A forum for philosophers, lovers of knowledge, critical thinkers, rhetoricians, truth seekers and otherwise who love to discuss, debate and engage in dialogue and discourse. Others don't know what you know - so be patient. You don't know what others know - so be humble.

The final and essential defense of a free society is an independent, open, and aggressive media. Sadly, the dominant corporate media seems to spend most of its time avoiding real news stories, instead dwelling on distractions and methodically undermining the quality of public debate. This discussion/work group will especially focus on 1) exploring and developing alternatives to mainstream media, 2) promoting open, meaningful and non-confrontational discussion and inquiry in our society, and 3) …

This specialty Toastmasters club explores communication of all kinds. If you are in ANY relationship (relatives, friends, romance, co-workers, boss, biographer, etc.) you are invited to learn and share what you know about communicating with others. The second hour of each monthly meeting we feature guest subject matter experts -- authors, therapists, coaches, etc. who teach and lead us. As a Toastmasters club we also schedule prepared speeches, work on impromptu speaking and constructively evalu …

Semantic Garage is at the cutting edge of semantic and natural language processing. It's where new web companies in the semantic space can showcase live demos and where open discussion and debate about the future and philosophy of semantic technologies emerge.

We held the first annual West Coast Community Leadership Summit (CLS West) on January 9th, 2010, at DeVry University in Daly City. Experienced community leaders and organizers met that day to discuss, debate and explore the many avenues of building strong community in an open unconference setting. This group is used to announce future CLS West events. For example, we organize CLS West First Fridays occasionally. These are informal gatherings usually on the first Friday of the month for dinner an …

CLINE was established to encourage and facilitate the scientific exploration of the intersection of computation, language, information, complexity, and intelligence as they are influenced by, and influence, the process of evolution. Of particular interest to this group is the development of self-evolving systems. The assumption is that apex systems evolve toward greater and greater complexity-handling capacity. Some call this "artificial intelligence," but we have trouble with the term as it: 1 …

Startup Product, a movement for product excellence through cross-discipline collaboration and holistic product perspective. Startup Product welcomes everyone passionate about product excellence, regardless of title, industry, or stage of growth, to come together to share, learn and talk about what it really takes to produce products that people love and how to build sustainable businesses and revenue streams based on product excellence. Everyone is encouraged to contribute their point of view, w …

The Honorable Order of American Co-Masonry is a fraternity including men and women of every race, nationality and religion. Wishing to do away with all cause for division and strife, it continually seeks the means which to help all human beings to unite and work together for the perfection of Humanity. This discussion group meets monthly to discuss subjects important to humanity. From philosophy and religion to science, history and politics, this group ponders any subject which helps us to bett …

Real Life Super Heroes, Masked Crime Fighters, Costumed Vigilantes, & Uniformed Mystery Detectives meet to share case files, organize citizen patrols, review investigations, analyze crime statistics, discuss law enforcement support, teach new techniques, tell success stories, plan charitable and educational events, send inspiring messages, and learn about resources for solving cases. Whether fighting crime, solving cold cases, researching records, or otherwise, this group is a support team for t …

How often have you wondered about something in the news and liked to share your views with other folks and wondered what others had to say about it ? How about we combine this with dinner and a glass of wine maybe? We will have a good dinner,talk about issues in the news or issues that matter to all of us and who knows we might find solutions to some issues in the process as well.

The British weekly The Economist, is best understood when critically examining the points raised in the articles and critical examination is best achieved in a group-discussion setting. do you regularly read The Economist? Do you find yourself often voicing your (dis)agreement with the articles? Then you should join this group, where we hope to have regular meetings to share and discuss articles of interest and expound upon the positions advanced in this venerable publication.

This for anyone and everyone interested in the Lecture Series at The Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose to band together and attend as a group. The lectures focus on the many different intersections science and technology make with culture, arts, politics, math, and our entire world. If you're an expert or enthusiast in any of these fields or subjects, and have been to one or more of these lectures or wish to attend in the future, this is the place to discuss the presented subjects a …

As web developers, we are often faced with tough decisions when trying to decide which web development technologies to adopt. Every application is different and each technology has its own set of ideal use cases so wouldn't it be nice to hear directly from multiple experts during a session and have them debate the pros and cons of different approaches?  Instead of having attendees sit through a long talk—and only hear one point of view—we want to foster an interactive discussion that allows ever …

Love to eat. Love to talk about current events. Politics. Entrepreneur. Business. Fashion. People. Well, here is a fun and great way to talk about what's going on in a very busy world. The bay area is a mecca of genius minds of all walks of life. By joining this group, you will be invited to limited events by the host over amazing global cuisine and the latest in community or global talk. I will host 4 times a month, random members of a max 10 persons to be part of a round table discussion of po …

*Join our Google Group to participate in discussions in between events!* Artup is a Bay Area community-powered incubator for forward-looking work stationed at the intersection of contemporary art and digital technology. Welcoming artists of all disciplines, Artup provides a foundation for a consistent and engaging stream of high quality work for and by curious aesthetes throughout the Bay Area. The Bay Area is technological ground zero. Bay Area residents are the first to experience the impact …

There's some debate in the startup community about which is the superior technology, Python or Ruby. This is a meetup for those who've considered the available evidence, carefully weighing the pros and cons of each language, and made the obviously correct choice: Python. We discuss everything a young Python developer needs to know, from the nitty gritty of the Python GIL all the way to how one should pair Python with leading-edge technologies like Backbone.js and MongoDB. If you're a dedicated P …

What do we do? ZANG TALK is a nonprofit organization that produces events of short and dynamic lectures, with 4 different successful speakers from the Jewish community in 4 completely different domains. ZANG TALK gives useful tools for the audience in diverse domains. How do we do it? Each speaker will give a short talk, roughly 10-15 minutes, about his or her professional lifework. The speakers will be the world's brilliant thinkers, greatest visionaries and most inspiring people from the local …

Sometimes it can feel like very few men are interested in talking about anything deeper than sports, entertainment, or current events. Yet, there is so much that bonds us guys together, especially after the age of 30 - triumphs like marriage and children, and challenges...like marriage and children. I came up with the idea for this group after several weeks of thinking about how different I am now from when I was 19; how I feel so much wiser and more thoughtful, and yet so much less in control t …

Darwin's ideas and their descendants are popping up everywhere as DNA, ancestry maps, fossils, new species, and scientific experiments and popular information builds on his discoveries. I want to find others who are fascinated like I am with the impact of his ideas. Hopefully we can have an information based discussion group and find friends who share this interest.

Have you ever noticed that you have a different personality when you travel? Are you considering a gap year or sabbatical? Are you dreaming of going on a pilgrimage or a meditation retreat in Bali? Join us for our unconventional travel talk series, where we'll explore expat life, the international languages of love, spiritual travel, travel aliases, what a sabbatical can do for you, and more. The format of each event will vary—we'll host spirited talks, interviews, debates, lectures and round t …

(1 minute video) This group is for people who value and enjoy deeper discussions with amazing people and who are also willing to rise to the occasion by joining us to help make these discussion opportunities an ongoing reality. The events held in this group are all about having fun nights of great people and 'deeper' discussions over dinner in a charming restaurant. This Meetup group was created by Glen Brauer as part of a non-profit global initiative using practical philosophy to bring togeth …

Get S.E.T. to make a difference! We’re a growing group of socially conscious business people dedicated to connecting with each other to collectively support and promote the greater good through the work that we do. We invite you to join us in a provocative learning and business networking environment so that we can all make a more significant difference in the world and in the communities that we are part of. We will cover a range of relevant topics and issues, each focused on an aspect of socia …

The philosophical café movement began in Paris and has spread rapidly throughout Europe. Its purpose is to create an ongoing public solon in a friendly place where people can gather to carry on relaxed conversation and discuss important ideas. Topics for discussion will be chosen by the participants with a moderator present to direct traffic and insure that all present have an opportunity to take part in the dialogue. For the time being your moderators will be Sam Keen –a freelance philosopher—a …

United Nations SF Collective is a group dedicated to exploring relationships between countries, and to analyzing US foreign policy. We will attend speaking engagements and occasionally watch films that touch on foreign cultures and economic climates.

This is a group for Spanish and non-Spanish speakers alike who are interested in exchanging ideas and gaining a greater depth of understanding about what is/has been happening in such Latin American countries as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Haiti, Mexico, Chile and more. Though the group is fairly free-form, we will also seek to introduce a variety of relevant, mutually agreed-upon books, articles, information on political/military/civic …