The philosophy group has been meeting during the Covid experience using Zoom, kindly managed by Jim Norman. The group has reduced in number due to issues relating to access to the necessary technology and problems of hearing using Zoom. We hope that those group members who have not been able to join the Zoom group, will rejoin when/if things return to normal. Zoom is definitely preferable to having no meetings at all, but we have found it to be more constraining than face to face meetings (there are particular problems for the group chairman, but everyone experiences the need for patience in order to get a chance to speak). That being said, we have still had some lively meetings, with Covid, and Donald Trump providing us with some obvious topics. Our regular group now comprises about eight people, and that is about the right number for a lively but controlled discussion. Much more than eight and it becomes difficult for people to get a chance to speak. We generally use the method of raising the hand to indicate a wish to speak, but in moments of excitement this discipline tends to break down!
I won't bore everyone with a list of topics we have discussed, but let me just say we are never short of topics or volunteers to start off a particular discussion. I would issue my usual invitation to anyone wanting to join the group to see if we suit you, but under the present circumstances we don't have the capacity for new members. However when things get back to normal we will review the situation and let everyone know.
Mike Silvester.
This is an article published in the Spring 2021 edition of the Hayling Island u3a newsletter