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 can archeology and social science tell us about how religion came to be so prominent in human life? Social psychology suggests that religion builds on many traits that were crucial in forming our species. Archeology suggests that some religious practices go back tens of thousands of years or more. However religious practices or beliefs among hunter-gatherers bear little resemblance to organized religion today, and have little to do with morality. Moralizing religions emerged in early large-scale farming societies, and the leading hypothesis is that such religions enabled cooperation in large groups. Our featured speaker, Dr. Mark Reimers, will discuss the evidence for this hypothesis and then consider how priests and kings coopted religious authority, and the many attempts at reforms. He will conclude by considering the rapidly evolving roles of religion in modern societies and the prospects of religion for the future.
Dr. Mark Reimers works as a computational neuroscientist: he studies 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.
People may also be interested in Dr. Reimers’ recent talk for the AHA: How America Lost its Mind: The Neuropsychology of Dogmatic Delusion. Here’s a link to the recording of that talk: https://youtu.be/7zZ1mSP2ZgA
Please RSVP on meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/dtjqdsyccfbkb/
Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and perhaps some new ones!
This meeting was recorded:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XMN0kqu9Cog4779vFMB-5k8LAOlsON1j/view?usp=sharing
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| 11:02:27 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -Links to core values & code of conduct: Core Values: https://torontooasis.org/about-us/ Code of Conduct: https://torontooasis.org/code-of-conduct/ 11:03:18 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -Email address for Toronto Oasis – to let us know if & how you want to contribute to our programming: 416oasis@gmail.com 11:04:39 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -Link to online meeting info: Important online meeting Info: https://torontooasis.org/online-meeting-instructions/ 11:14:54 From Ryan Zhang to Everyone : For mobile devices: To disable closed captions during a meeting, tap on More -> Meeting Settings and toggle the option for Closed Captioning to off. 11:34:34 From Tania Akon to Everyone : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NSpv8S1zaM LYRICS: I’m not sitting down No I’m not sitting down I’ve been silent for too long now So I’m not sitting down We are just the same But skin gets in the way We will all lose our breath some day Cause we are just the same When it’s rigged before the game’s begun We should question every hand Until the deal’s the same for everyone You know we gotta make a stand If we wait here for the wind to change That ship’ll sail on by If we really wanna see that day It’s up to you and me to try So I’m not sitting down No I’m not sitting down Yeah I’ve been silent for too long now So I’m not sitting down I’m not sitting down No I’m not sitting down I will stand here beside you now And I’m not sitting down 11:40:37 From Tania Akon to Everyone : Featured speaker: Mark Reimers: you may be interested in his recent talk for the AHA: How America Lost its Mind: The Neuropsychology of Dogmatic Delusion. Here’s a link to the recording of that talk: https://youtu.be/7zZ1mSP2ZgA 12:16:02 From Dan Cooperstock to Everyone : I’ve been asked where the recordings go. They go to our main website, www.torontooasis.org, and then you select RECORDED MEETINGS from the left-hand menu. 12:16:40 From Mark Reimers to Everyone : Ara Norenzayan, Big Gods Robert Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution Robert Wright, The Evolution of God 12:31:44 From Tania Akon to Everyone : Sunday March 14th: Our featured speaker will be Andy Norman, author of the upcoming book: Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think (https://andynorman.org/mental-immunity ). The link to Andy’s website is provided on the screen and will also be provided in the chat. 12:32:18 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -For upcoming events check out our Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/ 12:32:34 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -Toronto Oasis Website: https://torontooasis.org/ 12:33:11 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -Toronto Oasis Contributions: https://torontooasis.org/donate/ Financial Report – Toronto Oasis, Secular Community https://torontooasis.org/financial-report/ 12:33:37 From Tania Akon to Everyone : -Email address for providing feedback & suggestions 416oasis@gmail.com |