In Part One of a two-part presentation, Laurent Beauregard discusses how probability works in each of three familiar situations. He invites you to contrast your intuitions about certain probabilities with what they actually turn out to be. There are surprises and, as a result, we gain insights into how probability works. Two lucky people will probably win a bag of M&Ms. Laurent holds an M.S. in physics and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science. He has taught at U.C.L.A. and at Reed College. He is currently a member of the HGP Web committee and he edits the videos that you find on the front page of our website.
Sharon Selvaggio discusses the importance of pollinators for our food and ecological systems, what's behind documented declines, the science relating pesticides to pollinator impacts, alternatives, and what you can do to help. Ms. Selvaggio has spent 27 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She has been a conservation planner and wildlife biologist and is experienced in forest habitat management. She holds an M.S. in Energy and Resources, and a B.A. in Biology, both from the University of California at Berkeley. © Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides
Part Two of a two-part presentation. Since classical antiquity, we have had two perspectives on the nature of reality – one from the head and the other from the heart. We have found science to be more persuasive than religion. But this has led to the loss of the divine. In this presentation, E. Baird Smith looks at Big History and Evolution in the light of two twentieth century scientists who were also deeply spiritual – Albert Einstein and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Mr. Smith is a teacher of science and theology. He spent thirty years as a computer scientist at IBM programming. After moving to Portland, Oregon, he studied Theology at the Trinity Center for Spiritual Development. (HGP does not take responsibility for material presented by our speakers.)
Mitzi Asai Loftus tells of her family background and of her post WW II experiences as a Japanese-American in Oregon. Ms. Loftus was born in Hood River in 1932 of immigrant parents, and was incarcerated in WW II camps in California and Wyoming between 1942 and 1945. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1954; has taught English as a Second Language and has traveled all over the world. She was proprietor of Evergreen Aquarium in Eugene for three years while bearing three sons. It was in Hanau, Germany that she met Del and Carolee Allen. She currently lives in Ashland.