Anvil Discussion Group

Anvil Discussion Group
There will be a meeting of the Anvil Discussion Group next Friday 27th June in the Function Room of The George coffee shop. Joe Bleasdale will give a talk entitled “Honey without harm – the swarm as a self-regulating organism”. This will be based on the principles elucidated in his book. He has provided the following summary:

“My talk will be about my beekeeping experiences of 45 years keeping bees in Hampshire and Somerset. I was in the beekeeping team at The Newt estate, and with the help of my stepdaughter Elaine set up the apiary in Tintinhull National Trust. I have written books on beekeeping and had articles published by The Beekeeping Quarterly and BBKA News. My talk will cover: a brief history of beekeeping, the activity of honeybees in nature, a general overview of the importance of native bee species: bumblebees and solitary bees, my thoughts on ethical beekeeping, “Honey without Harm to Bees”, tales of swarms. Some of the presentation will refer to the work of Professor Ibbotson at Melbourne University on bees’ vision, brain and neural system of navigation and flight control.”

Anvil is a discussion group held in Martock. We discuss serious, sometimes controversial, issues of current importance, in the areas of philosophy, science and current affairs (although the latter will not be party political). We aim to be intellectually stimulating and relevant to important issues rather than just entertaining. We meet from 10am to 12noon on the fourth Friday of the month in the Function Room of The George coffee shop. There is no subscription, committee, nor any other type of cumbersome bureaucracy, and our organisation is gender balanced, but we intend to levy a charge of £3 to £5 at each meeting to cover room rental and refreshments, depending on attendance. We aim for understanding and education in its broadest sense, rather than just social interaction.
The format in all cases will be a talk during the first period, followed by a short refreshment break, then a discussion period which should be non-confrontational and aimed at understanding arguments even if you disagree, and expressing your own opinions in a tolerant manner.

Our future programme is as follows:

July 25th: The Philosophy of Ivan Illich. John Baxter. A much-lauded maverick thinker in the seventies, now almost forgotten, may have ideas which are useful for the times we now face.
August: no meeting.
September 26th – Emergent infections: we’ve had COVID, what can we expect next? – Greg Atkins.
October 31st – Artificial Intelligence – Mark Regal. (Note change to 5th Friday).
November 28th – The Golden Rule: Lessons in living from a geriatrician – Lucy Pollock. Based on her recent book on healthy ageing.
December: no meeting.
January 23rd – A Layman’s Guide to Relativity. Steve Beer. A simplified explanation of relativity from a former mathematics teacher.
February 27th. – Evolutionary Ethics – how do we make our moral judgments? – Greg Atkins.

To join, come to a meeting (advertised in Martock Chat on Facebook, the Nextdoor app and Martock.org.uk) or contact Prof Greg Atkins by email (we do not use paper posters)
gatkins@tcd.ie, to be put on the mailing list.
More information regarding past meetings and our current and past programme can be obtained on our website:
http://www.johnbaxter.org/