| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Coordinator: | |
| When: | Monthly on Tuesday mornings 10:00 2nd Tuesday morning of the month |
| Venue: | (contact coordinator) |
There are four philosophy groups and Group 2 looks at topics with a scientific theme. (Group 1 discusses general topics in philosophy, Group 3 followed a "Crash course" to get into the subject, and now Group 4 is following the same path.) New members are welcome to join the most appropriate group. Contact one of the co-ordinators to just come and see what it's like, and if you might be interested.
The image above is "The Philosophers" by Pietro della Vechia, showing Ptolemy and Euclid, Greek philosophers of science. The image is in the public domain via Wiki Commons, and the original hangs in the Christ Church Gallery, Oxford
In Group 2 we don't follow a formal training course and we are not led by a tutor. We have studied the Philosophy of Science and discussed various science oriented topics - The Mind, Time, a scientific approach to religion, and various issues in Bio-Ethics. We revisited the basics of philosophy of science in "50 Philosophy of Science Ideas you really need to know" by Gareth Southwell. We have read to Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene". We have studied the philosophy of maths and Time and Bioethics. We discussed the Reith Lectures on AI. We completed a course on the Philosophy of Cognitive Sciences. We have read Jim Al-Khalili's "The Joy of Science" and followed Daniel Chamovitz' Coursera lectures on plant biology. We went back to AI and looked again at consciousness, moving on via left- and right- brain thinking to Kahneman's System 1 and System 2 thinking. We have been studying cosmology and wondering whether theories about the origins of the universe are science, or just another creation myth, and we followed that with a look at Religion and Science. After a few different topics we returned to time. We then took a deep dive into AI and its implications and what constitutes life. We are looking further into genetics and epigenetics.
Forthcoming meetings
Past meetings
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It's not just your genes, but the environment they find themselves in. And should we interfere with genes to prevent inherited diseases? What about enhancing intelligence?
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Is it bioelectrical signals rather than the genome and epigenetically induced biochemical processes that carry the "design" for an organism?
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Lack of interaction with other people can be bad for your health, and on-line doesn't cut it. We need friends, but what is friendship?
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Starting from a definition of life we found it fits not only carbon-based life forms but also robots and computer programs. How come, and how do we feel about that?
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We are investigating Artificial Intelligence, but what exactly counts as Intelligence?
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Earth is doomed! AI is being developed to take the elite to other planets!