Starting A Local Philosophical Society

What comes to mind when I say, "Philosophical Society"?  For me it conjures up images of the famous Royal Society with groups of gentleman scientists gathered in a grand room lit by candles with overstuffed chairs and dark wood paneling discussing the leading scientific theories of the day while contemplatively puffing on a pipe.  It's a romantic image and probably has little basis in reality but I would have loved to be a fly on the wall listening to the likes of Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday and Ernest Rutherford discussing their theories and breakthroughs.  In my mind, science in the 17th through 19th century was largely accessible to the average person with some curiosity about the world around them.  The body of knowledge to draw on was limited and a lot could still be learned with simple experimentation.  Many of the scientific breakthroughs of those eras came from wealthy men who had time to pursue scientific endeavors as a hobby rather than as a formal occupation. [Note: there were gentlewoman scientists in that era, too!  They had to fight biases and tended to not get the same education or recognition as the men and could not be elected Fellows of the Royal Society until the 1940s.  Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a great example as the first woman to attend Royal Society meetings in 1667.]    Today, it seems citizen science is much less accessible.  The body of knowledge in every area has grown exponentially and requires intense study in a narrow field to have a chance at discovering something new.  Furthermore, the technology and expenses related to it have pushed any ability to run experiments in most fields out of the reach of individuals (outside of a few billionaires) and require well-funded institutions to have a hope at progress.  Your average tinkerer can't build a quantum computer in their garage to experiment with the best way to reduce errors in monitoring qubit states.  We're way past the point where flying kites in an electrical storm will yield any new insights, so my own dream of coming up with some world-changing scientific breakthrough that gets me elected a Fellow of the Royal Society will remain just a dream.

Side note on this image:  AI image generation has not come far enough to know how to implement Franklin's experiment to prove that lightning is electricity.  Or, apparently, how to tie a line to a kite. I am not too worried about an eminent takeover by AI overlords.  Or is that what they want us to think...

Since I have no chance of earning an FRS honorific, what if I start my own philosophical society?  No, seriously.  Are you done laughing so I can continue?  By "philosophical" I mean "natural philosophy" as in the American Philosophical Society, America's premier scientific society founded by Ben Franklin in 1743 to promote useful knowledge.   As a fly on the wall of the contemporary Royal Society or American Philosophical Society, I would not be able to follow the scientific discussions as they would be way over my head.  This point was just driven home by a post from the journal Nature that I saw while taking a break from writing this.  It was entitled:  "Nature research paper:  Synthesis of a semimetallic Weyl ferromagnet with point Fermi surface."  Okay, it is about magnets.  I don't know what a Fermi surface is, but maybe the article will explain.  Uh, nope.  Even the abstract is inscrutable.    I need to start building knowledge with the Ted Talk versions of all these subjects.  What I need is a newly established, local philosophical society composed of others in the area who would like to get together to discuss their professional or hobby interests related to, as Franklin put it, "all philosophical experiments that let light into the nature of things, tend to increase the power of man over matter and multiply the conveniences or pleasures of life."

Basically, I'm envisioning a club in my town that gets together once a month or once a quarter and has a member or guest speaker give a presentation on a scientific or natural philosophy topic at a level the general public can understand.  More realistically, the speaker may not be an expert but just have an interest in the topic and studied up on it to present to the society.  The formal part of the meeting would then adjourn to fellowship time where people can mingle and discuss the topic of the day or other interesting subjects in smaller groups.  As much as I would love a wood paneled room with overstuffed chairs in which to meet, I'd settle for any venue that would volunteer their space.  If it is a small enough group, it could even meet in people's houses to get started.  This society would be welcoming to everyone.  The only qualification is curiosity.  

I live in an area that has a well-educated populous with lots of people employed in science or science related fields.  For fans of the Big Bang Theory TV show, I am the Wolowitz of my neighborhood:  the engineer surrounded by PhDs.  I suspect there would be little problem gathering enough interest to make this a viable idea.  The tough part is overcoming the stereotypical anti-social tendencies of those drawn to scientific endeavors.  Overcoming my own anti-social tendencies is the first and foremost problem!  In dealing with this problem, my thinking often returns to the 2000 book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam that documented the cause and effects of declining participation in American civic organizations.  I feel and lament that lack of community, but aside from my work with the Scout troop in my town, I don't feel a great pull to many of the other activities and organizations currently available to me.  I'm speculating there are others out there like me who might be interested in a scientific social club.  

Or I could be totally wrong.  I've only broached this subject with a few acquaintances but have not had a serious discussion with anyone about whether this is an idea worth pursuing.  Writing this blog post is meant to solicit feedback from others to see if this is a good idea and at the same time help me organize my thoughts and give myself a kick in the butt to follow through with the idea and, best case scenario, put me in touch with others local to me who are interested in founding such a society.  So please post comments below or send me an e-mail with your feedback!  I won't dox myself on this blog, but those in my community who know my alter ego can get in touch privately and share this within town.  For those in other towns who like this idea, maybe this turns into a grass roots movement to start these societies in every town.  Like the microbreweries that have sprung up in every town over the last decade.  Coincidentally, those are a possible venue for meetings.