Neo-Socratics Meetings/2006-12-05

Date: 05 December 2006

Location:Port Elizabeth St. George’s Club, Bird Street

Present:C. Vanderlinden, N. Allen, R. Bosch, M. Heiligers, G. Saunders, F. Jordaan

Apologies:A. Steyn,

MINUTES OF MEETING
1. Minutes of the previous meeting
 * 1) The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted

2. New members
 * 1) One new members was introduced: Fiona Jordaan

3. Matters arising
 * 1) C. Vanderlinden proposed the following system for making decisions:
 * 2) Quorum shall consist of &frac12; the society’s members +1
 * 3) Only a quorum was entitled to take decisions a affecting the society with regards to its constitution and structure
 * 4) All other decisions could be taken by members present
 * 5) All these decisions will be voted upon by show of hands
 * 6) All decisions thus voted on by a majority vote would be final
 * 7) Any one motion could only be presented to the society once per meeting but could represented and re-voted upon at any following meeting
 * 8) It was generally agreed at any additional complexity to these rules would be moving away from the founding ideas of rationality and transparency
 * 9) It was agreed that the meeting that was to fall on 2 January 2007 be moved to 9 January 2007

4. Next meeting
 * 1) The next meeting will be held at the Maritime Club at 19:00 on Tuesday 9 January 2007
 * 2) A reminder to bring new interested members was given

5. Newsworthy items
 * 1) There was a smalls advert on the NMMU Intranet advising people with cancer and who are HIV+ to avoid doctors and contact the advertiser directly. They claimed that they would be able to heal, through prayer any ill or disease
 * 2) R. Bosch attempted to have the offending advert removed but could not contact the authorities
 * 3) A call was made for vigilance from all members of the NMMU, in order to actively staunch such potentially harmful advice
 * 4) R. Bosch will continue to monitor the situation
 * 5) M. Heiligers drew the society’s attention to the numerous adverts for healing seminars, meditation groups and various “hippy” gatherings in Port Elizabeth’s free newspapers
 * 6) C. Vanderlinden drew everyone’s attention to the fact that several pharmacies are dispensing homeopathic medicine as an effective cure, and also that:
 * 7) Such alternative medicine was often more expensive
 * 8) Pharmacists will continue to dispense such remedies unless actively challenged to provide evidence and viable alternatives
 * 9) Lastly a call was made to all the members to collect such information

6. Existing Projects
 * 1) C. Vanderlinden will handle the building up of an atheist and secular library and called for donations of books
 * 2) C. Vanderlinden of Richard Dawkins’ God Delusion will be donated to the society
 * 3) M. Heiligers will make several copy of Richard Dawkins’ The root of all evil available on DVDs for review by members
 * 4) James Randi was contacted by C. Vanderlinden in order to be made an honorary member of the Neo-Socratics but no answer has been received
 * 5) N. Allen and W. Thompson did not report back on the development of the pamphlet

7. New Projects
 * 1) C. Vanderlinden would like to sign up the Neo-Socratics as members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the paranormal (CSICOP). This will cost $20.00
 * 2) This was accepted
 * 3) Donations are to be collected by C. Vanderlinden
 * 4) C. Vanderlinden would like to sign up the Neo-Socratics as members of the James Randi Educational Fund (JREF). This will cost $100.00
 * 5) This was not accepted for the time being
 * 6) 3. Members were invited to visit www.randi.org (http://www.randi.org/) and www.csicop.org (http://www.csicop.org/) for more information

8. Talk
 * 1) A talk on the scientific method by was delivered R. Bosch

A talk on the Top 13 Scientific unknowns was delivered by R. Bosch