Press release from Red Bank Humanists
Since 2005, the Red Bank Humanists have used the February edition of their monthly forum to celebrate International Darwin Day. The goal of Darwin Day is to inspire people to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth, as embodied in the life and work of Charles Darwin.
On the morning of Sunday, February 12, RBH will host the latest in its monthly series, hosted at the Red Bank Charter School, 58 Oakland Street. The program, going on from from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon, is open to the public and admission is free — and the theme for Darwin Day 2017 is “The Self-Domestication of Humans,” featuring guest speaker Ron Flannery (pictured).
A retired computer scientist and futurist, as well as a board member of the Red Bank Humanists, Mr. Flannery will use his presentation to address the following topics:
• What does domestication mean?
• How do we know we are domesticated?
• Are there other examples of self-domestication?
• How did we come to be domesticated?
During his 45 years in the computer industry, Ron Flannery worked for various companies including the US Army, Bell Laboratories, AT&T, Amdahl, and EMC, and he has held nearly every occupational title in that space. Ron was a member of Mensa for several years, and his varied interests include sailing, music, instrument making, computer science, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and brain science.
At the February forum, the Red Bank Humanists will be collecting shampoo, deodorant and shower gel for the Joan Valentine House, a nonprofit facility (operated by the Ocean Housing Alliance in Point Pleasant Beach) that provides housing and support services to low-income adults with mental illness.
The monthly forums continue on March 12, when Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, will be present for a reading and signing event keyed to his new book Creating Change Through Humanism. In addition to the Sunday morning events, the RBH hosts a relaxed and informal social gathering on the last Thursday evening of each month, in the Pearl Lounge of The Oyster Point Hotel at 146 Bodman Place.
The Red Bank Humanists is a nonprofit organization dedicated to Secular Humanism. The goal of Red Bank Humanists is to cultivate rational inquiry, ethical values and human development in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. For further information on these events (as well as a potluck-dinner salon, tentatively scheduled for March 4 at the Red Bank Woman’s Club), contact Trudy Lagan at [email protected] or www.meetup.com/redbankhumanists/.
