –Alexandra K. Trenfor
‘Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.’ –John Steinbeck
‘The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves.’ –Joseph Campbell
‘I cannot be a teacher without exposing who I am.’ –Paulo Freire

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydcdbkc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

This Sunday, our featured speaker will be Fika Taillon. Fika Taillon was born in Afghanistan and is a published poet/author, artist, activist and public speaker with a background in political science and education. She is the founder/organizer and moderator of “Minds&Hearts Without Borders,Int’l”.

Here, in her own words, is the description of her talk:

“As we woke up that faithful August day, horror unfolded in that small landlocked country on the other side ! The terror of what befell people of Afghanistan that day was the news of something far worse to come!

As that woman, born in Kabul and forced to leave behind absolutely everything myself I will lend you my eyes- in this talk- to see the unforgiving humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The told and the untold stories of the forgotten nation!”

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydcdbbc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qYNI2ksettl9QXRg1BiqcEAjpVbNA3qg/view?usp=sharing

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

What scientific evidence do we have about consciousness? Is there a signature of consciousness in brain activity? Do some animals have a kind of consciousness?

Our featured speaker, Dr. Mark Reimers, will discuss results from studies of brain activity during conscious perception, effortful thinking, inner conflict, and day-dreaming. While these studies don’t give final answers to the deep questions, they do build on empirical evidence to point us in useful directions.

Dr. Mark Reimers works as a computational neuroscientist: studying brain function by applying statistical methods to look for patterns in large-scale and high-resolution recordings of brain activity and behavior. He applies these methods to understand normal brain function in memory and to shed light on mental illness.

Dr. Reimers has worked at the US National Institutes of Health, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics in Richmond, and now does research and teaches at Michigan State University. His broader aim is to ground our understanding of feeling and thought in the facts of biology.

Dr. Reimers was the leader of the Richmond Humanists in Virginia for five years, and now leads the UU Forum in Lansing, and speaks frequently at humanist and science outreach events in Michigan.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydcdbrb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1amciLl5OegpfnAQtQOnmu2gHaBJsHvrr/view?usp=sharing

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

For our featured presentation this Sunday, we will be watching and then discussing the second half of a video of a talk by Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is an American investigative journalist, known for her coverage of civil rights in the United States. In 2020 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work on The 1619 Project – a long-form journalism endeavor developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones that re-examines the legacy of slavery in the United States.

Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer, will introduce the talk and lead the discussion that will follow.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydcdbjb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

For our featured presentation this Sunday, we will be watching and then discussing the first half of a video of a talk by Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is an American investigative journalist, known for her coverage of civil rights in the United States. In 2020 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work on The 1619 Project – a long-form journalism endeavor developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones that re-examines the legacy of slavery in the United States.

Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer, will introduce the talk and lead the discussion that will follow.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydccbnc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

Our human mind has evolved from an ape mind over the past six million years. How have our brains and genes changed to bring this about? We are very similar to apes in some ways, in which scientists previously thought humans stood out, but quite different in other ways, such as our attention to and capacity for learning from other people.

In this talk, our featured speaker, Dr. Mark Reimers, will present genetic, anatomical, and behavioral evidence bearing on the changes to the brain that supported the emergence of the human mind and its capacity for culture.

Dr. Mark Reimers works as a computational neuroscientist: studying brain function by applying statistical methods to look for patterns in large-scale and high-resolution recordings of brain activity and behavior. He applies these methods to understand normal brain function in memory and to shed light on mental illness.

Dr. Reimers has worked at the US National Institutes of Health, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics in Richmond, and now does research and teaches at Michigan State University. His broader aim is to ground our understanding of feeling and thought in the facts of biology.

Dr. Reimers was the leader of the Richmond Humanists in Virginia for five years, and now leads the UU Forum in Lansing, and speaks frequently at humanist and science outreach events in Michigan.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydccbfc/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!

This meeting has been recorded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NwoDjSXzYevW2SwoAqmivJurUDVShcTe/view?usp=sharing

This Sunday, instead of our usual Toronto Oasis Sunday Zoom meeting, we will be going on a virtual field trip and join the online Sunday gathering of Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh (https://sapgh.org/).

Note that their meeting starts at 10:00 am.

Sunday Assembly Pittsburgh is a secular community that celebrates life through striving to live better, help often, and wonder more. They get together on the third Sunday of every month to explore a theme through music, poetry/readings, guest speakers, and community members’ experiences in relation to the theme. January’s theme will be about Finding Meaning.

To attend their meeting, each of us must register to receive the Zoom link (which they request not get posted anywhere as that defeats the purpose of registration). Toronto Oasis members are instructed to use their first name, last initial and OASIS in the registration. Specifically, we have been instructed to include “OASIS” in the “last name” portion of registration.

Click the link below to register and the Zoom link will be emailed to you: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcudOGgqz8oHNdsl4zXPRtwuFBNpPSVqPVt

This will be an online Zoom meeting. Please RSVP on our Meetup for this event to get access to the Zoom link. See our online meeting instructions at: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions

Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm and you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am for our open social. Followed by an extended discussion for a half hour. Volunteers please join by 10:30 am.

For our featured presentation this Sunday, we will be watching and then discussing a video of a CFI (centreforinquiry.org) talk by Massimo Pigliucci: The Variety of Scientisms & the Limits of Science. This talk took place at the CSICon 2018 in Las Vegas on October 19, 2018.

Prof. Massimo Pigliucci has a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He currently is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of biology, the relationship between science and philosophy, the nature of pseudoscience, and the practical philosophy of Stoicism.

Tania Akon, a Toronto Oasis organizer, will introduce the CFI talk and moderate the discussion that will follow.

Please RSVP on meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/bhgwksydccbmb/

Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!