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Friggatriskaidekaphobia 2022

May 13, 2022

The Freethought Society (FS) is pleased to present the very first Friggatriskaidekaphobia Treatment Center’s International Educational Seminar via Zoom on FridayMay 132022. The event will be hosted by FS President Margaret Downey

The event will start at 3:45 PM PDT/6:45 PM EDT with the introduction of comedian Ian Harris. His 15-minute standup routine will take a humorous look at superstitions and irrational beliefs that permeate American culture. 

At 4:00 PM PDT/7:00 PM EDT social activist Babu Gogineni will tell us about superstitions that prevail in India. Be ready for shocking disclosures and unthinkable practices that are thought to have magical benefits strong enough to change the course of nature.

At 4:30 PM PDT/7:30 PM EDT FS board member Norm Allen will convey the many African superstitions he witnessed and dealt with throughout his 30-year career as the Founder and President of African Americans for Humanism. He will share with us the horror of witch hunts and the belief that using certain body parts of albinistic people can transmit magical powers.

The keynoted speaker is author Stuart Vyse. His presentation will start at 5:00 PM PDT/8:00 PM EDT. Vyse is an American psychologist, teacher, speaker and author who specializes in critical thinking and belief in superstitions. His book Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition won the William James Book Award of the American Psychological Association and was translated into Japanese, German, and Romanian. 

For more details see the Meetup page created for this event at the below link: https://bit.ly/Frigga13th

Einstein, Schrödinger, Dice, Cats, & Quantum Physics: What is Our Weird Universe Made Of?

The Freethought Society joins with the Humanist Association of Greater Philadelphia and the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia to host acclaimed science writer and physicist Paul H. Halpern as a speaker onSundayMay 31, 2015 at 4:00 PM. Halpren’s presentation is entitled Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat: How Two Great Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics. The presentation will take place at the EHSP building, located at 1906 South Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia.

Halpren’s presentation, based on his book of the same name, investigates how physicists Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger battled together against the incompleteness and indeterminacy of quantum mechanics. Their conversations resulted in many interesting quips, including Einstein famously and amusingly saying that God does not play dice with the universe and Schrödinger creating his famous fable and thought-experiment of a cat in a box that is in a mixed state between life and death until it is observed, that was neither alive nor dead not to explain quantum mechanics but to highlight the apparent absurdity of a theory gone wrong. But these two giants did more than just criticize: they fought back, seeking a unified Theory of Everything that would make the universe seem sensible again, a theory that would unite the forces of nature and supersede quantum weirdness.

Einstein dedicated the final decades of his life in the search for unification. Even on his deathbed he asked for pencil and paper in a vain attempt to complete his calculations. Less familiar, but similarly intriguing, are the efforts of Austrian physicist Schrödinger to solve the same riddle and beat Einstein, with whom he had collaborated, to the answer. The relationship between the two extraordinary physicists offers a riveting tale about a deep friendship challenged by the temptations of scientific glory.

Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat: How Two Great Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics has received positive reviews from a diverse readership, both professional and everyday reader. A seemingly inscrutable subject to cover, Halpern’s writing and speaking is down to earth as he easily engages the reader and listener on what is a complicated problem involving two of the greatest minds who ever lived. Among the many reviews, the Library Journal said of Halpern’s work that it is “A highly approachable book that will appeal to readers…who are interested in physics, the history of science, and the human and political aspects of scientists and their work.” The Wall Street Journal stated that it is “A fascinating and thought-provoking story, one that sheds light on the origins of some aspects of the current challenging situation in physics…. Mr. Halpern’s engaging account is a great human story and should be of interest as well to anyone fascinated by the still-unsolved questions that they pursued together.” And in the reveiw by Nature, “Physicist Paul Halpern tells the entangled tale of Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, and their search for a Grand Unified Theory with humour and concision.”

Halpern is Professor of Physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and an acclaimed author of 14 popular science books, exploring the subjects of space, time, higher dimensions, dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, particle physics, and cosmology. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, and an Athenaeum Literary Award. A regular contributor to NOVA’s The Nature of Reality physics blog, he has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including Future Quest and The Simpsons 20thAnniversary Special.

Halpern’s presentation is free and open to the public, and begins at 4:00 PMSundayMay 31, at the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia building, 1906 Rittenhouse Square. Books will be available for purchase.

Paul Halpern portrait

Paul Halpern

 

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The Freethought Society News Editorial Staff

 

May June 2015 Freethought Society Newsletter

Click here to read the May-June 2015 Newsletter

In the newsletter you will find the following articles:

  • Trying to Stop Public School BSA Recruitment Assemblies by Margaret Downey
  • The Camp Quest 2020 Envision Campaign by Amanda Metskas

  • The History of “In Gold We Trust”
  • In Legal Action We Trust by Michael Newdow
  • West Coast Anti-Superstition Bash and Friggatriskaidekaphobia Treatment Center by Margaret Downey
  • Two Movie Recommendations by Dennis Middlebrooks
  • The Freethought Society’s 2015 Multi-Month Calendar
  • Donation, Information, and Volunteer Page

Click here to read the May-June 2015 Freethought Society Newsletter. ‎

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Check for upcoming events at the FS Meet Up page.

Like FS on Facebook!

Follow FS on Twitter.

The Freethought Society News Editorial Staff

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