Fayetteville Freethinker Meeting February 15, 2006.

Fayetteville Freethinker MeetingFebruary 15, 2006

Bruce Hornsby

James Randi has an international reputation as a magician and

escape artist, but today he is best known as the world's most tireless

investigator and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific

claims.

TAM4 began with Christopher Hitchens celebrating Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment views, whilst pillorying those who fabricate "design" and want to tear down the wall of separation.

“THE SOUL OF SCIENCE – Bootstrapping Meaning, Purpose and Spirituality”How can we find spiritual meaning and purpose in a scientific worldview? Spirituality is a way of being in the world, a sense of one’s place in the cosmos, a relationship to that which extends beyond our selves. There are many sources of spirituality; religion may be the most common, but it is by no means the only. Anything that generates a sense of awe may be a source of spirituality. Science does this in spades. Dr. Shermer shows how.

Shermer’s New Booklet: “The Soul of Science”

In 1969, Professor Gell-Mann received the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles and is author of the popular science book, The Quark and the Jaguar, Adventures in the Simple and the Complex.

The Mythbusters!

Ray Hyman hang’in with the Dar man

Law Professor Nadine Strossen is president of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is the first woman and the youngest person ever to lead the ACLU. She also sits on the Council on Foreign Relations.

Magician and Comedian Mac King was named “Magician of the Year” by the Magic Castle in Hollywood, broke a Guinness World Record,just appeared on his special for NBC, was voted the 6th best show in Las Vegas, and his new book from has just entered its 5th printing.

Dr. Carolyn Porco is a leader in the exploration of the solar system. She wrote her thesis on Voyager, has worked on the Mars Observer, the Lunar Explorer, and Cassini. Her company produces space imagery in an artistic and educational manner.

Professor Richard Wiseman holds Britain’s only chair in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He has published over forty papers in academic journals, and gained an international reputation for research into unusual areas of psychology, including deception, luck and the paranormal.

Ovation Award winner Julia Sweeney is best known for her character Pat on Saturday Night Live, and her acclaimed Broadway show "God Said, Ha!". She has worked on the shows Sex & the City and Desperate Housewives and has written and performed 2 one-woman monologues.

Ellen Johnson

Ellen Johnson is the President of American Atheists, which defends the civil rights of nonbelievers, works for the separation of church and state, and addresses First Amendment issues. A second-generation Atheist herself, she organized the historic "Godless Americans March on Washington" in 2002.

Next Presentation: Tamara “Brain Games”