If you live in or around Saskatoon and are free tonight to attend a lecture, have we got a good one for you. Nicking from the official blog for our group:
The Saskatoon Freethinkers are excited to announce a special public event.
When: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 6:30 PM
Where: Frances Morrison Public Library
311 – 23rd St. E.
Saskatoon, SK S7K 0J6
975-7558Dr. Chris diCarlo will give a talk related to his recent Free Inquiry article (PDF) titled We are all African! Can scientific proof of our commonality save us?
His lecture tour We Are All African has been presented across North America and has helped raised awareness of evolutionary theory and funding for the Bracelet of Hope campaign, which is a charity raising money for an HIV awareness program and the Tšepong HIV/Aids clinic in Lesotho, Africa.
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Agenda6:30 pm Doors Open
7:00 pm Welcome and Lecture followed by questions
9:00 pm SocialWe’ll probably continue the discussion at a pub.
No food or drink is allowed in the theatre, but there will be coffee available outside the room.Free admission (donations appreciated) – Minimum suggested donation: $10
In case you don’t get around to reading the article, I quote a few pieces.
Even though fossilization is quite rare, archaeologists have amassed enough evidence to paint a fairly accurate picture of not only our own ancestors but the ancestors of species of humans who did not survive as long as Homo sapiens. We must not forget that throughout much of our ancestral time, we were not alone. To
date, the fossil record indicates that as recently as 30,000 years ago, at least four different types of hominins lived on this planet: Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalis, Homo floresiensis, and Homo sapiens. Think about this for a minute: aside from ourselves, there were at least three other distinct species of humans. Would this
fact alone not give one pause to question how anyone could imagine that we (that is, Homo sapiens) had been specially created if three other types of humans lived alongside our own ancestors?
When you walk through an exhibit of Ancient Egyptian art from the time of the pyramids, everything there was very likely created by one of your ancestors—every statue, every hieroglyph, every gold necklace. If there is a mummy lying in the center of the room, that person was almost certainly your ancestor, too. It means when Muslims, Jews, or Christians claim to be children of Abraham, they are all bound to be right.
It may be just wishful thinking, but if all peoples on this planet were to accept that we are all African, there might be less racial hatred, violence, and bloodshed. William Hamilton has demonstrated that we tend to care more for our kin and less for strangers. This kin selection appears to be a hardwired trait. Perhaps it is possible to transcend our biological constraints and, with the help of science and reasoned tolerance, recognize that we have the ability to treat each other as sharing an extended kinship.
You’d be a fool to miss this guest speaker. We were lucky to get him and you’d be able to count yourself lucky to hear him, too.
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Edit Aug 11: check my Freethinker Alert page for a synopsis of how this went.
One Minion's Opinion 