Southampton Atheist Soc

One hundred years after the birth of Alan Turing, Simon Singh discusses how Turing cracked the German Enigma code during the Second World War. He will also look at the history of cryptography prior to the twentieth century and recent developments in information security. The talk will include a demonstration of a genuine working Enigma cipher machine.

A few of us will be attending Winchester Skeptics in the Pub Library this Thursday (26th Jan), where science writer Simon Singh will be giving a talk on “Alan Turing and the Cracking of the Enigma Code“. This should be an enlightening and interesting talk to our members with a keen interest in technology.

We may be able to offer transport for a few on a first-come-first-served basis, so please get in touch if you’re interested; if not, we can arrange a suitable meeting time and place. Hopefully your exams have gone well, and we will see everyone again at the next meeting (Monday 30th January).

Since we’re all a bit busy with exams, this Monday (16th) and next Monday (23rd), we’ll be having a chilled-out social meetup in the Stag’s Head at 7pm for a few drinks and a bit of a break from revision. As always, we’d love it if you could make it, but of course if you’re busy then that’s fine. Hope to see you there!

For the first meeting of the year, we are going to be watching Here Be Dragons, a short introduction to critical thinking.

Here Be Dragons offers a toolbox for recognizing and understanding the dangers of pseudoscience, and appreciation for the reality-based benefits offered by real science.

After the film, as usual, we will head to the Stags Head for drinks and informal discussion.

The meeting will be in the Nuffield Theatre Building Lecture Theatre B, at 7pm.

This Monday we are holding our alternative views night. We have speakers from the First Church of Christ Scientist on the Avenue coming to visit. There will be a presentation on their beliefs, and in particular what ‘Christian Science’ is, and the elements of faith healing that are such a core part of the belief. This will be followed by Q&A, although I suspect the two might merge! The meeting will be in the Nuffield Theatre Building Lecture Theatre B, at 7pm. This is our last meeting of the term, and we will be back on Monday 9th January.

Following the meeting will be drinks in the Stag’s Head. Happy Holidays!

Our regular meeting tomorrow will be our film night. This week we have Inherit the Wind which is a fictionalisation of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Teacher B.T. Cates is arrested for teaching Darwin’s theories. Famous lawyer Henry Drummond defends him; fundamentalist politician Matthew Brady prosecutes. This is a very thinly disguised rendition of the 1925 “Scopes monkey trial” with debates between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan taken largely from the transcripts.

The meeting is at the usual 7pm in the Nuffield LTB, with drinks in the Stag’s Head afterwards. Hope to see you there!