[Hac-announce] Purpose and the Universe: A Humanist Perspective. Program Mon July 22.

[Cary S Shaw]

A video and discussion of “Purpose and the Universe”,  the keynote speech at last month's American Humanist Association’s Annual meeting, will be the subject of a program sponsored by the newly forming Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County (HFFC), on Monday night July 22, 2013.  The meeting will be held at the Meeting House of the Unitarian Church of Westport, 10 Lyons Plains Road, Westport, CT, with social time and refreshments at 7 PM, and program at 7:30 PM. 


The program is open to the public at no charge.  Reservations are suggested, by emailing fresser25 at optonline.net using “HFFC”  in the subject line.



The speaker is scientist and humanist Dr. Sean Carroll. The program will be facilitated by Dr. John Hooper.  The Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County is a newly forming group of people who combine reason with compassion, integrating modern understanding of the world with an affirmative life view.



The idea of a "purpose" or "reason why" has a strong hold on the human imagination, and has a special resonance when we think about the universe itself. However, modern science has gradually eroded the role of purpose in our best understanding of nature. This represents an important step forward in human understanding, as we can see how apparently purposeful features of reality arise through undirected laws of nature. But it represents a challenge for questions of morality and meaning. Dr. Carroll explains that purposes can be created or emergent even when they are not fundamental, and that this perspective has important consequences for how we live our lives.



Dr. Carroll is a theoretical physicist at Caltech,  author, and lecturer, whose captivating presentation has stirred enormous interest.





You are invited.  Feel free to pass this notice on to your family and friends.

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