CFI-L.A. presents a special extra FEED YOUR BRAIN lecture

Prof. Denis Dutton
Charles Darwin: Art, Beauty, and Evolution

Saturday, Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m.

     In a special lecture, Prof. Dutton will be speaking as part of the launch for his new book, The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure and Human Evolution. He will show how Darwin's evolutionary ideas not only explain the facts of animal and human biology but have much to say about the moral, intellectual, and artistic lives of human beings. Evolutionary processes tell us why the arts are central to human life across cultures and ages. Human aesthetic tastes, Dutton will argue, are not socially or culturally constructed but are inborn traits shaped by natural and sexual selection: our sense of beauty is as much a part of the human makeup as our binocular vision or our opposable thumb.

     Dutton is a philosophy professor at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and editor of the Web site Arts & Letters Daily. His brothers Dave and Doug are well known as book dealers in the Los Angeles area.

     His book will be available for sale and signing.

Free and open to the public.

 

Ron Lindsay
Secular Humanism and its Discontents

Sunday, January 18
11 a.m. in Hollywood; 4:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa

     What is secular humanism? What are its objectives? What is its importance? Why should one support it? Why are camparatively small numbers of the nonreligious actively involved in the secular humanist movement? These are some of the provocative and fundamental questions that will be addressed by Ronald A. Lindsay as he provides an unsparing review of the state of secular humanism today - and issues a rousing call to arms. Dr. Lindsay demonstrates the critical significance of the secular perspective, especially as it relates to public policy.

     A secular approach to public policy is cogently set forth in Dr. Lindsay's recently published book, Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas. Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing after the talk.

     Lindsay is the new chief executive officer of the Center for Inquiry.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

Maggie Jackson
Attention Must Be Paid: The Perils of Cultivating an Attention-Deficient Nation and the Prospects for Change

Sunday, February 1, 11 a.m.

    We have oceans of information at our fingertips, yet we increasingly depend on sound bites and Yahoo headlines to make sense of our world. We are networked as ever before, but connect via email, IM and fleeting glimpses of one another. Increasingly, our culture is eroding our capacity to pay attention - the building block of intimacy, wisdom and cultural progress. The perils are clear: Can we as a nation afford to cultivate an attention-deficient democracy, economy, culture?

     Join author and columnist Maggie Jackson as she shares findings from her important new book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. A timely expose that has been compared to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Distracted traces the roots of our cultiure of distraction, details the costs of living this way, and reveals how we can help recover our powers of focus.

Along with visiting CFI-L.A., Jackson will deliver a keynote speech at the UC Davis extension faculty's annual meeting this week and give a reading at Book Passage, an independent San Francisco bookstore. Distracted will come out in paperback in September. For more information, check out her website at www.maggie-jackson.com.

Copies of her book will be available for sale and signing by the author.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

Sunday, February 15
11 a.m. in Hollywood; 4:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa

     In 2009, the world will celebrate the 200th anniversaries of two giants, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, who were both born on the same day in the same year - February 12, 1809. Both men escaped the intellectual straight jackets of their age to lead revolutions that continue to inform our lives. David R. Contosta will discuss how and why these men led their revolts and the ways in which their revolts have come together to shape the modern world.

     Contosta is Professor of History at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia and is the author of more than a dozen books. His most recent title is Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Contosta has spoken widely before both academic and popular audiences.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

David S. Whitley
Shamanism and the Origin of Creativity
Sunday, March 1 at 11 a.m.

     Modern humans who first appeared in Africa about 150,000 years ago continued to act (and presumably think) like our earlier and more primitive hominid predecessors until 35,000 - 50,000 years ago, according to the archaeological record. That's when not only art but also artistic masterpieces created in shamanistic religious rituals suddenly appeared. Why?

     David S. Whitley, Ph.D., argues for a new interpretation of shamanism, the first known human religion, with significant implications for the origin of human creativity. He suggests that modern human behavior first appeared not simply with evolution of our cognitive capability but with development of certain mental diseases, especially bi-polarity, that is strongly associated with artistic genius and shamanic religions.

     Whitley is an archaeologist who conducts research on the origins of art and religion. A former Chief Archaeologist at UCLA, he is owner of W&S Consultants, an archaeological consulting firm in Tehachapi, and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Geographical Sciences at Arizona State University, His recent books include Introduction to Rock Art Research, which won a Choice Outstanding Academic Book award for 2006, and the just published Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

Ron Aronson
Living without God in America Today

Sunday, March 15
11 a.m. in Hollywood; 4:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa

     In his new book, Living without God, Prof. Ronald Aronson picks up where the "New Atheists" (Harris, Dawkins, Dennett, and Hitchens) leave off, turning to face the need for a coherent and contemporary secular philosophy that will answer life's vital questions. Aronson argues that living without God means acknowledging that we are dependent and interconnected beings, rooted in nature, history, and society.

     The Distinguished Professor of the History of Ideas at Wayne State University, Aronson is author or editor of nine books, including ones on Jean-Paul Sartre, and has contributed to many newspapers and magazines.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

Independent Investigations Group
Feng Shui for Nurses?

Sunday, April 5 at 11 a.m.


     Registered nurses have to take continuing education classes to maintain their licenses in the state of California. Would it surprise you to know that what can be taught to these professionals includes feng shui, energy (Qi) manipulation, and other pseudo-science? That's just the tip of the iceberg.

     The Independent Investigations Group at CFI has been looking into the continuing education policies of the California Board of Registered Nursing for several years and will be conducting an actual class - sanctioned by the CBRN - that is open to the public and the media. See for yourself how science has been subverted in our health care system.

     Registered nurses are encouraged to attend and will be admitted for free.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.
Also free for registered nurses.

 

Sunday, April 19
11 a.m. in Hollywood; 4:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa

     After becoming a born-again Christian in his late 20s following personal problems, William Lobdell - a veteran journalist - saw that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, prayed for a religion beat at a major newspaper, and, in 1998, landed that beat with the Los Angeles Times. Yet, over the next eight years of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his investigative reporting, experiences, and evidence slowly chipped away at his faith, he started to fear that God didn't exist and finally lost his faith. After being reassigned, he wrote a personal essay in 2007 that became an international sensation for its honest exploration of doubt.

     Lobdell's memoir is Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America - and Found Unexpected Peace. He earned several national awards for his L.A. Times work before leaving the beat in 2006. Lobdell also has been a visiting faculty member for 12 years at the University of California, Irvine.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

Robert Nelson
Eye on Titan: Saturn's Moon's Recipe for Life

Sunday, May 3 at 11 a.m.

     When Galileo first saw Saturn through a telescope 400 years ago, he had no way of knowing that one of its moons, Titan, held some of the key ingredients for extraterrestrial life. But the Cassini spacecraft and the Huygens Probe on board have made some interesting discoveries about this very cold but earthlike moon. For one, its surface has chemical conditions similar to those under which life evolved on earth.

     Robert Nelson, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, is working on the Cassini Equinox Mission that is gathering data about Saturn, its rings and many moons. In this fascinating update on space exploration, he will discuss how this information is gathered from hundreds of millions of miles away and what it all means.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

M. G. Lord
The Evolution of Barbie: From an Ancient Fertility Totem to a Global Brand

Sunday, May 17
11 a.m. in Hollywood; 4:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa

     Knocked off from a sleazy German toy for men, the Barbie doll celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. But what started as a mere girls' plaything is today the object of a cult-like following - idolized by its collectors, mutilated by detractors. In its design, the doll is a space-age recasting of a Neolithic goddess figure. What does Barbie tell us about human beliefs and obsessions? Why does she evoke such adulation and rage? Social historian M. G. Lord, author of the critically acclaimed Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, will plumb Barbie's startling plastic depths.

     Lord is a free-lance magazine and newspaper writer who frequently writes about science and social issues for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Discover, Travel & Leisure, and Los Angeles magazine. A frequent book reviewer for the L.A. Times, she is also the author of Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science and a lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC. She has lectured at the Center on her book Astro Turf and was in conversation with Ray Bradbury.

$8, or free for Friends of the Center.

 

Robert P. Balles Award presentation & talk by author Leonard Mlodinow
followed by lunch for Friends of the Center*

Sunday, June 7
11 a.m.: Award presentation and talk
Lecture is $8, or free for Friends of the Center

Please join us for the Balles Award Presentation and a talk by author Leonard Mlodinow for a look at the history, explanation, and exaltation of probability theory.

The Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry announce Leonard Mlodinow as the 2009 winner of the Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking for his book, The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives.

Leonard Mlodinow holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley, and is on the physics faculty of California Institute of Technology. He also spent eight years writing for television, including the series MacGuyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the comedy series Night Court.

*The program will be immediately followed by a complimentary lunch with the speaker for Friends of the Center. Only current Friends of the Center will be admitted to the lunch.

Please RSVP to Alice by Thursday, June 4 if you plan to attend the FOC lunch. (323) 666-9797, ext. 102, or alice[at]cfiwest.org.

The Robert P. Balles Annual Prize in Critical Thinking is a $1,200 award given to the author of the published work that best exemplifies healthy skepticism, logical analysis, or empirical science. Each year, CSI selects the paper, article, book, or other publication that has the greatest potential to create positive reader awareness of important scientific issues.

CSI, the publisher of the Skeptical Inquirer, established the criteria for the prize, including use of the most parsimonious theory to fit data or to explain apparently preternatural phenomena.

This prize has been established through the generosity of Robert P. Balles, an associate member of CSI, and the Robert P. Balles Endowed Memorial Fund, a permanent endowment fund for the benefit of CSI.